NEW IBERIA, La. --- The Shadows-on-the-Teche would like to announce its fall speaker series Telling the Full History, which will feature four respected Louisiana historians. The series will begin on Sat., Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. with a lecture by Charles Vincent, Ph.D., on the topic of Reconstruction in southern Louisiana.
Vincent is currently the Louis-Jetson-Lamar Corporation Professor of History at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge. He received his Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Louisiana State University and has taught at several universities across the South. Vincent has written and spoken extensively on Reconstruction and Jim Crow history in southern Louisiana.
Vincent is the author of Black Legislators in Louisiana during Reconstruction and A Centennial History of Southern University and A&M College, 1880-1980 and co-author of Images of America: Scotlandville. The scholar has been published in numerous professional journals and encyclopedias, presented lectures to a variety of organizations around the country, and served as President of the Louisiana Historical Association.
Vincent will speak onsite at the Shadows Visitor Center (320 E. Main St.). There will be limited seating with required reservations. To reserve a seat, please contact Shadows at (337) 369-6446. The lecture is free to attend and masks are required
The program will also be live streamed via Facebook and Zoom for those who are unable to attend onsite. The public can register
here to receive the link for the Zoom presentation.
Other speakers for the series include:
- Oct. 23: Phebe Hayes, Ph.D., native and life-long resident of Iberia Parish who is a descendant of West Africans enslaved on area plantations, including the Shadows, during the antebellum period. She will discuss Reconstruction and Jim Crow history in Iberia Parish.
- Nov. 6: Kenetha Harrington, Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at Louisiana State University and 2019 National Trust for Historic Preservation summer intern at the Shadows. She will discuss ongoing work on locating genealogical records for descendants of African Americans connected to the Shadows both during times of slavery and after freedom.
- Nov. 13: Ian Beamish, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, who will discuss the need for reinterpretation of sites of enslavement.
Funded through a Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Rebirth Grant, this series is part of the reinterpretation work the Shadows is currently undergoing to tell a more complete history of the site and the people who lived, worked, and were enslaved on the Weeks family plantations.
Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities:
This program is funded under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
About the Shadows-on-the-Teche:
The Shadows-on-the-Teche, National Trust for Historic Preservation site, opened to the public in 1961 with the mission to preserve the buildings, landscape, collections, and historical integrity of the site; to research and interpret through education programs a 19th century southern Louisiana plantation economy and community and their evolution; and to encourage an appreciation of and interest in historic preservation.
The Shadows and the National Trust are not-for-profit organizations that are responsible for their own operating budgets. The Shadows does not receive funding from federal, state, parish, or city government. The site supports itself through admissions, special programs and events, and donations to the Friends of the Shadows. For more information, visit
ShadowsOnTheTeche.org.
