Colonels unveil 2019 Signing Crop
February 6, 2019
Benjamin Chabert
February 6, 2019
The Finding Our Roots African American Museum in Houma is celebrating its second anniversary February 9th, honoring pioneers in education, football and music.
Margie Scoby, the museum’s president, said the day will also include the unveiling of a historical marker, as well as the first set of patron (donor) bricks, to fete the tri-parish’s home to African American History, housed in “The Fifth District Academy”, the 128 year old site of the first high school for African Americans in Terrebonne Parish, located at 918 Roussell Street.
The anniversary will kick off at 10:30 a.m. and Scoby expects it to last till 4 p.m. Food and beverage vendors will selling, as well as vendors displaying African American arts and crafts.
Musician Leo Nocentelli is the featured guest speaker. Also an honoree, Nocentelli, a New Orleans native, is a former member of the meters. He is best known for writing the song,”Fiyo on the Bayou,” which was a big hit for The Neville Brothers.
Other musicians who will be feted include: Thaddeus Richard of Thibodaux, who has performed with legends such as Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Al Green. He was also a star in HBO’s recent Treme Series; Raymond George and Lionel Ruffin of Houma; Steve Perrilloux of St. James, and Houma’s own Justin Patterson (DJ Juice), who will also be performing.
In the education field, the museum will fete Leona Tate of New Orleans. Scoby said she was one of three African American girls who integrated McDonogh No 19 in New Orleans, six years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown vs Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
Scoby said Lynn George will also be honored. She was the first African American student to attend St. Francis De Sales in Houma.
The museum will also recognize the first African American Terrebonne High School Tigerettes: Giezel Stewart, Carmelisa James and Claudette McKay.
And in the world of sports, the museum will also fete former NFL Wide Receiver and Houma native Frank Lewis, who played for the Pittsburg Steelers and Buffalo Bills for 13 seasons.
In September, the museum inducted Bishop Shelton Fabre of the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese. Fabre simultaneously donated 3,000 baptismal records of slaves, and their owners or sponsors, which Scoby called the largest donation of historic documents to the museum.
“And for them to be presented by the diocese’s first African American Catholic Bishop, was even more amazing,” she said.
Also, last summer, more than 20 descendants of 272 slaves Georgetown’s Jesuit priests sold off in 1838, known as GU272, toured the museum in June. Their visit was in part to view the state’s only museum exhibit (thus far) about their history, and to learn about an area where many of their relatives were dislocated.
The day included the museum’s directors releasing the names of three slaves they found, who were part of the 272, as well as one of the museum’s officers, Alvin Tillman, the museum’s vice-president, finding out he too is a descendant.
