Educating the Sons of Sugar: Jefferson College and the Creole Planter Class of South Louisiana

Author:   R. Eric Platt
Publisher:   The University of Alabama Press
ISBN:  

9780817359515


Pages:   312
Publication Date:   30 May 2019
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
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Educating the Sons of Sugar: Jefferson College and the Creole Planter Class of South Louisiana


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Overview

A study of Louisiana French Creole sugar planters' role in higher education and a detailed history of the only college ever constructed to serve the sugar elite. The education of individual planter classes—cotton, tobacco, sugar—is rarely treated in works of southern history. Of the existing literature, higher education is typically relegated to a footnote, providing only brief glimpses into a complex instructional regime responsive to wealthy planters. R. Eric Platt's Educating the Sons of Sugar allows for a greater focus on the mindset of French Creole sugar planters and provides a comprehensive record and analysis of a private college supported by planter wealth.   Jefferson College was founded in St. James Parish in 1831, surrounded by slave-holding plantations and their cash crop, sugar cane. Creole planters (regionally known as the """"ancienne population"""") designed the college to impart a """"genteel"""" liberal arts education through instruction, architecture, and geographic location. Jefferson College played host to social class rivalries (Creole, Anglo-American, and French immigrant), mirrored the revival of Catholicism in a region typified by secular mores, was subject to the """"Americanization"""" of south Louisiana higher education, and reflected the ancienne population's decline as Louisiana's ruling population.   Resulting from loss of funds, the college closed in 1848. It opened and closed three more times under varying administrations (French immigrant, private sugar planter, and Catholic/Marist) before its final closure in 1927 due to educational competition, curricular intransigence, and the 1927 Mississippi River flood. In 1931, the campus was purchased by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and reopened as a silent religious retreat. It continues to function to this day as the Manresa House of Retreats. While in existence, Jefferson College was a social thermometer for the white French Creole sugar planter ethos that instilled the """"sons of sugar"""" with a cultural heritage resonant of a region typified by the management of plantations, slavery, and the production of sugar.

Full Product Details

Author:   R. Eric Platt
Publisher:   The University of Alabama Press
Imprint:   The University of Alabama Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 50.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.489kg
ISBN:  

9780817359515


ISBN 10:   0817359516
Pages:   312
Publication Date:   30 May 2019
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

"List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction: A Creole College in St. James Parish 1. Aristocracy, Education, and the Ancienne Population 2. The Rise and Fall of Jefferson College 3. The Forgotten Louis Dufau 4. Return of the Sugar Barons 5. Marists and Americanization Conclusion: Class and College Epilogue: Manresa, the Fifth Life of Jefferson College Appendix A: Institutional Presidents at the Jefferson College Site Appendix B: Acts to Incorporate and Support Jefferson College Appendix C: Sale of Jefferson College to Louis Dufau Appendix D: Property Deed: Valcour Aime to the Jefferson College Board of Directors Appendix E: Acts of Transfer: The Jefferson College Board of Directors and Valcour Aime to the Society of Mary Appendix F: An Act to Incorporate the Society of """"The Fathers of the Society of Mary"""" Appendix G: Sale of St. Mary's Jefferson College to the Society of Jesus Notes Bibliography Index"

Reviews

Not only does this book provide a detailed history of the rise and fall of Jefferson College, but it also offers a window into the lives of French Creole planters and their views regarding education, religion, race, slavery, and politics. --The Journal of Southern History Owing to the fascinating history of Jefferson College and Platt's compelling biographical chapters on Louis Dufau and Valcour Aime, Educating the Sons of Sugar is a welcome addition to Louisiana historiography. --Caryn Coss Bell, author of Revolution, Romanticism, and the Afro-Creole Protest Tradition in Louisiana, 1718-1868 A fascinating and well-written institutional history, which will also serve as a vital contribution to the new wave of Creole studies and the history of multiculturalism in South Louisiana. --Rien Fertel, author of Imagining the Creole City: The Rise of Literary Culture in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans


A fascinating and well-written institutional history, which will also serve as a vital contribution to the new wave of Creole studies and the history of multiculturalism in South Louisiana. --Rien Fertel, author of Imagining the Creole City: The Rise of Literary Culture in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans Owing to the fascinating history of Jefferson College and Platt's compelling biographical chapters on Louis Dufau and Valcour Aime, Educating the Sons of Sugar is a welcome addition to Louisiana historiography. --Caryn Coss Bell, author of Revolution, Romanticism, and the Afro-Creole Protest Tradition in Louisiana, 1718-1868


Author Information

R. Eric Platt is an associate professor of higher and adult education at the University of Memphis. He is the author of Sacrifice and Survival: Identity, Mission, and Jesuit Higher Education in the American South.

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