Sue Eakin

Sue Eakin (1918–2009) was an American history professor at Louisiana State University of Alexandria. She received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and was made a Fellow of American Association of University Women.

In 1941, she married Paul Mechlin Eakin from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and they settled in Bunkie, Louisiana. They had five children, Russell, Paul, Sara, Sam, and Frank.

Eakin authored history books—particularly about events in the Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana—and school textbooks. She co-authored the revised version of the book with Joseph Logsdon of the University of New Orleans that was published in 1968.

Eakin worked to save the Edwin Epps House that belonged to Northup's enslaver. The house is now at LSU-Alexandria. The musical play that she wrote about Twelve Years a Slave has been performed in the Bunkie area for years.

She co-founded La Commission des Avoyelles and authored and edited Avoyelles Crossroads. With Normand Ferachi, she co-authored Vanishing Louisiana. Her husband provided the photographs for the book. She authored An Illustrated History of Rapides Parish. She wrote other books and text books about the history of Louisiana, including Louisiana: The Land and Its People the she wrote with her sister, Manie Culberton. She promoted historical preservation throughout the state.

In 1972, she received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. In 1985 she researched outstanding Blacks of Louisiana and was made a Fellow of American Association of University Women. Over her career, she received a number of honors and awards.

Later years and death After she retired, she continued to write about history. In 2007 she published her definitive version of Twelve Years a Slave, which benefited from source information made available over the previous 40 years.

She died at her home in Bunkie, Louisiana, on September 17, 2009. Funeral services were held at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Cheneyville. She was interred at the church cemetery.