[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5524]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO MARGARET N. LAURANT

 Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, today I wish to honor Ms. Margaret 
N. Laurant, of Slidell, LA.
  Ms. Laurant was born in Bonfouca, LA, in 1926 to Jean and Elmonia 
Narcisse, both of whom were direct descendants of original French 
settlers of Bofouca. Ms. Laurant is the last remaining of her nine 
siblings and currently serves as the matriarch of the Narcisse family. 
As a young child, Ms. Laurant dealt with racism firsthand. She recalls 
attending a small segregated one-room school called the Golden Key. 
Later she attended middle school at the St. Tammany Parish Training 
School for Negros, where each day she walked to school as she was 
unable to ride a school bus with her White schoolmates. Soon after 
completing her middle-school education, Ms. Laurant selflessly began 
working full time in an effort to ease her family's financial 
hardships.
  In 1946, Ms. Laurant met her future husband, Norvell Laurant, in her 
hometown of Bonfouca. After marrying, the couple left Louisiana for 
Columbus, OH, where Mr. Laurant was stationed in the U.S. Army and Air 
Force. After receiving an honorable discharge from the military in 
1948, the two moved back to Bonfouca. There, they built their home and 
raised seven children, to whom they stressed the importance of strong 
Christian values and a well-rounded education. Leading by example, Ms. 
Laurant attended adult evening classes at St. Tammany High School. 
During this time she also worked as a housekeeper to provide for her 
family. Using her past experiences, Ms. Laurant advocated for racial 
integration in schools throughout Salmen and Slidell, LA, to ensure 
that African-American students were treated fairly and received a 
quality education. Ms. Laurant still resides in Bofouca, now an 
incorporated part of Slidell, where after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, 
she rebuilt the home in which she raised all seven of her children.
  As she approaches her 90th birthday, I would like to honor Ms. 
Laurant's life, her accomplishments, and her commitment to her 
community and advancing the rights of African Americans during a 
tumultuous time in our Nation's history. I wish her the happiest of 
birthdays.

                          ____________________