1890 – 1890

Prison labor repairing the levee

In the late 19th century the levee's were in slight disrepair due to time and in part also due to the civil war that had gone on a few decades prior. As the cheap labor that had been available was no longer since slavery was abolished. When it came time for the levee to be worked on the new cheapest labor was that of prisoners. The levee's were built in the 1700's when the founder of the city came along and have been needed to protect the city from floods coming form the gulf as well as from the Mississippi river.

Morganza, Louisiana (New Orleans, Louisiana levee system)

https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/state-lhp%3A5370

Cordell Owsley