River Road African American Museum

Beyond Tribulation

THE RIVER ROAD AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM SHINES LIGHT ON BLACK PERSPECTIVES AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE REGION

By Ariel Baise

A quaint blue building situated in the heart of Donaldsonville holds more history than one can imagine. Settled in the middle of what many call Louisiana’s “plantation country,” the River Road African American Museum (RRAAM) sets out to tell the stories and histories of the region’s Black communities—as Todd Sterling, the River Roads African American Museum’s Board President puts it: “The ascension, the success part, the family part, the cultural part, and the contributions to America and the contributions to Louisiana.”

Kathe Hambrick opened the River Road African American Museum at Tezcuco Plantation in 1994 as an institution to educate the community and interpret the lives of African Americans in rural South Louisiana. After a fire that destroyed Tezcuco, the museum moved to Donaldsonville in 2003, where it continues to advance this mission today, focusing on the narratives of the people and descendants who built and worked at the picturesque, grand plantation homes often seen on local tourism brochures.

The museum highlights how Donaldsonville is home to many Black firsts and prominent figures in Louisiana and even America. In its Louisiana Reconstruction exhibit, the role of African Americans in local affairs during the Reconstruction period is highlighted in the story of Donaldsonville’s Pierre Landry, the first Black mayor in the United States. Also from Donaldsonville was the jazz musician, Plas Johnson, who played the saxophone for “The Pink Panther Theme,” and is featured in the museum’s Rural Roots of Jazz exhibit.

Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Through exhibits like African Influences on LA Cuisine, Rural Black Doctors, Rural Folk Artists, and Louisiana Black Inventors, the museum grants recognition to the contributions of African Americans to American society, many of which went unacknowledged or uncompensated. An example that will soon be on display is the Julien Cane Planter, an early twentieth century invention of Leonard Julien Sr. that revolutionized and industrialized the sugar industry.

More than just telling such stories of iconic African American figures, the RRAAM works to give light to history from a Black perspective beyond slavery and tribulation. “The main thing is to take control of our history,” said Interim Director of RRAAM and brother of the founder Darryl Hambrick. “Take control of the direction and how it plays out into our lives.”

In addition to the museum’s main building, a circa 1890s restored Caribbean-style cottage called the Brazier-Watkins House, the campus includes several historic buildings significant to the history of the region.

“We stand as a way to go to your community and look at historical buildings around you,” said Darryl Hambrick. “Look back at the past… to see how your community was built based on things they had to deal with.”

One ongoing project of the RRAAM is the renovation of a Louisiana Rosenwald School, one of only four remaining buildings of the original four hundred constructed between 1912 and 1932 as part of the Rosenwald Schools Program, which raised schools for African American students in rural areas. The museum’s was moved in 2001 from the Romeville community in Convent, Louisiana.

“It’s looking to be completed within the next three to four months,” said Darryl Hambrick in early January. “It’s a building that we have been working on for fifteen to twenty years.”

Located down the street from the museum in Louisiana Square is the restored shotgun-style office of Dr. John H. Lowery, whose story is also featured in the Rural Black Doctors exhibit. Dr. Lowery, from Plaquemine, was a notable doctor who received his medical degree from New Orleans University in 1894. He served both Black and white patients in the early 1900s. Around the corner is the True Friends Benevolent Hall, a cypress wood venue built by a Black organization. The Brazier-Watkins House was where The Benevolent Society provided medical and burial insurance for local members. It served as a communal gathering place—where events such as concerts and balls and meetings were held—during the Reconstruction era.

To do this important work of preserving African- American history, the museum collaborates on various projects with donors, such as Shell Oil Company, who partnered with the RRAAM to memorialize two slave cemeteries found in sugar cane fields. Shell donated $25,000 for the museum’s twenty-fifth anniversary in 2019 and $300,000 during the summer of 2020. The donations have helped the museum to move forward with finishing the Rosenwald school.

RRAM Board Members—from left to right: Juanita Pearly, Tyrone Smith, and Todd Sterling —with Interim Director Darryl Hambrick.

Photo courtesy of the RRAAM.

Against versions of African American history that are often romanticized or whitewashed, the RRAAM has for years served as a catalyst for telling an authentic version of our history, to tell history from another perspective and open up conversations about it.

In the wake of the summer of 2020’s Black Lives Matter movement, the museum received an influx of calls, visitors, and donations as more people became interested in Black history.

“We had more calls and more visitors and probably would have been blown out of the water if COVID had not been on our backs. People wanted to know this history,” said Darryl Hambrick. “People who never even thought about knowing this history are now wanting to know and go on a tour of the museum . . . It put us in a place to really soar.”

“THE MAIN THING IS TO TAKE CONTROL OF OUR HISTORY, TO TAKE CONTROL OF THE DIRECTION AND HOW IT PLAYS OUT INTO OUR LIVES.”

Having already gotten ahead of the virtual curve due to coronavirus restrictions, the museum worked to produce more virtual content, including an interview with Ambassador Harold Doley, Jr. about his purchase of Madam CJ Walker’s

mansion in Irvington, New York. To engage musicians who couldn’t perform publicly, the museum conducted interviews with musicians from Louisiana River Parishes in virtual exhibitions titled Rural Roots of Jazz and Rural Roots of Music. In the future, they hope to offer virtual versions of all of their exhibits to supplement the in-person experience.

“We take our place in the pantheon of museums, said Sterling. “ We do this by talking about coming from slavery and showing the success and the growth of the African- American community and culture post-slavery.”

You can see the River Road African American Museum’s exhibits online, book a tour, or make a donation at africanamericanmuseum.org.

Of Louisiana’s four hundred Rosenwald Schools, there remain only four. In 2001, the RRAAM moved the Central Agricultural School to Donaldsonville from Romeville, Louisiana to save it from demolition. Twenty years later, renovations are set to be complete in 2021.

Photo courtesy of the RRAAM.