Laura Plantation

Descendant d'un militaire autochtone francophone vétéran de la Première Guerre mondiale, le comédien français Clément Lagouarde est ajourd'hui l'un des chefs de la tribu Natchitoches de Louisiane. Il parle de son ancêtre au parcours ambiguë, de la découverte de son appartenance au peuple Natchitoches et de sa double culture franco-amérindienne.

Regardez son dernier court-métrage ici : https://www.festivalnikon.fr/index.php/en/video/2023/2862 The French actor Clément Lagouarde is descended from a French-speaking Native American who fought in World War I France. Today, he is one of the chiefs of Louisiana's Natchitoches Tribe. He talks about his ancestor's ambiguous history, the discovery of his relationship to the Natchitoches people, and the duality of his French and Native American cultures.

Background on Juneteenth and the story of men born into slavery at Laura Plantation who enlisted in the 80th United States Colored Infantry and were among the first to celebrate Juneteenth in Texas on June 19, 1866. Discussion of violence in Texas during Reconstruction and the unique role that the 80th USCI played. This episode is in memory of Bernard Stewart, Auguste James, Zeno Joseph, Nathaniel Eglan and John Bull, Civil War veterans, freedom fighters, and soldiers in the 80th USCI.

In this episode, we compare and contrast the lives of Creoles on the plantation in the countryside and in their French Quarter mansions in New Orleans. We talk about the Locouls' Toulouse Street mansion, its significance as a status symbol, and some of the experiences Laura would have had in her grandmother's home. We also explore the impact of the Civil War, the diversity of the neighborhood, and the illegal activities surrounding the home.

Sand Marmillion, Director and Curator of Laura Plantation, joins us to share the stories of two very significant enslaved women who lived and worked at Laura Plantation. Clarisse Peterson, an American slave who arrived on the plantation in adulthood and was in charge of tending to the sick and injured in the plantation hospital, and Clarisse Wilson, a Creole, born into slavery at Laura Plantation, who was involved in the founding of the Baptist Church, took in orphans, and acted as a mother figure in the community. We also touch upon the lives of their husbands, one of whom they shared (not simultaneously)! We compare and contrast their lives, note the changes that took place after the Civil War, and learn about one of their descendants, Freddie Keppard, a famous New Orleans jazz pioneer. #lauraplantation #womenshistory #womenshistorymonth #jazzhistory #jazz

In this episode we discuss the educational opportunities available to Creole women--both free and enslaved--and the way they evolved over time. These include convents, governesses, private schools, and public schools. Religion and language were key elements in the instruction of Creole women in the colonial and antebellum eras, but after the Civil War this would change. Formerly enslaved children and adults learned to read and write at schools established by the Freedmen's Bureau after the Civil War. With the end of Reconstruction, many of those educational opportunities came to an end. Not until 1952 did Black children growing up on Laura Plantation have access to a high school.

Laura Plantation was owned and operated by women at various times spanning four generations. Nanette Duparc took over after her husband’s death and established the business. Her daughter Elisabeth Locoul inherited the plantation during the Civil War and ran it until she donated the property to her children. After Emile Locoul’s death, his wife Desirée and their daughter Laura were instrumental in making decisions about the management of the plantation. How was this possible?

Louisiana’s legal system enabled Creole women to maintain a certain amount of autonomy after marriage. This episode explores the differences between Louisiana's legal system, based on civil law, and that present in the rest of the nation, based on common law, and the impact this had upon women.

Joseph and Katy discuss Women's History Month topics, including enslaved women, Nanette's role in the early days of Laura Plantation, Louisiana exceptionalism in women's property laws, and social mores of different eras. They also touch upon International French Language Month and the significance of French not only to Louisiana's cultural heritage but also in the process of studying and researching all aspects of Louisiana history.

Harry Minor was one of two million enslaved individuals sold from the Upper South to the Lower South through the interstate slave trade. He was forcibly brought to Laura Plantation and made to assimilate into the Creole community. Hear his story, along with his own words, in this episode.

This episode is centered around the 1829 donation of the plantation. Nanette Duparc donated the plantation and seventy-seven enslaved people to her children, Louis, Flagy, and Elisabeth, and her son-in-law Raymond Locoul. The 1829 donation led to a corporation being founded, the Duparc Brothers and Locoul Plantation, and enslaved people became either owned by the company (mostly field hands, skilled laborers, and artisans) or privately owned by individual family members (mostly enslaved house servants). We will explore the lives of two of them---Lucy Moore Jones, enslaved as a house servant and nurse for the Locoul family, and her husband, Marius Jones, an enslaved laborer for the company who appears on the inventory made at the time of the 1829 donation.

Laura Plantation provides a cultural experience unlike any other in the United States. Here you will find the difference that exemplifies Creole Louisiana. Explore the rigors of 200 years of daily life, along with the sobering experience of slavery as it happened at one historic site on the banks of the Mississippi River in the middle of New Orleans plantation country. In this podcast, historian Katy Morlas Shannon and Director of PR and Marketing Joseph Dunn will be your guides into the Creole world, offering you true, personal, compelling stories of the people who lived, worked, and died at this unique historic site. Real History. About real people.

In this episode, we provide a brief history of Laura Plantation, share our mission, and introduce many of the topics we will discuss in later episodes. Please visit www.lauraplantation.com to learn more and to plan your visit.

Laura Plantation provides a cultural experience unlike any other in the United States. Here you will find the difference that exemplifies Creole Louisiana. Explore the rigors of 200 years of daily life, along with the sobering experience of slavery as it happened at one historic site on the banks of the Mississippi River in the middle of New Orleans plantation country. In this podcast, Director of PR and Marketing Joseph Dunn will be your guide into the Creole world, offering you true, personal, compelling stories of the people who lived, worked, and died at this unique historic site. Real History. About real people.