News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu     www.selu.edu/news>www.selu.edu/news Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 9/22/03   Click on image for publication quality photo WEST FLORIDA REVOLT STARS IN SLU DOCU-DRAMA – More than 50 local actors contributed to the making of “Reluctant Americans: The West Florida Revolt, Completing the Louisiana Purchase,” a docu-drama created by Southeastern Louisiana University’s Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies. The film will premiere at 7 p.m., Sept. 25, at Southeastern’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts.  DOCU-DRAMA TO DETAIL THE “WEST FLORIDA REVOLT”       HAMMOND -- As part of the year long effort to educate the public that the Florida Parishes were not a part of the original Louisiana Purchase and to highlight the region’s dramatic pattern of development, Southeastern Louisiana University’s Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies has created a docu-drama, “Reluctant Americans: The West Florida Revolt, Completing the Louisiana Purchase.”        The film, which reveals the painful events associated with the territory’s progression from Spanish colony to independent republic to annexed United States territory, will premier at Southeastern’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Hammond at 7 p.m. September 25 as a preamble to Fanfare, Southeastern’s October celebration of the arts. The premier is free and, along with a reception following the film, was funded by a grant from the Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Commission, said Center Director Samuel Hyde Jr., Southeastern’s Ford Chair in Regional Studies.       “Reluctant Americans” was underwritten by a consortium of five regional parishes -- Tangipahoa, Washington, St. Helena, Livingston, and West Feliciana -- and through an independent grant from the Lieutenant Governor’s office, said Hyde, who wrote the docu-drama’s script. “Reluctant Americans” was directed by Southeastern history professor Charles Elliot and produced by L.E. Wallace Productions with editing at Vivid Video in Holden.       “The film employs primary source evidence to reveal a startling perspective on the catastrophic events connected to the revolt,” Hyde said. He said more than 50 regional actors participated in the filming with most of the scenes being shot on location in the Florida Parishes.       “The events associated with the revolt contributed to the region’s identity as a dark and bloody ground,” Hyde said.        The West Florida Revolt began in the early morning hours of September 23, 1810 when armed rebels stormed the Spanish fort at Baton Rouge. “In a sharp and bloody firefight the rebels successfully overthrew the Spanish government that ruled over the Florida Parishes of Louisiana creating the Independent Republic of West Florida in the same region,” Hyde said. “The short lived original ‘Lone Star Republic’ endured for 74 days before being forcibly annexed by the United States, an act that essentially completed the Louisiana Purchase.”       Hyde said many local residents enjoyed lucrative Spanish land grants as well as the tax free independent status the weak Spanish authority afforded them. “An independent republic, or American dominance, were certain to challenge, both leading some residents to violently resist the rebellion,” he said. “As a result, the Florida Parishes were plunged into a brief yet violent civil war pitting more established residents against the rebels.”       Following the September 25 premier, the film will be forwarded to the History Channel and also will be shown at 7 p.m., Oct. 2 at the Walker Parish Baptist Church, and Oct. 13 at the Franklinton High School cafeteria, Oct. 13; and at 6 p.m., Oct. 23 at Jackson Hall in St. Francisville.       For more information, contact the Center at 985-549-2151. Center hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., weekdays. Return to News Releases