The Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana will celebrate Black History Month with a virtual presentation featuring New Orleans native Bernice Alexander Bennett, author of Black Homesteaders of the South. The recorded presentation will be available on YouTube and Facebook on Wednesday, February 22, 2023.
The presentation will profile Black homesteaders from nine Louisiana parishes: Ascension, Bossier, Claiborne, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Livingston, St. Helena, Washington, and West Feliciana. Viewers will learn about formerly enslaved men and women and their journeys to land ownership between 1870 and 1920.
“We honor Louisiana’s rich Black history and culture each year with the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “This year’s program will highlight the contributions made by the many Black homesteaders whose names were previously lost to history.”
Bernice Alexander Bennett is an award-winning author and genealogist, a nationally recognized guest speaker and storyteller, and the producer-host of the BlogTalkRadio podcast Research at the National Archives and Beyond! She is the first recipient of the Ida B. Wells Service Award given by the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage for her dedication to broadcasting stories about enslaved and indentured ancestors of African descent.
Bennett is a former member of the Board of Directors for the National Genealogical Society, co-founder and faculty member of the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute, and a volunteer with the Homestead National Historical Park Service. She is a descendant of Homesteader Peter Clark of Livingston Parish and is committed to encouraging other descendants to write and share their family stories.
At the beginning of this month, Bennett spoke at the National African American Museum of History and Culture where she discussed her book and how black genealogists networked through social media to trace their ancestors’ footsteps in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Bennett is also the author of Tracing Their Steps: A Memoir and a contributor to Our Ancestors, Our Stories.
Black Homesteaders of the South is available for purchase through Cavalier House Books, the Louisiana Book Festival’s bookseller. Use code BHM2023 for a 20% discount at checkout.
The Louisiana Center for the Book, established in the State Library of Louisiana in 1994 for the purpose of stimulating public interest in reading, books, literacy, and libraries and celebrating Louisiana’s rich literary heritage, is the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. For more information, please visit LouisianaBookFestival.org and follow us on Facebook.