Ken Burns' film crew captures two different homecomings at Peabody

The long drive from New Orleans last Friday to attend the Homecoming festivities at Peabody Magnet High School was tiring for Josie Abugov and her mother Kelly Goode who are related to Peabody High School founder J.B. Lafargue on their maternal side.

But upon arriving at the Homecoming game during the second quarter, they were suddenly energized and overwhelmed in the best way possible after seeing the pride and joy that the students, faculty, and alumni have for the school.

For the two California natives, this was also a homecoming of sorts. Aside from Abugov's visit last year, both have never been to Alexandria. Both decided to come here to reconnect with their roots and learn more about Lafargue, an advocate for the Black community and a prominent educator who founded Peabody Industrial School for Black students in 1895 with his wife Sarah. The school later became Peabody High School. Today, it is known as Peabody Magnet High School.

Goode visited the Peabody Facebook page before going to the school so she could get a sense of what it was like. But once they arrived at Peabody, she didn’t realize just how big the homecoming celebration was going to be or how warmly she and her daughter were going to be received. Abugov said so many people who were welcoming and kind.

Intertwined family history with Peabody

Their family story and the history of Peabody are part of an upcoming film project by filmmakers Ken Burns and Erika Dilday. It will tell the history of Black Americans from the Emancipation to Reconstruction to the Great Migration. The 3-4 part documentary series “Emancipation to Exodus” is set to air on PBS in 2027.

“We've been thinking about this project for decades, actually. And that's trying to tell the story of Reconstruction, which is one of the most misunderstood periods in American history,” said Burns in a phone interview with The Town Talk last week.

Dilday and a film crew from Burns’ Florentine Films were in town over the last several days to film Abugov and Goode on their journey to find out more about their family connections. The crew filmed Peabody's homecoming game with Green Oaks and Homecoming Court presentation, the Homecoming Parade and the Battle of the Bands.

Interviews were also conducted with several others about Peabody, Lafargue and those who have family stories to share about the Emancipation, Reconstruction Period or Great Migration.

Saturday was a full day for the mother and daughter. Abugov said she had a lot of fun at the Peabody Homecoming Parade catching candy along with everyone else. While they were at the school, they were given a tour by principal Dennis Stewart who said it was amazing to have descendants of J.B. and Sarah Lafargue visit the school.

It was with the help of a grant from philanthropist George Peabody in 1867 that the Lafargues were able establish Peabody Industrial School for Black students in 1895, he said.

The original site of the school was where Peabody Montessori is now, said Stewart. Another building was built at the present location in 1952 before it was demolished over 20 years ago to make way for the current building.

But beyond the physical building, Stewart would like Abugov and Goode to know the rich history of Peabody and all the people who played a huge part in its development and take away from their visit how much Peabody has grown from 1895 to 2023.

“We are in transformation process, and we are going to see just where God is going to take us,” he said.

Stewart wants to make Peabody the premiere school he that it should always have been and make it “second to none,” he added.

Peabody Pride

And, he wants them to get that Peabody pride.

““It's so clear that there's a sense of caring for this place and having so much pride in it. It’s incredible. I feel like I haven't seen anything like it,” said Abugov.

Goode echoed her daughter’s sentiments about Peabody pride. It has to be witnessed in order to be understood because “you can't just look at the Facebook page or read about it.”

From their visit with Stewart, they learned that everyone takes pride in the accomplishments of the generations of Peabody graduates, she said. Many have gone out into the world while others have stayed here and continued to serve the community.

“I am so impressed with the sense of community, of the investment in these kids, in these people, in the history of this place,” said Dilday whose film crew followed the mother and daughter while they were here.

Being alongside Abugov and Goode while on their journey has been an unimaginable experience for the filmmaker.

“The bond that this community feels around the school, around J.B. Lafarge, around everyone who has been a part of the school over the years, it's overwhelming. It's such a sense of pride and such a sense of love that I'm just really moved by it all,” she said.

What amazed her most was how the school adapted to the needs of the community. The school was not only about education but helping people find careers.

“Even when you walk in the school, they share the different areas that you can do. They have a center for nursing and center for childcare, and a food test kitchen. And the idea that it's really built on giving people not just an education, but a career and having them identify a career that they want,” she said.

She pointed out that when the homecoming court was introduced during halftime, the students’ biographies included what kinds of careers they wanted to pursue such as engineering, nursing or early childhood education.

“I just think it's such an important focus that I feel like we've lost in a lot of schools,” she said.

Visiting Lafargues' gravesites

In the afternoon, they visited the gravesites of J.B. and Sarah Lafargue at the First Union Baptist Church Cemetery on Hunter Street in Pineville. Abugov she said was incredibly moved and almost brought to tears when local historian Michael Wynne told them that the tree that was near the gravesites of Lafargue and his wife Sarah was likely planted when J.B. or Sarah were buried. She felt it was like a physical legacy, a living legacy, of everything the Lafargues accomplished.

“They didn’t have any children together but there are so many people he educated and who learned from him,” said Abugov.

While the crew filmed Wynne telling Abugov and Goode about the Lafargues, Abugov bent down and traced her fingers along J.B. Lafargue's name on the marker.

The gravesites were uncovered by Wynne who went in search of the graves and found them before the film crew arrived in town. He discovered them on a Sunday several weeks ago among the tall grass they were hidden in before he was about to give up. The area was mowed and cleared for the filming.

"I do think there are so many people that they impacted so the fact that these graves were uncovered is just so incredible and bringing the history to light is important,” said Abugov.

This was the second trip to Alexandria for Abugov, a Harvard graduate. It was while writing her thesis concerning mixed-race inheritance that she learned about her roots in Alexandria and Marksville and her connection to Lafargue and the DeLavallade family.

Lafargue was the son of an enslaved woman and a Confederate soldier named Arnold D. Lafargue. The state challenged his half-siblings' claims to his estate after his death. The case went up to the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1949 in State vs. DeLavallade.

Lafargue’s sister Mary moved to California in the 1920 and started a family of which Abugov and Goode are directly decended.

Abugov’s thesis advisor Tiya Miles shared her thesis with the production team at Florentine Films. That’s how they found out about Lafargue.

Last year when Abugov came to town to do research, she didn’t know many people. But things are different now after this past weekend.

Plans future visits

Abugov now lives in New Orleans. She plans to return to Alexandria more often for visits now.

Stewart said he invited Abugov and her mother to next year’s Homecoming festivities and to be a part of what they have planned for next year.

“I never thought we would run across a descendant in 2023,” said Stewart. “It’s just perfect because it’s during Homecoming.”

He said they were excited about making Peabody homecoming a yearly event.

“When I was speaking to them and telling them all this and what we want to do, they were just excited about next year and coming back and being a part of this rich history and the pride of Peabody High School that was started by the Lafargues,” he said.

Abugov and Goode won’t be the only ones coming back for Homecoming. Abugov said they plan to bring more family members with them so they can get the full Peabody experience, including the pride.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Ken Burns' film crew captures two different homecomings at Peabody