Jocyntia and Joyceia Banner preserve the history of their enslaved ancestors.
Growing up in Louisiana, in the bayous of the Mississippi River, identical twins Jocynita "Jo" Banner and Joyceia "Joy" Banner always heard stories from their grandmother Grace, who would tell them about their enslaved ancestors and their history of fighting back at the very plantation the two women now own.
Jo and Joy Banner said they never really learned about the revolt in school. It was their grandmother's oral history, they said, that taught them about the revolt and the enslaved people in the area who escaped from plantations to join the Union Army. The state of Louisiana and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality did not immediately return ABC News' request for comment on the matter.About 20 minutes away from Woodland in Wallace, situated in St. John the Baptist Parish -- and still in Cancer Alley -- the Banner twins are also in a legal battle to stop a grain export facility from being built near their home and the Descendants Project headquarters.
"If built, the grain terminal would follow a common pattern in which hazardous industrial facilities are placed in or near Black communities, a practice central to environmental racism. People who live in areas with toxic air pollution suffer higher rates of cancer and other diseases, and these people are disproportionately Black," the center stated.
"The proposed Wallace Grain Export Facility is a state-of-the-art operation, outfitted with advanced emission control technologies that markedly reduce environmental impacts, particularly when compared to traditional local agricultural practices earning us a Minor Source permit from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality," it stated.
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