A two-day research conference gets underway Friday in Natchitoches that will explore the history of organized resistance to enslavement in North Louisiana. The conference is attracting several hundred historians, students and people who work at historic sites, according to Keilah Spann, programming director for the Cane River National Heritage Area and organizer of this conference titled “Resistance. Escape. Community.”
Spann says the presentations will explore methods used by enslaved people to seek freedom and form community solidarity. Speakers also will trace a variety of viewpoints about slavery in colonial Louisiana.
“It’s always exciting when you can bring new information or previously unknown information to the area. I’m so excited to be able to present the story of this area to the people here,” Spann said, adding the event has been recognized by the U.N. General Assembly’s International Decade for People of African Descent. “A lot of times when you talk about slavery and visit antebellum sites or plantations, you get a very romanticized, Gone With the Wind-esque interpretation.”
Author Sylviane Diouf will speak about maroon communities formed by escaped slaves. Diouf is a curator at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library. The Schomburg Center is a renowned repository on the global black experience.
The conference is free and open to the public. It’s being held at the Natchitoches Events Center.