WALLACE, La. (AP) — Sisters Jo and Dr. Joy Banner live just miles from where their ancestors were enslaved more than 200 years ago in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. Their tidy Creole cottage cafe in the small riverfront town of Wallace lies yards from property their great-grandparents bought more than a century ago.
It’s a historic area the sisters have dedicated themselves to keeping free of the heavy industry that lines the opposite shore of the Mississippi River.
“We have all these little pockets of free towns surrounding these plantation cane fields. It’s such a great story of tenacity and how we were able to be financially independent and economically savvy,” Joy Banner said.
Today, miles of sugarcane borders homes o