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."