Resident of a town founded by formerly enslaved people fights to keep its history alive

Marla Dickerson is fighting to keep her community’s history alive. Revilletown, Louisiana, was founded by formerly enslaved people in 1881, after the Emancipation Proclamation. In the 1970s, a chemical plant moved in and soon the two-street Louisiana town all but disappeared. Except for one key piece: the Revilletown Cemetery. But the chemical plant next door now claims ownership over the land. Marla’s mother, civil rights activist Janice Dickerson, spent her last decade fighting to prove that’s not the case. Since her mother’s passing, Marla has taken on the mantle. ​​“It’s important for us to be able to bury our loved ones,” says Dickerson. “I just don’t understand why a chemical company would want to try to lay claim to dead Black bodies.”Feb. 4, 2024