Artist-historian wants to shed light on Florida rebellion
As a child, David Norwood learned all about the West Florida Rebellion and the short-lived Republic of West Florida that followed. Some of the rebellion leaders met in his grandmother’s house in West Feliciana Parish.
“My grandmother … showed me a little table,” Norwood said. “She said, ‘You see this little table? You see all those ring stains in the top of the table? Those are whiskey glasses, and that was the bar table for my great-great grandfather, who was a leader in this republic. This was the table where the bar was set up so they could get their courage up.’ ”
But, while this bit of Louisiana history was the stuff of family legend, Norwood encountered blank stares when he spoke about it to others.
“I thought everybody knew about this, and nobody knows about this,” he said.
With his paint brush and other efforts, Norwood is part of an effort to change that.
At 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, in St. Francisville, the Bicentennial Commission for the Republic of West Florida will kick off a year-long celebration of the republic, which shed Spanish rule with the Sept. 23, 1810, capture of Fort San Carlos in Baton Rouge.
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“My grandmother … showed me a little table,” Norwood said. “She said, ‘You see this little table? You see all those ring stains in the top of the table? Those are whiskey glasses, and that was the bar table for my great-great grandfather, who was a leader in this republic. This was the table where the bar was set up so they could get their courage up.’ ”
But, while this bit of Louisiana history was the stuff of family legend, Norwood encountered blank stares when he spoke about it to others.
“I thought everybody knew about this, and nobody knows about this,” he said.
With his paint brush and other efforts, Norwood is part of an effort to change that.
At 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, in St. Francisville, the Bicentennial Commission for the Republic of West Florida will kick off a year-long celebration of the republic, which shed Spanish rule with the Sept. 23, 1810, capture of Fort San Carlos in Baton Rouge.