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About the Filmmaker |
Rachel Lorraine Emanuel was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on
October 8, 1955, the daughter of Leon Lewis Emanuel and Otis Whiten
Emanuel. After earning a high school diploma at C. E. Byrd High
School, Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1973, she entered Louisiana
State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She earned the degree
of Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana State University in December,
1977.
During the following years, Emanuel was employed as a news clerk for the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, a public relations coordinator for the East Baton Rouge Parish Consumer Protection Center, a public information representative for the Louisiana Department of Urban and Community Affairs, and a publications editor for the LSU Office of Publications.
She earned a Masters of Journalism from Louisiana State University in August 1990. In January 1994, she entered the Graduate School of The University of Texas, while on leave from her position as director of publications at Southern University in Baton Rouge.
She earned the Ph.D. in Journalism from UT in May 1996. Graduating with honors, she was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honorary Fraternity, was a UT Graduate Opportunity Program Fellow, was one of ten nationally to receive the 1994 Inez Kaiser Award for Graduate Students of Color in Public Relations from the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communications; and was editorial assistant for the book report review section of Journalism Quarterly.
Since l987, Emanuel has been researching Tureaud's life and with this historical data has contributed to a number of successful projects, including:
Emanuel is a member of the Public Relations Association of Louisiana and Southern Public Relations Federation, and a member of the board of directors of the River Road African American Museum and the A. P. Tureaud Chapter of the LSU Alumni Association. She is an active member of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church and the mother of 1l-year-old Lawryn Emanuelle Wallace.