In honor of Women’s History Month, the Louisiana Center for the Book at the State Library of Louisiana is releasing a video discussion with authors Dr. Phebe Hayes and Margaret Simon about their biography Were You There?: A Biography of Emma Wakefield-Paillet. The video is available beginning today, March 18, on the Louisiana Book Festival’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Published by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, Were You There? chronicles the life of Dr. Emma Wakefield-Paillet, who in 1897 became the first woman – and the first African American woman – to receive a medical degree in the state of Louisiana. Growing up in Reconstruction-era New Iberia, she confronted the compounding barriers of racial oppression and gender discrimination, yet met each challenge with courage and perseverance. Written in a unique dual format – nonfiction prose by Hayes, supported by years of historical research, alongside original poetry in Emma’s voice by Simon – the biography brings a long-overlooked chapter of Louisiana history into the light.
“Louisiana has been shaped by extraordinary women whose stories should be told and celebrated,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “Dr. Emma Wakefield-Paillet is a remarkable example of that legacy, and this Women’s History Month I encourage every Louisianan to discover her story through the outstanding work of Phebe Hayes and Margaret Simon.”
The themes at the heart of Were You There? speak directly to the spirit of Women’s History Month: the stories of women who broke barriers, carried the weight of injustice without being defined by it, and whose contributions were too long denied their rightful place in the historical record. Dr. Wakefield-Paillet’s story is at once distinctly Louisianan and universal in its resonance.
By defying the prevailing constraints of gender and race, Dr. Emma Wakefield-Paillet became Louisiana’s first female physician, and for generations her story went largely untold,” said Robert Wilson, Louisiana Center for the Book Executive Director. “The Louisiana Center for the Book exists in part to change that – to ensure that the full breadth of our state’s history is accessible to every Louisianan. We’re honored to share this conversation with Phebe Hayes and Margaret Simon, whose scholarship and creativity have given Dr. Wakefield-Paillet the recognition she has long deserved.”
The video is free to view and requires no registration. Viewers can find it on the Louisiana Book Festival’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Dr. Hayes is a retired dean and professor emerita at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and founder of the Iberia African American Historical Society, where she has spent years recovering hidden histories of African Americans in Iberia Parish. Simon is a longtime elementary educator and poet based in New Iberia. In the recorded discussion, the authors reflect on their research, their collaboration, and what it means to restore a trailblazing woman to her rightful place in Louisiana history.
The Louisiana Center for the Book, established in the State Library of Louisiana in 1994 for the purpose of stimulating public interest in reading, books, literacy, and libraries and celebrating Louisiana’s rich literary heritage, is the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book.
