Women

The women’s right movement began in the 1960’s in Louisiana. Unlike many other places in the United States, women could be business owners. Fathers and mothers would pass down their business to the child that was the most equip to run it. Whereas, in many other parts of the U.S fathers would pass it down to their oldest son. Women dreamt of equality and freedom. Activists for this wanted the Equal Rights Amendment to be passed, because this would ensure that women were protected equally under the law. Legislature did not support this amendment in 1982, but the activists did help to make changes on cultural and political levels.  A course called the sociology of women was offered by Cathy Cade and Peggy Dobbins at Tulane University, in New Orleans. This course was the first of many to be offered in Louisiana. Cathy Cade went on to create the New Orleans Women's Liberation Group. The Ursuline are the first know group to educate women. They were a religious group that believed women needed an education too. They wanted them to grow and develop not only morally but also but also intellectually.

There were liberal and radical women’s movements. The radical feminists thought that the oppression of women was happening because of a social structure that benefited men. Radicals wanted to change the system whereas liberals wanted to work within the social structure and still try and achieve equality. Both fought for equality and women demanded reform, because of this the state established two organizations. They were the Louisiana Commission on the Status of Women and the Women’s Bureau. The decades following ,activists were able to help women in prisons, and they taught feminist courses at public libraries. Women also had and affect on culture. They organized concerts and festivals, put on art shows and they changed the attitude towards women in New Orleans.
 

Works Cited

Allured, Janet. "Women's Rights Movement | Entries | KnowLA, Encyclopedia of Louisiana." Encyclopedia of Louisiana History, Culture and Community - KnowLA. N.p., 30 Aug. 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. <http://www.knowla.org/entry/829/>.

Progressivism

Progressivism played a big role in New Orleans history. The people who embraced progressivism the most were white people. They were typically middle class citizens whose education and political inclinations had them thinking that the problems in society could be solved with scientific management. One goal that they had was to make the lives of immigrants, child laborers, and the poor people of Appalachia better.
Progressivism was all about seeking harmony within communities. The people who supported it wanted to segregate different races, because they believed that would be the best way to get harmony. The people who supported progressivism also sought to help children who were working. They wanted to put a stop to child labor that was abusive. The only downside to this was that the law that they proposed did not protect poor children of all races.
Kate Gordon is the most well know progressive activist for women’s rights. She believed that most women had more education than most black men and that they were knowledgeable enough to pay poll taxes and vote. Despite all her tries female suffrage was denied in 1918.

Work Cited



Nystrom, Justin A. "Progressive Era in Louisiana | Entries | KnowLA, Encyclopedia of Louisiana." Encyclopedia of Louisiana History, Culture and Community - KnowLA. N.p., 30 Mar. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. <http://www.knowla.org/entry/899/>.

Discrimination

Not only were blacks, women, and non-Catholics discriminated against in Early New Orleans history but so were the gay community and the Italian immigrants. New Orleans has had a gay community for a long time, but after prohibition ended it became more public, and more people became aware of it. One of the earliest places in New Orleans to welcome gay men and women was a bar in Lafitte Blacksmith Shop on Bourbon Street. Even though parts of New Orleans were welcoming to the gay community, the gay liberation movement did not develop very quickly there. New Orleans's local politics did not support the movement. In 1973, the community suffered a tragedy. A fire was deliberately set in an upstairs lounge, and the fire killed thirty-two people. New Orleans decided to put a stop to the discrimination of the gay community in 1991. The New Orleans City Council passed a gay non-discrimination ordinance, and soon after an executive order was put in place that stated that discriminating in state employment and services was prohibited. New Orleans was one of the first cities to add gender identity to the list of groups that is protected from discrimination.

As for Italian immigrants, many of them came from Sicily to New Orleans. They arrived in large numbers, and they were met with discrimination from the people of the city. There was a lot of tension between them and Irish immigrants who had come decades earlier. Over time Italians became a part of New Orleans culture. New Orleans has had two Italian-American mayors. Not only have they affected politics, but Italian cuisine can be found in the city now. The muffaletta is one of the traditional foods that they brought to New Orleans and it can be found in many restaurants. Gelato is another food that they brought. It is an ice-cream like dessert that comes in many flavors. 

Works Cited

"Italian Culture and History in New Orleans." New Orleans Official Tourism Web Site - New Orleans Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. <http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/multicultural/multiculturalhistory/italian.html>.

"New Orleans Gay Heritage." New Orleans Official Tourism Web Site - New Orleans Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. <http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/lgbt/lgbt-heritage.html>.

Minorities playing major roles in New Orleans history and culture by Stephanie Moens

            Some major figures in this city’s history that belonged to minority groups I already covered in my other postings, such as a pirate and a slave revolt leader. However, I am going to focus on how certain minority groups helped shape New Orleans rather than individual persons.

Music and dancing is a part of culture. Because of Caribbean-imported slaves, New Orleans has the Calinda Dance. The history of this dance is as follows: the Africans had traditional stick fighting called Calinda, just like we call certain martial art forms names like Judo or Tae Kwan Do. This stick fighting tradition eventually morphed into a dance (French Creoles of America n.d.). There is also singing that goes along with the dancing. While the Calinda Dance eventually became more sensual and included both genders, the original Calinda dance had only male dancers who would incorporate the use of fighting sticks in their dance moves. This is showcased in the clip  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BbvtiNypNM . The dancers you see featured are from Trinidad.

Catholics can definitely be categorized as a minority group in the United States. Mardi Gras, although originally a pagan event, became associated with the Catholic Church as the celebration before Lent season. Without Catholics, there would be no Mardi Gras tradition in New Orleans, which is rather unimaginable to the U.S. populace nowadays as Mardi Gras is what most people think of when they think of New Orleans. According to History.com, historians think that the first Mardi Gras in the U.S. happened in 1699 close to New Orleans. Organized New Orleans Mardi Gras festivities were in existence by the 1800s.  

Mardi Gras hats worn by New Orleans socialite

A minority group that is not focused on in the city’s history is the original inhabitants of the New Orleans area, which was the Chitimacha tribe. New Orleans was all swamp originally. A city would have been impossible to build unless the land was first drained. After dominating the Chitimacha tribe, the Frenchmen made them dig the drainage ditches and levees. While the Frenchmen soon switched to using African slaves for that work, the Chitimachas did the original grunt work to make the existence of New Orleans possible (Thornton, “Native American Slaves”). 

Evidence of the swampy terrain, taken from train window near New Orleans

Works Cited

French Creoles of America.. Calinda Dance, n.d.. Web. Accessed 8 December 2015. http://www.frenchcreoles.com/ArtTheater/CalindaDance/calindadance.htm

History.com. Mardi Gras, 2015. Web. Accessed 8 December 2015. http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mardi-gras

Thorton, Richard. “Native American slaves help build New Orleans.” Examiner.com. 30 October 2011. Accessed 8 December 2015. http://www.examiner.com/article/native-american-slaves-helped-build-new-orleans

Pirates by Stephanie Moens

Chivalrous pirate seen in Jackson Square

            New Orleans is a port city, so the history of New Orleans naturally involves pirates. Slaves (also known as Black Gold) were smuggled into the country using these port cities. The Lafitte brothers, half French and half Spanish, were well-known pirates that lived in New Orleans. According to the Texas State Historical Association, they had their hand in many different privateer-ing ventures in the Caribbean. The British government sought out Jean Lafitte, a pirate, to help in the planned attack of New Orleans during the War of 1812. It ended up that the pirate instead offered his resources to the U.S. government and helped defend New Orleans. They were also involved in plots to attack Texas on behalf of Spain. For having an illegal occupation, may I note that these pirates were solicited by three different countries’ governments.

            Piracy has not been left in the ancient past. I consider smugglers as modern-day pirates, and smugglers still use ports to bring illegal cargo (human and otherwise) into the country.

 New Orleans as a city is besotted with the idea of pirates and may I say proud of being able to claim piracy as part of their wild history. There is a Pirates Alley in New Orleans as well as several establishments with pirate themes. The pirate festival that is held there is highlighted in this local news coverage clip.

          

Works Cited

Harris Gaylord Warren. "Lafitte, Jean," Handbook of Texas Online (2014): n. pag. Web. 8 December 2015. 

Slaves/slave owners by Stephanie Moens

            According to book authors Cosner and Shannon who did extensive research on this subject, slavery was in full-swing in the state of Louisiana and in New Orleans. The warm climate made Louisiana’s sugar cane season an exceptionally long one, and the work was much harder than if cotton were grown. Many slaves died because of the harsh work and being mistreated. This made the demand for replacement slaves very high in the New Orleans area. Conveniently enough New Orleans is a port city, and that made the import of slaves easier (see the section on Pirates).

            Some New Orleans slave owners were black themselves. New Orleans was unique in the fact there was a large free black population that lived there and held an influential position in the city’s society (see travel guide section on Treme). Under the le Code Noir (the Black Code), free blacks could own property, including human property. An interesting illustration of this kind of life is included in the book The River Between Us by Richard Peck. It is a historical fiction piece that tells the story of a free woman of color from New Orleans who migrates during the Civil War passing as white and whose sister poses as her slave. 

New Orleans saw one of the largest slave revolts in U.S. history in 1811. It was led by a Haitian slave named Charles Delondes who organized about 500 slaves using military-style tactics to war against the city. They pillaged and burned plantations (and gained recruits) along the way to New Orleans. They held out against the militia for eleven days before the uprising was crushed. You can read the original newspaper article covering this event at http://blackusa.com/charles-deslondes/. It is interesting to read an article that describes this man as property and while going into detail about the white plantation owners who were killed, don’t go into detail about the immediate beheadings of the rebels or the decapitated heads being placed on poles lining the roads for miles (McKissack and McKissack 69-70). 

Memorial statues of slave children sitting on porch of actual slave cabin on former Louisiana plantation

Works Cited

Cosner, Victoria and Shannon, Lorelei. Mad Madame Lalaurie: New Orleans Most Famous Murderess Revealed. Charleston: The History Press, 2011.

McKissack, Patricia C. & McKissack, Fredrick L. Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1996. Print. 

Congo Square by Fernanda

Congo Square means a lot to the population of New Orleans and the history of the city. Every statue represents the creation of Jazz music and dance. It was a place where slaves would get together on Sundays with Native Americans and they would dance and create beats. Congo Square was the place where they were “free” to forget about all the pain they had to face during slavery and also make some extra money by selling their foods such as rice and beans. 

       

   In the southern corner of Armstrong Park is Congo Square, an open space where slaves and free blacks gathered throughout the 19th century for meetings, open markets, and the African dance and drumming celebrations that played a substantial role in the development of jazz. Local voodoo practitioners still consider Congo Square a spiritual base and gather at the Square for rituals.

Today, Congo Square holds a special symbolic importance to African-Americans. It is significant because of the role the square played in New Orleans' musical heritage and as a symbol of the early African contributions to the origins of jazz and other American musical forms. In the 21st century, standing in tribute to the accomplishments of the tightly knit New Orleans musical community, 

Congo Square remains a memorial to the artists who transformed their sound and exported it throughout the world. Congo Square was recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Work Cited

"Congo Square, the Soul of New Orleans." Congo Square, the Soul of New Orleans. African American Registry, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2015. http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/congo-square-soul-new-orleans

"Congo Square." Congo Square. The Official Tourism Site of the City of New Orleans, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2015. <http://www.neworleansonline.com/directory/location.php?locationID=2317>.