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
Native American Mounds
Louisiana boasts some of the most significant Native American earthen monuments in North America and ranks second only to Mississippi in the number of mound sites.
Archaeology
Pre-Clovis and Clovis Cultures
This entry covers the Pre-Clovis and Clovis cultures during the Early Paleoindian Period, 11500–9500 BCE, and Middle Paleoindian Period, 9500 BCE–8800 BCE.
Archaeology
Poverty Point
Poverty Point in Louisiana, one of the most significant archaeological sites in in the world, dates to 3,500 years and represents the largest, most complex settlement of its kind in North America.
Architecture
Architecture IndexArchitecture
Richard Koch
Louisiana architect and preservationist Richard Koch worked with the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in the state during the Great Depression.
Architecture
Audubon Park
Fronting the Mississippi River, Audubon Park is one of New Orleans' most popular attractions for both tourists and locals.
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
Zemurray Lodge and Gardens
This large, rambling house began as a one-and-half-story frame structure built as a retreat by lawyer, planter, and entrepreneur Alfred Hennen in 1829.
Art
Art IndexArt
Florville Foy
Florville Foy, a free man of color, was a marble cutter, sculptor, and proprietor of one of the most successful marble yards in nineteenth-century New Orleans.
Art
Ellsworth Woodward
Louisiana artist Ellsworth Woodward was a pillar of the New Orleans art scene as a teacher and a promoter between 1890 and 1940.
Art
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.
Art
Captain William Lindsey Challoner
Captain William Lindsey Challoner worked for the Machecca line of fruit trade ships and sailed through many international ports. These busy ports inspired Challoner's paintings of ships and harbor scenes.
Business & Industry
Business & Industry IndexBusiness & Industry
Plantation Slavery in Antebellum Louisiana
Enslaved people endured brutal conditions on sugarcane and cotton plantations during the antebellum period.
Business & Industry
Singer Submarine Company
The Singer Submarine Company operated a naval yard on the banks of Cross Bayou that built five Confederate submarines, four of which were sunk before seeing combat.
Business & Industry
Brotherhood of Timber Workers
An integrated labor union violently suppressed by lumber barons.
Business & Industry
Festival International de Louisiane
The festival celebrates southwest Louisiana’s connections to the francophone world.
Disasters
Disasters IndexDisasters
Nutria in Louisiana
Imported in the early twentieth century for their fur, nutria have exploded into an invasive species that contributes to coastal erosion.
Disasters
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.
Disasters
George Prince Ferry Disaster
The 1976 George Prince ferry disaster between Destrehan and Luling was the deadliest ferry disaster in US history and a touchstone for a new set of safety protocols for ferry travel.
Disasters
Hurricane Gustav
Hurricane Gustav was the first major storm to test New Orleans’s rehabbed defenses after Hurricane Katrina.
Folklife
Folklife IndexFolklife
Jazz Funerals and Second Line Parades
New Orleans Jazz Funerals are public burial services for prominent community members; traditionally African American males. After the funeral service, a procession of musicians, funeral directors, family, and friends moves from the site of the funeral to the cemetery while marching to the beat of a brass band.
Folklife
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
Courir de Mardi Gras
The courir de Mardi Gras is the rural celebration of Mardi Gras in Louisiana, usually held in Cajun communities
Folklife
Traiteurs
Healers draw on a folk tradition that dates to the eighteenth century and includes Creole, Native American, Cajun, and European influences.
Foodways
Foodways IndexFoodways
King Cake
A round, braided cake consumed during the Carnival season across Louisiana, especially in New Orleans.
Foodways
Beignets
Beignets, or pockets of fried dough served with powdered sugar, are an iconic New Orleans treat.
Foodways
Gumbo
Gumbo is a thick soup that could be considered the signature dish of South Louisiana.
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.
Geography
Geography IndexGeography
Natchitoches Settlement
The Natchitoches settlement, founded in 1714, is the oldest in the Louisiana Territory.
Geography
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.
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
Bourbon Street
The origins of the notorious adult playground
Government
Government IndexGovernment
Home Colonies
After the Civil War, the federal government briefly operated places of refuge for sick, injured, and elderly formerly enslaved people that proved both benevolent and coercive.
Government, Politics & Law
Government, Politics & Law IndexGovernment, Politics & Law
Louisiana Constitutions
Louisiana has had ten state constitutions since 1812, with the current governing document dating to 1974.
Government, Politics & Law
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.
Government, Politics & Law
Louisiana Maneuvers
During World War II, central Louisiana became the site of training maneuvers to prepare the United States Army to engage in Germany’s new blitzkrieg-style warfare.
Government, Politics & Law
Antonio de Ulloa y de la Torre Guiral
Explorer, astronomer, and administrator Antonio de Ulloa was the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, serving from 1766 to 1768.
History
History IndexHistory
Michael Hahn
Bavarian immigrant Michael Hahn served as the first Union governor of Louisiana for one year during the Civil War.
History
Poverty Point
Poverty Point in Louisiana, one of the most significant archaeological sites in in the world, dates to 3,500 years and represents the largest, most complex settlement of its kind in North America.
History
World War II
Like the rest of the nation, Louisiana experienced many changes during World War II. Federal spending helped boost the state’s economy and new employment opportunities proliferated.
History
Unionist Troops in Louisiana
Five thousand to ten thousand white Louisianans fought for the Union during the Civil War.
Literature
Literature IndexLiterature
Cammie Garrett Henry
Cammie Henry played a central role in Louisiana's artistic and literary communities, as both a patron of the arts and preservationist.
Literature
A Confederacy of Dunces
Despite the difficulties John Kennedy Toole faced while trying to publish A Confederacy of Dunces, the novel went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and sell more than two million copies.
Literature
Poetry
Louisiana poetry ranges from early francophone works to contemporary compositions.
Literature
Walker Percy
Walker Percy incorporated the culture and traditions of Louisiana in particular, and the South in general, into his literary work.
Music
Music IndexMusic
Kid Ory
Trombonist and bandleader Kid Ory, a pioneer of the traditional New Orleans Jazz style, played a key role in the New Orleans Revival of the 1940s.
Music
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.
Music
Randy Newman
Musician and composer Randy Newman was influenced by the time he lived in New Orleans as a child and many of his songs, including the poignant “Louisiana 1927,” reflect this.
Music
Inez Catalon
Inez Catalon was a Louisiana folk singer who specialized in cantiques, a type of French folk song.
Peoples of Louisiana
Peoples of Louisiana IndexPeoples 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 seven recognized by the state.
Peoples 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
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.
Peoples of Louisiana
Quapaw Tribe
The Quapaw Indians, whose four villages were located along the Arkansas River, were military allies and trade partners of colonial Louisianans.
Politics & Law
Politics & Law IndexPolitics & Law
Home Colonies
After the Civil War, the federal government briefly operated places of refuge for sick, injured, and elderly formerly enslaved people that proved both benevolent and coercive.
Religion & Spirituality
Religion & Spirituality IndexReligion & Spirituality
Sister Helen Prejean
Sister Helen Prejean is an anti-death penalty advocate in New Orleans and the author of "Dead Man Walking."
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
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.
Religion & Spirituality
Father Paul Du Ru
A Jesuit priest was the first to establish Catholic missions among the Indigenous peoples of the Gulf South.
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
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.
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
Coastal Restoration
For a state experiencing land loss at an alarming rate, coastal restoration has become an urgent need.
Sports & Recreation
Sports & Recreation IndexSports & Recreation
Joe Dumars
Despite growing up in a region where football was king, Shreveport native Joe Dumars enjoyed a successful career as a player and executive in the NBA.
Sports & Recreation
Risen Star
Sired by Secretariat and owned by Ronnie Lamarque and Louis Roussel III, Risen Star was one of the most successful racehorses ever to come out of Louisiana.
Sports & Recreation
Toby Hart
Toby Hart brought New Orleans its first professional sports franchise in 1887.
Sports & Recreation
Robby Albarado
Louisiana jockey Robby Albarado is one of the most successful riders in US horse racing history.
