NEW IBERIA, La. --- The Iberia African American Historical Society (IAAHS) was awarded a Rebirth Grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities to host the Queen Mother Moore Legacy Symposium and Celebration to honor Audley Moore, known as Queen Mother Moore, on Wednesday, July 27, 2022.
This is the first time that a commemoration program will be held in her honor in New Iberia where she was born 124 years ago. The event is free and open to the public.
Program:
The all-day celebration features a symposium at the Sliman Theatre for the Performing Arts (129 E Main St.). The presentation will be live-streamed and will include leading scholars on Queen Mother Moore and African American Preservation initiatives:
- Ashley D. Farmer, Ph.D., Professor in the African and African Diaspora Studies Department at the University of Texas Austin, who is currently finishing a biography on Queen Mother Moore and has written extensively about her life.
- Akinyele Umoja, Ph.D., Professor in African American Studies at Georgia State University, who has written about Queen Mother Moore and the Reparation Movement, and worked closely with her as a mentee.
- Cassie S. Turnipseed, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History at Jackson State University, a leading scholar in African American public history, preservation of Civil Rights activists in the South, and radical pan-African initiatives.
After the presentation, Jayd Buteaux, marketing and program manager at the Shadows on the Teche, will introduce a self-guided walking tour of Main Street highlighting New Iberia's African American history.
Carl Cooper, president of Envision da Berry, will lead a discussion on Black business development in the area at Da Berry Fresh Market (520 S Hopkins St.). Tiffany Caesar, Margaret Walker Center Mellon Scholar, will perform her original children's story on Queen Mother Moore (location will be announced at a later date).
John Reedom, a local historian and New Iberia musician, will lead the closing ceremony at the Sliman Theatre.
Supporting organizations include the Nelson Mandela Museum, Margaret Walker Center, Ernest Gaines Center, Shadows-on-the-Teche, and Envision da Berry.
About Queen Mother Moore:
Born in New Iberia on July 27, 1898, Queen Mother Moore was a pan-Africanist, civil rights activist, theorist, African liberation leader and educator. She was a founder of the reparation movement that is now being discussed in the H.R. 40 Bill.
She founded multiple organizations like the Universal Association of Ethiopian Women and she was a founding member of the Republic of New Afrika. She was a founder of the Committee for Reparations for Descendants of U.S. Slaves, a founder of the African American Cultural Foundation, president of the Federation of African People, a founder of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church of North and South America, founder of the Harriet Tubman Association, and a lifetime member of the National Council of Negro Women appointed by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.
Queen Mother Moore's legacy is celebrated globally with honors from Ghana and humanitarian friendships with Nelson and Winnie Mandela. There was even a school named after her in London.
About The Iberia African American Historical Society:
The mission of The Iberia African American Historical Society is to foster the appreciation, understanding, and teaching of the long, rich, and unique history of African Americans in Iberia Parish; and also, by example and through programs and activities, to encourage and promote research, preservation, and publication of historical materials related to the history of African Americans in Iberia Parish. The IAAHS is a not-for-profit organization that funds special programs and events through donations. For more information, visit
IAAHS.org.
###
