Yes Rodney as tough as it is to believe, they had to have somebodies to work all that land they owned & make a living for themselves & their families. Remember many of our Negro/Afri. Amer. families in St. Landry Parish were free before the civil war, many 2nd and 3rd generation. They obtain land in various ways, owning more than 40 acres and a couple of mules as well as livestock, way before John Deere rolled in. And after the civil war many of the former slaves sharecropped for Negro/Afri. Amer. as well as the white land owners in the area. Keep up the good research and have a Merry Christmas. Ricky