Join the West Baton Rouge Museum on Saturday, May 10 from 10:30 AM - Noon for a special edition of our monthly Explorations in Genealogy series which will feature Dr. Joy Banner, a specialist in Creole history and heritage, who will discuss her work with The Descendants Project and the changing landscape of the Creoles who have historically lived along the Mississippi River. This program is intended to produce a community discussion focused on genealogy, heritage, and the changing landscape. This program is part of the community and environment conversations of the Bayou Culture Collaborative, supported with funding from the National Wildlife Fund's Restore the Mississippi Delta project.
Dr. Joy Banner is Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Descendants Project, a nonprofit foundation committed to the liberation of the Black descendant community through the dismantling of inequitable and discriminatory economic, environmental, and social systems inherent in the violent legacies of slavery. As part of this work, Dr. Banner is on the front lines of the struggle against environmental racism in the form of petrochemical plants along Louisiana’s River Road, otherwise known as “Cancer Alley.” After earning a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, she taught business communications, marketing, and entrepreneurship at the university level where she advanced to Chair of the Management program. Joy is a proud member of the local descendant community with rooted ancestry that can be traced to the 18th century. As Co-Director of The Descendants Project, Joy’s vision spearheaded the acquisition of Woodland Plantation, origin site of the largest slave rebellion in the US and the creation of a Descendant Culture and Education District in the historic Freetown of Wallace. In partnership with the UNO Midlo Hall Center and the Monument Lab, Joy is part of the core team leading the design and implementation of The Liberation Labyrinth, a garden space located in Wallace and dedicated to freedom-seeking and environmental connection of historically enslaved people who used Louisiana’s natural landscape to seek liberation. Joy has used her 20+ years in heritage and tourism to champion the preservation of Black historic sites, heritage, and communities. Dr. Banner is the 2023 recipient of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Emerging Leader Award and was recently named 2024 Preservation Action’s Hero of the Quarter. As part of her environmental work, Joy has testified at the United Nation’s Convention on the Eradication of Racial Discrimination, the United Nations Global Plastic Treaty, and the Business and Human Rights Working Group about the extractive “Plantation to Petrochemical Plant” throughline. Her efforts are credited with stopping 140 tons of pollution per year by blocking the development of a dangerous grain depot in her beloved community of Wallace.
Explorations in Genealogy is hosted by the West Baton Rouge Genealogical Society and is sponsored by the West Baton Rouge Museum. This program is FREE, open to the public, and no registration is required.
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