Students from across St. Charles Parish gathered in Luling Tuesday to sharpen and show off their artistic skills, while becoming part of a bit of history.
The talented art students were part of a workshop connected to the Trailblazer Memorial Project, ultimately the creation of a permanent public art installation to honor the 43 students who integrated St. Charles Parish Public Schools in 1965. The workshop was held at the district’s central office and was led by Derrick Monk, an artist commissioned to work with the creation of the display.
The students contributed to a collaborative bas-relief mural by designing and carving sculptural elements that will be cast in aluminum and installed at the central office. They learned 3D sculpting and casting techniques and contributed to what will be a lasting community memorial. Bas-relief a sculptural technique where figures or designs are carved or molded to project only slightly from a flat background, but no part is completely detached from the supporting surface.
The workshop was held over three sessions for high school, middle school and elementary school students.
“I thought it was really important for them to go through that process because of STEM … if they can connect what they’re doing in the classroom, building with their hands and contributing to the community, I think that’s a wonderful thing,” Monk said. “We look at the past, we have our trailblazers, but then these kids are the future. They connect to this and they’re going to one day be adults, come past this (memorial) and say, ‘Wow, I was a part of that.’”
In 2022, the school system debuted the documentary Trailblazers, which highlighted the experiences of African-American students who volunteered to attend previously all-white schools in St. Charles Parish during desegregation in 1965.
Those students volunteered to be the first to integrate in the midst of the civil rights movement.
Ulysses Frontha, a longtime Destrehan High School teacher and one of the 43 original trailblazers as a student, approached School Board Member Ellis Alexander several years ago with the idea of recognizing the first African-American students who volunteered to attend previously all-white schools in St. Charles Parish.
Alexander requested a school system committee to be formed to develop plans for a celebration, but the celebration was delayed by several years due to Covid and Hurricane Ida. The committee determined a video was needed to be able to tell the stories of these students – a documentary which current and future students and the general public would be able to view and learn from regarding the school system’s past and how it has led the system to where it is today.
The documentary, produced by Mason Dauphin, was nominated for a regional Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
In 1965, St. Charles Parish Public Schools became one of the first five school systems in Louisiana to voluntarily begin desegregation through the Freedom of Choice Plan. This plan allowed African-American students to transfer to previously all-white schools within the parish.
“The monument is going to celebrate the bravery of those 43 students,” said Regina McMillan, SCPPS Director of Public Information. “They weren’t forced to, they stepped up and volunteered.”
They truly inspired others to follow in their footsteps. Approximately 43 students throughout the parish transferred schools in the middle of the 1965-1966 school year, and that number more than doubled to 112 students in the following school year.
The project is scheduled to be completed by early 2026. McMillan noted that during the annual Martin Luther King Day march down River Road, one of the stops is traditionally at the central office, and the memorial could add to the experience.
