The Acadian Memorial Foundation has been selected by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities as a host organization for the traveling Smithsonian Exhibition Journey Stories, scheduled for display at Maison Duchamp in St. Martinville, LA from May 28 through July 9, 2011.
Journey Stories tells the stories of how we and our ancestors came to America. America's history is filled with stories of people leaving behind everything to create a new life across an ocean, across the continent, or even in another state. The reasons behind these stories are numerous, with some wanting a better life in a new land. While others had no choice, like the enslaved Africans captured and brought to a new land, or the Native Americans forced off their land by newcomers and sent to live on reservations.
The Smithsonian Museum on Main Street program describes Journey Stories as using "engaging images with audio and artifacts to tell the individual stories that illustrate the critical roles travel and movement have played in building our diverse American society."
The implemenation has been completed and the team has put together relevant event programming and developed a portion of the exhibition for display here in St. Martinville: the portion which will tell the story of OUR community. Who are the people that settled and shaped this area? How and why did they come? What are the results of their settlement and contributions to the community?
The organizingcommittee was composed of Acadian Memorial Foundation members and other community leaders, who have consulted with Dr. Michael S. Martin, tenured Associate Professor of History and SLEMCO/BORSF Professor in Liberal Arts at ULL. You can read more about Journey Stories on the LEH website, in the "Museum on Main Street" section: http://www.leh.org/html/museum.html.
May 28 Opening & Reception - Lecture, Dr. Michael Martin
May 29 Sunday Mass dedication and blessing of the Smithsonian Exhibit in St.Martinville
June 2 Lecture: African Founders of the Teche, Dr. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall
June 9 Lecture: Atakapa/Ishak: Exiled from a Home They Never Left, Dr. Ray Brassieur
June 16 Lecture onCivil War Journey Stories of Two LouisianaWomen, Dr. Mary Farmer-Kaiser
June 17 Lecture: Levert Family Journey, Ira Harkey, III
June 23 Lecture: To Honor Our Veterans: Oral History of World War II Veterans from theBayou Country,Jason Theriot
July 2 Lecture: I'm Comin' Home: Dislocation and Return in the Music of South Louisiana, Kevin Fontenot
July 5 Vignette (one-act) on Acadian Reminiscences (script writer, Christy Maraist)
