With many events hosted by the foundation, such as the Gala, the African American Heritage Foundation Parade and Senior Appreciation Day, the organization said it's their mission to express Black culture with everyone.

(KLFY)-- The African American Heritage Foundation, founded by Je'Nelle Chargois, serves a mission to preserve Black History and Creole history throughout Acadiana.

With many events hosted by the foundation, such as the Gala, the African American Heritage Foundation Parade and Senior Appreciation Day, the organization said it's their mission to express Black culture with everyone. Maisha Chargois, daughter of Je'Nelle Chargois, said her mom began the foundation as a way to bring the community together.

"A long time ago, my mom started these events in the community," Maisha Chargois said. "The first one was the senior citizen event where she started off with I think seven people, took them to lunch. Fifteen years we've been a true organization, and that's how we started and here we are."

Maisha Chargois said with Black History month here, it is important to capture their journey so that kids that come behind them can witness the evolution firsthand.

"It's very important to document stuff," she said. "We have an opportunity with all the media and all the stuff to document all the history, and so in the future, our kids can look back and see how things develop, how things have grown, how things have changed, and I think that's a very exciting thing to do for our kids so they can learn our history."

John James, a board member, said one of the purposes of the foundation is to ensure that Black History, that's often overlooked in schools, is taught to those who are not familiar with it.

"Everything we do is for our community," James said. "We're a non-profit organization. The members come together. This is straight up people with good hearts working to do things for our community, fill a gap that's very much needed because our history is not in the school system."

James said they hope to welcome younger members to continue to cultivate growth and nourish the needs of the community.

"It would be great to see a lot more young members coming in to join us," James said. "You hear a lot now there's a miscommunication between the elders and the younger people, if we get them in at the table with us, we can continue to feed the community what they need."

To continue Je'Nelle Chargois' legacy, the foundation said plans are in the works to develop an African American History Museum.

Latest Posts