African Americans in Louisiana orBlack Louisianians are residents of theUS state ofLouisiana who are ofAfrican ancestry; those native to the state since colonial times descend from the many African slaves working on indigo and sugarcane plantations underFrench colonial rule.[4]
Within the US, Louisiana has the fifth largest overallAfrican American population. Louisiana has the second largest percentage of African Americans in the country, only behindMississippi.[5] As of the2020 US census, Black Louisianians of African heritage were 32.8% of the state's population.[6]
The first enslaved people from Africa arrived in Louisiana in 1719 on theAurore slave ship fromWhydah, only a year after the founding of New Orleans.[7] Twenty-three slave ships brought black slaves to Louisiana inFrench Louisiana alone, almost all embarking prior to 1730.[8] Between 1723 and 1769, most African slaves imported to Louisiana were from modern-daySenegal,Mali,Congo, andBenin and many thousands being imported to Louisiana from there.[9][10][11] A large number of the imported slaves from the Senegambia region were members of theWolof andBambara ethnic groups.Saint-Louis andGoree Island were sites where a great number of slaves destined for Louisiana departed from Africa.[12] Very few slaves from the Ivory Coast and the Gold Coast were imported in Louisiana except the Mina who were among the most frequent ethnicities in this country. They belong to theEwe group and their traditional domain is rather centered on theMono River, encompassing eastern Ghana, the territory of modernTogo, and the west of modernBenin. It is more likely that most of the Mina transported toLouisiana were shipped from theBight of Benin also known as theSlave Coast.[10] During theSpanish control of Louisiana, between 1770 and 1803, most of the slaves still came from the Congo and the Senegambia region, but they imported also more slaves from modern-dayBenin.[13] Many slaves imported during this period were members of theNago people, aYoruba subgroup.[14]
The slaves brought with them their cultural practices, languages, and religious beliefs rooted in spirit andancestor worship, which were key elements ofLouisiana Voodoo.[13] In addition, in the late nineteenth century, many Afro-Haitians also migrated to Louisiana, contributing to the Voodoo tradition of the state.
During the American period (1804–1820), almost half of the African slaves came from theCongo.[9][15]
Before theAmerican Civil War (1861 to 1865), African Americans comprised the majority of the population in the state, with most being enslaved and working as laborers on sugar cane and cotton plantations.[16]
African Americans left Louisiana by the tens of thousands during theGreat Migration in the first half of the 20th century, seeking work and political opportunities elsewhere. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, African Americans were 31.2% of the state's population.[17]
Of all deaths fromCOVID-19 in 2020, African Americans in Louisiana died in greater numbers than any other racial group.[18]
Louisiana Creoles in Louisiana are of French, Spanish, Native American, and African American ancestry.[19]Creoles of color are Creoles with black ancestry who assimilated intoBlack culture. There is also an Afro-Gypsy community in Louisiana developed as a consequence of interracial marriage between freed African Americans and enslavedRoma.[20]
African Americans have contributed toLouisiana's culture, music, and cuisine. African slaves have influencedNew Orleans dishes such asgumbo.[22] African slaves also broughtLouisiana Voodoo to the state.[23] African Americans have influenced the music of Louisiana and helped develop jazz, blues, hip hop, R&B, Zydeco, andBounce music in the state.
^abHall, Gwendolyn Midlo (1995).Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Louisiana State University Press. p. 58.
Broussard, Sherry T.African Americans in Lafayette and Southwest Louisiana (Arcadia, 2012)online.
Crouch, Barry A. "Black Education in Civil War and Reconstruction Louisiana: George T. Ruby, the Army, and the Freedmen's Bureau."Louisiana History 38#3 (1997), pp. 287–308.online
De Jong, Greta.A different day: African American struggles for justice in rural Louisiana, 1900-1970 (U of North Carolina Press, 2002)online.
De Jong, Greta. "" With the aid of God and the FSA": The Louisiana Farmers' Union and the African American freedom struggle in the New Deal era."Journal of Social History 34.1 (2000): 105–139.excerpt
Hall, Gwendolyn Midlo.Africans in colonial Louisiana: the development of Afro-Creole culture in the eighteenth-century (LSU Press, 1995)online.
Keele, Luke, William Cubbison, and Ismail White. "Suppressing black votes: a historical case study of voting restrictions in Louisiana."American Political Science Review 115.2 (2021): 694–700.
Scarpaci, Vincenza. "Walking the color line: Italian immigrants in rural Louisiana, 1880–1910." inAre Italians White? (Routledge, 2012) pp. 60–76.online
Vincent, Charles, ed.The African American Experience in Louisiana: From the Civil War to Jim Crow (Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1999).
Vincent, Charles. "'Of Such Historical Importance...': The African American Experience in Louisiana."Louisiana History 50.2 (2009): 133–158online.
