Iberia African American Historical Society "Celebrating the True and Inclusive History of Iberia Parish"
NEW IBERIA, La. — The Shadows-on-the-Teche was recently awarded a Rebirth Grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities to offer a fall lecture series centered on education in Louisiana. For the first of this three-part series, Ruth Foote will lead a discussion on the 76 black students who integrated the University of Louisiana at Lafayette 70 years ago. The lecture will take place on Thurs., Sept. 19, at 5:30 p.m. at the Shadows Visitor Center (320 E. Main St., New Iberia).
Ruth Foote, author, historian, Iberia African American Historical Society member and community volunteer is an award-winning journalist who served as the co-founder and editor of Creole Magazine. Ms. Foote has also written for The Current, The Acadiana Advocate and The Times of Acadiana. She received her M.A. in Public History from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
In April 1954, a month before the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Western District of Louisiana ordered the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then known as the Southwestern Louisiana Institute, to admit African American students into its fold. The permanent injunction, in the case known as Constantine v. SLI, came in July 1954, two months after Brown. The federal court’s decision resulted in the university becoming the first higher education institution in the Deep South to desegregate, forever changing the historical landscape and destiny for decades to come.
Light reception begins at 5:30 p.m. with the lecture to follow at 6 p.m. The program is free to attend, but registration is recommended. Attendees can register online.
Additional programs in this series:
- October 5 at 11 a.m. – Schooling in the Antebellum South
Dr. Sarah Hyde will explore private and public education systems before the Civil War in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
- November 7 at 5:30 p.m. – Education and Preservation to Heal Communities
Leona Tate, one of the first African Americans to attend a white-only school in Louisiana and founder of the Leona Tate Foundation for Change, discusses the integration of New Orleans and the impact of historic preservation on healing communities.