Louisiana residents may have family ties to people in mid-Atlantic states like Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina, like these folks from Sandy Island, South Carolina.
Georgetown County (SC) Digital Library
Jean Lafitte sites and the areas around them are woven into the histories of many families. Follow the links for information, useful websites, and more. More links will be added; if you have suggestions, email the park.
AFRICAN AMERICAN
Charleston, South Carolina, was the major North American port throughout the period of the legal transatlantic slave trade. In the trade's final years, many enslaved Africans were unloaded from ships in Charleston and immediately shipped to New Orleans. After the Louisiana Purchase opened up fertile, cheap, new land, after importing slaves into the United States became illegal in 1808, and after the War of 1812 secured American claims to the purchase territory, thousands of descendants of those who remained in the Atlantic Southeast were marched overland or loaded onto boats bound for Louisiana. In July 2018, Jean Lafitte partnered with the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission and the International African American Museum's Center for Family History to present workshops on the Atlantic Southeast/Louisiana connection; the following were shared at the workshops and are Word documents with clickable links:
