Assumption Parish (, ) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,039. Its parish seat is Napoleonville. Assumption Parish was established in 1807, as one of the original parishes of the Territory of Orleans.

Assumption Parish is one of the twenty-two Acadiana parishes. Its major product is sugar cane. In proportion to its area, Assumption Parish produces the most sugar of any parish of Louisiana.

History In 1807, Assumption became the eighth parish of the Orleans Territory. Its history is rooted in its waterways and its large expanse of fertile soils ideal for farming. Settled in the middle 18th century by French and Spanish settlers, the area retains strong cultural ties to its past with conversational French still common among residents. Assumption was also a final destination for many of the French Acadians exiled from Nova Scotia between 1755 and 1764.

In 1863 Abraham Lincoln mentioned Assumption Parish in the Emancipation Proclamation as a confederate parish.

Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of , of which is land and (7.1%) is water.

Major highways Future Interstate 49 U.S. Highway 90 Louisiana Highway 1 Louisiana Highway 69 Louisiana Highway 70 Louisiana Highway 182 Louisiana Highway 308 Louisiana Highway 398 Louisiana Highway 400 Louisiana Highway 401 Louisiana Highway 402 Louisiana Highway 403 Louisiana Highway 662 Louisiana Highway 663 Louisiana Highway 996 Louisiana Highway 998 Louisiana Highway 999 Louisiana Highway 1000 Louisiana Highway 1001 Louisiana Highway 1003 Louisiana Highway 1004 Louisiana Highway 1005 Louisiana Highway 1006 Louisiana Highway 1007 Louisiana Highway 1008 Louisiana Highway 1010 Louisiana Highway 1011 Louisiana Highway 1012 Louisiana Highway 1013 Louisiana Highway 1014 Louisiana Highway 1015-1 Louisiana Highway 1015-2 Louisiana Highway 1016-1 Louisiana Highway 1016-2 Louisiana Highway 1247

Adjacent parishes

Iberville Parish (north) Ascension Parish (north) St. James Parish (northeast) Lafourche Parish (east) Terrebonne Parish (southeast) St. Mary Parish (southwest) Iberia Parish (northwest) St. Martin Parish (west)

Communities

Village Napoleonville (parish seat and only municipality)

Census-designated places Bayou Corne Bayou L'Ourse Belle Rose Labadieville Paincourtville Pierre Part Supreme

Other unincorporated communities Albemarle Belle Alliance Belle River Bruly St. Martin Cancienne Foley Klotzville Plattenville Westfield Wildwood Woodlawn

Demographics

+Assumption Parish, Louisiana – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 1980Pop 1990Pop 2000Pop 2010 Pop 2020% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)14,57615,03315,56515,44213,58066.00%66.07%66.55%65.93%64.55%Black or African American alone (NH)6,9417,3087,3037,1115,97331.43%32.12%31.23%30.36%28.39%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)214467132830.10%0.19%0.29%0.56%0.39%Asian alone (NH)24725356560.11%0.32%0.23%0.24%0.27%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)x included in the Asian category in the 1980 Censusx included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census0110xx0.00%0.05%0.00%Other race alone (NH)5424170.02%0.02%0.01%0.02%0.08%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)x not an option in the 1980 Censusx not an option in the 1990 Census114167416xx0.49%0.71%1.98%Hispanic or Latino (any race)5172922844989142.34%1.28%1.21%2.13%4.34%Total22,08422,75323,38823,42121,039 100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 21,039 people, 8,552 households, and 5,484 families residing in the parish. During the 2010 United States census, there were 23,421 people living in the parish. Among its 2010 population, 66.8% were White, 30.5% Black or African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.0% of some other race and 0.9% of two or more races. 2.1% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). 38.2% were of French, French Canadian or Cajun and 9.4% American ancestry.

Education The Assumption Parish School Board operates local public schools. Assumption High School serves the whole parish. There is one private school in the parish, Saint Elizabeth School, which was founded in 1834. Assumption High School Bayou L'Ourse Primary School Belle Rose Middle School Belle Rose Primary School Labadieville Middle School Labadieville Primary School Napoleonville Middle School Napoleonville Primary School Pierre Part Elementary School Saint Elizabeth School

National Guard The 928th Sapper Company, a unit of the 769th Engineer Battalion and the 225th Engineer Brigade.

Politics Assumption Parish is represented in the Louisiana House of Representatives by Beryl Amedee, a Republican, and Chad Brown, a Democrat. During the "Solid South" era, conflicts over trade policy often caused Assumption Parish to deviate somewhat from overwhelming Democratic support, as did rebellion in the Acadiana region against Woodrow Wilson's perceived hostility towards France.Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, page 211

Since the Dixiecrat revolt, by contrast, Assumption has been a typical rural South Louisiana parish in its political behaviour. It backed Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond in 1948 and Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 before showing powerful pro-Catholic behaviour in 1960Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 222 and then turning powerfully against liberal Midwestern Democrats in 1968 and 1972. With the nomination of the more centrist Southerner Jimmy Carter in 1976, Assumption became again Democratic leaning until the 2000s, when, like all of the rural white South, it has turned powerfully Republican.Cohn, Nate; ‘Demographic Shift: Southern Whites’ Loyalty to G.O.P. Nearing That of Blacks to Democrats’, The New York Times, April 24, 2014

Notable people Kim Willoughby, American indoor volleyball player, 2008 U.S. volleyball Olympian, former University of Hawaiʻi volleyball player, 2003 AVCA NCAA National Player of the Year Charles Melançon, former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives Troy E. Brown, a former member of the Louisiana State Senate Brandon Jacobs, two-time Super bowl winner, former running back for the New York Giants Johnny Meads, is a former professional American football linebacker in the National Football League Houston Oilers Washington Redskins J. E. Jumonville Sr., was a businessman, farmer, and horse breeder born in Paincourtville state senator Samuel A. LeBlanc I, was a lawyer from Napoleonville born in Paincourtville in Assumption Parish Whitmell P. Martin, was a U.S. Representative from Assumption Parish Louisiana from 1915 to 1929.

See also Bayou Corne sinkhole National Register of Historic Places listings in Assumption Parish, Louisiana Isleños in Louisiana#Valenzuela Troy E. Brown Samuel A. LeBlanc I J. E. Jumonville Sr.

References