League donates $2,500 to River Road African American Museum

The American Sugar Cane League gave a $2,500 grant to the River Road African American Museum in Donaldsonville to help defray the cost of a protective shed over the vintage 1965 “Julien” sugarcane planter exhibit at the museum. The planter was restored by the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office. Pictured during the check presentation is Major Darryl Smith of the Sheriff’s office, Juanita Pearley, River Road African American Board Secretary, Mayor Leroy Sullivan, Leonard Julien Jr. and Robert “Bubba” Lemann Jr., American Sugar Cane League Board Member. The planter was donated to the museum by sugarcane producer and League member Danny Walet farming family of Loreauville.

The sugarcane planter was invented and patented by Leonard Julien Sr., who farmed sugarcane in the community of Modeste near Donaldsonville. To build the planter, the elder Julien was assisted by his brother, Harold, in the machine shop of a Donaldsonville mechanical engineer named John Wiggins.

The League also made similar grants to the West Baton Rouge Museum in Port Allen, Bayou Teche Museum in New Iberia and the Jeanerette Museum in Jeanerette.