Southeast Louisiana Review issue features range of topics, short story
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
by: Rene Abadie
HAMMOND – The newest issue of the "Southeast Louisiana Review" has been released featuring studies on antebellum education in the Florida parishes, the working lives of the Washington Parish African American community members from 1920-1940, and the presence of Native Americans in the Florida Parishes.
The Review, a cultural and historically oriented publication by the Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies at Southeastern Louisiana University, also contains a short story by novelist Dayne Sherman.
"This particular issue celebrates specific aspects of the rich cultural diversity that characterizes our region," said Samuel C. Hyde Jr., managing editor and director of the Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies.
The publication costs $10 and can be ordered by calling the Center at 985-549-2151 or by email to selahistory@southeastern.edu.
In an article titled "Antebellum Education in Louisiana's Florida Parishes," Sarah Hyde, assistant professor at River Parishes Community College, counters a long-held contention that formal education in the South received little emphasis in the pre-Civil War era. Her research reveals that in the antebellum Florida Parishes, the education of children was a foremost consideration for parents and policy makers, whether it was home-based or in more traditional school settings.
In the article, "Prosperity and Peril in the Piney Woods: An Analysis of Washington Parish's African American Community, 1920-1940, historian Reginald Spann notes that black residents of the region did not enjoy opportunities for an education – even into the 20th Century. Even so, Spann's research in Washington Parish indicates black residents learned to advance themselves both socially and economically. While relying on census data and other primary sources, the study suggests that, with the exception of voting, black residents advanced their condition in every sense.
Also in the publication, teacher and amateur archaeologist Jason Glenn Thompson presents a hands-on explanation of the Florida Parishes' first inhabitation by various tribes of Native Americans that lived in the area for thousands of years. Thompson documents the sites he personally visited and includes maps and photographs of his findings.
The Review also includes the short story "Witness: A Louisiana Short Story" by Sherman, placed in the author's imaginary Louisiana locale, Baxter Parish. Sherman is a reference librarian at Southeastern and has recently published his second novel, "Zion."
