A social aid and pleasure club is a New Orleans neighborhood organization, most of them rooted in the city's Black communities, that grew out of 19th-century benevolent societies. The clubs once helped members pay for doctors and burials. Today most people know them for the Sunday second line parades they put on, with a brass band, matching suits and the whole neighborhood dancing behind them.
That's the short answer. The longer one involves insurance, police fees, and a lot of people who spend their own money all year so the rest of the city can dance on a Sunday afternoon.
Where Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs Came From
Start with the "aid" part. In the 1800s, Black New Orleanians often had no access to health or death insurance, so they built their own safety net. New Orleans & Company describes the early benevolent societies as groups that provided charity, social events and help with health care and funeral costs. Members paid dues. When someone got sick, the society helped. When someone died, the society buried them, sometimes with a brass band leading the way.
The Historic New Orleans Collection tells this story through the Young Men Olympian Jr. Benevolent Association, which was founded around 1882 by Black doctors, musicians and lawyers and incorporated in 1884. It started as mutual aid: caring for sick members, covering medication, helping with funerals. The club calls itself the second oldest benevolent society in the country. Its annual parade came about a decade after its founding.
Then came the "pleasure." According to 64 Parishes, second line parades separated from funerals in the late 19th century and became celebrations organized by the clubs themselves.
A Few Clubs Worth Knowing
There are dozens. New Orleans & Company counts nearly 70, from small neighborhood clubs with a handful of members to Zulu, which has several hundred. A few with long histories:
- Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club. First appeared in 1909, growing out of a club of Black men called the Tramps, and was incorporated in 1916, according to New Orleans Historical. Most visitors know Zulu from Mardi Gras day and the coconuts. Louis Armstrong reigned as king in 1949.
- Young Men Olympian Jr. The anniversary parade rolls with multiple divisions, each with its own band. Its banner has a blue side and a black side, and the black signals that a member has died during the year.
- Prince of Wales. Founded in 1928 by dock and rail yard workers along Tchoupitoulas Street in the Irish Channel, according to Matt Sakakeeny's notes on the club. The club claims to be the second oldest parading club in the city.
- Black Men of Labor. 64 Parishes notes this club organizes traditional jazz funerals and asks musicians in its annual parade to wear uniforms and play traditional music.
The Suits and the Sashes
A second line is a fashion event as much as a parade. 64 Parishes describes club members in matching outfits with sashes, often carrying umbrellas, and the clubs pay for those looks with dues and fundraisers. Watch a division come out the door of a bar or a member's house at the start of a parade and you'll understand why people show up early.
If you want to see the craft up close, the Historic New Orleans Collection published Dancing in the Streets by Judy Cooper, which surveys every club on the scene today with photographs from ten contemporary second line photographers. We carry it, and it's one of the better books on our shelves.
When Is Second Line Season?
64 Parishes describes the parades running on Sundays from September through May, often on a club's anniversary. In practice it can start a little earlier: Verite News reported that the 2025-26 season opened on Aug. 24, 2025, with the Valley of Silent Men. Summer is mostly off, for reasons anyone who has stood on a sidewalk in July will understand.
To find out who's parading this Sunday, check WWOZ, which posts the schedule. Our WWOZ Listen to Your City shirt supports the station that keeps that schedule going.
What a Second Line Actually Costs a Club
Here's the part most visitors never think about. Mardi Gras krewes on the city's parade schedule pay a permit fee of $750 to $1,500 a year, and Verite News reported in 2025 that the city covers police escort and security for those krewes. Second line clubs pay those costs themselves.
This has been a fight for a long time. In 2007, Reason reported that after Katrina the police asked one club, the Original Pigeontown Steppers, for $7,500 for an escort, up from $1,200 before the storm. The ACLU of Louisiana sued on behalf of a task force of 21 clubs, and the settlement set a standard rate of $1,985 for five hours of security.
The fight came back in 2025 when NOPD began enforcing a $5 million insurance requirement on businesses that rent trolleys to clubs. On Aug. 7, 2025, the City Council paused that requirement for the season and revived a culture-bearer task force to work with police ahead of 2026, Fox 8 reported. In the same story, Tamara Jackson of the VIP Ladies and Kids said her five-hour second line costs $5,800.
So when the guy next to you complains the parade started late, buy him a beer and tell him that.
How to Be a Good Guest
The second line explainer we wrote covers the basics, but briefly: walk with it, dance a little, give the band room, and buy your drinks from the folks selling out of coolers along the route. The club is the host. The second line, meaning you, is the guest.
Our Second Line 'Til You Drop shirt helps support the Backstreet Cultural Museum, which works to preserve this culture year round.
Social Aid and Pleasure Club: FAQ
What is a social aid and pleasure club?
It's a New Orleans membership organization descended from 19th-century benevolent societies that helped Black residents pay for medical care and burials. Today the clubs are best known for organizing Sunday second line parades.
When do social aid and pleasure clubs parade?
Most parade on Sundays from late summer or early fall through spring, often on the club's anniversary. WWOZ posts the weekly schedule.
Who pays for a second line parade?
The club does. Members cover the band, outfits, permits and police escort through dues and fundraisers, and one club leader told Fox 8 in 2025 that a five-hour parade costs her club $5,800.
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