His Story is Our History Too

Crystal McClurg
Sep 23, 2017
3 min read

I just got married. The man in the black t-shirt, that's my husband. He is amazing and I could go on for hours about all of the reasons I love him. This post, however, is about another man. The man standing next to him. His name is Elvin Shields. He is the president of the Natchitoches Genealogical and Historical Association.

The day before I snapped this picture, we went on an adventure of sorts, taking many pictures of flowers, trees, butterflies, even a feisty little squirrel. My husband and I love history and so we ventured onto a plantation called the Oakland Plantation. We were fortunate enough to have a park ranger give us a tour of the main house- the "Master's House". I have read many books about the era and I wasn't surprised that they had slaves, or that only some of the slaves were allowed at the main house. I WAS surprised that the slaves lived UNDER the house. They had a room under the house and would come up the stairs into the family's rooms when summoned. I had always assumed that the slaves had smaller rooms in the main house- maybe it was that way on some plantations. We also got the chance to view the Overseer's house and slave quarters. Just little rooms really. In the slave quarters, there are two pictures of beautiful women who lived there. They are Elvin's mother and sister. Elvin grew up on Oakland plantation. His parents were former slaves, turned sharecroppers.

I, like most people, have lived most of my life in my own little bubble. This day, my bubble expanded and I learned things that I never thought about before. Elvin was more than eager to tell his story to us. There was no malice in his voice. No hatred of "white people". He did NOT wish to have the plantation and slave quarters torn down as you might think. He simply wanted his story heard. He told us of the three "races" that lived in the area... The white plantation owners, the black slaves, and the creoles who were neither white nor black, but a melting pot like much of America is now. He told us how the problem is not really about race at all, but about the culture and about learning to live together in a place that doesn't forget and change is hard to grasp. He talked of when "freedom" came. Yes, the slaves were free to go, but where would they go? They had little to no education, they knew no trades other than farming, and upkeep on the plantations. There was no family to go home to. So they stayed, and became sharecroppers, which was little more than slavery in itself. Then with the mechanization of the plantations, they were suddenly turned out. They are still in the town, in the "black" section of Natchitoches. He is worried for the future that doesn't know it's own history, for the families there with young girls "breeding" and young men getting arrested for petty crimes. He spoke of the young people who get educated and take the first ticket out of the old town- about the older uneducated generation that still lives there and can only live what they know. He spoke of all of this with such an urgency and passion, that we dare not tear ourselves away (even if we were on our honeymoon, and were learning of things that were not comfortable to hear). His passion and urgency though, was not to tear down the statue, or pretend like there was no slavery so that we can move on and live happy side by side. His passion and urgency was to tell the story- HIS story- remember, he said, remember. If you forget that which made us evil, we are no less evil, only ignorant of the evil.