Biographical Info

Luan and her husband Joe were enslaved by Zachariah Lamar before 1832. When Zachariah died, his will bequeathed Luan and her husband to John B. She lived and worked at the Swift Creek plantation. In October, 1840, disease swept through the plantation and Luan and Joe’s newborn baby died, according to the overseer, of “the bowel complainte.” Luan had only a short time to grieve, as by early the next year she had been hired out and separated from her husband.

Sketch written by Araia Burgest, Mackenzie Hulsey, Mariana Rios, and Allana Strong