A century before the civil rights movement of the 1950s, Creole activists in Louisiana fought to establish racial justice as the nation went to war with itself and slavery ultimately crumbled. Belonging to the community of free people of color in New Orleans, they adopted a radical posture in solidarity with the formerly enslaved population. Two successive newspapers, L’Union, founded in 1862, and America’s first black daily La Tribune de la Nouvelle-Orléans (1864-70), played a key role in this mighty struggle. This talk examines how their French-language poetry articulated their vision and explores how we can read these works today.  

About the Speaker:

Clint Bruce just launched his new book Afro-Creole Poetry in French from Louisiana's Radical Civil War–Era Newspapers (2020, The Historic New Orleans Collection) and is assistant professor at Université Sainte-Anne, in Nova Scotia, where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Acadian and Transnational Studies. His research focuses on the Acadian diaspora, on francophone identities in Louisiana, and on the francophone Atlantic world. A native of Shreveport, he holds a doctorate from Brown University, a master’s degree from the City University of New York, Lehman College, and two bachelor’s degrees from Centenary College of Louisiana. His work has appeared in numerous journals, and his previous translations include works by T. Mayheart Dardar, Caryn Cossé Bell, and Jean Arceneaux. 

Pay What You Can: We have made Gallier Gatherings free to attend while in-person programming is paused, but we still have costs associated with putting on this program. We are accepting donations if you are in a position to support our museum. With this money, we will pay honoraria to all current and future presenters and cover overhead expenses such as Zoom and other technological services.