La Plantation de Louisiane

La Plantation de Louisiane

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SITUÉE au milieu d'une très grande propriété ou au bord d'une rivière, la plantation est entourée d'une végétation abondante qui installe le décor : chênes avec leurs pendentifs de mousse espagnole, magnolias, peupliers et saules pleureurs.
La maison est vaste, ceinturée d'un balcon couvert soutenu par des colonnes. Les pièces de réception au rez-de-chaussée et les chambres à l'étage sont réservées à la famille du planteur. En arrière de la maison se trouvent les dépendances : cuisine, office, garçonnières réservées aux
prétendants, chapelle et infirmerie ainsi que les différents ateliers. Plus loin en arrière se situe le village des esclaves, aux maisons modestes.
«The stereotypical plantation portrayed and romanticized in Gone With the Wind was a small-scale industrial society in which a racial hierarchy was implemented in order to create white economic upward mobility. The system that each plantation thrived on varied and paralleled in many ways. While each plantation had its own set of social, religious, and labor codes, all had the basic format for an instilled hierarchy in which the slave master reigned as god. The overseer was the middle man who enforced and conditioned slaves to do exactly what the master intended for them. The overseer did the master's "dirty work" and was a more active participant in daily slave life. He maintained the element of slave misery, by controlling the degree of pain. Plantation life did begin to accomodate to the emergence of the black family and community- although reasons were economically selfish. But with the rising focus on the slave community comes the birth of the most essential unit of black unity and solidarity--the black church. This became a justified means of African expression that enabled blacks to celebrate their heritage. Therefore, while the plantation owners legitimatized themselves by asserting that plantations provided for a benevolent, family-like system of slavery, slaves, on the other hand, experienced quite the opposite. Families don't tie up their loved ones and whip them mercilessly. Families don't rape their own young daughters. Families don't publicly hang their kin. Families, therefore, were not plantations, but were rather, inhumane excuses for agricultural profit that shaped the Southern black experience forever.»

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List Officielle des esclaves travaillant dans la Plantation "San Francisco" à Reserve

En Louisiane en 1856. Notez les distinctions ethniques.

Adam, American negro, 24, ploughman, laborer

Albert, American negro ploughman & laborer, 50*

Alexander, Creole negro, 35

Alexis, Creole negro, 50, ploughman*

Anderson, American negro, 50

Annie, Creole negress, 14

Ben, American negro, 60 blacksmith*

Benjamin, American negro, 25

Big Daniel, American negro of the field, 50 ploughman*

Big Davis, American negro, 47, ploughman, laborer

Celeste (Griffonne) Creole, 16**

Cesar, American negro, 30

Cornelius, Creole negro, 20

Daniel, Creole negro, 14

Daniel, Vickner, American negro, 35

Davis, American mulatto, 36, ploughman, laborer

Edward, Creole, negro, 9, orphan

Edward, American negro ploughman & laborer, 22

Eliza, American negress, 55, & her daughter Marie Joseph, 8

Eliza, American mulatto creole, 50, laundress & ironer**

Eliza, American negress, 30

Eliza, Creole mulatto, 20

Etienne, (Griffe), Creole, 53 commander (supervisor, foreman)

Etienne Vickner, Creole negro, 35

Field, American negro, 36

Francois, Creole, mulatto, 18*

Frank, American negro, 30

Gustave, Creole negro, 16 (Louisa's son)

George Bloston (?) American negro, 73

George Drew, American negro, 24

George Jones, American negro, 24

Gressy, mulatto creole, domestic, deal (?) and her infants Amedie, 10 years and Ernest 3 years

Helene, Creole negress, 21 (could be Lucy's daughter)

Henriette,Creole mulatto, 18, asthmatic **

& her infant Richard, 3 months

Henry, American negro, 50, cooper*

(Illegible), American negro, 50, cooper

(Illegible), Creole negress, 6, orphan

Jack, American negro of the field, 50*

Jacob, American negro of the field, 50*

James, Creole, mulatto, mason, painter, glazier & sugar-maker, 48*

James Dufilho, American, negro, 40

Jean Louis, Creole, negro, 30

Jean Pierre, Creole negro, 18, orphan*

John Lee, American negro, 28

John, Creole negro, 16 (could be Lucy's son)

Jonas, Creole negro, (illegible)

Lewis Hellmann, Creole negro, 25

Linda, American negress, 50

Long Lewis, American negro ploughman & laborer, 50*

Louis, Creole negro, cook & mason, 45*

Louisa, American negress of the field, 36, hospital worker**

Lovelace, American negro, 40, ploughman & laborer*

Lucy, American negress of the field, 40, **

& her infant Theodore (?), 7

Marguerite (Griffonne), creole, aged 20**

Marie Gally, mulatto creole, 35 cook domestic**

Marseilles, Creole negro, 70

Mary Sally, American negress, 26 & her infant, Adam, 2

Mathilde, Creole negress, 10

Mengo, American negro, 40

Michel, Creole negro, 12

Ned, American negro, 30, ploughman & laborer, one-eyed*

Old Louise, Creole negress, 60

Paul, Creole negro, 18 mos., orphan

Phroisine (?), Creole negress, 3, orphan

Prisilla, Creole negress, 15

Robert, American negro, 24

Romulus, American negro of the field, 40, (listed on 1843 Inventory)*

Robert, Creole mulatto, 20

Sally, Creole negress, 13, orphan*

Sam, American negro of the field, 55*

Small John, American negro, 54, ploughman

Smith, American negro, 55 one-eyed ploughman & laborer *

Stevens, American negro, 34

Tampey, American negress, 40 & her infant Shedreck, 1

Theodule, Creole mulatto, 18

Tolleux, Creole negro, 30

Tom, American negro, 65

Trotter, American mulatto, 25, carpenter

Washington, American negro, 25

West, American negro, ploughman & laborer, 60 *

William, American negro ploughman & laborer, 48 *

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Bibliographie

Cooper, J. Wesley. Louisiana: A Treasure of Plantation Homes. Natchez, MS: Southern Historical Plantation Publications, 1961.

DeHart, Jess. Plantations of Louisiana. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Co., 1982.

Plantations: Forty-four of Louisiana's Most Beautiful Antebellum Plantation Homes. San Francisco: Lexikos, 1983.

Mamalakis, Mario, If They Could Talk: Acadiana's Buildings and Their Biographies. Lafayette, LA: Lafayette, Centennial Commission, 1983.

The Pelican Guide to Plantation Homes of Louisiana. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Co., 1989.