Over three centuries, slavery in the United States grew from a few people held in a state of semi-indentured servitude to millions held in the most horrific circumstances ever to exist on the North American continent. Due to the free labor needed to harvest the indigo and cotton crops that were essential to the economy of the South, slavery grew much quicker there than in the North. Once the Civil War ended, with hundreds of thousands of casualties, the South quickly turned to a modified form of slavery. Now, the newly-freed African-Americans found themselves once more forced to perform free labor for others and live under severe restrictions, both legal and illegal, that often cost them their lives. Back Through the Veil dives deep into the fascinating details of African slaves brought to a remote plantation area that evolved into a typical small Southern town - Mansura, Louisiana. The small, French-heritage community, indelibly shaped by its origins, became a major slave-holding area at the turn of the 19th century. The author answers the questions that most of Mansura's present-day African-Americans do not have answers to - where their African ancestors were captured, when and where they arrived in the Americas, the types of people who held them captive, what life was like under slavery in the area, how slaves achieved their freedom and what it was like to live in Mansura during the post-Civil War Reign of Terror. The author immerses the reader in the plantation era by offering a granular glimpse of Mansura's grim history and the lives of its African-American inhabitants, providing the names of the area's slaves, their languages, details of who bought and sold them, and the genealogical links of the slave holders to some of their descendants. Also, the reader gains an insightful view of how larger events occurring throughout the U.S. and the South impacted the lives of those who lived in Mansura, and explores how slaves in Mansura and elsewhere were constantly seeking their freedom in many ways, including violence. The engaging story of African-Americans' heroic role in helping the Union Army prevail over the Confederacy is told, with the names of slaves in Mansura who escaped from slavery and fought on the Union side. The reader will also re-live the terror that the Freedmen experienced at the hands of angry Southern whites following the war, and ultimately, will be inspired by the story of how former slaves and their descendants were able to build solid lives and families in spite of their post-war oppression. Related topics covered include: Jim Crowism; The rise of religious and educational institutions in the U.S. and Mansura; Share Cropping; Mansura African-Americans in World War I; the Great Flood of 1927; and the Great Depression.
About the Author: Donald Gregory Prier was born in Mansura, Louisiana. He was one of 12 children whose par-ents, Oliver Prier and Beulah Walter, were born and lived during the most difficult years of the Jim Crow era. Donald attended Our Lady of Prompt Succor and Cardinal Cushing elementary schools in Mansura. He graduated from Mary Bethune High School in Marksville and from Southern University with a BS in Chemistry and LSU with a PhD in Chemistry. He retired from the Dow Chemical Company in 2009 after 28 years of service. Donald has been married to Mary Bernell Augustine of Mansura for 46 years. They have three chil-dren and four grandchildren.