EDGARD — A memorial lies at the Whitney Plantation in St. John Parish honoring the lives lost in the largest slave rebellion in South Louisiana. 

On January 8, 1811, Charles Deslondes organized and led an army of enslaved people at the Andry Plantation, now known as Woodlawn Plantation, in present-day LaPlace.

The Deslondes attacked plantation owner Manuel Aandry, and while he escaped, his son was killed.

Southern University History Professor, and President of the Baton Rouge chapter of the NAACP, Jarret Luter said although there isn’t much information about Deslondes, he said even as an overseer he stood against cruelty.

“Even in that position he still chose freedom over whatever benefits he had,” Luter said.

Deslondes and the army set foot on a two-day journey marching to New Orleans going from plantation to plantation,  gathering up to 500 enslaved individuals. Their intentions were to overthrow the local government and turn it into a Black city.

The group did not make it to New Orleans. The local government heard about the rebellion and stopped the group, eventually mutilating Deslondes and decapitating almost a hundred slaves, placing their heads on sticks along the Mississippi River levee.

Luter said although the rebellion ended in death, it sparked inspiration.

“These are the things we can look back, and to in 1811 and we can utilize – maybe not those same methods but the same idea that we don’t accept this,” Luter said.

Luter said it’s important for everyone from all walks of life to educate themselves about the lives that were lost. He said it isn’t just Black history but American history.

“America was born out of struggle, it was born out of oppression. The story is oppression vs. the oppressed, and I think that story translates to all cultures, to all walks of life,” Luter said.