Oscar is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
located in the southeastern portion of
Pointe Coupee Parish,
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. It is located primarily along
Louisiana Highway 1
Louisiana Highway 1 (LA 1) is a state highway in Louisiana. At , it is the longest numbered highway of any class in Louisiana. It runs diagonally across the state, connecting the oil field, oil and gas fields near the island of Grand Isle, ...
on the southern end of
False River. This community was formerly home to the Oxbow restaurant and Bonaventure's Landing.
Oscar's most noted resident was the novelist
Ernest J. Gaines, who was the fifth generation of his family to be born on the River Lake plantation, where his ancestors had been enslaved and then sharecroppers. Gaines left Oscar for California at age 15, and went on to a storied career as a novelist, winning the
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".[National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the humani ...]
, and a
MacArthur "genius grant". In retirement, he purchased a portion of the plantation and built a house on it.
Oscar was the site of substantial racial violence in the decades following the Civil War. In 1903, the founder of a Black school there, the Rev. LaForest A. Planving (born Petrus LaForest Albert Plantevigne) was murdered by local whites who had previously ordered him to leave town and fired shots into his home and the school.
A few months later, the
American Missionary Association
The American Missionary Association (AMA) was a Protestant-based abolitionist group founded on in Albany, New York. The main purpose of the organization was abolition of slavery, education of African Americans, promotion of racial equality, and ...
sent another teacher, Alfred Lawless, to Oscar to reopen the school. Whites shot at him in the school, too. After asking local officials for protection, he was instead told to leave town.
Lawless then returned to New Orleans; the first high school in New Orleans'
Lower Ninth Ward, Alfred Lawless High School, was named in his honor. His son, who was living with his father in Oscar at the time, became the noted doctor and philanthropist
.
Notable people
*
Ernest Gaines
Ernest is a given name derived from the Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious", often shortened to Ernie.
Notable people and fictional characters with the name include:
People
* Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilia ...
, novelist
*
, doctor and philanthropist
*
Major Thibaut, former member of the
Louisiana House of Representatives
The Louisiana House of Representatives (; ) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 representatives, each of whom represents approximately 4 ...
References
{{authority control
Baton Rouge metropolitan area
Unincorporated communities in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana
Unincorporated communities in Louisiana