Tomb of the Unknown Slave (St. Augustine Churchyard)

A black iron gate secures the Tomb of the Unknown Slave, a small, whitewashed brick monument tucked within the Saint Augustine Churchyard. It holds no names, honoring instead the countless enslaved people who labored and died in New Orleans without recognition. When the city’s free people of color founded this parish in eighteen forty-two, they built the shrine to ensure those denied a proper grave in life found rest here. It remains a stark reminder of the lives erased by the institution of slavery.