65 years old man born on a plantation in Norwood, LA

James "Moon B" London

I spent the few last days at  Womack Syrup Mill in St. Helena Parish. It was a pleasure to meet some very interesting individuals. One of those people was James London aka Moon B, whose task was to unload the sugarcane from the trailer. He struck up a conversation with me while I was taking photographs of him unloading the sugarcane. He discussed the sugarcane plantation he grew up on in Norwood, Louisiana, where he was born and raised back up in the woods.

"I was born on a plantation in the woods in Norwood, Louisiana. I remember the name of the midwife who delivered me there." Her name is Lucy Porter, yeah, that's right, said Moon B." When Moon B told me his age, my heart ached for more information on his life on the plantation. I wish I had more time with him to interview him and document his story. 

He is only three years older than me and is sharing his experiences living on a plantation. He was born into a system of sharecropping. As a result of his family's hard work and sacrifice, they were not able to get a head he said. We just always broke even, yeah, we couldn't do anything about it Moon B said.

I asked him how  his family left the place.  He explained to me a fight that one of his uncles had. After one of my uncles got into a fight and someone was killed, the owner told us we had to leave. "I witnessed them beating my uncle on the plantation, yeah, I recall that, said Moon B."

 

Louis Ali Researching His Allen Family History with Dr. Antoinette Harrell

Star Hill C.M.E Church
Amite County, Mississippi
Photo Credit: Dr. Antoinette Harrell

For twenty years Crawford Allen's story sat on Dr. Antoinette Harrell's desk. Crawford Allen, his wife and three children were kidnapped from Amite County, Mississippi and sold to a farm in Fluker, Louisiana in 1926. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The proclamation declared" that all person held as slaves" with the rebellious states "are, and hencefoward shall be free.

Peonage researcher, Dr. Antoinette Harrell, conducted peonage for decades at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The Crawford Allen story was one of the stories she uncovered during her visit. Harrell discovered a 1926 newspaper clipping published by the Associated Press regarding Allen's and his family being sold for $20.00. Yes, a family of five sold for $20.00, after slavery was abolished seventy plus years. "How could this happened? Who sold them? Whatever happened to the Allen's who kidnapped and sold them?"

Louis was named after his paternal grandfather, Louis Allen, who was assassinated in 1964 after witnessing Hebert Lee's murdered at a cotton gin in Liberty, Mississippi. "I was the first male child born and my parents named me after my grandfather." said Ali. My grandmother passed the oral history down to me about my grandfather. She always talked about what happened to her husband and my grandfather. Louis father Henry "Hank" Allen said that his father Louis told him, that papa was a slave. He never mentioned that he was sold as a slave as well. 

Dr. Antoinette Harrell
Gravesite of Crawford Allen

When Harrell delivered the news to the Allen family, it was so shocking to them. They had no ideal that Louis was one fo the three children who was kidnapped and sold. The Allen family needed a few moments to process what was being told to them by peonage detective Dr. Antoinette Harrell. There were no easy methods for Harrell to inform the family that their father, grandfather, and great grandfather was one of the three children in the house when the kidnapping occurred. 

Ali contacted Dr. Harrell and requested that she accompany him to the Amite County Clerk of Court in order to  conduct genealogical research  his family history. The opportunity to guide Ali to learn more about his family history was too appealing for Harrell to turn down. When they arrived at the Clerk's office the first records Harrell directed Ali to was marriage records. Ali was so excited to find his grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles and aunts marriage records. In addition to marriage records, Harrell wanted  Ali to examine records relating to conveyances and succession. With the aid of Harrell's magnification glasses, Harrell helped Ali to locate a  number of land records and succession records relating to the Allen family. 

In the Clerk of Court office, they exerted all their efforts and energy researching records. Harrell requested that Ali take her to the gravesite of his great grandfather Crawford and his grandfather Louis Allen. It was the first time Harrell had visited the gravesite of Crawford Allen, his son Louis Allen, his wife Anna, and his daughters who was also sold. 

As Ali led Harrell to the location where his grandfather Louis Allen was murdered, Harrell had to compose herself emotionally.  Harrell couldn't believe that after waiting patiently for the story development for twenty years, she was finally able to speak with the Allen family and to go back to the site were the terrible events occurred. 

Louis Allen
Researching his Allen family history
Amite County, Mississippi
Photo Credit
Dr. Antoinette Harrell

Script from Lumber Mills Operating in the Louisiana Florida Parishes

Script from the Lumber Mills in the Louisiana Florida Parishes

Lumber town generally emerged in isolated locations far removed from the main routes of commerce. Taking advantage of the scarcity of local merchants, timber companies often paid their workers in company script, rather than in legal U.S. money, redeemable only at the company operated stores. Below are examples of script from lumber mills operating in the Louisiana Florida Parishes. 

Dr. Antoinette Harrell Analyzing Plantation Records on

Dr. Antoinette Harrell reviewing records on a plantation
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

Genealogists and family historians understand the terminology leaving no stone unturned. I'm continually looking for new records that have clues for genealogy and historical research anywhere I can find any paper or documents with someone's name, date and location. 

We are familiar with marriage records, death records, school records, and so on. But finding new records can be informative, and rewarding when you are researching. New genealogical and historical resources  can provide more details about the lives of our ancestors and our family history.  Just recently I went to a plantation in Louisiana to analyzing new records. The records that I analyzed were receipts records from the commissary store on the plantation. Some of the records were burned and couldn't be saved. A plantation in the Mississippi Delta recently demolished a commissary store. I hope that all the records were removed from the commissary store.  Sometimes the family who owns the plantation will keep the records. Others will donate them to a university or State Archives.

Most people in America assume that all African-American people left the plantations after the    Emancipation Proclamation was signed.  Some newly freed enslaved Africans stayed on the plantation, and some moved on other plantations because they didn't have anywhere to go.  Many former slaves were too old and tired to move. They felt  they were better off staying on the plantation where they would have shelter and food.

In 1865, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Land often called the Freedmen's Bureau was created at the end of the Civil War to supervise relief efforts including, health care, education, food and clothing, refugee camps, employment, labor contracts, and the legalization of African-American marriages.

Sharecropping was created out of the Freedmen Bureau Contracts. The landowner rented land to the the former slaves in return for a portion of their crops. Sharecropping practices took place for decades.  Many types of agreements still exist to this very day.   Many former slaves who  couldn't read or write were taken advantage of by the landowner. They were forced to stay and work on the plantation in a new form of slavery called peonage and involuntary servitude. Thousands had to flee for their lives sometimes leaving their family behind.

I've been on several plantation were people still live, and some people still work on the plantation. There is one plantation in Mississippi that I visited and had the opportunity to look in the records. I saw the names of the people who worked on the plantation, how many pounds of cotton they picked. There were some photographs of African-Americans on the plantations in the early 40s to the 70s. 

When we have exhausted our search in our homes, libraries and internet database such as Ancestry, Family Search, Ancestry and Cyndi's List any other genealogy sites that could be helpful. There are new genealogy resources made available every day that the universities, State Archives, and on genealogy sites.

Commissary Store Records
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

Educating individuals who had a rich photograph collections, funeral obituary programs, church records,  and other vital records that can be helpful to genealogy is essential. Every genealogy or family historian whose ancestors were held as slaves on a plantation would like to find records about their ancestors.

On the commissionary store receipts you will find the name of the person who lived and worked on the plantation. The date and year,  the name of the store, and what the person purchased and the price they paid for the items.  Some of ther receipts proved how long the person worked on the plantation and how long they purchased items from the store.

There were some payroll and medical records in the boxes too.  As long as I have been conducting research, I wish I could find other records for ancestors Robert Harrell,  Carrie Richardson or Frank Vining. They were on the Harrell, Richardson and Vining Plantations in East Florida Parishes, Louisiana