African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Projects at the Shadows

In its first three years, the National Trust's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund awarded grants totaling more than $4.3 million, to preservation organizations across the country, with funding going to support the preservation of sites and stories of black history. National Trust Historic Sites, of which the Shadows is one, have modeled innovative approaches to interpreting and preserving African American cultural heritage.

Two projects at the Shadows have benefited from the support of the Action Fund: Bunk John—Out of the Shadows: A Blues Poem and The African Shadows, an original theatrical work exploring the African American experience in New Iberia from the 1800s to the present.

Bunk Johnson—Out of the Shadows: A Blues Poem

Full cast for Bunk Johnson—Out of the Shadows sitting in front of the Shadows as the performance begins.

Written by award-winning theater artist and novelist Ifa Bayeza, and first performed in November 2018 in The Shadows’ gardens, Bunk Johnson is a one-act dramatic work that focuses on the life of William G. “Bunk” Johnson (c. 1880-1949), an accomplished jazz trumpeter, who performed in concert halls and on stage from California to New York with the Charles “Buddy” Bolden band and jazz legends Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong. After his travels, Johnson always returned to his chosen hometown of New Iberia where he was known to practice his trumpet and work odd jobs, including as yardman at Shadows-on-the-Teche.

For more information about this performance, click here.

Members of the Telling the Full History writing group after a tour of the Shadows.

The African Shadows

An original theatrical work that will debut later this fall exploring the African American experience in New Iberia from the 1800s to the present.

For more information about this performance, click here.