James Michalopoulos: The Muralist Who Painted New Orleans on New Orleans
The Muralist Who Painted New Orleans on New OrleansIf you've walked through the French Quarter or the Marigny and stopped dead in your tracks because a building seemed to be alive with color and mo...
Karen Carter Peterson: The Rise and Fall of Louisiana's Most Powerful Woman in Politics
The Most Powerful Woman in Louisiana Politics and the Secret That Destroyed It AllKaren Carter Peterson was, for a time, the most powerful woman in Louisiana Democratic politics. She was the first ...
Luis de Unzaga: The Spanish Governor Who Secretly Armed the American Revolution
The Spanish Governor Who Secretly Helped Start AmericaIn the summer of 1776, while the Continental Congress was debating whether to declare independence from Britain, a Spanish governor in New Orle...
Andrew Young: The New Orleans Kid Who Marched with King and Changed the World
The New Orleans Kid Who Changed the WorldAndrew Young was born in New Orleans on March 12, 1932, the son of a dentist and a schoolteacher. He grew up in a relatively comfortable Black household in ...
Seymour Weiss: The Shoe Clerk Who Ran the Roosevelt Hotel and Huey Long's Inner Circle
Huey Long's Best Friend and the Man Who Built the Blue RoomSeymour Weiss arrived in New Orleans as a shoe clerk from Bunkie, Louisiana — a tiny town in Avoyelles Parish that most people couldn't fi...
Duncan Kenner: The Slave Trader Who Offered to Free the Slaves to Save the Confederacy
The Slave Trader Who Tried to Free the Slaves to Save the ConfederacyDuncan Farrar Kenner is one of the strangest figures in Louisiana history, and in a state where the competition for that title i...
John M. Parker: The Reform Governor Who Fought the Klan but Joined a Lynch Mob
The Reform Governor Who Fought the KlanJohn M. Parker was one of the most powerful men in New Orleans long before he became governor. He was president of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange. President ...
Richard Leche: The New Orleans Governor Who Went to Federal Prison
The Governor Who Went to PrisonRichard Leche grew up in New Orleans — Warren Easton High School, Tulane, Loyola law school — and became the first Louisiana governor to go to federal prison. That's ...
Jean Baptiste Plauché: The Cotton Merchant Who Became a General at the Battle of New Orleans
The Cotton Merchant Who Led the Battalion at the Battle of New OrleansJean Baptiste Plauché was a cotton merchant. He sold cotton for a living, ran a business in the French Quarter, and did the thi...
David Vitter: The Rhodes Scholar, the Senator, and the D.C. Madam
The Rhodes Scholar and the D.C. MadamDavid Vitter's résumé reads like it was designed in a laboratory to produce a United States Senator. Born in New Orleans in 1961. De La Salle High School. Bache...
Bob Livingston: The Speaker of the House Who Never Was
The Speaker Who Never WasIn December 1998, Bob Livingston was about to become the most powerful person in Congress. The Speaker of the House. Third in line to the presidency. He'd spent twenty-two ...
Louis A. Martinet: The Lawyer Behind the Fight That Became Plessy v. Ferguson
The Lawyer Who Organized the Fight Against SegregationBefore Thurgood Marshall, before the NAACP, before Brown v. Board of Education, there was Louis A. Martinet — a Creole lawyer, newspaper editor...
Dominique You: The Pirate Who Aimed the Cannons at the Battle of New Orleans
The Pirate Who Became a PatriotBefore Jean Lafitte became the most famous pirate in New Orleans history, there was Dominique You — his older brother, his right-hand man, and arguably the better art...
John Slidell: The New Yorker Who Almost Started a War with England
The New Yorker Who Almost Started a War with EnglandJohn Slidell was a New York City kid who moved to New Orleans and became one of the most powerful politicians in the antebellum South—a U.S. sena...
Joseph Cao: The Vietnamese Refugee Who Won William Jefferson's Seat
The Vietnamese Refugee Who Won William Jefferson's SeatIn 2008, in one of the most improbable election results in American history, a Vietnamese refugee named Anh "Joseph" Cao defeated nine-term De...
Stooges Brass Band: Keeping the Tradition Alive by Changing It
The Stooges Brass Band and the Future of the TraditionThe Stooges Brass Band represents something crucial about New Orleans: the tradition doesn't just survive—it regenerates. Founded by Walter Ram...
Ivan Neville: Dumpstaphunk and the Weight of the Family Name
The Last Tightrope Between Old New Orleans and NewIvan Neville was born into New Orleans' first family of funk and soul, the son of Aaron Neville and nephew of Art, Charles, and Cyril. With that li...
C.C. Antoine: The Free Man of Color Who Became Lieutenant Governor
The Free Man of Color Who Became Lieutenant GovernorCaesar Carpentier Antoine was born a free man of color in New Orleans around 1836, which meant he occupied one of the strangest positions in Amer...
Jacques Villeré: The First Creole Governor and the Plantation Where the Battle Began
The First Creole Governor of LouisianaJacques Philippe Villeré was born on a plantation near present-day Kenner in 1761, which means he was born a French colonial subject, grew up under Spanish rul...
John Willis Menard: The First Black Man Elected to Congress Was Never Allowed to Serve
The First Black Man Elected to Congress Who Was Never Allowed to ServeIn November 1868, John Willis Menard won a special election to represent Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District in the United S...
