On March 13, 1872, the National Republican reflected upon the importance of the nation’s first Black executive officer, Lieutenant. Governor Oscar James Dunn, some four months after his untimely death writing, “He was to them [Black Americans], their…

In 1425, at the young age of thirteen, voices spoke to a teenager named Joan telling her to provide aid to Charles VII of France in his plight against the English during the Hundred Years’ War. Mounted on her stead, this teenage girl led the French…

The “Monument to the Immigrant” was erected in March 1995 and stands along the Mississippi River in Woldenberg Park. The monument depicts an immigrant family on one side and the other side a stylized figure shaped like the front of a ship, reminding…

Juanita Pierre and her partner Leslie Martinez opened Les Pierres, the first Black lesbian owned bar in New Orleans, in the 1980s. Located on the corner of Pauger and Rampart Streets in the Marigny, their Saturday night crowd spilled out of the bar’s…

"Ten thousand Micks/They Swung their picks/To dig th’ New Canawl, But the choleray was stronger’n they/And twice it killed them awl" And with that ditty, published in the Times-Picayune of July 18, 1937, the lore was born that thousands upon…

In August of 1948, a young man from Lafayette, Louisiana named Norman C. Francis moved to New Orleans to further his education at Xavier University. While at Xavier he remained grounded in the life lessons his parents taught him as a young boy, which…

In the late summer of 1963, propelled through treacherous rural Alabama by spirituals from his previous post in the civil rights battlefields of south Georgia, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) field secretary and playwright John…

Born June 29, 1910 in Terrebonne Parish, Avery Caesar Alexander grew up in a poor family. He entered the workforce as a boy, taking odd jobs until he earned work as a longshoreman. His family relocated to New Orleans and because he was forced to work…

On December 1, 1927, an overall-clad longshoreman interrupted a Sunday evening gathering of the New Orleans Division of the Universal Negro Improvement Association: Marcus Garvey, the organization’s founder, was to be deported to Jamaica through the…

John Thompson had a sharp wit and irreverent humor. John Thompson was a proud New Orleanian who cursed the dysfunction of his city every day. John Thompson loved his wife, his family, and his friends. John Thompson was an exoneree, a death-penalty…

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini arrived in New Orleans in 1892, with a charge to help poor Italian immigrants at a time of intense xenophobia in the city. A year earlier, a local lynch mob had murdered 11 Sicilian immigrants. Yellow fever had also…

The Dew Drop Inn "opened" its doors in 1939 under the ownership of Mr. Frank Pania. The Dew Drop would become a major player in the development of Rhythm and Blues. The "Drop," as it was called, became the hub of social and civic activities for…

Each year, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in New Orleans includes a stop on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard where a commemorative statue was erected in 1976. Artist Frank Hayden, a former student at Xavier University and professor at…

The Lee Monument stood at the center of what is today called “Lee Circle” a busy traffic roundabout for streetcars and automobiles. In the aftermath of the Charleston massacre of 2015, all symbols associated with the Confederacy faced renewed…

Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America, died in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 6, 1889. Residents hung black bunting from buildings along St. Charles Avenue, and the city itself entered a period of…

Lafayette Square is located in what is now known as the Central Business District. Previously home Bertrand Gravier's plantation, the land was divided in 1788 to create Faubourg Ste. Marie, New Orleans’ first suburb. Lafayette Square is the second…

Tennessee Williams was no stranger to New Orleans. Some of his most famous works, including A Streetcar Named Desire, are set in the city. Although Williams spent decades living on and off in rental spaces, 1014 Dumaine Street is the first home he…

Palmer Park was a site for several of the city's World War II neighborhood bond shows. A show in June 1944 featuring speeches by wounded veterans, a parade, and music raised over $123,000 dollars. Residents throughout the city bought over 20 million…

In March 1923, an oak tree was planted in Palmer Park to honor the death of Julia Blocker Montgomery, a nearby resident. The Daughters of the American Revolution dedicated the tree in memory of Montgomery, who often played with children in the park.…

The Upstairs Lounge had served as the home of a religious denomination, the Metropolitan Community Church; however, no church would allow a prayer service for those who died, except for the pastor of St. George’s Episcopal Church. Father Bill…