Archaeology
Archaeology of the New Orleans Area
In New Orleans archaeological explorations span 2,500 years of history
Archaeology
Archaeology Index
Archaeology
Prehistoric Archaeology in Louisiana
This entry explores the history of American Indian life in Louisiana from 11,500 BCE to 1700 CE through the study of prehistoric archaeology.
Archaeology
Poverty Point Culture
This entry covers prehistoric Poverty Point culture during the Late Archaic period, 2000–800 BCE.
Archaeology
Plaquemine Culture
This entry covers the Plaquemine culture in the Lower Mississippi River Valley during the Mississippi period, 1200 to 1700 CE
Architecture
Architecture IndexArchitecture
Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site
Rosedown Plantation in Louisiana is one of the most intact and well-documented examples of a plantation complex in the South.
Architecture
J. N. B. de Pouilly
J. N. B. de Pouilly was a successful architect in antebellum Louisiana.
Architecture
St. Francis Chapel of Point Coupee
The original St. Francis Chapel of Point Coupee, was one of the first parish churches in Louisiana.
Architecture
New State Capitol
The New State Capitol building was part of Governor Huey Long’s public works campaign to improve the state’s physical infrastructure.
Art
Art IndexArt
Dona Lief
Painter Dona Lief was part of the regional school of artists known as "visionary imagists" that emerged from the Faubourg Marigny gallery of George Febres in the 1990s.
Art
Sandra Russell Clark
Photographer Sandra Russell Clark creates black-and-white, infrared, hand-painted images of historic New Orleans cemeteries, southern landscapes and gardens, and European architecture.
Art
C. C. Lockwood
For more than half a century, photographer C. C. Lockwood has documented Louisiana’s natural features, landscapes, flora, and fauna.
Art
Deborah Luster
Photographer Deborah Luster eloquently focuses her lens on ugly realities of life in Louisiana: crime and violence.
Business & Industry
Business & Industry IndexBusiness & Industry
Flint-Goodridge Hospital
Flint-Goodridge Hospital opened in 1896 to serve New Orleans’s Black community and provide medical training for Black nurses and physicians at a time when other hospitals denied services to Black people.
Business & Industry
L’Union
The South’s first Black newspaper, L’Union was an abolitionist journal that promoted full citizenship rights for men of African descent.
Business & Industry
Rayne, Frog Capital
Rayne, a city in Acadia Parish, is nicknamed the “Frog Capital of the World” for its history as a former titan in the bullfrog exporting industry.
Business & Industry
Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO)
Conceived of as an emergency outlet for the lower Mississippi River that would provide a more direct route to New Orleans, MR-GO was controversial even before its 1963 opening.
Disasters
Disasters IndexDisasters
Great Flood of 1927
The Flood of 1927 inundated nearly 26,000 square miles in 170 counties and parishes in seven states, driving an estimated 931,159 people from their homes.
Disasters
Hurricane Andrew
After wreaking havoc on Florida, Hurricane Andrew made landfall in Louisiana and caused widespread devastation.
Disasters
Hurricane Betsy
In September 1965, Hurricane Betsy, one of the deadliest and costliest storms in US history, made landfall near New Orleans.
Disasters
Hurricane Audrey
Hurricane Audrey, the first named storm of the 1957 season, took residents by surprise with an earlier-than-expected landfall and claimed more than four hundred lives.
Folklife
Folklife IndexFolklife
Cajun Folktales
Cajun Folktales are heavily influenced by French, West African, Caribbean, Acadian, German, and American South oral traditions.
Folklife
Congo Square
Congo Square, now Armstrong Park in New Orleans’s Tremé neighborhood, served as a gathering ground for Africans in the early years of the city.
Folklife
Rougarou
The rougarou is one of the most well-known figures in South Louisiana folklore.
Folklife
Los Adaes
The history of the fort, mission, and settlement of Los Adaes reflects both intercolonial rivalry and cooperation among the Spanish, French, and Native Americans who lived along the border of New Spain and French Louisiana.
Foodways
Foodways IndexFoodways
Calas
Fried rice cakes known as calas were once ubiquitous among New Orleans street vendors.
Foodways
Citrus Industry
Louisiana’s citrus industry traces its origins to the early 1700s, but the effects of climate change increasingly threaten its long-term viability.
Foodways
Okra
Although okra is consumed throughout the South, it is predominantly associated with South Louisiana, where it is used as a thickener for gumbo.
Foodways
Creole Cream Cheese
Creole cream cheese is a silky, slightly tart cheese used in sweet and savory dishes throughout Louisiana.
Geography
Geography IndexGeography
Bourbon Street
The origins of the notorious adult playground
Geography
Slidell
Surveyed and platted in 1883 for the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad, Slidell was named for John Slidell, Confederate ambassador to France and U.S. congressman.
Geography
Florida Parishes of Louisiana
A portion of Louisiana was once the western extremity of colonial Florida
Geography
Bayou Teche
Before railroads and highways, Bayou Teche served as an important transportation route deep into the fertile interior of south-central Louisiana.
Government, Politics & Law
Government, Politics & Law IndexGovernment, Politics & Law
Police Juries
A distinct form of government exists in over half of Louisiana parishes
Government, Politics & Law
George Mathews
George Mathews served as the presiding judge of the Supreme Court of Louisiana from 1813 to 1836.
Government, Politics & Law
Calvin J. Roach v. Dresser Industrial Valve and Instrument Division
A lawsuit filed by a man against his employer resulted in a ruling establishing Cajuns as a federally recognized ethnic group.
Government, Politics & Law
John Watkins
Democrat John Watkins served as a US representative from northwestern Louisiana from 1905 to 1921.
History
History IndexHistory
Arnaud Julie Beauvais
Planter Arnaud Beauvais became acting governor of Louisiana from October 6, 1829, to January 14, 1830
History
Samuel McEnery
Democrat Samuel McEnery served as governor of Louisiana from 1881 until 1888.
History
Louisiana Government in the Modern Era
Louisiana’s government is dominated by Anglo-English traditions, with influences of French and Spanish colonial political cultures surviving today mostly in legal matters and in the language describing its institutions and practices.
History
Third Treaty of San Ildefonso
The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso secretly transferred control of colonial Louisiana from Spain to France.
Literature
Literature IndexLiterature
Detective Fiction
For all the rich and varied literature that has come out of Louisiana, mystery and detective fiction has, for the most part, been a recent addition to the state's literary canon.
Literature
New Orleans Women's Book Clubs
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, women’s book clubs became increasingly popular in New Orleans.
Literature
Rachel O'Connor
A pioneer planter in what is now West Feliciana Parish, Rachel O'Connor wrote more than one hundred letters describing antebellum plantation life in southern Louisiana.
Literature
Ernest J. Gaines
Considered among the most important southern writers, Ernest J. Gaines was an award-winning fiction writer whose work often features the region where he grew up: rural and small-town south-central Louisiana.
Music
Music IndexMusic
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams is a multiple Grammy award-winning songwriter and performer whose blues, southern rock, Cajun, and folk-influenced sound has achieved commercial success while staying true to her stripped-down, roots music aesthetic.
Music
Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter
Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter is one of the most important grassroots musicians of the twentieth century.
Music
Bill Evans
Bill Evans was a Louisiana-educated pianist and composer who made important contributions to the evolution of modern jazz.
Music
Marie Théard
Marie Théard (Moses) achieved distinction as a pianist, piano teacher, collector, arranger, and translator of French and French Creole Patois songs of Louisiana.
Peoples of Louisiana
Peoples of Louisiana IndexPeoples of Louisiana
Isleños
Louisiana's Isleños descend from Canary Islanders who immigrated to the southeastern part of the state in the late 1700s, when Spain ruled the colony.
Peoples of Louisiana
Houma Nation
The United Houma Nation claims approximately 17,000 members and continues to keep Native American traditions alive from their tribal center in Lafourche Parish.
Peoples of Louisiana
Irish in New Orleans
The influence of Irish immigrants in New Orleans can still be seen in the Irish Channel neighborhood, St. Patrick's Day celebrations and churches such as St. Alphonsus.
Peoples of Louisiana
Jena Band of Choctaw Indians
The Jena Band of Choctaw Indians is one of four Louisiana tribes recognized by the federal government and one of fifteen recognized by the state.
Religion & Spirituality
Religion & Spirituality IndexReligion & Spirituality
White Gospel Music
White gospel music, also known as Southern gospel, represents a widespread aspect of US culture.
Religion & Spirituality
All Saints Day
All Saints Day or All Hallows Day is a Catholic tradition honoring the saints and also deceased family members each November 1.
Religion & Spirituality
Wesley Chapel
One of the first Black Protestant churches in Louisiana, Wesley Chapel played pivotal roles in social and political movements, from teaching freed Black women to read after the Civil War to engaging in the civil rights movement.
Religion & Spirituality
Black Gospel Music
African American Gospel music incorporates elements of both black vernacular and sacred music, including blues, hymnody, spirituals, the folk church, and even popular song.
Science & Technology
Science & Technology IndexScience & Technology
Coastal Land Loss
The gradual loss of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands is a slow-moving disaster largely set in motion by a series of human interventions in natural processes.
Science & Technology
Coastal Restoration
For a state experiencing land loss at an alarming rate, coastal restoration has become an urgent need.
Science & Technology
Flint-Goodridge Hospital
Flint-Goodridge Hospital opened in 1896 to serve New Orleans’s Black community and provide medical training for Black nurses and physicians at a time when other hospitals denied services to Black people.
Science & Technology
Sherwood “Woody” Gagliano
Woody Gagliano sounded the alarm on Louisiana’s coastal land loss crisis and worked with his colleagues for decades to remedy the problem.
Sports & Recreation
Sports & Recreation IndexSports & Recreation
Howie Pollet
Howie Pollet was one of three left-handed pitchers from the same New Orleans block to make it to baseball's major leagues.
Sports & Recreation
Connie Ryan
Louisianan and major league baseball player Connie Ryan played for the New York Giants.
Sports & Recreation
Linda Tuero
New Orleans's Linda Tuero was a collegiate and professional tennis champion in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Sports & Recreation
Rolland Romero
Rolland Romero was the youngest member of the 1932 US Olympic team and the world-record holder in his event at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.
