Jacques and Celina Roman purchased Oak Alley Plantation from the bank on credit in 1836. It was a sugar plantation, and Jacques used 57 enslaved field workers as collateral for the purchase. That same year, he purchased 49 additional enslaved people from his mother’s estate auction, bringing the total number of enslaved people to 106. On this plantation, enslaved people were subjected to brutal, dehumanizing conditions, often treated worse than animals in order to maximize profit.