Monthly Archives: March 2023

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.