Archaeology
Plaquemine Culture
This entry covers the Plaquemine culture in the Lower Mississippi River Valley during the Mississippi period, 1200 to 1700 CE
Archaeology
Archaeology Index
Archaeology
Coles Creek Culture
Once covering most of Louisiana, the Coles Creek culture is known for its distinctive ceremonial mound sites.
Archaeology
Watson Brake Archaeological Site
Watson Brake is a prehistoric Evans culture site in Ouachita Parish dating to 3500–2800 BCE.
Archaeology
Troyville Earthworks
Located near Jonesville, the Troyville earthworks are a Baytown period Native American archaeological site that dates from 400 to 700 CE.
Architecture
Architecture IndexArchitecture
Hotel Bentley
For the first sixty years of its existence, the Hotel Bentley was the social hub of Alexandria.
Architecture
Richard Koch
Louisiana architect and preservationist Richard Koch worked with the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in the state during the Great Depression.
Architecture
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church
The design of the picturesque St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Grand Coteau has been attributed to James Freret on the basis of drawings he made in 1875.
Architecture
Public Works Administration Architecture
The Public Works Administration projects in Louisiana during the Great Depression include numerous courthouses, university buildings, and Charity Hospital in New Orleans.
Art
Art IndexArt
George Castleden
Best known for his paintings of New Orleans's French Quarter architecture, itinerant artist George Frederick Castleden held exhibitions in the courtyard of the Cabildo.
Art
Francisco Bernard
Like many painters of his time, Francisco Bernard spent the winters in New Orleans and traveled as an itinerant portrait painter during the summer.
Art
George Febres
Artist, curator, and gallery owner George Febres helped lead the resurgence of New Orleans as a regional art center beginning in the 1970s.
Art
Harriet Blum
Covington photographer Harriet Blum has created a large body of painterly photographs of Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast landscapes.
Business & Industry
Business & Industry IndexBusiness & Industry
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
The 2010 BP spill was one of the worst environmental disasters in US history.
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.
Business & Industry
First Louisiana Oil Well
Exploitable petroleum deposits were found in Louisiana in 1901, changing the state's economy and landscape forever.
Business & Industry
Shreve Town Company
The Shreve Town Company was a for-profit business venture that led to the establishment of what is today known as Shreveport, the largest city in northwest Louisiana.
Disasters
Disasters IndexDisasters
Cancer Alley
Located along the Mississippi River in southeast Louisiana, Cancer Alley is home to the highest concentration of heavy industry in the United States, with residents reporting high rates of cancer, heart disease, respiratory illnesses, and autoimmune disease.
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 Camille
Hurricane Camille struck coastal Mississippi in mid-August of 1969, marking the first designated Category 5 storm and one of Louisiana’s most storied tropical weather events.
Disasters
SS Kentucky Disaster
On June 9, 1865, the SS Kentucky capsized in the Red River south of Shreveport, marking the second deadliest inland maritime disaster in US history.
Folklife
Folklife IndexFolklife
Voudou
Voudou, a synthesis of African religious and magical beliefs with Roman Catholicism, emerged in New Orleans in the 1700s and survives in active congregations today.
Folklife
Rougarou
The rougarou is one of the most well-known figures in South Louisiana folklore.
Folklife
Creole Folktales
Many Louisiana Creole folktales represent a convergence of African and European culture.
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.
Foodways
Foodways IndexFoodways
Réveillon
Rooted in nineteenth-century Creole traditions, the réveillon has experienced a modern-day remaking in New Orleans restaurants.
Foodways
Paul Prudhomme
An unofficial cultural ambassador for Louisiana beginning in the 1970s, Paul Prudhomme was a Cajun chef, restauranteur, author, television star, and entrepreneur.
Foodways
Jambalaya
A rice-based mixture of meats and/or seafood along with vegetables, herbs, and spices, jambalaya is a representative dish of South Louisiana.
Foodways
Lucky Dogs
The wiener-shaped Lucky Dog hot dog pushcarts in New Orleans’s French Quarter were the inspiration for the fictional Paradise Vendors in John Kennedy Toole's novel “A Confederacy of Dunces.”
Geography
Geography IndexGeography
Florida Parishes of Louisiana
A portion of Louisiana was once the western extremity of colonial Florida
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
Natchitoches Settlement
The Natchitoches settlement, founded in 1714, is the oldest in the Louisiana Territory.
Geography
Bourbon Street
The origins of the notorious adult playground
Government, Politics & Law
Government, Politics & Law IndexGovernment, Politics & Law
Louisiana Constitution of 1898
Bourbon Democrats suppressed democracy and restored white supremacy in the Louisiana State Constitution of 1898.
Government, Politics & Law
Jacques Philippe Villeré
Jacques Villeré was the first native-born governor of Louisiana, serving from 1816 until 1820.
Government, Politics & Law
Oliver O. Provosty
Oliver O. Provosty served as the chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1922.
Government, Politics & Law
Francisco Luis Hector, baron de Carondelet
Francisco Luis Hector, baron de Carondelet served as governor of the Spanish colonies of Louisiana and West Florida between 1791 and 1797.
History
History IndexHistory
Bill Dodd
Lieutenant governor Bill Dodd was a pivotal figure in the "Tidelands Dispute," the war of wills between state and federal authorities over offshore drilling revenue.
History
Jim Crow & Segregation
In the late nineteenth century, the implementation of Jim Crow—or racial segregation—laws institutionalized white supremacy and Black inferiority throughout the South.
History
Mike Foster Jr.
Murphy J. "Mike" Foster Jr., the 53rd governor of Louisiana, served from 1996 to 2004.
History
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.
Literature
Literature IndexLiterature
Marcus Christian
Marcus Christian was a Louisiana writer, folklorist, and historian, known as the author of poems which satirize Jim Crow laws.
Literature
Louis Charles Roudanez
Founder of L’Union, the South’s first Black-owned newspaper, as well as the New Orleans Tribune, America’s first Black daily, Louis Charles Roudanez was a staunch abolitionist and advocate for the liberation of all Black people.
Literature
A Streetcar Named Desire
In 1947 playwright Tennessee Williams premiered A Streetcar Named Desire, a critically acclaimed theatrical work that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948.
Literature
Tom Dent
Tom Dent was a New Orleans poet, playwright, journalist, and researcher known for his contributions to literature and the Black Arts and civil rights movements.
Music
Music IndexMusic
Hank Williams Jr.
Hank Williams Jr. is an accomplished country-music star and defiant idealogue.
Music
Canray Fontenot
The music of Creole fiddler Canray Fontenot cuts across a variety of musical genres: Cajun, zydeco, and blues-waltzes, a unique style combining elements of blues and jazz.
Music
Inez Catalon
Inez Catalon was a Louisiana folk singer who specialized in cantiques, a type of French folk song.
Music
Percy Humphrey
New Orleans traditional jazz trumpeter Percy Humphrey led the Eureka Brass Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, continuing to play until the age of ninety.
Peoples of Louisiana
Peoples of Louisiana IndexPeoples of Louisiana
Vietnamese
Vietnamese Americans are one of the newest major ethnic groups in Louisiana
Peoples of Louisiana
Anglo-Americans
While Louisiana began as a French colony and its dominant culture remained Creole French well into the nineteenth century, Anglo-Americans began to form a significant minority in region the late colonial period.
Peoples of Louisiana
Cajuns
Cajuns are the descendants of Acadian exiles from what are now the maritime provinces of Canada–Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island–who migrated to southern Louisiana.
Peoples of Louisiana
Italians
Between 1880 and 1914, New Orleans was a principal port of entry for Italians migrating to the United States.
Religion & Spirituality
Religion & Spirituality IndexReligion & 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
Marie Tranchepain
Marie Tranchepain was the first Mother Superior of New Orleans’s Ursulines and an early female diarist.
Religion & Spirituality
Protestantism in Louisiana
Several Protestant denominations are present in Louisiana with Southern Baptist and Methodist as the most dominant.
Religion & Spirituality
Archbishop Joseph Rummel
Archbishop Joseph Rummel was among the first religious leaders in Louisiana to proclaim the immorality of racism and ordered the desegregation of Catholic schools in New Orleans.
Science & Technology
Science & Technology IndexScience & Technology
Cholera in Louisiana
During the nineteenth century, cholera epidemics caused tens of thousands of deaths throughout the state of Louisiana.
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
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
World War II Industrialization in Louisiana
The United States’ entry into World War II spurred Louisiana’s recovery from the economic doldrums of the Great Depression.
Sports & Recreation
Sports & Recreation IndexSports & Recreation
Rusty Staub
Major League Baseball player Rusty Staub was raised in New Orleans and attended Jesuit High School before being becoming one of the New York Mets; most popular players and a six-time All-Star.
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
Negro Leagues of Louisiana
The Negro Leagues were the network of African-American baseball teams and players from the 1880s to the integration of baseball in 1946–47.
Sports & Recreation
Ralph Dupas
Ralph Dupas emerged from humble beginnings in New Orleans to become a world champion boxer
