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Diamond Film Company Studios
The Diamond Film Studios was to be the primary production site for the Diamond Film Company, one of the first homegrown film companies in New Orleans. The founding of the company was linked to an…
The Beaurepaire Family: Freedom to Slavery and Back Again
The house today marked 727-729 Burgundy Street, relatively unchanged since the early 1800s, has a history that reflects the tricky navigation of enslavement and freedom by a family called the…
The Dolliole Family: Builders, Architects, Patriots, and Community Leaders
A prominent family of free people of color, the Dollioles made a name for themselves as prolific builders, civic leaders, and savvy businesspeople integral to the development of New Orleans. Through…
Robert Charles Riots
In late 1865, Robert Charles was born a free man in Copiah County, southwest Mississippi. It was not long after the Union Army had dealt the treasonous insurrection its final defeat on the…
St. Roch Cemetery, Plagues, and Germans in New Orleans
Established in 1875, St. Roch Cemetery lies just north of the Faubourg Marigny in the St. Roch neighborhood.
The founder of St. Roch Cemetery was Father Peter Leonhard Thevis, pastor at Holy…
Street Food Vendors
“Belle calas tout chaud, Madam, belle calas tout chaud,” calls out the calas lady selling fried rice fritters to the tourist and locals roaming New Orleans Streets. The calas lady is one of the most…
The Native Roots of the French Market
“Many of the places and locations known to tourists and travelers worldwide, such as the Port of New Orleans, the French Market, and Congo Square, served as thoroughfares for trade and culture long…
Fort Pike
In 1819, President James Monroe commissioned Fort Pike’s construction alongside six other forts on the Louisiana coast. [2] Originally known as Fort Petites Coquilles, Monroe commissioned the fort…
Frontin, An Enslaved Child from the Boré Plantation
On January 21, 1783, Étienne de Boré, an enslaver and owner of the Boré Plantation located within today’s Audubon Park, visited a public slave auction in order to sell two enslaved boys. Alexandro…
The Forty Artisans of the Boré Plantation
In October of 1796, General Victor Collot, a spy for the French colonial government, arrived in New Orleans after a military expedition down the Mississippi River creating maps of Spanish land…
Stories of the Enslaved Within Today’s Audubon Park
Basile, Achilles, Congo and many other enslaved people labored on Étienne de Boré’s plantation within today’s Audubon Park. Alongside planting and harvesting sugar cane, enslaved labor on the Boré…
Shirley Thompson
Shirley Thompson, the youngest of the Thompson sisters, joined the New Orleans Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Freedom Rides as they tested the Interstate Commerce Commission’s desegregation of bus…
Jean Thompson
On May 24, 1961, Jean Thompson, at age 19, participated in the Freedom Ride from Montgomery, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi as civil rights activists tested the Interstate Commerce Commission’s…
Alice Marie Thompson
On November 1, 1961, Alice Marie Thompson joined other New Orleans Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) members to test the Interstate Commerce Commission’s new policy of bus desegregation at the New…
Dorothy Day: Journalist, Activist, Catholic Worker Movement Founder
In 1924, journalist and political activist Dorothy Day lived in an apartment at 520 St. Peter Street while writing for the New Orleans Item. During her short time working at the newspaper, Day wrote…
“Don’t Wear Your Good Shoes Up Here”: The Arcadia and Alamo Dance Halls of Prohibition Era New Orleans
In the 1920s and 1930s, the second floor of 1001 Canal Street was home to the Arcadia and Alamo Dance Halls. These dance halls served as a space for thirsty men in New Orleans to cut loose at the…
McCrory's Five-and-Dime
The former McCrory's lunch counter at 1005 Canal Street was a site for protest during the New Orleans civil rights movement.
Dooky Chase's Restaurant
Dooky Chase's Restaurant provided a space for activists to come together over what New Orleanians know best: food.
Madame Josephine Decuir
By the 1870s, steamboats carried passengers up and down the Mississippi River, docking in the ports of major cities like New Orleans. Here, in July 1872, Captain John Benson denied Josephine Decuir…
Free Southern Theater
Paper Monuments Project #009:
Projectionist Strike of 1914
Projectionists played a key role in early movie theaters. Despite its central function, the job was not without occupational hazards.
The Elephant in the Room: Burial Site of Enslaved People and Contested Jurisdiction at McDonoghville Cemetery
In 2016, the Jefferson Parish Historic District sponsored the erection of a state marker recognizing the McDonoghville Cemetery’s historical significance. This marker does not mention the enslaved and…
Carrollton Station: Building the Barn
The neutral ground transformed as tracks appeared on Carrollton Avenue. The Berlin Iron Bridge Company began construction on a ten-track streetcar barn one block off Carrollton Avenue to the tune of…
A. L. Davis Park
Civil Rights activists used African American purchasing power to press equality.