Thanksgiving began in solemnity, ended with hope for massacre victims’ family

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November 28, 2017
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November 30, 2017

The traditional holiday this year fell on Nov. 23, which was the 130th anniversary of the Thibodaux Massacre, which saw the murder of 30 to 60 black people in connection with a month-long strike of sugar laborers.

Headed by community leaders from that time including the lieutenant governor of Louisiana, the two-hour shooting occurred at a time of heightened racial tension in a post-Reconstruction Thibodaux after the town became a refugee center for black strikers evicted from plantations in Terrebonne and Lafourche by the Louisiana State Militia.


Thursday’s observances began with a memorial Mass said by the Very Rev. Shelton Fabre, Bishop of Houma-Thiboduax.

Roughly 20 descendants, some wearing ceremonial sashes and white gloves, were present at St. Luke the Evangelist Church. Bearing his shepherd’s crook and ceremonial miter, Bishop Fabre began the service at Noon with observance of a moment of silence. The Thibodaux City Council and Lafourche Parish Council, each of which recently acknowledged and condemned the violence, had encouraged a moment of silence to commemorate the event.

“We remember them. We honor them. And we lift them again to the love of almighty God with the celebration of this Mass,” Bishop Fabre said, referring to the victims. “In this way you, their descendants, as well as the larger community, solemnly declare that they are not forgotten as a footnote to a terrible tragedy in history … “As we remember and honor them, may we also remember that violence is never an answer to any of the challenges that we face as we continue to strive to achieve greater racial harmony and peace.”


Following Mass the descendants gathered at the St. Luke Community Center for a traditional Thanksgiving meal where some spoke as part of a commemorative program. After the meal they formed a traditional New Orleans style second line procession — complete with ceremonial umbrellas and recorded versions of “Just A Closer Walk With Thee.”

Jack Conrad’s sworn statements regarding the massacre were culled from the U.S. National Archives by Times senior staff writer John DeSantis, and were a crucial part of his book, The Thibodaux Massacre: Racial Violence and the 1887 Sugar Cane Labor Strike (History Press, 2016). Statements by Conrad and other Thibodaux residents, made under oath, give details of the violence and detail how regulators — some of the most prominent people in the community at the time — went from house to house and scattered in mobs through the streets “shooting every Negro in sight.”  

Jack Conrad watched his son, Grant Conrad, die from gunshots, and his brother, Marecelin Welton, before watching the attackers move on to other homes.


His descendants, who learned they were part of the history from DeSantis, are involved with him in an effort to locate the remains of victims, believed to be in a mass grave near Peltier and Narrow streets. Details of the project are at LA1887.com.

Wiletta Ferdinand, Jack Conrad’s great-great-granddaughter, said she was grateful the bishop took time to commemorate the event with her family.

“He is our newest advocate. He is our angel,” she said of Bishop Fabre. “When I learned this I was elated that a real live Bishop would think enough of our ancestors to acknowledge this tragedy. Then I thought how proud my grandmother would be. She was also a devout Catholic.” 


Descendants of Thibodaux Massacre survivor and chronicler Jack Conrad stand outside of St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church speak with the Most Rev. Shelton Fabre, Bishop of the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese, following a memorial Mass said Thurs. Nov. 23, the event’s 300th anniversary.

 

James Loiselle