By Roscoe Barnes III
The Natchez Democrat
Published Friday, April 4, 2025
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Ben Goldman of Washington, D.C. will perform as Lafayette
at the “Lafayette Returns to Natchez after 200 Years” program Saturday, April
19, at the Historic Natchez Foundation. Goldman has performed as Lafayette for
almost two decades. |
NATCHEZ, Miss. – A special event celebrating the 200th
anniversary of Frenchman Marquis de Lafayette’s visit to Natchez will be held from
1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 19, at the Historic Natchez Foundation at 108 S.
Commerce Street. It is free and open to the public.
Lafayette played an important role in the nation’s
victory in the American Revolution.
The program celebrating his visit is titled, “Lafayette Returns
to Natchez after 200 Years.” It is sponsored by the American Friends of
Lafayette, the Natchez Historical Society, the Natchez Museum of African
American History and Culture, and the Historic Natchez Foundation.
The American Friends of Lafayette, which spearheaded
this event, is joining other groups in following in the footsteps of Lafayette 200
years after he last visited the United States.
“Natchez was the only place in Mississippi that Lafayette
visited in 1825,” said Brother Rogers, historian at the Mississippi Department
of Archives and History, and secretary-treasurer for the Mississippi Historical
Society. “Jackson, founded in 1821 as the state capital, was too new, too
small, and too far out of the way. Natchez was the state's largest city.
Lafayette planned to visit every state (all 24) and would be passing by Natchez
on his river route from New Orleans to St. Louis.”
Rogers is one of the featured speakers at the Lafayette
celebration. He gave a presentation on the Frenchman at the Natchez
Literary and Cinema Celebration on Thursday, March 27. The NLCC’s theme this year
was “Follow the Frenchman through Natchez: The Farewell Tour of Lafayette.”
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Brother Rogers, historian at the Mississippi Department
of Archives and History and secretary-treasurer for the Mississippi Historical
Society, is one of several people who will speak about Lafayette’s return to
Natchez on April 19. |
Rogers explained April 19 was selected for the upcoming event
because the American Friends of Lafayette wanted the celebration to be as
close as possible to April 18 – the date that Lafayette visited Natchez for 24
hours in 1825.
He said people may wonder why Lafayette felt rushed and
only spent 24 hours in Natchez. The reason is that he had promised to be in
Boston in June to lay the cornerstone for the marker for the Battle of Bunker
Hill.
“He had promised them he would do everything to get there
and he did get there on time,” Rogers said. “He did not want to miss Natchez but
he didn’t want to break his promise.”
The Saturday program will open with actor Ben Goldman of
Washington, D.C., who will portray Lafayette.
Presentations will be given by Rogers, who will discuss “Lafayette
Visits Mississippi as the Guest of the Nation”; and Tyler Diaz, an electric guitar player,
music educator, and musicologist, who will perform the music of Francis Johnson,
an early African American composer and bandleader who composed a march for
Lafayette’s arrival in Philadelphia in 1824.
Other participants will include Chuck Schwam of
Gaithersburg, Maryland, the executive director of the American Friends of
Lafayette and the national chair of the AFL’s Farewell Tour Bicentennial
Committee; and Alan Hoffman of Londonderry, New Hampshire, who is president of
the AFL and Editor of the “Gazette of the American Friends of Lafayette.”
Schwam will discuss “Lafayette Really Delivered!” and
Hofman will talk about “Lafayette and the Anti-Slavery Cause.”
For more information and to register, visit https://friendsoflafayette.wildapricot.org/event-6138817
