ENROLLED
2019 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 107
BY REPRESENTATIVE COX
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To designate October first annually as Clementine Hunter Day in Louisiana.
WHEREAS, Clementine Hunter was born in either late December 1886 or early
January 1887 to a Creole family at Hidden Hill Plantation, near Cloutierville; and
WHEREAS, Clementine was the eldest of seven children born to Mary Antoinette
Adams and Janvier "John" Reuben; and
WHEREAS, although there is some doubt about her actual date of birth, it is
generally believed that Clementine Hunter was at least one hundred years old when she died
on January 1, 1988; and
WHEREAS, Clementine worked as a farm laborer at Melrose Plantation during her
youth, where she picked and chopped cotton, harvested pecans, planted vegetables, and
occasionally attended school, although she never learned to read or write; and
WHEREAS, in 1924, she married Emmanuel Hunter, who was a woodchopper at
Melrose Plantation; she had seven children; and
WHEREAS, in her fifties, Clementine began painting with materials left behind by
a visitor; she became a self-taught artist who produced artwork depicting plantation life in
the early twentieth century; and
WHEREAS, although Clementine Hunter's works sold for as little as twenty five
cents, at present, her paintings and quilts are considered to be of priceless value; and
WHEREAS, over time, Clementine Hunter's paintings have gained international
acclaim, and her art has been celebrated in film documentaries, on stage, and in art galleries
across the United States and the world, including the National Gallery of Art and the
National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.; and
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WHEREAS, she received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from
Northwestern State University in 1986; and
WHEREAS, Clementine Hunter is retrospectively viewed as an early feminist
because her paintings consistently depict women in a more prominent posture than men, thus
evincing her view that women contributed more to stabilizing home and society; and
WHEREAS, as the only black folk artist to create a significant body of work giving
voice to her people's experience in the rural and agrarian south, Clementine Hunter occupies
a unique position in the history of American art; and
WHEREAS, her creations documented a period of history that other artists failed to
consider, and in so doing, gave others a taste of the rhythms and rituals of the Cane River
coast; and
WHEREAS, a resilient lady of small physical stature, through her paintings and
quilts, Clementine Hunter occupies a place at the pinnacle of American culture.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
designate October first annually as Clementine Hunter Day in Louisiana and does hereby
celebrate the legacy of Clementine Hunter, whose life and artistic achievements have
immeasurably benefitted the citizens of the great state of Louisiana.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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