Lakeport Plantation Opens Legacies With “Slave Life in Chicot County” Talk August 28
JONESBORO — Lakeport Legacies, Lakeport Plantation's monthly history talk series, will open Thursday, Aug. 28, and features Kelly Jones, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arkansas.
The program gets underway at 6 p.m., following refreshments and conversation at 5:30 p.m. at the plantation, 61 Hwy. 142, Lake Village. This event is free and open to the public, but guests are asked to RSVP to (870) 265-6031.
Jones’ talk, "Slave Life in Chicot County: Toil and Resistance on the River," will reveal slave life in Chicot County through court records, the census, newspapers, Works Progress Administration narratives and other sources. Slavery and cotton dominated Chicot County's antebellum economy. Clearing vast forests and cultivating cotton, enslaved laborers helped make Chicot County one of the wealthiest places in the Unites States by 1860.
While not free, slaves developed their own culture, married, worshiped and, at times, sought the freedoms they were denied.
Lakeport Legacies is a monthly history discussion held at the Lakeport Plantation, featuring a topic from the Delta region.
For more information, go to http://lakeportplantation.blogspot.com/2014/08/lakeport-legacies-slave-life-in-chicot.html, or contact Dr. Blake Wintory, assistant director of Lakeport Plantation at (870) 265-6031.
