In Their Shoes with Katy M. Shannon Katy M. Shannon

Florestine was born into slavery in Natchitoches, Louisiana. She was the daughter of Victorine, a Creole mulatresse, and Jean Cortes, the white Creole man who owned her, her mother, and grandmother. Florestine's mother was able to buy her own freedom but not her daughter's, so Florestine remained enslaved into adulthood, even after giving birth to three children. David H. Boullt, the children's father, a dentist and government official, purchased and emancipated Florestine and their children. Over the next two decades, David Boullt and Florestine amassed great wealth and ultimately owned a plantation with enslaved laborers. After the Civil War, Florestine's husband and sons became Radical Republicans, active in politics and holding almost every office in Natchitoches parish. After numerous threats of violence from the White League and the Ku Klux Klan, David Boullt fled Natchitoches parish. Years later the Boullts' story would surface again and make national headlines. Ultimately the majority of Florestine's children left Louisiana, chose to identify as white, and did the best to put the past behind them while continuing to support each other and hold fast to family ties.

Episode 8

Dorothy Mitten Berwager

Today we hear from Dorothy in her own words, in letters she penned to her husband Mark who was a Marine fighting in the Pacific Theater. Dorothy touches upon the Battle of Saipan, her loneliness and longing for Mark, and bringing her baby home from the hospital. She is consumed with worry over a whooping cough outbreak. Her oldest son has whooping cough, and she doesn't want to expose the new baby to it. Dorothy also discusses the religious differences between her family and Mark's and different people's attitudes to having loved ones away at war. She describes how she is trying to make the best of a difficult situation, reflects on her love for Mark, and dreams of a future when he will be home.

Take a walk with me down Toulouse Street in the 1860s and 1870s. We will start at the corner of Bourbon and Toulouse, the site of the Old French Opera House, and make our way down to Dauphine. The street reflected the diversity inherent in an older section of an urban port city. Within a one block radius, one could find a mansion, private residences, rental apartments, store fronts, the performers’ entrance to the French Opera House, a pawnbroker and loan office, a saloon, a coffeehouse, a leather and shoe shop, the Orleans Institute, a respectable girls’ school, a junk shop and second hand store, and a brothel. Crime was always present, and shady characters frequented the street. Even at such an important and heavily trafficked intersection as that of Bourbon and Toulouse in front of the French Opera House, the street was often rutted, full of mud, and in disrepair. Pickpockets and thieves took advantage of the crowds departing the Opera House in the evenings. Arson, intoxication, robbery, stabbings, shootings, assault, larceny, and disturbing the peace all took place only steps away from elegant mansions.

Reverend Gabriel James was born in Vacherie, Louisiana, during the Civil War. He received an education at Leland University in New Orleans, then returned home determined to provide that same opportunity to the children of his community. He was a teacher, minister, and community activist. Reverend James established the Second Baptist Church. He also organized and incorporated the first school board for African Americans in the area, motivating his family, friends, and neighbors to build both a church and a school. His legacy continues today.

Episode 5

Dorothy Mitten Berwager

A war bride who married the love of her life just a month after Pearl Harbor, Dorothy spent the war holding down the home front while her husband Mark, a Marine, fought in significant battles across the Pacific front. This episode introduces the Berwagers and includes letters penned by Dorothy from her bed in the maternity ward after giving birth to the couple's second child. Her candid description of giving birth alone, watching the other husbands with their wives and new babies, and her longing for her own husband provides a moving account of life in America during World War II. 

Episode 4



Adam John, an enslaved carpenter on a plantation in south Louisiana, chose to fight for his freedom. He volunteered to serve in the Union army in the Civil War and was assigned to the 84th United States Colored Infantry. He saw action during the Red River campaign and proved himself on the field of battle. Yet he spent his entire life plagued with health issues. This is his story, lost to time, rediscovered, and worth honoring. 

For a transcript:

http://www.katymshannon.com/civil-war-veteran-and-survivor-adam-john/