Dupr茅 Library at UL Lafayette will host two programs in celebration of Black History Month on Feb. 21 and Feb. 28.
The first will be celebratory with the second providing hands-on workshops focusing on research materials and methods. An accompanying exhibit is on display in the library entrance and the grand hall on the first floor of the library. The theme for this year鈥檚 Black History Month celebration is 鈥淲e Are Celebrating Black History Month: Researching, Documenting, and Using Technology to Tell the Story.鈥
鈥淚 see the need for all people to research, document and preserve American History. Black History is part of American History. And I believe in life-long learning. You are never too young or too old to learn, and there is so much we can learn from one another,鈥 said Organizer Vivica Pierre.
The morning program on Feb. 21 will be held in the library atrium, 8:30 a.m. 鈥 11:30 a.m. Vocalist Anna Pierre, an UL Lafayette graduate, will open the program. Speakers include Hubert Tate, reporter for KLFY TV; alums Clyde Simien and Rickey Miniex, attorneys; and Danielle Fontenette, Curator/Director of the African American Museum in St. Martinville. Light refreshments will follow this program.
An afternoon program will be held the same day in the Jefferson Caffery Reading Room, third floor of the library from 1 p.m. 鈥 3:45 p.m. Rachel Emanuel, producer/writer of the documentary film Taking a Seat for Justice, will speak about her work.
The programs on Feb. 28 will help those interested in research find birth, marriage, death, and property records. Speakers will also discuss how to gather information for and how to write oral histories. At 8:30 鈥 9:00 a.m., Pierre will present 鈥淩esearch Methods: Project-- Oral Histories & Preserving the Stories of the Black Elderly Men and Women in Southwest Louisiana,鈥 and Dr. Bruce Turner, head of Special Collections at UL Lafayette, will discuss the Oral History Program at the university, the Carlton Collection, and how to become a Friend of the Library. The Carlton Collection contains taped interviews with several participants in Louisiana's Civil Rights Movement.
Workshops will be held throughout the day. At 9 a.m. - 10: 30 a.m., Jennifer Abraham, director of the T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History, Louisiana State University, will speak. At 10:35 a.m. - 11:45 a.m., Bill Stafford, director of Reference Services, Research Library at the Secretary of State Office, will discuss vital records as well as church records, voting records, property records, and African-American genealogy resources. Jean Kiesel, Louisiana Room Librarian, will explain resources for African-American genealogy and history research from 11:45 a.m. - noon.
Walking tours of library resources will take place that afternoon. Sandy Himel, Government Documents Librarian, will introduce the Cajun and Creole Music Collection from 1:30 p.m. 鈥 2 p.m. Alvin Y. Bethard, Microforms Department Supervisor, will explain resources in the Microforms Department from 2 p.m. -2:30 p.m.
Signs in the library will guide participants to the locations of events. For more information, contact Vivica Pierre, Records Management Librarian, at 482-1171.