Interview with Interview with Homer J. "Kirk" Leblanc Jr

Accession No.: 
BE1-070

Bernard's notes on previous interview - Tape recorder failure - During their careers in education through the 40s -60s, they never received orders from anyone stating that they should punish children for speaking French, never punished students, and never witnessed other teachers or administrators punish students in Saint Martin Parish;

RESTRICTED INTERVIEW. DO NOT LINK AUDIO.
02:20 - Interview with Pat Broussard born in 1929 in New Iberia:
03:00 - Discipline for speaking French as a student; She never witnessed major punishments at Magnolia Elementary
03:45 - Mentions she never learned to speak French, all of her family did;
04:40 - Father spoke mainly French when growing up, but spoke mostly English in his later years;
05:50 - Teaching in the 1950s - everything was in English by that point. Did have some students who spoke only French at home;
07:45 - Weeks Island School - Held first to eight grade, one teacher for each grade, one P.E. Teacher, one librarian
09:00 - She never punished French speaking students, asked them to speak English at school, but encouraged them to continue speaking French at home;
09:30 - Would give her French speaking students extra one on one attention to help them out;
12:15 - Official English-only policy - She was never given any orders or saw any official notation;
13:30 - French disappearing from the home;
14:20 - CODOFIL enterring schools;
16:10 - Cold War drills in schools;
18:30 - Threat of war at home;
20:30 - Red scare / McCarthyism;
21:55 - Communist activity in Acadiana;
24:00 - Americanism classes;
24:50 - Integration;
27:00 - Reactions of parents;

Tape speed increases towards end

Media Type: 
Audio
Collection: 
Shane K. Bernard
Subject: 
French language; Education; Cold War; Integration
Creator: 
Shane Bernard
Informants: 
Allen Simon; Elmo Authement
Recording date: 
Monday, October 20, 1997
Coverage Spatial: 
New Iberia, LA
Publisher: 
Shane K. Bernard
Rights Usage: 
All Rights Reserved
Language: 
English
Meta Information
Duration: 
30:49
Cataloged Date: 
Monday, February 5, 2024
Digitized Date: 
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
Original Format: 
Audio--Cassette--60
Digital Format: 
Audio
Bit Depth: 
16 bit
Sampling Rate: 
44.1k
Storage Location: 
Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore