The Donatos of St. Landry Parish

Rodney Sam
Sep 2, 2018 · 2 min read

His portrait stares back at me across time,a distinguished and well-dressed man in the winter of his life . He exudes the confidence of an aristocrat. Martin Donato was one of the wealthiest planters in antebellum Louisiana; leaving behind an estate containing nearly one hundred slaves in St. Landry parish by the time of his death in 1847. On the surface, Martin’s story isn’t all that unusual. You can find thousands of Martins scattered across the historical record of the deep South, participants in what was once called the “peculiar institution” by Americans in the 19th century.

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