The LSU community and the public came together yesterday to kick off a five-day bicentennial commemoration of the Louisiana Purchase and celebrate the original mixture of culture that makes up the state’s “gumbo.”
The evening opened with a host of welcomes and thanks from several LSU faculty and staff involved in making the festival a reality.
Executive Vice Chancellor Risa Palm said she was excited about the events to come.
“We will have a greater appreciation of this event known as the Louisiana Purchase,” she said. “We will come to embrace our heritage. We will come to appreciate our diversity. We will come to celebrate this rich legacy which is ours. We will be proud to be Louisianians.”
Paul Hoffman, a history professor and author of six books, delivered the keynote address titled “It’s Not on Jefferson’s Tombstone! Perspectives on the Louisiana Purchase.”
His speech answered the question of why the Louisiana Purchase was not considered by Thomas Jefferson as one of his greatest achievements by giving an extensive background and history of the Louisiana Purchase itself.
After the opening ceremony was a reception hosted by The Stanford Financial Group, followed by a screening of the film “The Scoundrel’s Wife.”
The film takes place in Louisiana in 1942 and deals with the war’s effects on Louisianians.
Yvonne Fuentes, Spanish literature assistant professor and co-organizer of the event, said the festival was 13 months in the making.
“I spoke with my chair, and asked her if there was anything happening for the bicentennial, and could we put a festival together,” she said. “So what started as a very small idea, immediately after grew, where it now includes more than 15 departments, schools and colleges from the University.”
Fuentes, a New York native, said planning the event has been a learning experience.
“I’ve realized ‘My God, this must be one of the richest areas in the country as far as culture,'” she said. “The cultures have not only tolerated each other, but they’ve really created a wonderful gumbo.”
Mathew Zachariah, a computer engineering junior, said he attended the event primarily as a bonus assignment for a course he is taking, but that the topic did interest him.
“Even though I had a class for one whole year in school, this was more in-depth,” he said. “It was interesting to see what kind of history Louisiana has had.”
Raised in India for six years, Zachariah said Louisiana culture is unique because of its diversity.
“I’ve been in Louisiana for the majority of my life, and being in the Louisiana culture is incredible,” he said. “Everywhere in this country you will see a different culture, but I don’t think any state has the diversity of culture that Louisiana does.”
Funding for the event came from several sources, including the Louisiana Endowment of the Humanities and the Arts Council of the Greater Baton Rouge Area.
Discussions and forums will be held throughout the day Thursday and Friday, and Saturday morning in the Hill Memorial Lecture Hall.
Saturday evening marks the beginning of the folk and heritage festival, which will continue through Sunday night.