AUDUBON AT OAKLEY: ART, ACCLAIM AND IDENTITY

This session will examine John James Audubon's brief, but impactful sojourn at Oakley Plantation. We will briefly trace Audubon?s trajectory from his birth on a Caribbean sugar plantation, to his arrival in America and, eventually, West Feliciana. Though Audubon's time at Oakley was brief, it was significant for upon leaving Oakley, Audubon would exchange his identity as a failed businessman for that of one of early America's most luminous artists and celebrities. Audubon's story tells us much about social and economic fluidity in Republic-era America, as well as the elasticity of personal identity during this period. We will walk the ground Audubon walked, and perhaps hear some of the birds he might have heard. times for this are 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM, 3:00 PM.