The West Baton Rouge Museum in collaboration with the West Baton Rouge Parish Library will host a book club to accompany the exhibit, "Dorothea Lange’s America” displaying the work of the acclaimed documentary photographer who traveled across America during the 1930s capturing images of the many faces of the Great Depression.
The Book Club is set to
start on Thursday, September 22, 2016 and conclude on Thursday, October 6th, 2016. The featured book is
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
. The Book Club kick off will take place from 10 a.m. – noon and include a tour of the exhibit and a 1930’s historic house, a panel discussion, and the distribution of loan copies of the book while supplies last. The culminating activity will include a film screening and discussion. Book Club discussions will be moderated by Dr. Karen Williams.
First published in 1939, John Steinbeck’s classic novel chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to California in search of a better life. The novel captures the hardships of the Great Depression.
Grapes of Wrath quickly became the best-selling book of the year with 430,000 copies printed within nine months of its release despite being banned, burned, and debated. In 1940,
Grapes of Wrath received the National Book Award, a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and the film version premiered starring Henry Fonda. Later, John Steinbeck received a Nobel Prize for Literature.
Book Club moderator, Dr. Karen L. Williams, teaches in the LSU English Department. She earned her Ph. D. from Emory University in American Cultural History and Contemporary Literary Theory.
The Book Club program is free and open to the public. Advanced registration by calling (225) 336-2422 x 15 or in person between Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 4:30pm. Book loan pick up will be during the first club meeting on September 22, 2016.
Join the West Baton Rouge Museum on Wednesday, September 7 at Noon for a Lunch Time Lecture featuring Dr. Aaron Sheehan-Dean. Dr. Sheehan-Dean will discuss the images captured by documentary photographer, Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Today, these images provide viewers with a glance into the lives of southerners during the depths of the Great Depression in Rural America. Dr. Sheehan-Dean will explore how these iconic photographs represented poor white and black Americans generating stereotypes of rural southerners.
Anita LeJeune, who resides in Lakeland, received her bachelor of Fine Arts degree from LSU and has been painting professionally since 1986. Anita says she is driven to paint and finds inspiration in many of the ordinary scenes in life, especially those involving animals. Her paintings often focus on farm animals, landscapes and the people of Louisiana doing what they do best. She has the ability to work in a wide range of techniques and with a variety of materials like her series of Louisiana scenes on slate carried in the Museum Store. Anita is also a community artist for the Greater Baton Rouge Arts Council. She teaches her art form to students of all ages in several schools around the area and has conducted many exciting workshops here at the West Baton Rouge Museum. Come by the West Baton Rouge Museum Store and peruse Anita’s pieces and all of the other unique items on display. 
