During the centuries of the slave trade era and afterwards, men and women of the former Dahomey (southern Benin), slaves or masters, married each other. Unlike other parts of West Africa, marrying a slave woman was not automatically devaluing. On the contrary, it was even a very widespread royal practice, some queen mothers who were of servile origin remained famous in local history. Today, most of the families of Abomey or Ouidah have in their genealogies a Yoruba or Mahi grandmother, the two main ethnics groups who were victims of the slave raids carried out by the kingdom of Dahomey during the 18th and 19th centuries.
In this region where kinship is patrilineal, marrying a slave man for a free woman was more rare. This type of union poses greater problems, especially in terms of inheritance and control over children. But it wasn't impossible, there are family branches that come from a former male slave of the family. Quite often, this slave had married a daughter of his master.
I would like to show in this paper, based on case studies, how the current situation of some descendants of slaves is directly influenced by marriage a few generations ago. The proliferation of slaves in local genealogies at all levels of society influences the perception of slavery. For example, in some circles, only those who were deported by Westerners can claim to be slaves. And because everyone can claim to be both a descendant of slaves and a descendant of masters, this situation also has an impact on political discourses and official commemorations.