Crossing Cultures - Jean Baptiste Le Kraskaskia
Born of a French father and a Kaskaskia Indian mother, Jean Baptiste makes his living as a “Courier de Bois” in the southern part of the Illinois country. He hunts, traps, and trades with various Native groups. Jean Baptiste will discuss his life in Illinois of the 1760s, including his thoughts on religion, marriage, and the continual influx of English into the area. Join Tony Gerard as he becomes Jean Baptiste Le Kaskaskia in this first person presentation dealing with the life of a French Métis in the Illinois country during the 1760s.
Tony Gerard teaches Biology at Shawnee Community College. He has been involved in living history since the early 1980s, with a particular interest in the eastern frontier of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Gerard has given seminars on first person interpretation at various historic sites throughout the US and Canada, including Colonial Williamsburg, Fortress Louisburg, Fort Loudon, and Fort Toulouse. He has served as a technical advisor, casting, set dressing, and location scout for numerous History Channel productions (over 30 to date) and was a core extra in the motion picture Last of the Mohicans and the recent PBS production The War That Made America.
