Sue Eakin (1918–2009) was an American history professor at Louisiana State University of Alexandria. She received a

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

Fellowship and was made a Fellow of

American Association of University Women The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances Justice, equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide Social net ...

. Eakin researched the story of Solomon Northup, '' Twelve Years a Slave,'' and published a version of the book that corrected historical inaccuracies.

Personal life

Myrtle Sue Lyles was born on December 7, 1918, to Mary Myrtle Guy and Samuel Pickels Lyles. She was born just north of Cheneyville, Louisiana, in Lyles or Loyd Bridge. Her maternal and paternal families were early settlers in

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...

Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. When she was 12, she went to a plantation and was given '' Twelve Years a Slave'' written by Solomon Northup to read while her father visited with the owner. She was fascinated by the story. In 1941, she married Paul Mechlin Eakin from

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

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, and they settled in Bunkie, Louisiana. They had five children, Russell, Paul, Sara, Sam, and Frank.

Education

Eakin graduated from Lecompte High School, as well as

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

(LSU). She began commuting to LSU at the age of 42 to earn her

master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

. Eakin was awarded a fellowship by the

and received a master's degree in history from LSU in 1964. Her thesis was about Solomon Northup. The next year, she was awarded a degree in journalism. She received a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in history in 1980 from the

University of Southwestern Louisiana The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana Sys ...

Career

Eakin was a freelance journalist, columnist, and photojournalist. She wrote for ''Alexandria Daily Town Talk'', the ''

New Orleans Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

'', and the column "Bunkie Main Street" for the ''Opelousas Daily World''. She contributed to the ''History of St. Landry Parish'' in 1955, edited by Ruth Fontenot. Eakin and her husband published the ''Bunkie Record'' from 1957 to 1959. During that time, she had a weekly column at the paper. She began her career as a history professor at the Louisiana State University of Alexandria in 1965. She received the LSU Foundation Distinguished Faculty Award. Eakin was a professor for LSU for 25 years. During that time, she had a number of research projects. Eakin authored history books—particularly about events in the Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana—and school textbooks. She was particularly interested in history of plantation life. A team including Sue Eakins researched Northup's book ''Twelve Years A Slave'' for accuracy in the 1960s. As part of the research, she found the house that Northup built, the Edwin Epps House. Over 150 years, storms and time had decayed the original house. She co-authored the revised version of the book with Joseph Logsdon of the

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...

that was published in 1968. Eakin worked to save the Edwin Epps House that belonged to Northup's enslaver. The house is now at LSU-Alexandria. The musical play that she wrote about ''Twelve Years a Slave'' has been performed in the Bunkie area for years. She co-founded La Commission des Avoyelles and authored and edited ''Avoyelles Crossroads''. With Normand Ferachi, she co-authored ''Vanishing Louisiana''. Her husband provided the photographs for the book. She authored ''An Illustrated History of Rapides Parish''. She wrote other books and text books about the history of Louisiana, including ''Louisiana: The Land and Its People'' the she wrote with her sister, Manie Culberton. She promoted historical preservation throughout the state. In 1972, she received a

Fellowship. In 1985 she researched outstanding Blacks of Louisiana and was made a Fellow of

. Over her career, she received a number of honors and awards.

Later years and death

After she retired, she continued to write about history. In 2007 she published her definitive version of ''Twelve Years a Slave'', which benefited from source information made available over the previous 40 years. She died at her home in Bunkie, Louisiana, on September 17, 2009. Funeral services were held at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Cheneyville. She was interred at the church cemetery.

References

External links