With every end comes a new beginning, and with January coming to a close, the new year has a few unprecedented inaugurations.
Sharon Weston Broome was elected the first black woman mayor-president of Baton Rouge just weeks before the city observed its 200th anniversary on Jan. 17, kicking off a yearlong celebration that will commemorate the incorporation and history of Baton Rouge.
“Birthdays are certainly a great time to not only think about where we’ve been as a city, but where we are going, where we are headed,” the new mayor said at the celebration on Jan. 17.
Members of the community and public officials gathered at Town Square and were encouraged to wear red to the Capital City’s bicentennial birthday.
The sea of red sang “Happy Birthday,” the Nick Abraham Band performed and local organizations set up booths
A plaque commemorating the bicentennial is permanently displayed alongside existing memorials in Galvez Plaza.
One of Broome’s main messages throughout her campaign was to unite the community after the events in the summer of 2016.
Broome appointed the Bicentennial Committee to help organize events, lectures and exhibits that will be held throughout the year and also invites organizations to incorporate the celebration into any events they host this year.
Batonrouge200.com allows visitors to submit events for inclusion in the celebration calendar, announces updates and includes a detailed history and interactive time line of Baton Rouge.
Some of the unique events on the calendar are: Old State’s Capitol’s award-winning “River Capital: A History of Baton Rouge” exhibition, World Wide Knit In Public Day, “Faces of the Flood” exhibition and Fifolet Halloween Festival.
The events differ from Baton Rouge’s centennial celebrations in 1917 during World War I.
Shortly after the Historical Society was founded in 1916, the president of the organization mentioned that Baton Rouge had become a municipality in 1817, thus creating a committee to commemorate the 100th anniversary the following year.
The celebrations were held on Jan. 16, 1917 with an opening “Torpedo Parade” formed of sailors starting at North Blvd. and ending at the University campus. Music and lectures from various public figures including the University president at the time, Thomas D. Boyd, followed at the Alumni Hall.
A dress parade and band concert were to perform on the University campus but was cancelled due to rain.
Much like the bicentennial celebration, the centennial events worked to unify the public that was experiencing a “cultural civil war.”
As Baton Rouge progresses forward, the nation faces problems reminiscent of events that took place one hundred years ago in the Roaring Twenties.
According to a history.com article titled “The Roaring Twenties,” the “New Woman” was emerging who fought for women’s rights such as voting, and the anti-communist “Red Scare” encouraged anti-immigrant hysteria that led to the restrictive immigration law, the National Origins Act of 1924, which set immigration measures that excluded some people in favor of others.
The article also discussed, the increasing visibility of black culture in movements such as the Harlem Renaissance that inspired millions of people to join the Klu Klux Klan. In their eyes, the Klan represented a return to all the traditional “values” that the progressive city-slickers were trying to eradicate.
As Broome asked at the Bicentennial Celebration, “How will we shape Baton Rouge for the next 100 years, or the next 200 years?”

Gallery • 1 Photos

Ryan McCarble

9-14-16 Old State Capitol (copy)