The neighborhood called Promiseland

Parks – Residents of Promiseland, a neighborhood in Parks, along with other local folks and guests from as far away as Cameroon in Africa, gathered on Oct. 11 and 12 to remember their roots, mourn, tell their stories, celebrate and look toward the future at a dedication ceremony and symposium.
Promiseland is a neighborhood in Parks inhabited by descendants of enslaved Africans.
The event was called “Journey to Promiseland” and the theme was “Honoring our Past: Museums, Presentations, Sugar and the Promiseland Ancestral Burial Ground.”
The activities started off with the dedication of a slave burial ground near Promiseland, where some of the residents’ ancestors are buried. Following that was a symposium filled with music, videos about the culture and about the Promiseland project, along with presentations and discussions at the African American Museum and Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville.
The events around Promiseland proved a time of healing and mourning. One of the elders of the Promiseland community, Mrs. Evelyn Bérard, passed away just prior to the event and was buried on the day of the symposium. To honor Mrs. Bérard, the symposium was delayed to allow folks to attend her funeral.
The event was initially planned as part of the African Diaspora Heritage Trail annual international conference based out of Lafayette. However, the conference was cancelled due to lack of registration.
Dr. Lisa Aubrey, Merinda Aubrey, Joey Benoit, Dr. Jodi Skipper and Patricia Knox, members of the organizing committee, stepped in to enhance their program. Dr. Aubrey, originally from Parks and an associate professor of African and African American Studies at Arizona State University, was emcee for the symposium.
Local and international communities were well represented. Members of La Table Créole and the Mardi Gras de Parc shared their perspectives, while experts from here and abroad shared history and perspective on the African Diaspora.
The conference closed with a plan of action for the Promiseland project.
Dr. Skipper, a Lafayette native and assistant professor of Anthropology and Southern Studies at Ole Miss, is a plantation archaelogist and has family members in Promiseland. Her perspective summed up the day: She said that while being part of the project sat heavy for her, “the story is precious but unique … to leave and come back and rethink how unique are my family and the situation.”
Slavery and the Atlantic slave trade in particular are a gruesome reality, the horrors of which no one escaped, black, mulatto or white. This year is the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. There are still people living who grew up knowing members of their family who had been enslaved.
The Promised Land symbolized hope for a new and better way of life for the enslaved Africans. It is fitting that Promiseland continues to offer hope and healing.