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Phebe A. Hayes

Home Featured Authors & Panelists Featured Participant Lineup 2025 Phebe A. Hayes

Phebe A. Hayes is passionate about humanizing her people by providing evidence of their experiences and contributions to Iberia Parish and surrounding communities. Hayes is a professor and dean emerita at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. After retirement, she founded the Iberia African American Historical Society (IAAHS). Through IAAHS, she also organized the Iberia African American Historical Society Center for Research & Learning, an archive of primary documents, civil records, and pictures related to the true and inclusive history of the community.

Schedule

9:45 am to 10:15 am
A.Z. Young Park, Author Tent C
Were You There?: A Biography of Emma Wakefield-Paillet
Phebe Hayes and Margaret Simon
(ages 12 and up)

10:30 am to 11:15 am
Cavalier House Books Tent
Book Signing

Were You There?: A Biography of Emma Wakefield-Paillet

Were You There? travels through the life of Emma Wakefield-Paillet as she breaks away from the oppression of the post-Civil War southern life to successfully become the first African American woman to receive a medical degree in the state of Louisiana. As she grows up in New Iberia, Louisiana, her father rises in the political opportunities of Reconstruction. Unfortunately, Emma's family is met with tragedy after tragedy. She faces each challenge with courage and perseverance. Her story is compelling. Written in both nonfiction prose, supported by the research of Phebe Hayes, and poems in Emma's voice by Margaret Simon, this biography presents a history that is often left in the shadows.
"Were you there when we finally broke the chains? when our hollow cries were heard?" This biography will take you there.