The city government of Lafayette, Louisiana, has unveiled plans to name a new public library after the late Black Catholic educator Dr. Norman C. Francis. The institution will be built on the grounds of the former Holy Rosary Institute, a historic African-American school whose restoration has been planned for decades.
The Northeast Regional Library, announced for the Holy Rosary property last year, was approved by a Lafayette Parish Council vote. Mayor-President Monique Boulet signed a 99-year lease for the land last year with the Society of the Holy Family, a nonprofit connected to the Black Catholic Sisters of the Holy Family, who founded and ran the school.
The Lafayette Parish Council introduced a proposal for the new name at a meeting on June 16, honoring Dr. Francis as a historic figure and former Holy Rosary student—his parochial high school having merged with HRI in 1948.
“The new Northside Library is about so much more than a building. It's about making a statement that every child, every family, and every neighborhood deserves access to spaces that inspire learning, creativity, and opportunity,” said Boulet after the meeting, where schematics for the library were also revealed
“The design is beautiful, inviting, and uplifting, and reflects the character and pride of the Northside while creating a welcoming destination for generations to come.”
The 6.5-acre library site is slated to include various spaces to accommodate students and younger children, as well as outdoor features such as a music garden, StoryWalk, and public amphitheater. The plans were designed by Maureen Arndt and Mia Ovcina of 720 Design, a firm based in Dallas, Texas.
Building a library on the Holy Rosary site brings to fruition long-planned efforts to save the property from further decay, with the school having closed in 1993. Founded in 1913, its notable alumni include Francis, the late Black Catholic activist Fred Prejean Sr., Verónica Porche Ali, Judge Valerie Gotch Garrett, and several members of the Sisters of the Holy Family.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, but nevertheless sat dormant and unused from after its closing until a Head Start program opened there last fall.
Holy Rosary Redevelopment, a nonprofit founded in 2010, has spearheaded the most recent efforts to restore the edifice and ensure it is not lost to history.
“We are finally starting to see the fruits of our labor,” HRR president Dustin Cravins told The Current last summer. “The library is just a magnified version of what was already planned for the site.”
Dr. Francis, who died in February at age 94, served as president of Xavier University of Louisiana—the nation’s Catholic HBCU—for 47 years until his retirement in 2015, and was one of the nation’s premier voices in the field of education. Among his many honors, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006 and had a major thoroughfare in New Orleans named after him in 2021.
His latest honor, the first to come posthumously, is now in the hands of the local government in his hometown, where the Lafayette Parish Council will vote on the renaming proposal at a meeting on Tuesday, July 7.
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
