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The African House (c. 1800), a strange-looking construction reminiscent of the straw-thatched huts found in the Congo, was built as a combination storehouse and jail for rebellious slaves. The African House has been called the only structure of Congo-like architecture on the North American continent dating back to colonial times. The lower level of the unique building is constructed of brick baked on the place, while the upper story is fashioned from thick hand-hewn cypress slabs with eaves that slope almost to the ground. The walls of the upper story is contain murals painted by folk artist Clementine Hunter.

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Interesting story about Marie Therese Coincoin.

http://www.canerivercolony.com/History/UpFromSlavery.htm

Which includes this:

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Slavery in Louisiana, however, was unique. In the first place, it arrived nearly a century later than on the East Coast. In the second place, it initially fared badly. Between 1719 and 1731, the French who colonized Louisiana imported 6,000 Africans. Slaves soon composed 60 percent of the population. But the disease, starvation and cruelty they encountered hacking plantations from virgin forest led hundreds to flee into the nearby wilderness. So many renegade "maroon" settlements took root in the lower Mississippi Valley, raiding French settlements periodically, that after the 1729 Natchez rebellion, in which escaped slaves and Native Americans left more than 200 settlers dead, the shaken French ceased importing slaves for 30 years.

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Posts: 455 | From: Tharsis Montes | Registered: Jan 2009  |  IP: Logged |