Archaeology
San Patrice Culture
This entry covers the San Patrice culture during the Late Paleoindian and Early Archaic Periods, 8800–6000 BCE.
Archaeology
Archaeology Index
Archaeology
Poverty Point Culture
This entry covers prehistoric Poverty Point culture during the Late Archaic period, 2000–800 BCE.
Archaeology
Watson Brake Archaeological Site
Watson Brake is a prehistoric Evans culture site in Ouachita Parish dating to 3500–2800 BCE.
Archaeology
Troyville Culture
Dating to the Late Woodland Period, from 400 to 700 CE, the Troyville Culture is named for an archaeological site in Catahoula Parish.
Architecture
Architecture IndexArchitecture
Audubon Park
Fronting the Mississippi River, Audubon Park is one of New Orleans' most popular attractions for both tourists and locals.
Architecture
East Louisiana State Hospital
The East Louisiana State Hospital in Jackson was the state's first major permanent facility to provide behavioral healthcare to patients.
Architecture
Old Governor's Mansion
Huey P. Long ordered the construction of the Old Governor's Mansion in 1929, replacing the first Governor's Mansion which was built in 1857.
Architecture
Benjamin Buisson
Pierre Benjamin Buisson was a talented architect, engineer, surveyor, and publisher, was born in Paris, France, and migrated to New Orleans while in his early twenties where he advanced his career with work on major public buildings.
Art
Art IndexArt
Meyer Strauss
Artist Meyer Straus, a leading theater scenery painter, also produced masterful landscapes during his time in Louisiana.
Art
Bror Anders Wikstrom
Artist and designer Bror Wikstrom was active in New Orleans from 1883 to 1909 and was particularly well-known in the city for designing Carnival pageants.
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
Morris Henry Hobbs
A native of the Midwest, Morris Henry Hobbs joined the French Quarter artists community in 1939 and spent the rest of his life producing images of New Orleans and its inhabitants.
Business & Industry
Business & Industry IndexBusiness & Industry
D. H. Holmes
For one hundred forty years, D. H. Holmes served as a shopping destination for generations of New Orleanians, growing from a small dry goods shop to an enormous consumer emporium.
Business & Industry
Strand Theatre
Designed by New Orleans–based architect Emile Weil, the Strand Theatre opened in Shreveport on July 3, 1925.
Business & Industry
Festival International de Louisiane
The festival celebrates southwest Louisiana’s connections to the francophone world.
Business & Industry
Higgins Industries
During World War II, Higgins Industries designed 92 percent of US Navy vessels, the majority of which were produced by workers in New Orleans.
Disasters
Disasters IndexDisasters
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in Louisiana and the subsequent levee failures resulted in one of the worst disasters in United States history.
Disasters
Grabow Riot (Massacre)
Labor union meeting results in death and arrest of timber workers.
Disasters
Hurricanes in Louisiana
Louisiana hurricanes have played an essential role in the state’s history from colonization through the present and are as memorable as the places and people they impact.
Disasters
2016 Floods
A rainy weekend in August 2016 unexpectedly left behind more than three times the amount of rain dropped by Hurricane Katrina, damaging 146,000 homes in fifty-six of Louisiana’s sixty-four parishes.
Folklife
Folklife IndexFolklife
Leather Britches Smith
The legendary outlaw Charles “Leather Britches” Smith is best known for his armed defense of his fellow union members during the Grabow Riot of 1912.
Folklife
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Founded in 1970, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, known as Jazz Fest, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year to experience the music, cuisine, and cultural heritage of Louisiana.
Folklife
Darryl Reeves
Darryl Reeves is a master blacksmith who hand-forges decorative and functional ironwork for many of New Orleans' historic homes and public buildings.
Folklife
Campeche Chair
The Campeche chair, a leather or caned sling seat supported by a non-folding cross-frame, was in widespread use in the United States and New Spain in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Foodways
Foodways IndexFoodways
Filé
Filé, also known as filé powder or gumbo filé, is a seasoning and thickening agent made from dried and finely ground sassafras leaves.
Foodways
Elmer Candy Company
Elmer Candy Company, the oldest family-owned chocolate company in the United States, is known for its trio of egg-shaped chocolate confections as well as originating the line of CheeWees savory snacks.
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
Zwolle Tamales
Zwolle tamales, a popular food from northwest Louisiana’s Sabine Parish, trace their origin to the region’s Indigenous cultures.
Geography
Geography IndexGeography
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
Fontainebleau State Park
The Fontainebleau State Park bears the name of Bernard de Marigny's sugar plantation, which formerly occupied this site and was itself named after the estate of the French king Francois I.
Geography
Florida Parishes of Louisiana
A portion of Louisiana was once the western extremity of colonial Florida
Geography
Neutral Strip
The Neutral Strip existed outside the governance of either the United States or Spain until 1821.
Government, Politics & Law
Government, Politics & Law IndexGovernment, Politics & Law
Henry Luce Fuqua
During his short term as governor from 1924 to 1926, Henry Luce Fuqua advocated increased levee and road construction in Louisiana as well as the expansion of Louisiana State University.
Government, Politics & Law
Harry Lee
Harry Lee was the first Asian American elected to office in Louisiana and the first Asian American to serve as chief law enforcement officer of any major metropolitan area in the United States.
Government, Politics & Law
Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos y Amorin
Manuel Luis Gayoso served as governor of the Spanish colonies of Louisiana and West Florida from 1797 until his death in 1799.
Government, Politics & Law
Sebastian Calvo de la Puerta Y O'Farrill, marqués de Casa Calvo
After the death of Governor Manuel Gayoso de Lemos in July 1799, Casa Calvo was sent to Louisiana to serve as interim governor of the Spanish colony.
History
History IndexHistory
Early Exploration
Before the first colonial settlement in 1682, Spanish and French explorers visited the territory that would become Louisiana.
History
L’Union
The South’s first Black newspaper, L’Union was an abolitionist journal that promoted full citizenship rights for men of African descent.
History
Troyville Culture
Dating to the Late Woodland Period, from 400 to 700 CE, the Troyville Culture is named for an archaeological site in Catahoula Parish.
History
Jacques Philippe Villeré
Jacques Villeré was the first native-born governor of Louisiana, serving from 1816 until 1820.
Literature
Literature IndexLiterature
Caroline Dormon
Caroline Dormon made monumental contributions to the conservation of Louisiana's natural and cultural resources. A passion for native plants and old-growth forests, coupled with a strong feeling of kinship with Native Americans, shaped Dormon's life and work.
Literature
Arna Wendell Bontemps
Arna Wendell Bontemps, a distinguished contributor to the writings of the Harlem Renaissance, was born in Alexandria, Louisiana.
Literature
Alice Dunbar-Nelson
New Orleans native Alice Dunbar-Nelson was one of the founders of the Harlem Renaissance literary movement.
Literature
Shirley Ann Grau
New Orleans born writer Shirley Ann Grau is noted for her depictions of southern landscapes and Louisiana folkways in her fiction.
Music
Music IndexMusic
Johnny Wiggs
Johnny Wiggs was a Jewish traditional jazz cornetist from New Orleans.
Music
BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet
Formed during the Cajun revival of the 1970s, BeauSoleil and its founder, fiddler Michael Doucet, are among Louisiana's most prominent ambassadors of Cajun music and culture.
Music
Eugene Chassaignac
Eugène Chassaignac was a composer and music critic in nineteenth century New Orleans.
Music
Tim McGraw
Born in northeast Louisiana, country music star Tim McGraw has numerous hit songs and soaring sales figures.
Peoples of Louisiana
Peoples of Louisiana IndexPeoples of Louisiana
Filipinos
Louisiana is home to the earliest Filipino American community in the United States.
Peoples of Louisiana
Ishak Indigenous People
The Ishak are an Indigenous people who have lived in southwest Louisiana and southeastern Texas since precolonial times.
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.
Peoples of Louisiana
Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb
The Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb is Louisiana’s second-largest tribe, with more than seven thousand enrolled citizens.
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
Jimmy Swaggart
Called the "King of Honky Tonk Heaven" by Newsweek in 1982, Ferriday's Jimmy Swaggart was America's most popular televangelist in the 1980s.
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
Winnsboro Easter Rock
Held on the Saturday before Easter Sunday, this women-led vigil includes counterclockwise percussive foot movement and call-and-response singing.
Science & Technology
Science & Technology IndexScience & 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
Freeman and Custis Red River Expedition
An American effort to explore the Louisiana Purchase territory was hindered by a log jam on the Red River and two hundred Spanish troops.
Science & Technology
Hurricanes in Louisiana
Louisiana hurricanes have played an essential role in the state’s history from colonization through the present and are as memorable as the places and people they impact.
Science & Technology
Cholera in Louisiana
During the nineteenth century, cholera epidemics caused tens of thousands of deaths throughout the state of Louisiana.
Sports & Recreation
Sports & Recreation IndexSports & Recreation
New Orleans Zephyrs and Baby Cakes
The New Orleans Baby Cakes, formerly the New Orleans Zephyrs, were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the New Orleans area from 1993 to 2019.
Sports & Recreation
Bobby Brown
Tulane alumnus Bobby Brown played professional baseball with the New York Yankees and won four world championships.
Sports & Recreation
George Strickland
New Orleanian George Strickland spent twenty-one years as a major league baseball player.
Sports & Recreation
Ron Guidry
Louisiana native Ron Guidry's performance with the New York Yankees in the 1978 season stands decades later as one of the greatest pitching achievements in modern baseball history.
