94-year-old man who grew up on a Louisiana plantation seeks birth certificate that was never issued

HOUSTON — A 94‑year‑old Houston man who grew up on a Louisiana plantation is still trying to obtain a birth certificate he says was never issued. For James Dorsey, the search has lasted decades. Now, he hopes the state will finally recognize his birth.

In an interview with ABC 13, Dorsey says he was born on Aug. 14, 1931, on Ellerbe Plantation in Shreveport, Louisiana, where Black families lived and worked long after slavery ended. He told the news outlet he grew up “as far as you could go on the plantation,” surrounded by fields and labor that shaped his childhood.

James Dorsey’s Childhood Was Shaped by Plantation Labor

According to Dorsey, he began working in the fields around age 8. He recalled picking cotton beside his grandfather, who placed the cotton he gathered into a sack because he was too young to carry much himself. He said manual labor was the only option for Black families living on the plantation during that period.

Dorsey was delivered by a midwife, a common practice on plantations. He says no formal record of his birth was ever created.

James Dorsey Spends A Lifetime Without a Birth Certificate

As an adult, Dorsey discovered he could not locate any official record tied to his birth. He said he visited courthouses and school offices in Louisiana but found nothing documenting his identity.

He moved from Louisiana to Houston in 1956. Over the years, he obtained a Social Security card and a driver’s license, but he still lacks a birth certificate — a document he says represents a missing part of his identity.

When asked what the certificate would mean to him, Dorsey replied, “I couldn’t even pronounce what it would mean.”

Family Files Application With Louisiana Vital Records

Dorsey’s daughter, Barbara Dorsey Curry, recently helped him submit an application through the Louisiana Department of Health’s vital records process. A spokesperson told ABC13 that applicants must follow the standard procedure, but the department did not provide a timeline for when Dorsey might receive an answer.

Curry said the family turned to local news for help after years of uncertainty about how to begin the process. She hopes the state will finally issue the document her father has sought for so long.

A Document That Represents More Than Paperwork

Dorsey says the certificate symbolizes recognition of a life shaped by history, labor and resilience. Born 68 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, he grew up in conditions that reflected the long shadow of slavery in the South.

He says receiving a birth certificate now would close a chapter he has carried for nearly a century.