In 2019, the New Orleans City Council launched a city-wide effort to change the names of streets honoring white supremacists. While the city implemented its renaming efforts, a clear need for an educational component to give context to the changes…

There are three buildings still standing in New Orleans where it is most likely young George Herriman spent his childhood days: St. Augustine Church, the site of the Herriman & Chessé tailor shop, and this handsomely restored Creole cottage on…

First appearing in 1909 as the Zulus, the group first had its origins in a club comprised of a group of Black men called “The Tramps.” Social groups such as the Tramps worked as communal bonds and financial insurance for members of the Black…

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…

The Algiers Folk Art Zone & Blues Museum, which is located directly across from the Mississippi River levee at 207 Leboeuf Street, was founded by Charles Gillam in 2000. A self-taught sculptor, wood-carver, and mixed media artist, Gillam was born…

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…

During the 1920s, the Lyric Theater was New Orleans premiere African American vaudeville theater. Formerly located at the downtown-lake corner of Burgundy and Iberville streets in the French Quarter, the Lyric Theater was touted as “America’s…

The Bell Theater was originally located at Bell and Dorgenois Streets, where it operated between 1914 and 1921. In the early years, the theater served not only as an entertainment venue, but was frequently the location of community organizing…

The Imperial Theater opened in 1922 at Hagan Avenue and Dumaine. Owned by Rene Brunet Senior, a member of a prominent New Orleans theater family, Imperial Theater was Brunet's third theatrical endeavor. The exterior of the Imperial was in the…

Built in 1918 to replace the older Orpheum, the new Orpheum Theatre opened with great pomp and circumstance on February 5, 1921, with a matinee performance in the afternoon. [1] However, according to the coverage of the New Orleans Item, “The real…

In the early years of the film industry, few aspects of the industry were more important than distribution. Film exchanges handled the repair, rental, and advertisement of motion pictures both locally and across geographic regions. Exchanges worked…

The Liberty Theatre owned by the Saenger Amusement Company and managed under the auspices of Boehringer Amusement Company opened in 1918. The theater was lavishly designed with the intention of being “the most complete motion picture theater in the…

A Streetcar Named Desire is the title of a 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tennessee Williams, adapted in 1951 for the big screen by director Elia Kazan. It is undoubtedly one of the most famous film depictions of the City of New Orleans,…

The Saenger Amusement Company purchased this lot on Canal Street in 1921 for $250,000 with plans to erect a lavish million-dollar theater. [1] The Saenger Theater opened its doors on February 5, 1927. [2] The venue began as a silent movie house,…

Mahalia Jackson Often referred to as the “Queen of Gospel,” Mahalia Jackson was one of the most influential figures for contemporary gospel and blues singers. Born in 1911, Jackson grew up in a shotgun home in New Orleans. She quickly found her…

The Saenger Amusement Company, organized in 1912 by brothers Julian and Abraham Saenger, grew into one of the largest motion picture chains in the south, with a peak total of 324 Saenger theaters operating in 12 southern states, along with Cuba,…

In his over 40 years living in New Orleans, famed playwright Tennessee Williams resided in several French Quarter locations. Arriving in New Orleans in 1938, a 28-year-old Williams rented a room at 431 Royal Street and later at 722 Toulouse Street.…

In 1940, the patient population was between 400 and 450 and a massive renovation was underway. The improved hospital created individual rooms for 450 patients and the 13” thick concrete walls made the buildings as fireproof as possible. Fire was…

In 1936, a $250,000 Works Progress Administration beautification project took place at the airport and included extensive landscaping, paving roads and runways, and this fountain. Enrique Alférez sculpted each statue to represent one of the four…

Emma Barrett, a self-taught jazz pianist and vocalist, was born on March 25, 1897, and began performing in venues across New Orleans at just twelve years old. [1] Despite being unable to read music, Barrett was often in high demand and quickly…