Juneteenth 2021: The Drum

STATE

Approximately 50% of new HIV diagnoses in the United States and dependent areas are in the South, despite these areas comprising only one-third of this country’s entire population. An estimated 1.2 million people 13 years of age and older are living with HIV in the United States. According to HIV.gov, Baton Rouge ranks number one nationally among cities with the highest HIV rates, and New Orleans ranks third. More than 21,000 people in Louisiana are living with HIV, and more than half of them have AIDS. “African Americans make up 32% of the population in Louisiana, but comprised 66% of newly diagnosed HIV cases and 74% of newly diagnosed AIDS cases in 2019,” said Stacy Greene, MD, infectious disease lead at DePaul Community Health Centers in New Orleans.

BATON ROUGE

The East Baton Rouge Council on Aging opened the doors to its Ageless Circle located in a once blighted fire station on Gus Young Avenue. The Ageless Circle is the home of an intergenerational mentoring program that partners seniors with disenfranchised youth to focus on improving academic performance; teach social etiquette and financial literacy; reduce and prevent substance abuse in young adults; and also provide community service opportunities.

The Ageless Circle is the place “where two generations meet in the

ACROSS LOUISIANA

middle of the circle of life.” This program helps reduce the isolation that seniors combat daily while providing area youth with a chance to interact with seniors through planned interactive activities and mentoring opportunities.

“It has been an amazing journey to witness the transformation of the fire station into this hi-tech, state-of-the-art intergenerational center,” said Tasha Clark-Amar, CEO of EBRCOA.

HAMMOND

Community activist Pat Morris spoke at the annual M. C. Moore Foundation event last month and provided an update on the ongoing Joyce Moore vs. Tangipahoa Parish School Board lawsuit. Morris said, “This case is almost over and it’s all about the children getting the best education they can.” A press release released by the school board earlier this spring indicated that U.S. Eastern District Court Judge Ivan Lemelle had granted the board “provisionary” unitary status. According to Nelson Taylor, who is the plaintiff attorney, the school board has not met the requirements of unitary status beyond transportation and extracurricular activities. And, the board hasn’t even claimed that it has, he said. He said the school board submitted several plans to the court asking for unitary status without telling the court how the plans would be impacted desegregation. The court declined to approve the plans and ordered the board to resubmit and include information as to how the plan impacted on desegregation. Taylor said the board failed to respond adequately, and the court never granted unitary status.

However, the board’s press release stated Lemell found that the district has set forth a plan to comply with desegregation orders that would allow it to advance toward final unitary status following a three-year probationary period. A school district is unitary when it has eliminated the effects of past segregation. In 1965, M. C. Moore and Henry Smith, initiated a class action lawsuit on behalf of their children and Black parents, children, and teachers after the Tangipahoa Parish School Board ignored groundbreaking decision Brown v. Board of Education for 10 years. The case was dormant for decades until reactivated in 2007 through the efforts of the Tangipahoa Parish Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, led by Morris at that time. This desegregation case has cost Tangipahoa Parish Schools more than $3 million. It is one of the country’s last-remaining school desegregation cases

NEW ORLEANS

On Friday, June 18, 2021, Black Voters Matter brought to New Orleans the pre-launch its Freedom Rides for Voting Rights, a voter outreach campaign to engage Black voters and build Black voting power across the South. BVM will board its signature “Blackest Bus in America” for a voter outreach tour from New Orleans to Washington D.C., making stops in key southern states to rally with partner organizations, meet with voters, and discuss the issues impacting their communities.

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MADA MCDONALD ZENOBIA REED LAKEESHIA G. LUSK

FRANCES Y. SPENCER EZEKIEL WRIGHT CRYSTAL JENKINS CANDACE J. SEMIEN CORA LESTER

JUNETEENTH

More slave narratives come alive in Southern University’s archives

THE JOHN B. CADE LIBRARY AT SOUTHern University recently expanded its online archive of narratives told by former enslaved Blacks in interveiws by federal workers in the 1930s.

These narratives further a collection that had been compiled by former dean John Cade who, in 1929 and 1930, sent students to gather personal accounts while the former slaves were still alive. In 2014, the library digitized and posted more than 200 narratives.

This spring, the university added 50 testimonies of former slaves living in Louisiana who were part of interviews conducted by the Works Progress Administration.

The WPA narratives come mostly from people in New Orleans, Gretna and Alexandria as part of the WPA’s Federal Writers’ Project, which collected interviews, articles and notes on Black life in the South, explained Angela V. Proctor, the university’s head archivist and digital librarian.

She and two staff members have made the typewritten, original WPA stories accessible for researchers and the public.

The Louisiana Works Progress Administration Slave Narratives collection consists of 50 oral histories of first-person accounts of originals and some reproductions of Ex-Slaves Interviews ranging in 2- 19 pages in

length. The narratives represented all slave occupations and small plantation farms. Most of the respondents were elderly and the average age was 85, with two to four of the respondents claimed to be 100 or more years of age. All had been freed some decades before they were interviewed. Most had known slavery only in childhood or as an older youth. The Louisiana Works Progress Administration narratives were collected and dated in the 1940s as part of the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration, later renamed Works Projects Administration. This collection of narratives is representative of the State of Louisiana and is arranged in a series of five locations. Within each series, the names of the ex-slaves are arranged alphabetically. The series arrangement consists of the following: Alexandria, Gretna, McDonoughville, and New Orleans. The Archives Department of the John B. Cade Library digitized the narratives from the originals and reproductions and made them publicly available. This online col-

lection is a presentation from the Archives, Manuscripts, and Rare Books Department, John B. Cade Library, of Southern University and A&M College. Unlike the Cade collection, the LWPA narratives mimicked the spelling and grammar of the speakers, and Proctor added footnotes to translate the passages into standard English.

The narratives tell how slaves lived, the work they did, and the cruelties they experienced.

It is apart from the library’s original slave literature titled, “Opinions Regarding Slavery: Slave Narratives. 1822-1865.”

“We are really excited and pleased to share the slave narratives with the scholarly community and look forward to working with those conducting research on this subject,” said Emma Bradford Perry, dean of libraries, when the university compiled the first study of collecting slave’s narratives by Cade.

Cade’s interest in the utilization of

the accounts of ex-slaves was initially aroused by the controversy over the nature of the slave regime and, in particular, by remarks reportedly made by U.B. Phillip; who reportedly stated that “Negroes for the most part did not mind slavery.”

In order to have a complete picture of the conditions during slavery and civil war times, Cade assigned each student in an extension class the task of asking questions to each former slave. The narratives are of historical value for they contain firsthand accounts of social conditions of slave life from those who had firsthand knowledge. They provided the name of state and county in which they were slaves; name or names of owners; the type of slaves they were; home and family life of the slaves, especially marriage, etc.; food eaten; punishments; working conditions; amusements of the slaves; religious life; superstitions and customs of slaves; and any other pertinent information they could give.

The preliminary study conducted at Southern was expanded during the early years of the Depression under Cade’s direction, and the results of those interviews were later summarized in Cade’s article “Out of the Mouths of Ex-Slaves” published in The Journal of Negro History. There were 36 interviewers in this project.

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Cade taught one course in history and he also travelled every Saturday during the school year to various Louisiana communities including St. Joseph, Monroe, Bastrop, Minden, and Ruston, to conduct interviews.

The success of this project stimulated an attempt by Cade in 19351938 to conduct a similar study at Prairie View A&M University.

The 1935 Prairie View Slave narrative collection contains 17 states including the Indian Territory, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma Territory, and Canada. There were approximately 125 people interviewed.

Proctor said the combined collections are one-of-a-kind, and she hopes that the public takes advantage of the slave narratives.

To access the slave narratives log onto the Southern University Library website at www.lib.subr.edu. Click on the right ad featuring the Slave Narrative at http://star.lib. subr.edu. To access the LWPA collection, visit http://7008.sydneyplus. com/final/Portal/SouthernUniversity.aspx?component=AABC&re cord=2f873168-af50-444d-8039e2b7450cb6d3

The archives department is located on the third floor in the John B. Cade library in Baton Rouge.

JOYCE JACKSON

CADE

SLU art gallery features John Isiah Walton’s Black Paintings exhibit

THE DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL ART + Design at Southeastern Louisiana University will host an art exhibit by New Orleans based artist JOHN ISIAH WALTON titled “Black Paintings: Cybernetic Folklore, Place, + Spirit” at the university’s Contemporary Art Gallery, located at 100 East Strawberry Stadium.

The exhibition is free and open to the public from June 14 – Sept. 2 and will include over 30 largescale paintings by Walton over the last two years. Contemporary Art Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 12 to 4 p.m., during the summer, and Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, and Friday 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. during the fall.

As part of the exhibit, a collaborative animated music video and works on paper by Walton are also included, said Gallery Director Cristina Molina. The exhibition, she said, derives its title from the form and subject matter depicted in Walton’s artwork.

“Referencing Picasso’s ‘Blue Peri-

New Orleans based artist John Isiah Walton’s art exhibit titled “Black Paintings: Cybernetic Folklore, Place, + Spirit” is featured at the Southeastern Louisiana University Contemporary Art Gallery, located at 100 East Strawberry Stadium. Free and open to the public, the exhibition is scheduled June 14 to Sept. 2 and includes over 30 largescale paintings by Walton over the last two years.

od,’ Isiah’s recent paintings uniformly begin with a grounding of black acrylic pigment, which are then layered with white outlines and swift, colorful brushstrokes,” Molina explained. “Working in a reactionary manner, Isiah’s visual language is influenced by internet aesthetics, Black identity, pop culture, and Louisiana history to deliver poignant social commentary and a reflection of our contemporary moment.”

Walton has presented solo exhibi-

tions at The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, The Front, New Orleans, Brooklyn, Barrister’s Gallery and Graham, N.C. Selected group shows include Tulane University; New Orleans Museum of Art; Art Lab Akiba, Ginza, Tokyo; and Untitled Art Projects, Los Angeles.

A co-founder of Level artist collective, Walton has been a member of both the Second Story Gallery and The Front,

LSU MUSEUM OF ART COLLECTIONS

Committee Chair BEN JEFFERS takes a closer look at recent acquisitions in LSU MOA collections storage. These artworks are now on view in the current exhibition, “COLLECTION SPOTLIGHT: RECENT ACQUISITIONS BY BLACK ARTISTS.”

The exhibit which hangs at the Shaw Center for the Arts in Dowtown Baton Rouge closes September 26.

It features works by Radcliffe Bailey, Whitfield Lovell, Madelyn SneedGrays, Mario Moore, and Gordon Parks, among other recently acquired works.

At right, Jeffers is viewing a selfportrait titled “Two Strikes” by Sneed-Grays who said she created this work in response to rarely seeing herself in artistic spaces. These acquisitions were made possible by The Winifred and Kevin P. Reilly Initiative for Underrepresented Artists. This CAUGHT YOU photo was captured by Jordan Hefler and posted on the LSU MOA Facebook Page.

ONLINE: LSUMOA.ORG

A closing reception is scheduled Sept. 2 at 5 p.m. in the gallery to celebrate the exhibition. Musical guests Kumasi Afrobeat will play a selection of songs from their new al-

New Orleans. He has lectured about his work to students of the graduate program at UNC, Chapel Hill.

bum, “Live from Marigny Studios,” the cover of which Walton designed. The music video included in the exhibition, “Cabilao,” was inspired by Walton’s paintings and produced by Kumasi in part by Southeastern students.

COVID recovery grants available for Baton Rouge businesses

A new small business recovery program is now available to Baton Rouge business owners.

In August, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and program partners announced a $1 million microgrant program for small businesses in East Baton Rouge Parish called The Resilient Restart EBR program which is still available for businesses.

The program aims to help locally based small businesses financially affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Business owners can apply at www. urbanleaguela.org/restartebr

The Resilient Restart EBR Program will support small businesses who are classified as low-to-moderate income individuals based on HUD guidelines, as well as, those who own and operate a business in a low-to-moderate income census tract in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Special consideration will be given to eligible minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, and veteran service-disabled-owned firms.

“Small businesses and microenterprises account for nearly 80% of our local economy and employ many of our residents. The coronavirus pandemic placed an unprecedented financial burden on our businesses — many did not receive federal assistance from the Payroll Protection Program or SBA Loans,” said Mayor Broome. “Through the collaboration of leaders in our community, we were able to join together and create a program to offer assistance to our small businesses when they need it most, and without the burden of repayment.”

Qualifying microenterprises and small businesses who apply will receive one-time grants of $2,500. The grant awards do not require repay-

ment, and can be used for assisting with rent, utilities, inventory, accounts payable, fixed costs, employee wages, and benefits.

The $1 million program’s funding is derived from the CARES Act through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program; the Louisiana Office of Community Development; Investar Bank; GMFS Mortgage; Urban League of Louisiana; ExxonMobil; and Postlethwaite & Netterville.

“The coronavirus pandemic presented unprecedented adversities to the State of Louisiana — especially the Baton Rouge community and it’s small business owners. Our community’s recovery will take dedication and participation from both our state and our local government,” said State Representative Ted James. “ I am glad that the state could join Mayor Broome in her effort to provide support, and funding for our small businesses and microenterprises. This effort is helping us close the gap for our community.”

In addition to grant funds, the Resilient Restart EBR Program will offer access to entrepreneurial support services through The Urban League of Louisiana’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at no cost to micro-grant recipients.

Support services include:

-Small Business Education

-One-On-One Business Counseling

-Comprehensive Business Planning and Support

-Loan Packaging

-Business Certifications

Eligibility requirements and program applications are available at: www.urbanleaguela.org/restartebr.

Urban Market Experience hosts first of planned business expos

HAMMOND—ACROSS THE NATION, THE murder of George Floyd inspired leaders to do something different to support and build Black communities. In Hammond, his death sparked the start of the Urban Market Experience which encourages Hammond area residents to support Black businesses, said executive director Brandi Jones.

With the temperatures hovering around 90 degrees, it was a hot summer day when the UMX held their second annual business expo in downtown Hammond on May 15. Tents lined Railroad Avenue where business owners displayed and sold their products. Crystal Stanley, (at right) owner of Stanley Snowball, prepares a sweet, fruit snowball for Darrin Thomas of Baton Rouge. More than

two hundred people participated, Jones said. Organizers plan to host the event monthly following the pandemic.

Amazon’s move to Cortana Mall site to bring 1,000 jobs initially

AMAZON WILL BUILD A $200 MILLION “MAJOR robotics fulfillment center” in Baton Rouge on the former site of the Cortana Mall, Gov. John Bel Edwards.

The project will create over 1,000 new direct jobs, about 1,100 new indirect jobs and 800 construction jobs in the capital city, Edwards said.

“Today’s announcement is the latest in a pattern of high profile announcements — a sign that Louisiana’s economy is roaring back with the same confidence and the same momentum that we enjoyed early last year just before the pandemic,” Edwards said.

The facility — which will also operate as a de-

livery station for Amazon — is scheduled to be completed by December 2022.

Louisiana Economic Development offered Amazon an incentive package that included a $5 million “performance-based grant” for the project.

“This project undoubtedly showcases the successes of our effort to attract investments to our community,” Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome said Wednesday. “Today serves as a testimony to the importance of public-private partnerships and the transformative change they can bring about to address our community’s most challenging problems.”

A THREAD: Examining Juneteenth

We can opt to celebrate, but we should also examine why this measure sped through legislation and several other matters of systemic change for Black Americans get left on the Congressional floor or is only the rallying cry of a minority of elected officials.

When reparations to the descendants of enslaved Africans is considered a debate, but no one ever mentions that reparations were granted to slave owners who “lost property” when the Civil War ended.

Or when objections to critical race theory in American classrooms become the temper tantrum that “preservationists” of history throw upon the mere mention of the phrase.

Or the fact that any measure of systemically improving the quality

of life for Black Americans, be it policing or housing or education or healthcare, has to be handed off from administration to administration, and whatever level of seriousness the measure is offered is based on who is occupying the House and Senate at that time, with inaction being the result regardless of what side of the binary has majority leadership.

And I believe there continues to be a generational disconnect between freedom fighters of yesterday and Black politicians of today when it comes to “keeping our eyes on the prize.” The “prize” was never tokenism. Never show-n-tell political stunts posing as progress.

The “prize” was always a fully

recognized citizenship that had equitable access to every quality of life metric that is alleged to make this country great. The correct response to this season of “racial reckoning” is not political stunts.

But this on-brand with how America has always played games with Black folks emotions. Another example of an abusive lover bringing us flowers to shield the black eyes it gives us time and again.

DONEEY ROSE PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, MARYLAND.

Donney Rose is a writer and organizer from Baton Rouge.He serves as chief content editor at The North Star Media Group, a liberation-oriented media outlet. ONLINE: donneyrosepoetry.com

Declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday is not enough

As President Biden noted in his proclamation declaring today a federal holiday: “Juneteenth is a day of profound weight and power.”

It is indeed a celebration of freedom. It is a time to reflect and to honor.

This federal holiday designation means that the history and meaning of Juneteenth may be on the minds of people across this country who have never talked about or learned about it before.

Unfortunately, a designation as a federal holiday doesn’t change the heartbreaking history of Juneteenth and the systemic effects that 400 years of slavery imparted upon this country and the descendants of the enslaved. We have a long, long way to go to advance racial equity and heal the wounds of our past. And, we do have to contextualize this. Juneteenth has become a national holiday in a time when

voter suppression measures continue to deny Black Americans and other people of color full participation and access in our democracy, state legislatures are passing legislation to ban the teaching of critical race theory in schools, police continue to commit acts of violence against those they are supposed to protect and serve, and the racial wealth gap remains wider than before.

That’s why our work is more important than ever. We must ensure that this nation’s commitment to advance racial equity is both in word and in deed. We may not all be at fault for what happened in the past, but we all have a responsibility to help our nation heal and to take steps to move forward.

Onward, MITCH LANDRIEU NEW ORLEANS Online: www.unumfund.org

Editor’s Note: After reading a thread of posts on social media about Juneteenth, The Drum invited Baton Rouge native, writer and poet Donney Rose to share the string of posts with readers. Here they are in the order of the thread from @donney_rose.

ROSE

LANDRIEU

For many African Americans celebrating Juneteenth is and was never a one-day event. We celebrate Juneteenth at family reunions, birthday parties, weddings, and countless other events.

We celebrate Juneteenth whenever our descendants graduate from college or start a new business. We celebrate Juneteenth on family Sundays-- a tradition going back in

my family for multiple generations. As American descendants of slavery, we must make sure that noncommercial traditions of Juneteenth are passed down from this generation to the next.

Now that Juneteenth is a federal and state holiday, we should enhance our efforts. Let us not forget the real purpose of the holiday. As we celebrate Juneteenth 2021 and beyond, remember the People who received the “good news” in Galveston, TX. Do not forget the people who were still “enslaved” on the plantation long after the news of freedom was delivered in 1865. Do not forget the people who are still enslaved today.

This June 19th, let us gather to celebrate freedom by remembering those who did not have the opportunity to have an open celebration then and now.

Let us research our family history by creating and sharing a family tree. Let us gather around the picnic table to eat and take the time to plan for generational wealth. Let us take a road trip to our ancestors’ homes and property and devise a plan to keep it in the family.

Let us celebrate the freedom seekers who ran away to the swamps and bayous by planting a tree in their honor. Let us celebrate the near 200,000 African Americans who served in the Civil War, visit their graves, make sure they are clean and cared for, and thank them for their service.

Some of us are given a paid day off to reflect, remember, and honor. And just like the first Juneteenth, some of us are not afforded a day of rest. The fight continues until victory is won.

GAYNELL BRADY OUR MAMMY’S NEW ORLEANS

Gaynell Brady is owner-educator at Our Mammy’s History and Geneaology, where she shares the stories of Louisiana’s African Americans through the lens of the her ancestors. Visit www.

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Tangipahoa Parish President Robby Miller declared June 5 as Ms. VIRGINIA “JENNY” BAKER Day in recognition of the longtime parish employee who retired after 42 years of service. Baker’s career with the parish began in May 1979, while the parish was still under the Police Jury form of government. She was hired as an accounting clerk under the Ceta program. In January, 1994, then-Parish President Gordon A. Burgess promoted Baker and appointed her as the accounting office manager for the parish. Less than 18 months later, she was promoted again, this time to the position of head accountant/office manager for Tangipahoa Parish Government.

JUANITA POWELL BARANCO, of Shreveport, was recently inducted as a Georgia Trustee by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and th Georgia Historical Society on June 5. This recognition acknowledges Georgians whose accomplishments and community service reflect the highest ideals of the founding body. This is the highest honor the State of Georgia can confer. Baranco is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Baranco Automotive Group, which she founded with her husband Gregory in 1978. They own several car dealerships in Georgia and Louisiana including Mercedes-Benz of Covington. She is a former assistant attorney General for the state of Georgia and was the first Black woman to chair the Georgia Board of Regents.

SATURN DOUGLAS has been appointed the director of recruitment and retention for the Southern University College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences. She was the recruitment and retention counselor for the SU College of Ag, an outreach recruitment

counselor for the TRiO-Educational Talent Search, academic advisor/retention coordinator for the Southern University – SUSLA Connect Program, and an admissions recruiter for the university. She earned a bachelor of arts in communications studies with a minor in social sciences from California State University, Northridge and a master’s of arts in mass communications from Southern University and A&M College.

Gov. John Bel Edwards joined the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus for the inaugural Gov. Pickney Benton Stewart “P.B.S.” Pinchback Breakfast honoring retired Louisiana Supreme Court CHIEF JUSTICE BERNETTE JOSHUA JOHNSON on June 3. Former Acting Gov. Pinchback is Louisiana’s first Black governor, and this year marks the 100th anniversary of his death. The celebration was held to honor his life and legacy and to present Johnson with the P.B.S. Legacy Award. She is the first Black American and second woman to serve in that position on the Louisiana Supreme Court. “The recognition of Gov. Pinchback’s importance in history is long overdue... Like him, she is a trailblazer who has had an exemplary legal career working more than 50 years as a lawyer, 36 years as a distinguished jurist, 26 years on the state’s highest court, eight of which she served as chief justice,” said Edwards.

The LOUISIANA LEGISLATIVE WOMEN’S CAUCUS announced its officers for 2021-2022.

Senate President Pro Tempore BETH MIZELL, District 12-Franklinton, has been reelected as chairwoman to lead the 27-member group of women legislators. Other Women’s Caucus officers are: Senate Vice Chair SEN. SHARON HEWITT, Slidell; House Vice Chair REP. C.

DENISE MARCELLE, Baton Rouge; Immediate Past Chair SEN. REGINA ASHFORD BARROW, Baton Rouge; Secretary REP. AIMEE ADATTO FREEMAN, New Orleans; Treasurer REP. BARBARA CARPENTER, Baton Rouge; Parliamentarian Rep. Malinda White, Bogalusa; Member at Large REP. MARY DUBUISSON, Slidell; and Chaplain REP. VALARIE HODGES, Denham Springs

KELSEY MAJOR of St. Mary’s Dominican High School as its 2020-21 Gatorade Louisiana Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Major is the third Gatorade Louisiana Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from St. Mary’s Dominican High School. The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Major as Louisiana’s best high school girls soccer player. The 5-foot-5 junior forward scored 26 goals and passed for 19 assists this past season, leading St. Mary’s Dominican (22-1-1) to the Division 1 state final. She was the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year winner in girls cross country this past fall, a First Team AllState honoree, the Division 1 Offensive Player of the Year, and a United Soccer Coaches AllRegion selection.

In recognition of Juneteenth, Raising Cane’s and founder Todd Graves contributed $100,000 to THE 100 BLACK MEN OF METRO BATON ROUGE, INC. The 100 is recognized as the nation’s top African American-led mentoring organization.

Entertainment executive, educator, and entrepreneur REGINA SHOWERS-GORDON, of Hammond, was recently precented The Annie

Award. Showers-Gordon established Gospel record lable AP Records, Faith Star Radio, Gloss Enterprise, and Petra College. Since Petra College’s inception, more than 300 students have graduated as medical assistants, certified nursing assistants, and phlebotomists. The award was established in 1998 in honor of the late Southeastern Louisiana University administrator Anne Ferguson. It recognizes Tangipahoa Parish women who work in excellence and have a true servant’s heart for the community.

Texas Southern University has named BRIAN SIMMONS as the new director of The Ocean of Soul Marching Band and an instructor in the Music Department. He will step into this new role on July 5, 2021. A native of New Orleans, Simmons earned a bachelor of music and master of educational leadership from Southern University. He also serves as an adjudicator and clinician to middle and high school bands nationwide.

Shreveport native JOHN H. STEWART IV, MD, has been named center director of the LSU Health New Orleans/LCMC Health Cancer Center. He will set the overall mission, vision, and direction for multidisciplinary cancer care and cancer clinical research programs for LSU Health New Orleans and LCMC Health. He and his team will develop a cancer clinical trials program, leverage resources to build an innovative targeted cancer research enterprise, and create a comprehensive community outreach and engagement program to reduce cancer risk behaviors and cancer incidence. He will also be a professor of surgery at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine. He is a graduate of Louisiana Tech and Howard University School of Medicine..

SHOWERS GORDON

BARANCO

BAKER

DOUGLAS

MAJOR

SIMMONS STEWART