La Francophonie Noire: Louisiana, Haiti, Senegal, and the Bight of Benin
name: label: Collection Collector
content: Maltsby, Portia
label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Program in African American Culture
setName: label: See more items in
content: Program in African American Culture Collection
label: See more items in
content: Program in African American Culture Collection / Series 1: Program Files
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1997 February 5-8
container: label: Container
content: Box 25, Folder 6-7
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Program in African American Culture of the National Museum of American History, in collaboration with the African Voices Project of the National Museum of Natural History, the Anacostia Museum and the Center for African American History and Culture, the Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies, the Louisiana State Museum, and the Black Film Review, presented this symposium and cultural festival.  Program focused on the roots and evolution of the Franco-Creole diaspora in the Americas, from Wednesday, February 5, through Saturday, February 8, 1997, in honor of the sixteenth annual national observance of African American History Month. The program included performances, films, demonstrations, oral histories, conversations, and workshops. The symposium took place from Friday to Saturday, including presentations, panel discussions, roundtable discussion, audience discussions, and performances. 

Participants:

Dignitaries

His Excellency Lucien Tonoukouin, Ambassador of Benin

His Excellency Jean Casimir, Ambassador of Haiti

His Excellency General Mamadou Mansour Seck, Ambassador of Senegal

The Honorable William Jefferson, Congressman, Louisiana's Second District 

Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Ph.D., professor emerita of history, Rutgers University

Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Ph.D., born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Kreiger-Eisenhower Distinguished Professor and chair of the Anthropology Department and director of the Institute for Global Studies in Culture, Power, and History, Johns Hopkins University

Panelists

Liberata Ahimba, culture bearer in the Washington area Senegalese community

Keith Allen Cartwright, English faculty, Coastal Georgia Community College, Brunswick

Irène Assiba d'Almeida, Ph.D., associate professor of French and Francophone African literature, University of Arizona

Wonda Lee Fontenot, Ph.D., administrator and faculty member, University of New Orleans

Jessica B. Harris, Ph.D., faculty member, Office of Special Programs, Queens College

Joseph E. Harris, Ph.D., distinguished professor of history, Howard University

Michael S. Laguerre, Ph.D., professor of anthropology and Afro-American studies, University of California at Berkeley

Gorgui N'Diaye, loan officer, World Bank, Washington, DC

Sulayman S. Nyang, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of African Studies, Howard University; lead developer for the African Voices Project, National Museum of Natural History

Marie M.B. Racine, Ph.D., professor of foreign languages, University of the District of Columbia

Elliot Percival Skinner, Ph.D., Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University

Marie- Thérèse Labossière Thomas, cultural consultant 

Michael Gerard White, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish and instructor of Afro-American music, Xavier University, New Orleans, Louisiana

Herbert Joseph Wiltz, assistant principal, Lafayette High School, Louisiana

Cultural Presenters

Marc A. Christophe, Ph.D. received his M.A. in French from Howard University and his Ph.D. in French from George Washington University

Djimo Kouyate, Griot, is an oral historian and musician of Manding traditions

Thomas "Big Hat" Fields and His Foot Stompin' Zydeco Band are based in Louisiana


The Smithsonian Movement in Classic Jazz Quartet is part of an ensemble composed of Washington, DC - based musicians specializing in early twentieth-century jazz repertory

Program number AC408.100.