Black Spartacus
André Cailloux, an ex-slave and Union soldier, became a hero book review by Jason Berry In July of 1863 a massive military funeral moved through New Orleans -a burial pageant like none before....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Acquiescence versus armed resistance
The Deacons for Defense employed violence as a means of fighting for civil rights in the 1960s Book review by Thomas Uskali The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Congo Square: La Place Publique
The African American culture nurtured in New Orleans’ Congo Square was, and is, unlike any other by Jerah Johnson Congo Square, nestled at the foot of the towering facade of the New Orleans City...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Southern Journey
During the Civil Rights years, blacks had achieved the miraculous by kicking open the doors — but once inside, well, there was hardly anything there. Article by Tom Dent I was raised as a black youth...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An Oasis of Music: An oral history of WWOZ’s legendary Treehouse studio
WWOZ 90.7FM celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. To commemorate the birth of the New Orleans community radio station, KnowLouisiana.org partnered with New Orleans Calling, a weekly show produced...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Rise of the Spaghetti District
Pasta’s Remarkable Arrival in New Orleans by Justin Nystrom In the winter of 1912, Picayune feature writer Will Branan took his readers on a tour of the Lower French Quarter, a neighborhood that he...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Zachary Richard: Musician, Poet, and Statesman
by Michael S. Martin A native of Scott, in Lafayette Parish, Zachary Richard is a world-renowned singer-songwriter, poet, documentary film producer, cultural activist, and environmentalist. In a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
La Nueva Frontera: Oral Histories from the Latino Communities of Lafayette
by Kathleen Schott Espinoza This article is part of “Latino Americans in Lafayette,” a project coordinated by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. The LEH received a grant from the National...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Arpents, Ligas, and Acres
Google Earth image of False River area showing French long lots, American township-and-range, and English metes-and-bounds at upper right. See adjoining map for parcel lines. Courtesy of Richard...
View ArticleTradition’s Unbroken Chain and Inevitable Evolution
New compilations spotlight Danny Barker and the 1934 Lomax recordings Music review by Ben Sandmel Although Danny Barker (1909 – 1994) has been gone for more than 20 years now, he still occupies a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Excavating the Mysteries of Poverty Point
2016 Humanities Book of the Year features two distinctive voices Book review by Helen Clare Taylor Ancient and sacred spaces create a reverence in us, whether or not we share or even understand the...
View ArticleAngola Hosts Concert and Symposium
In the summer of 1932 John and Alan Lomax visited the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola to record songs for the Library of Congress. The father-son team met Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, a singer...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Q&A: Beth Courtney
In 2015, Beth Courtney marked her 30th year as the president and CEO of Louisiana Public Broadcasting. The LEH will celebrate her career with a Lifetime Achievement Award on April 7, 2016 at the 2016...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Room Must Evoke Some Ghosts: Writing After Tennessee
by Lisa D’Amour This article was made possible by the 2016 Pulitzer Prize Centennial Campfires Initiative, a program to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Prizes in 2016. Announced by the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Irish of New Orleans
By Laura D. Kelley Irish entry into the annals of Louisiana history occurred with a loud bang when, in 1769, Lt. Gen. Alejandro O’Reilly arrived in New Orleans with a contingent of 2,000 Spanish...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Making, Unmaking, and Memory of White and Black Beaches in New Orleans
by Andrew W. Kahrl “Before the sea wall went through we did have a place where we could enter the cooling waters of Lake Pontchartrain,” stated a 1928 editorial in New Orleans’ African-American...
View ArticleClik here to view.
David Spielman: 2016 Michael P. Smith Photographer of the Year
At the intersection of art and journalism, documentary photography reaffirms the power of images to capture not only a moment in time, but also the collective emotions of a people, forever archiving...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Darrell Bourque: An Amédé Ardoin Songbook
Amédé Ardoin around 1912. Collection of Louisiana Cultural Vistas Magazine, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities By Darrell Bourque Editor’s note: Darrell Bourque explores the life of Creole...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Towards a Culture of Collaboration
For decades, professional and amateur photographers have traversed New Orleans’ streets and festival grounds in search of images that reflect the city’s robust, diverse culture. The relationship...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Scorchers, Wheelmen, and Flyers
The brief but significant life of Audubon Driving Park by Lacar Musgrove The milliners of New Orleans in September of 1889 reported a run on ladies’ hats made in combinations of blue with white and...
View Article