African-American Heritage

Louisiana has been the birthplace of many famous African-Americans. Visit Melrose, a plantation once owned by a freed slave. Explore Laura Plantation, where you’ll learn how West African slaves brought the Bre’r Rabbit stories to America. Stroll the grounds of Destrehan Plantation, home to a successful Freedmen’s Bureau Colony during Reconstruction.

Come celebrate achievements of African-Americans in art, architecture, law, education, sports, the culinary arts and more. We invite you to wander through exhibits in the Cabildo and Old U.S. Mint in New Orleans. Learn about the Mardi Gras Indians and the spectacular costumes the make for annual parades. Give your kids something to think about at the River Road African American Museum near Burnside, the Kent Plantation House in Alexandria or the Stephens African American Museum in Shreveport. The Hermione Museum in Tallulah includes an exhibit on Madam C.J. Walker, the first black self-made millionaire in the United States.

The Louisiana African American Heritage Trail begins in New Orleans before taking you through south and central Louisiana and up to the friendly towns of north Louisiana.