Frank Micheal Fernández, Jr.

Frank Michael Fernández Jr. (April 17, 1918 – June 18, 2001) was an American historian, educator, and notable Isleño advocate in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Through his advocacy and exposure in the community, he attracted academics like Samuel G. Armistead, among others, to study the Isleños of St. Bernard Parish. His tenure as a public educator was marked by his fight for a Spanish language program as a means to preserve the Isleño Spanish dialect. Ultimately, his work to preserve the Canary Islander descendants community led to the formation of Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society of St. Bernard.

Life

Early life The son to a Galician and Isleña, Frank Fernández lived a life similar to the other Isleños of the fishing communities dotted along the coasts of St. Bernard Parish which was highlighted by a subsistence lifestyle. He and his elder brother were some of the first Isleños from these villages to complete high school at Joseph Maumus High School during the Great Depression. Today, this museum is part of Los Isleños Museum Complex and used to interpret the history and culture of the Parish. Later, he served as chairman of the St. Bernard National Bicentennial Commission as well as on the bicentennial commission of St. Bernard Parish in 1980.

In 1975, Fernández worked with WYES-TV to produce a film documentary Louisiana's Disappearing Spanish Legacy about the Isleños of St. Bernard, interpreting the Isleño presence as the last living vestige of Spanish Louisiana. The documentary aroused enthusiastic support in the Isleño community which resulted in the founding of Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society of St. Bernard in 1976. During 1984 and 1985, he also performed a series of oral history interviews almost entirely in Isleño Spanish of the elderly Isleños in St. Bernard Parish. These oral histories proved useful for a series of academics who visited the community through the 1990s to study the community.

Later life Fernández continued his advocacy and study of his community into his later years. In 1993, he suffered a stroke which greatly impeded his ability to speak, but he was able to continue his work to some extent. Two years later, he produced his final work, The Settlement of Yscloskey and Alluvial City, along with his daughter Maria and illustrator Robert Flautt. Following his death, a multipurpose building and community center was established in his name and can be found at Los Isleños Museum Complex.