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The Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration, in partnership with the Mississippi Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, will host Follow the Frenchmen through Natchez: The Farewell Tour of the Marquis de Lafayette, a Bicentennial Salute, March 27-29 at the Natchez Convention Center, 211 Main St.

This is our 36th annual conference, which will be done in partnership with the Mississippi Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. This partnership will provide both a series of expert lectures as well as interactive learning experiences for the whole family.

Only five events require tickets.

At 11:30 a.m. on Friday, March 28, Dr. Robert Rhodes Crout will present a lunch lecture at the Natchez Convention Center, entitled “Lafayette, the Lost Hero: How Lafayette was Lost, and How He Was Found.”

Dr. Robert Rhodes Crout is a historian specializing in France, the Atlantic World, revolutionary and early national America, early modern and modern Western Europe, North Africa, and French colonial history. He is a leading expert on the life and legacy of Lafayette thanks to his extensive work on the Lafayette Letters Project with Cornell University. The cost is $40/person.

At 4 p.m. on Friday, March 28, Gloucester Historic Mansion will host Sweet Tea and Lemonade in the Gardens. This event will include a Fife and Drum Corps performance, a grave marking ceremony for Territorial Governor Winthrop Sargent, and a sneak peak of Gloucester courtesy of the Walters, who own the home. The cost is $25 per person.

At 6 p.m. on Friday, there will be a Welcome Reception on the East Lawn of Rosalie, which will feature a buffet dinner followed by music by ChaCha Boo. The cost is $30 per person.

At 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 29, there will be a lunch event at the Natchez Convention Center, which will be accompanied by a lecture by Jak McGee Smith entitled, “Lafayette, the Young Eagle.” The cost is $40 per person.

At 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, the General’s Banquet will be a formal dinner with cocktail attire at Natchez Convention Center. This event will feature period music by the Booneslick Strings with period dance. Dance lessons will be available on the second floor of the Natchez Convention Center at 1pm prior to the banquet that evening. The cost is $50 per person.

To purchase tickets: https://www.colin.edu/community/natchez-literary-cinema-celebration/.

All events at the Natchez Convention Center are free and open to the public. We will kick off on March 27th at the Natchez Convention Center at 1 p.m. with the recognition of our Richard Wright Scholar: Ace Atkins. Ace Atkins is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author who has published 30 novels including the Quinn Colson series and multiple true-crime novels. This will be followed by lectures offered by Natchez native Jim Wiggins (“Natchez and America in 1824-25: The Symbolic Value of Lafayette for an Era of Good Feelings Gone Bad”), and William “Brother” Rogers (“Lafayette Visits Mississippi as a Guest of the Nation”) with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

That evening, we will offer the first showing of the documentary entitled Lafayette: the Lost Hero. There will also be a second showing on Friday morning at 10 a.m. Friday will then progress with a series of lectures by nationally known historians and Lafayette scholars Dr. Robert Rhodes Crout (“The More Perfect Union: Lafayette’s Commitment to America’s Continuing Revolution”) and Dr. June K. Burton (“Adrienne de Noailles de Lafayette: A Wife’s World in the Shadow of Lafayette,”), among others.

We will also have several lectures on Saturday, including Julien Icher’s “Lafayette and the Regeneration of European Freedom.” Julien Pierre Icher is a French national, and Founder and President of The Lafayette Trail Inc., whose mission is to help emphasize the historical bonds of friendship that have formally united France and the U.S. since the signing of the treaty of Alliance in 1778, and the critical role that Lafayette played in their formation.

In addition to the lectures, there will be several interactive learning experiences happening concurrently. First, the Living History Educational Encampment will take place on both Thursday and Friday mornings, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the grounds of Rosalie. This is for high schoolers in grades 8-12. While the reenactment of Lafayette’s historic visit to Natchez in 1825 will be on Saturday morning, the Living History Educational Encampment on Thursday and Friday will set the scene of Natchez during the time of Revolution, showing students what life was like in 1776 – 1825. Learning will be focusing on life during the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Journeys of Discovery into Louisiana that occurred between the conflicts.

There will be six educational stations, which will include such things as tomahawk throwing, rope making, blacksmithing and flint knapping, native dance and stickball, period medicine, and much more. After a brief break for lunch, the encampment will reopen at 1 p.m. as the Living History Village, which will be free and open to the public on Thursday, Friday, as well Saturday afternoon. People of all ages can walk through the village and experience what life was like in Revolutionary times, as well as learn about the founding of our nation.

All programming at the Natchez Convention Center is free of charge and open to the public thanks to the generous support of Copiah-Lincoln Community College, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Mississippi Arts Commission, the Mississippi Humanities Council, the City of Natchez, Adams County Board of Supervisors, Visit Natchez, American Cruise Lines, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Wal-Mart, the Society of 1812, and the generous contributions of individuals throughout the state.

Brittany Caldwell is the Director of the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration. Dr. Bryant Boswell is the Co-Chairman of MS Society Sons of the American Revolution.