Donaville Broussard

Donaville Broussard was born in 1850 and told his story in Louisiana French, which the interviewer translated. His mother, Armance Carmouche, was the daughter of one of the sons of the enslaver, Francois Carmouche, and was a house servant. His father, Neville Broussard, was white. As a small boy Donaville worked around the house, picking up leaves with a sharp stick and a little basket. He said the household petted him as if he were a white child.

The enslaver's widowed sister taught the children their prayers. Everyone shared the Catholic faith of the enslaver, though the church was fifteen or twenty miles away. He remembered his aunt's wedding: a pig was roasted, the enslaved ate under the trees, and a justice of the peace had the couple hold hands and jump the broom. The enslaved wore long chemises of heavy cloth made on the place, kept small gardens and beehives, and danced round dances during the war, singing the French song "La Boulangère" about a soldier leaving his love.

In the second year of the war the enslaver died of fever, childless, and everything was sold. Donaville was bought by Cyprien Arceneaux of Lafayette and his mother by a woman in St. Pierre, now Carencro. He hid inside the house during a battle in Lafayette. After the war he lived with his mother and stepfather, but they did not get along, so at twenty he hired himself out and saved until he could buy a small piece of land. He married, raised a family and farmed until his wife died, then moved to Beaumont, Texas, to live with his daughter.