Photo: Getty Images
The National Park Service (NPS) has withdrawn a Lousiana community with centuries-old sugar cane plantations and enduring Afro-Creole culture from eligibility for federal protection.
According to the Associated Press, the Great River Road, an 11-mile stretch of land along the Mississippi River filled with history and culture, has been removed from consideration for National Historic Landmark designation after a years-long review.
Community organizations were eager for the Great River Road region to be designated a historic landmark to preserve the history of the enslaved people who worked at the plantations and the free African-American communities that grew out of slavery. A multi-year study by the National Park Service had deemed the area eligible for federal recognition in October, concluding that the “exceptional integrity” of the Great River Road landscape conveys “the feeling of living and working in the plantation system in the American South.”
The plantation buildings in the area are so well-preserved that they were used in the film "Django Unchained" to capture the essence of the antebellum era. The burial sites of enslaved people are also believed to be hidden in the surrounding cane fields, and many of their descendants still live in the nearby communities.
However, in a letter sent earlier this month, Joy Beaseley of the National Park Service said its conclusion to grant the historic Black area eligibility was "premature and untimely" as a grain terminal that threatened to impact the Great River Road was no longer planned.
Ashley Rogers, executive director of the nearby Whitney Plantation, said the decision to remove the region from consideration was due to the Trump administration's "changing priorities."
“It’s 100% because of the politics of the current administration, it’s not because we’ve suddenly decided that this place doesn’t matter,” Rogers said.
According to CNN, state officials had requested the NPS withdraw eligibility for federal protection, arguing that expanding industrial facilities in the area would help bolster local economies.
Local community organizations said preserving and promoting the region's history could improve its economy, an idea that Republican Governor Jeff Landry apparently disagreed with.
“If you really want to lift people out of poverty, you get them work and increase job opportunity,” Landry said.
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