Isaac Delgado: The Jamaican Sugar Dealer Who Built New Orleans' Museum and College
The Jamaican Sugar Dealer Who Built New Orleans' Museum and CollegeIsaac Delgado was born around 1839 in Jamaica and made his way to New Orleans in the latter half of the nineteenth century. He bui...
Steve Scalise: Jefferson Parish to the House Floor
Jefferson Parish to the House FloorStephen Joseph Scalise was born on October 6, 1965, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a family with roots tracing back to Italian immigrants who arrived in the late 1...
James Carville: The Ragin' Cajun Who Changed How Campaigns Work
The Ragin' Cajun Who Changed How Campaigns WorkChester James Carville Jr. was born on October 25, 1944, at Fort Benning, Georgia, but he grew up in Carville, Louisiana — a place literally named aft...
Edward Douglass White: From Sugar Plantation to Supreme Court
From Sugar Plantation to Supreme CourtEdward Douglass White Jr. was born on November 3, 1845, on his family's sugar plantation in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. His father had served as Louisiana's g...
Randy Newman: New Orleans' Son Wrote America's Soundtrack
New Orleans' Son Wrote America's SoundtrackRandall Stuart Newman was born on November 28, 1943, in Los Angeles, but he spent formative childhood years in New Orleans, and the city never left his mu...
Alex Chilton: The Teenage Hit Maker Who Became Indie Rock's Patron Saint
The Teenage Hit Maker Who Became Indie Rock's Patron SaintAlex Chilton was born in Memphis in 1950, and at sixteen years old he sang lead on "The Letter" — a number-one hit for the Box Tops that so...
Moon Landrieu: The Mayor Who Changed New Orleans Forever
The Mayor Who Changed New Orleans ForeverMaurice Edwin "Moon" Landrieu was born in 1930 in New Orleans — the city he would reshape more dramatically than any mayor since Reconstruction. He grew up ...
Hale Boggs: The Man Who Disappeared and Left a Dynasty
The Man Who Disappeared and Left a DynastyThomas Hale Boggs Sr. was born in 1914 in Long Beach, Mississippi, but New Orleans made him. He earned his degrees at Tulane, practiced law in the city, an...
Lindy Boggs: The First Lady of Louisiana Politics
The First Lady of Louisiana PoliticsMarie Corinne Morrison Claiborne was born on March 13, 1916, near New Roads, Louisiana. Everyone called her Lindy — a nickname earned because she resembled her f...
Avery Johnson: The Little General from New Orleans
The Little General from New OrleansAvery Johnson was born on March 25, 1965, in New Orleans, Louisiana. At five-foot-eleven in a sport dominated by giants, he wasn't supposed to make it. He went un...
Howard K. Smith: The Louisiana Boy Who Interviewed Hitler and Exposed Bull Connor
The Louisiana Boy Who Interviewed Hitler and Exposed Bull ConnorHoward Kingsbury Smith was born on May 12, 1914, in Ferriday, Louisiana — a small town near Natchez, Mississippi, about as far from t...
Lyle Saxon: Mr. French Quarter
Mr. French QuarterLyle Saxon was born on September 4, 1891, and settled permanently in the French Quarter at 612 Royal Street in 1918 — a time when the Quarter was still a working-class neighborhoo...
Ray Nagin: The Mayor Who Faced the Storm and Lost His Way
The Mayor Who Faced the Storm and Lost His WayClarence Ray Nagin Jr. was born on June 11, 1956, in New Orleans. He wasn't a career politician — he was a cable television executive at Cox Communicat...
Lisette Oropesa: New Orleans' Voice on the World's Greatest Stages
New Orleans' Voice on the World's Greatest StagesLisette Oropesa was born on September 29, 1983, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Cuban immigrant parents. Her mother had been an operatic soprano in Cu...
E.J. Bellocq: The Photographer of Storyville's Secret World
The Photographer of Storyville's Secret WorldErnest Joseph Bellocq was born in 1873 in New Orleans to an aristocratic Louisiana Creole family. He worked clerical jobs before becoming a professional...
George Washington Cable: The Writer Who Told the Truth About Creole New Orleans
The Writer Who Told the Truth About Creole New Orleans and Got Exiled for ItGeorge Washington Cable was born on October 12, 1844, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up in the city during its most t...
Eli Manning: The Youngest Manning, the Biggest Upsets
The Youngest Manning, the Biggest UpsetsElisha Nelson Manning was born on January 3, 1981, in New Orleans, Louisiana — the youngest of Archie Manning's three sons and the one who seemed content to ...
Peyton Manning: The Newman School Kid Who Became the Greatest Quarterback Ever
The Newman School Kid Who Became the Greatest Quarterback EverPeyton Williams Manning was born on March 24, 1976, in New Orleans, Louisiana — the middle son of Archie Manning, who was already a New...
Clay Shaw: The Man Jim Garrison Couldn't Convict
The Man Jim Garrison Couldn't ConvictClay LaVergne Shaw was born in 1913 in Kentwood, Louisiana, and built his life in New Orleans. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, rising to the ran...
Tyrann Mathieu: The Honey Badger From St. Aug
The Honey Badger From St. AugTyrann Devine Mathieu was born on May 13, 1992, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Raised initially by his grandparents, he was later adopted by his uncle Tyrone and aunt Sheil...
