In Search of Julien Hudson:
Free Artist of Color in Pre-Civil War New Orleans

December 9, 2011 - May 27, 2012

THE MACARTYS: A BIRACIAL FAMILY IN NEW ORLEANS
Sunday, May 20, 2012, 2-3pm
This lecture by author Carolyn Morrow Long accompanies the exhibition In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre-Civil War New Orleans. Hudson, born in 1811, was the son of a New Orleans free woman of color and an English merchant. The circumstances of Julien Hudson's birth were unusual only in that his white father was English and not a New Orleanian of French or Spanish descent. Such men regularly formed marriage-like relationships with free woman of color, established stable families, and acknowledged and provided well for their children.

The Macartys were one of the most numerous, wealthy, and powerful families in New Orleans. Long's research for her biography of Delphine Macarty Lalaurie: Madame Lalaurie, Mistress of the Haunted House, revealed that her father, uncles, and male cousins had such relationships and produced a closely intertwined community of well-to-do, educated, free-colored merchants and professionals. The best known of them was the musician and composer Eugène Victor Macarty who, like Julien Hudson, received his training in Paris and returned to New Orleans to resume his career. Macarty lived into the late nineteenth century and suffered greatly from the racist backlash that followed Reconstruction.

Carolyn Morrow Long is retired from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.  She is the author of Spiritual Merchants: Religion, Magic, and Commerce and A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau.  She lives in Washington, D.C., and New Orleans.

Event is free with Museum admission, and will be followed by a book signing with the author. Books for sale in the Worcester Art Museum shop.

Funding generously provided by MassHumanities.

Past Julien Hudson Events

CLASS:
MAINSTREAM, OURSTREAM AND BLACKSTREAM: ARTISTS OF AFRICAN DESCENT
February 1-March 14, 2012, 7-9pm
Dr. Jean Borgatti will teach about the distinctive paths taken by artists of African descent in America. Some, like Julien Hudson, trained in the Western tradition and others, like the quilters of Gees Bend, worked with received or reinvented African traditions. Look at artists who used art in the service of social, political and historical activism and commentary--like Meta Warwick Fuller of Framingham (whose monument to the Emancipation Proclamation is in Boston's South End) and artists in the WAM collection. Also, examine art of the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement and the Post-Modern Moment, which provided African American artists with a mainstream platform. Intertwined in our discussions will be the recognition of how Africa has been a part of African American art at different times during the last two hundred years.
Register online

BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION
Sunday, February 5, 2012, 2pm
To commemorate the achievements of African Americans, the Museum hosts a special reception in celebration of Black History Month. There will be a viewing of artworks created by Worcester youth participating in the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Keeping the Dream Alive Essay Contest, on display February 1-February 24. Students will have creatively answered the question: "After reading about Dr. King's non-violent approach to avoiding and ending conflict, how would you resolve physical and verbal fights in the world, at school, in your neighborhood, or at home?" Free with Museum admission.

LECTURE: 'OPPRESSED EVERYWHERE IN THIS SLAVERY-CURSED LAND': FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 2pm
Professor Janette Greenwood, author of First Fruits of Freedom: The Migration of Former Slaves and Their Search for Equality in Worcester, will explore the worlds of free people of color in both the American South and New England. She will discuss the legal and social restrictions that limited their freedom as well as their fight for full-fledged citizenship. Free with Museum Admission.

THE GHOST OF PERE ANTOINE: AFRO-CREOLE TRADITIONS AND THE MAKING OF NEW ORLEANS CATHOLICISM
Thursday, February 23, 2012, 6pm This lecture by Justin D. Poche, Assistant Professor of History at Holy Cross, explores how race informed dominant narratives of New Orleans' Catholic heritage. It also examines the struggle by many Catholics of color in the early twentieth century to recover this lost Afro-Creole tradition against the rise of Jim Crow discrimination. Sponsored by the College of the Holy Cross. Free with Museum Admission.

TRAVELER'S TRUNK: A PARTNERSHIP WITH OLD STURBRIDGE VILLAGE
Saturday, February 25, 2012, 2pm and 3pm
Through OSV's History on the Road program, meet a costumed interpreter from 19th century New England and explore the period items they carry with them in their trunk. Free, but preregistration strongly encouraged to ensure your child's inclusion. Registration is limited; register online or call 508.793.4333.

CSI: ART HISTORY
Sunday, March 11, 2012, 2 pm
William Keyse Rudolph, curator of the exhibition In Search of Julien Hudson, has spent years uncovering facts about the artist. Hear him describe his CSI—curator's survey and inquiry (his method of inquiry) and see his results in the exhibition. Dr. Rudolph is the Curator of American Art and Decorative Arts at the Milwaukee Art Museum, and former Curator of American Art at WAM. Free with Museum admission.

LA FÊTE NOUVELLE ORLÉANS!
Saturday, March 3, 2012, 8-11pm
Members $30; nonmembers $45
RSVP by February 29, 2012
Online or call 508.799.4406 x3123

Be transported back in time to the festive and mysterious atmosphere of 19th-century New Orleans. Stroll down WAM's Bourbon Street with live Cajun and Zydeco music by The Boogaloo Swamis, Tarot and psychic card readings, and regional delicacies with a cash bar featuring New Orleans-inspired libations.

Enjoy your last chance to view the ground-breaking exhibition, In Search of Julien Hudson with docent-led tours throughout the evening.

Creative attire encouraged
Valet parking available at Salisbury Street entrance

Sponsored by Fallon Community Health Plan and UNUM.

   

This exhibition is co-organized by Worcester Art Museum and The Historic New Orleans Collection. It is made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Partial funding for related events is also provided by Mass Humanities.