Descendants honor enslaved ancestor with tree planting & blessing ceremony
Published 11:43 am Tuesday, November 5, 2019
WALLACE — In 1829, Anthony, a 21-year-old enslaved man was put on a ship in North Carolina and sold to the Duparc-Locoul Brothers in New Orleans. The brothers purchased Anthony as a field hand for what is now Laura Plantation. As with most enslaved people, not much information was recorded about him. He appears on a sales document and a ship manifest with only his height of 5’7” and his sales price of $650.
After emancipation, his son Alfred would later choose the name Brown as a surname because he, nor his father had one. 190 years later, Anthony’s descendants will gather together and commemorate the day he was sold, Nov. 7.
Jo and Joy Banner, owners of the Fee-Fo-Lay Café and other Brown descendants will honor the memory of their ancestor with a tree-planting and blessing ceremony at the Fee-Fo-Lay Café. “I’ve always been proud to live along this river, but I think about how sad it must have been for Anthony, who was forced to leave behind his family and friends in North Carolina. We just wanted to take a moment to remember him and for others to recognize the toll of plantation country on real lives,” Jo Banner said.
One million enslaved people were relocated from the upper south down to the lower south including the River Parishes.
“It’s bittersweet,” Joy Banner said. “It’s sad to see Anthony’s name on a sales document, but I’m happy that we have at least some information about him. Many African-Americans don’t even have that.”
But gratitude is at the center of the tree-planting ceremony.
“We, as his descendants, can own a business and enjoy our freedoms because of Anthony and our ancestors,” Joy Banner said. “We want to honor his memory and show him how much we love and appreciate him.”
The tree-planting and blessing ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Fee-Fo-Lay Café (5593 Alexis Court in Wallace). The ceremony is free and open to all. For more information, contact Joy Banner at (225) 206-0257 or email at drjoy08@gmail.com.