Telling the full story

Published 8:00 am Sunday, October 24, 2021

Local historian Phebe Hayes delved into the history of Iberia Parish’s African-American community Saturday at the Shadows’ Visitors Center as part of the Telling the Full Story lecture series currently being conducted by the Shadows.

The event was the second in what is planned on being a multiple part lecture series. Director Pat Kahle said the series was funded thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.

Hayes, who holds a Ph.D in communication sciences and disorders, is a lifelong Iberia Parish resident who taught at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for more than 20 years. After retirement, Kahle said that Hayes began researching local history which eventually led to the development of the Iberia African-American Historical Society in 2017 for the purpose of researching, commemorating and preserving the history of African-Americans in the parish.

Hayes said that she had been disappointed in history education growing up in Iberia Parish because there was such a lack of information about the history of the local African-American community.

“They taught us the Acadians who came to this area in the mid-1700s,” Hayes said. “And they taught us about the Canary Islanders, but there was nothing about the Africans.

“I realized as I’ve gotten older and began to reflect on how history is taught, we teach what we know,” she added.

If public officials do naot make sure the standards reflect the true history, then its won’t make its way to the education of children, Hayes said.

Hayes said that her work researching primary document has been satisfying especially because the information she discovered about African-Americans living in Iberia Parish over the years has correlated with the information she learned as a child from family members.

“I found documentation to prove what my grandparents told me was all true,” Hayes said. “This was not just family lore or family gossip. I began to realize a lot of these other stories need to be explored and it made me excited.”

Hayes’ lecture dealt with slavery in Iberia Parish, and also touched on Reconstruction as well as the Jim Crow laws tha thappened in the south.

The next Telling the Full Story lecture will feature Kenetha Harrington presenting a talk entitled “Shadow Work: The Secret lives of an Enslaved Community on a Louisiana Sugar Plantation” on Saturday, November 6 at 2 p.m.

Harrington, a professor, will speak onsite at the Shadows Visitor Center. There will be limited seating with required reservations. To reserve a space, please contact Shadows at 369-6446. Masks are required for those attending the seating at the Shadows Visitor Center.