Sweet Home Folklife Days

The Setting

In 1996, the Louisiana Office of Tourism established a Heritage Tourism Development Program. Upon the request of the Tangipahoa Parish Tourism Commission, the tourism office teamed with the Louisiana Field Office of the National Park Service (NPS) through its Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) program to establish the Highway 51 Corridor Task Force.

The Task Force conducted inventories and assessments, but traditional assessment methods stalled progress. To tackle the problem, the Task Force brought in folklorist Laura Westbrook to interview and identify residents who maintain aspects of traditional life and customs that are passed on within families and communities. Based on Westbrook’s surveys, the Task Force selected Kentwood for further work with residents. African American residents in Kentwood had already created their own memorial to their past in the Sweet Home Baptist Missionary Church Museum. Through the interview and discovery process, the people realized they wanted to not only preserve their traditional ways but to perpetuate them by sharing them with others.

The Sweet Home community asked the Highway 51 Task Force leaders to help them document their heritage to prevent its loss as older generations passed away. But there was a lot more work to be done than just documenting dying folk traditions.

What Happened Next

As the partners in the Highway 51 Task Force can now tell you, you don’t just walk into a small, close-knit community rife with racial and political tensions and expect to unlock its secrets. As the Office of Tourism’s Sharon Calcote remembers, the attitude among the people at Sweet Home was, “So who are you and what do you want?” Acceptance began with finding the right contact, the one person who commands respect from all segments of the Kentwood community. She was found in the person of Ms. Fochia Wilson.

“The key to the African American community was placing the project leadership in the hands of Ms. Fochia. When she is in charge, the information floodgates open,” explains Calcote.

The Sweet Home ladies began unearthing traditions and stories long buried as unworthy or shameful, dusting them off and seeing them in the light of new eyes on a distant past. The Sweet Home ladies decided to develop demonstrations and workshops to showcase their culture to their children and to visitors.

In early 1998, with help from Calcote and Betty Stewart, executive director of the Tangipahoa Parish Tourism Commission, the African American community in Kentwood applied for a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts to organize the first Sweet Home Folklife Days.

October 16 and 17, 1998 marked the first Sweet Home Folklife Days. Kentwood’s African American community opened its doors to anyone who wanted to see demonstrations in everything from broom making and quilting to cooking and baking. Traditional cooking was explored and samples offered of such Sweet Home staples as sweet potato tarts, syrup bread and chicken pie. Discussion panels explored time-honored traditions in daily life, storytellers passed down family folklore and gospel performers from eight local churches filled the air with soul-stirring music. Approximately 1,000 people attended the event.

Results

• Of real significance is the improved relationship between the black and white communities in Kentwood. Tangible evidence of this bridged gap came in the form of funds granted by the Tangipahoa Parish Tourism Commission to the Sweet Home Museum for physical restoration of the aging building.

• Recognition and appreciation of the African American community have increased; demonstrations and educational workshops are expanding into the schools and into other Highway 51 Corridor museums.

• While modest, there has been some economic benefit to Kentwood through expenditures at local businesses by both festival planners and attendees.

• The Sweet Home Gospel Choir has been invited to sing in France as part of a sister city effort.
  
• Another project along the Highway 51 Corridor has been completed. Based on the principles used by Sweet Home, it documents and records the Italian-American tradition of the St. Joseph Altar in Independence, Louisiana.
  
• Since Sweet Home’s success, the major daily newspaper for the Highway 51 corridor in Louisiana is taking up the cause of finding and celebrating local heritage by printing a weekly page called “Route 51,” which highlights activities and businesses along the route. A new museum has opened in Amite that uses revolving exhibits to depict historical and cultural aspects of the parish. New businesses are opening along Highway 51 and the route is being landscaped and beautified in various communities through which it passes.

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