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...
F. Edward Hébert: The Streetcar Conductor's Son Who Ran the Pentagon
The Streetcar Conductor's Son Who Ran the PentagonF. Edward Hébert was born in New Orleans in 1901, the son of a streetcar conductor and a schoolteacher, and he grew up to become one of the most po...
Avery Alexander: The Man They Dragged Down the Stairs at City Hall
The Man They Dragged Down the StairsThere's a piece of footage from 1963 that every New Orleanian should see. Avery Alexander, a Baptist minister and civil rights activist, walks into the cafeteria...
Cedric Richmond: From New Orleans East to the White House
From New Orleans East to the White HouseCedric Richmond grew up in New Orleans East, the sprawling subdivision that represents a particular chapter of Black middle-class aspiration in the city. His...
Michael Hahn: The Bavarian Immigrant Who Became Lincoln's Governor
The Bavarian Immigrant Who Became Lincoln's GovernorMichael Hahn was born in Bavaria in 1830 and arrived in New Orleans as a ten-year-old immigrant. By 1864, he was governor of Louisiana—appointed ...
Sidney Barthelemy: The Quiet Mayor Who Held the City Together
The Quiet Mayor Who Held the City TogetherSidney Barthelemy never got the credit he deserved. He was the second Black mayor of New Orleans, serving from 1986 to 1994, and he took office at the wors...
Henry Warmoth: The Twenty-Six-Year-Old Governor of Reconstruction Louisiana
The Twenty-Six-Year-Old Governor of Reconstruction LouisianaHenry Clay Warmoth was twenty-six years old when he became governor of Louisiana in 1868. Let that sink in. A twenty-six-year-old Union A...
William Jefferson: The Ninety Thousand Dollars in the Freezer
The Ninety Thousand Dollars in the FreezerIn the long and colorful history of Louisiana political corruption, few images have been as unforgettable as the one from William Jefferson's kitchen: nine...
Sidney Bechet: The New Orleans Genius Paris Loved More Than America Did
The Genius Who Left New Orleans and Conquered ParisSidney Joseph Bechet was born on May 14, 1897, in the Seventh Ward of New Orleans, into a Creole family of musicians. He was a prodigy — playing c...
Mel Ott: The Gretna Kid Who Hit 511 Home Runs for the Giants
The Gretna Kid Who Hit 511 Home RunsMelvin Thomas Ott was born on March 2, 1909, in Gretna, Louisiana — just across the river from New Orleans, close enough to hear the steamboat whistles and feel ...
Pistol Pete Maravich: The Greatest Show on the Basketball Court
Pistol Pete and the Basketball That Went EverywherePete Maravich wasn't born in New Orleans — he was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, in 1947. But New Orleans is where he became "Pistol Pete," and ...
Essence Festival: The Largest Celebration of Black Culture in America
The Party with a PurposeEvery Fourth of July weekend, New Orleans hosts the largest annual gathering of African American culture in the United States. The Essence Festival of Culture — originally t...
The St. Charles Streetcar: The Oldest Ride in America
The Oldest Continuously Operating Streetcar in the WorldThe St. Charles streetcar line has been running since 1835, making it the oldest continuously operating street railway system on Earth. The o...
Girod Street Cemetery: The Protestant Graveyard They Paved Over
Girod Street Cemetery: The Protestant Graveyard They Paved OverGirod Street Cemetery no longer exists. Demolished in 1957 to make way for a parking lot and eventually the Superdome complex, it was ...
The Hurricane Katrina Memorial: New Orleans’ Newest City of the Dead
The Hurricane Katrina Memorial: New Orleans’ Newest City of the DeadThe Hurricane Katrina Memorial is the newest and most heartbreaking cemetery in New Orleans. Completed on August 29, 2008—exactly...
St. Patrick Cemetery: The Irish Story Written in Stone
St. Patrick Cemetery: The Irish Story Written in StoneSt. Patrick Cemetery tells one of the great immigration stories of New Orleans—the arrival of the Irish, who came by the tens of thousands in t...
The Times-Picayune and New Orleans Media: How a City Tells Its Own Story
The Picayune: Named After the Smallest CoinThe Times-Picayune has been the newspaper of record for New Orleans since 1837, when it launched as The Picayune — named after the Spanish half-real coin,...
