Available now
The Book
252 pages of narrative nonfiction grounded in census records, church registers, court documents and wills.
Order a CopyTwo stories, one family
Her journey, and the search that found her
The book follows Louise through the records of her own time, and Leonard through the archives of ours.
Sold for $500
Louise, first documented in the household of Michel Richard in St. James Parish, is sold to Francisco Placencia. He becomes her enslaver and, later, the father of her children.
Three wills
Before his death in 1842, Francisco dictates three wills, each more explicit than the last, setting out his wish to free Louise and their children and to provide for them.
An eleven-year legal battle
Some of Francisco's heirs contest the wills, and the case moves through the Louisiana courts for more than a decade.
Statu liberi
A Louisiana court declares Louise and her children statu liberi, the first step to legal freedom, and entitled to the inheritances in Francisco's wills.
Five more years
Further court proceedings follow before the family's legal rights are secured.
Head of her own household
By 1860, Louise heads her own household. Her daughter Félicité's marriage becomes the family's first legally recognized union, and the line of freedom continues.
A single word in a census
While servicing microfilm equipment at the New Orleans Public Library, Leonard discovers a single word in an 1880 census record. The search begins.
Into the courthouse
Census records, church registers, succession files, court documents and wills. More than 180 pages of the case are gathered, transcribed and translated.
The book
The Story of Louise: From $500 to Priceless brings the records together as narrative nonfiction, with notes, appendices and an index.
The documentary
A companion documentary is in production, built from the real documents and the places where the story happened, targeting 2027 film festival submission.
