Slavery in Louisiana - a Visit to Whitney Plantation - Episode 231

Beyond Bourbon Street, an Insider's Guide to New Orleans

Mark Bologna

Society & Culture, Music, History, Places & Travel, Neworleans, Jazzfest, Nola, Dining, Mardigras, Bourbonstreet, Food

4.8 • 891 Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Slavery in Louisiana - a Visit to Whitney Plantation

In today's episode, we learn about slavery in Louisiana. We visit Whitney Plantation, located in Wallace, LA 40 miles West of New Orleans. The Whitney is the only plantation whose primary focus is on the slaves who worked, lived, and died along this stretch of the Mississippi River.

My guest today is Joy Banner, Director of Marketing at Whitney. Joy is also a native of the nearby community and is a descendant of the slaves at Whitney.

On today’s show, you’ll learn...

About the people who were kidnapped, sold into slavery, and came to work at the Whitney and other plantations along River Road.
You’ll meet some of the slaves and hear their surprising connections to modern day New Orleanians.
You’ll gain insight into the conditions they endured, and what plantation life was like for the enslaved.
Most plantations along River Road were sugar plantations, so you’ll also learn about the process of making granulated sugar on a plantation.

"We ask African Americans to get over it, but we don’t really understand what the it is.” - John Cummings, owner of Whitney Plantation

Resources

Whitney Plantation - located in Wallace, LA 40 miles West of New Orleans. For more information about Whitney Plantation, visit their website.

Thank You

Thanks to Joy Banner for welcoming my wife and I to Whitney Plantation. Joy took us around the grounds on a day when they were closed, patiently answered all of our questions, then made time two days later for the interview.

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Thanks for listening!

Mark

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listed to Beyond Bourbon Street, an insider's guide to New Orleans.
0:13.3	Beyond Bourbon Street is the podcast where we explore the food, music, culture, places, and people that make New Orleans unique.
0:20.6	Whether you are planning a trip,
0:22.3	living in New Orleans, or simply wanting a taste of the Crescent City from wherever you are,
0:26.6	you've come to the right place. And now, your host, Mark Bologna.
0:36.0	Hey, y'all, this is Mark.
0:39.6	Welcome to episode 231.
0:44.6	Today's show is a rebroadcast of a 2018 episode we did about the Whitney Plantation.
0:49.9	Given the recent fire at Notaway Plantation, I thought it was a good time to revisit this one.
0:54.1	While Notaway was all about the grandeur, Whitney is focused on the enslaved.
0:54.7	My visit back in late 2017 really changed the way I thought about plantations.
0:59.2	I hope you'll get something out of it and take the time to visit Whitney if you can.
1:02.9	The last show is a Q&A episode where I answered listener questions.
1:06.4	These are always fun and this one was no different.
1:08.7	If you missed it, go back and give it a listen. I think you'll enjoy it. Let's jump in. Now let's jump into the discussion.
1:16.7	Today's show is going to be the first of a mini-series we're doing about plantations.
1:21.3	I'm frequently asked about visiting Louisiana plantations, so my wife and I decided to take
1:26.1	a couple days and explore it on our own,
1:28.2	on your behalf. Now, might be a good time to mention. If you have young children listening in with you,
1:33.8	you might want to skip this one for now. The subject of today's episode may be a bit intense,
1:39.1	especially for kids younger than, say, middle school age. Anyway, as my wife and I discussed how to approach the trip, two things kept coming up.
1:47.5	One, the grandeur of the plantation homes themselves, against the reality that they were built
	...

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