Prison labor repairing the levee
Date Range
1890 – 1890
Title
Prison labor repairing the levee
What occurred
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.
Location
Morganza, Louisiana (New Orleans, Louisiana levee system)
Image Citation
https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/state-lhp%3A5370
Student name(s)
Cordell Owsley