601. Part 1 of our conversation with Cherry Levin about her research into Antebellum weddings in
Louisiana Creole plantations. She wrote a dissertation at LSU entitled, “Wedding Belles and Enslaved Brides: Louisiana Plantation Weddings in Fact, Fiction and Folklore.” “Along with rites of passage marking birth and death, wedding rituals played an important role in ordering social life on antebellum Louisiana plantations, not only for elite white families but also for the enslaved. Autobiographical accounts of plantation weddings written by Louisiana women yield considerable insights on the importance of weddings for Louisiana plantation women before and especially during the Civil War. Moreover, information contained within the Louisiana Writers’ Project narratives reveal various types of wedding ritual used to unite the enslaved on Louisiana plantat