The Terrebonne Parish Main Library at 151 Civic Center Boulevard in Houma will host  another RELIC (Readings in Literature and Culture) program entitled “Louisiana History: Perspectives on the Pelican State.” It is funded by the State of Louisiana and sponsored by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and the Louisiana Library Association.

The program is free and opens to the public and will be held on six consecutive Tuesdays from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., beginning on February 27 and concluding on April 3, 2007. Those interested in attending are encouraged to come in soon to register at the Main Library because of the limited number of books and the expected public response.

“Louisiana History” will be conducted by Dr. Paul Leslie of the Department of History at Nicholls State University. This program will use a variety of historical texts to acquaint participants with the history of Louisiana. The six sessions are entitled: 1) Introduction: What Makes Louisiana Unique?; 2) Acadians: French Pioneers in Spanish Louisiana; 3) Inside the Peculiar Institution: Louisiana Slavery and Laurel Valley Plantation; 4) Long Remembered: Captain Seymour’s Civil War; 5) Subject to the Whims of Nature: Louisiana and the Mississippi River; 6) “The Last of the Red Hot Poppas”: Earl Long and the Persistence of Longism. Texts to be used are: The Founding of New Acadia by Carl Brasseaux, Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, The Civil War Memoirs of Captain William J. Seymour, ed. by Terry Jones, Rising Tide by John Barry, and A. J. Liebling’s The Earl of Louisiana.

“Louisiana has a colorful and rich history that has spanned three centuries. A colony of Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans, and as a player in much of the history of the United States, Louisiana has been the focus of important events over this entire period,” observed James Segreto, Director of RELIC Library Programs for the LEH. He added, “We know that Louisiana History is a perennial favorite subject to read and talk about among Louisianans, and this program offers the public some new texts for new types of discussions about our history and experiences of nearly three centuries.”

For more information about this program call Amy Whipple at 876-5158.