OFFROM - From Two Large Unfinished Rooms Impossible to Keep Clean to a Home of Their Own - Women in the Louisiana State Penitentiary 1835-1961 and Beyond

Course Description

Women at Angola you say? Unlike most southern prisons, women—enslaved, free women of color, white women, and children—were initially housed in the very first walled penitentiary in Baton Rouge and later at Angola in addition to various other locations throughout the penitentiary’s history. This course dispels many beliefs we commonly hold about southern women’s imprisonment in Louisiana and illustrates that women in prison have been “much and unfortunately neglected.” Get a glimpse of the women sentenced to hard labor throughout the years, how they got there and what the prison conditions were. Find out if and what kind of labor they were forced to do. How did the women do their time? Hear the stories of women who were hung, sentenced to life imprisonment and were pardoned. Come to this class in order to understand the history of Louisiana’s imprisonment practices through the lens of the Black and White women, who served their time, some of whom are still there, buried in Point Lookout, Angola’s cemetery. Stay to hear the stories of some surprise guests. 

For more information about this course, contact: OLLI at LSU at 225-578-2500.