Breaux Act Newsflash - Acadian Cultural Center, Vermilionville Highlight Native American Heritage
***********************************************************************Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
News Release
For Immediate Release
November 2, 2007
Jodie Bacque 337-232-0789 ext. 17
Acadian Cultural Center, Vermilionville Highlight Native American Heritage
The Acadian Cultural Center and Vermilionville Heritage and Folklife Park
in Lafayette will host a day of free programs celebrating Native American
Heritage Month on Saturday, November 10, 2007. Programs and displays will
highlight the history of the Ishak-Attakapas and culture of the
Chitimacha.
Programs scheduled at the Acadian Cultural Center:
*9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Members of the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana will be
on hand with a display, a short film on the tribe's history, and a display
of the baskets for which the tribe is famous. Members of Louisiana tribes
will also be at Vermilionville, located next door to the center.
*2:00 p.m.-2:50 p.m. Ishak-Attakapas history will be highlighted by Dr.
Ray Brassieur, professor of anthropology from the University of Louisiana
at Lafayette. The Ishak-Attakapas lived in southwest Louisiana and
southeast Texas before Europeans arrived in the area. Brassieur's program,
"Shaping Ishak-Attakapas Identity from Contact Period to Present," will
address the earliest period of contact with non-native people, explore how
native identity shifted over the years, and how the dominant myth of the
Attakapas extinction unfolded. With the recent re-emergence of the Ishak,
Brassieur will discuss the challenge and significance their identity faces
today.
*3:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Rachel Mouton, Ishak-Attakapas member and tribal
public relations director for the tribe will speak on "The Ishak...One
with Sacred Earth." She will address how the Ishak used and protected
every aspect of nature and the land and their reverence and respect for
mother nature. Mouton will explore her ancestors' use of mulberry and
hackberry and their traditions of making cloth, weaponry, and musical
instruments.
Programs are in cooperation with Vermilionville Heritage and Folklife Park
and funded in part by a National Park Service grant from the Lower
Mississippi Delta Initiative.
The Acadian Cultural Center, located off Surrey Street at 501 Fisher Road
in Lafayette, is open daily from 8:00am to 5:00pm and is managed by the
National Park Service as part of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and
Preserve. The film, "The Cajun Way; Echoes of Acadia," is shown hourly
beginning at 9:00 a.m. with the last showing at 4:00 p.m. The center also
features exhibits and programs on the history and cultures of south
Louisiana and offers boat tours of Bayou Vermilion. More information is
available at 337-232-0789 or at www.nps.gov/jela.
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