Ladies First: Women Activists Leading the Civil Rights Movement in New Orleans
This tour will explore how women and girls played a major role in challenging legislation that perpetuated racial segregation in New Orleans by explaining the experiences of each woman and girl, and events associated with each person and location. By organizing, protesting, marching, picketing, boycotting, and conducting administrative work, women and young girls successfully fought for Black equality and provided a framework for future generations of women to agitate for increased civil rights.
Access: Biking or driving
Distance: ~10.5 miles, ~1 hour, ~40 minutes driving
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Stories 7
Leona Tate: Integrating McDonogh 19 Elementary School
In the 1954 Supreme Court Case Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment prohibiting states from…
Ruby Bridges: Integrating William T. Frantz Elementary School
On the morning of November 14, 1960, Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old Black New Orleanian, took her first steps through the front door of William T. Frantz Elementary School (now Akili Academy). A mob of…
Rosa Freeman Keller
Rosa Freeman Keller used her influence to mold the world around her and change the unfair practices she saw daily due to white supremacy and segregation. Keller, born in 1911, was the daughter of a…
Sybil Haydel-Morial
Sybil Haydel-Morial is an activist, author, educator, mother, and New Orleans native, who served as an administrator and Associate Dean at Xavier University for 28 years.
Dorothy Mae Taylor
Dorothy Mae Taylor, born on August 10, 1928, is known as “The First Lady of 1300 Perdido Street” due to her years of service in New Orleans City Hall, located at 1300 Perdido Street, from 1986 to…
Doratha "Dodie" Smith-Simmons
As a teen, Doratha “Dodie” Smith-Simmons entered the Civil Rights Movement in New Orleans, following in the footsteps of her older sister, Dorothy Smith Venison. Simmons’ activism began as a means to…
Marie Galatas Ortiz
Marie Galatas Ortiz, born in New Orleans in 1939, participated in many demonstrations, marches, boycotts, and founded Grass Roots Organization for Women (GROW), an organization once housed at 1610…Tour curated by: Terri Rushing