Manumission of a Mother, but Not Her Children, in Southwestern Louisiana.

The two families established by Caroline Pitre (1795-1885), a female who was born enslaved and manumitted during adulthood, provide insight into the struggles and adaptations of Black mothers in southwestern Louisiana who were freed before the Civil War. Caroline Pitre was manumitted in 1820, but her three children remained enslaved. She established a second family in which those children, following the status of their mother, were free. Free people of color occupied a middle stratum in Louisiana, between that of the white population and the enslaved population. The marriages and land acquisition of Caroline Pitre's free children contrasted markedly with the lack of agency of her children who remained enslaved. The achievements (marriage and land acquisition) of a granddaughter of Caroline Pitre, who was freed post-Civil War at the age of 28, further attest to the loss of agency endured by her enslaved children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]