Episodes Located: EAST BATON ROUG, Louisiana in the 1850's

  1. Baton Rouge establishes a colored church
    date 1858map EAST BATON ROUG, Louisianatags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Race-Relations, Slavery

    After receiving a petition by Baton Rouge citizens, the local government established a colored church and hired a black Methodist preacher, George Menard, to lead the church. Besides encouraging this and other black churches, townsmen even permitted blacks to attend white churches. Although the Black Code in Baton Rouge seemed to impress a harsh code of conduct, the authorities rarely enforced...

  2. State vs. Oscar decided
    date 1858map EAST BATON ROUG, Louisianatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Slavery

    During the decades before the Civil War, Louisiana began using special tribunals to try slaves accused of violent crimes. State vs. Oscar is just one example of a case using such a tribunal, where Oscar, a slave, was on trial for the rape of a young white girl. Oscar was tried in a regular court, but his appeal went to a special tribunal. The tribunal upheld his guilty verdict, and he was subsequently...