Archaeology
Tchefuncte Site
An archaeological site on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain helps researchers understand Tchefuncte culture from 600 to 200 BCE
Archaeology
Archaeology Index
Archaeology
Archaeology of the New Orleans Area
In New Orleans archaeological explorations span 2,500 years of history
Archaeology
Marksville Culture
This entry covers the prehistoric Marksville Culture during the Middle Woodland Period, 1–400 CE.
Archaeology
Poverty Point Culture
This entry covers prehistoric Poverty Point culture during the Late Archaic period, 2000–800 BCE.
Architecture
Architecture IndexArchitecture
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
Camp Moore
Camp Moore in Louisiana served as the training location for more than 20,000 Confederate soldiers during the Civil War.
Architecture
Laura Plantation
Laura Lacoul Gore, the namesake of Laura Plantation, left a memoir that proved to be an important resource for the restoration of the house.
Architecture
Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church
Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church's modern design was made possible in large part by the parish priest, Monsignor Irving DeBlanc, who persuaded his parishioners that a contemporary building would best serve changes in liturgy made by Vatican Council II.
Art
Art IndexArt
Gideon Townsend Stanton
Gideon Townsend Stanton, a stockbroker and artist, was the state director for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project in the 1930s.
Art
Herbert Singleton
Self-taught artist Herbert Singleton created dramatic scenes of the rough New Orleans environment into which he was born, using found objects such as salvaged doors, driftwood, and discarded furniture.
Art
Marie Seebold
Marie Seebold knew as a child that she wanted to be an artist and began her formal art studies at the age of eleven.
Art
Newcomb Pottery
Influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement, Newcomb pottery was exhibited around the world, sold in shops nationwide, and written about in art journals throughout the United States and Europe
Business & Industry
Business & Industry IndexBusiness & Industry
Salt Mining
Louisiana is home to 128 identified salt domes, including the coastal dome now known as Avery Island.
Business & Industry
J. D. Miller’s Recording Studios
J. D. Miller’s recording studios in Crowley are best known for recording South Louisiana musical genres but the studio leaves a mixed legacy, having produced a series of racist songs in the 1960s.
Business & Industry
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.
Business & Industry
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.
Disasters
Disasters IndexDisasters
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike’s size and timing was a sobering reminder that Louisiana was underprepared for another storm on the scale of Hurricane Katrina.
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
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
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.
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
Rougarou
The rougarou is one of the most well-known figures in South Louisiana folklore.
Folklife
David Butler
Well known in for his audaciously decorated home and lawn, David Butler fashioned whimsical, brightly painted assemblages from salvaged roofing tin to become one of the twentieth century's most widely collected self-taught artists.
Folklife
Chitimacha Baskets
Deeply rooted in the history, spirituality, and daily activities of the Chitimacha people, basketry remains a visible expression of the Chitimacha Indian tribe’s culture and tradition.
Foodways
Foodways IndexFoodways
Pralines
The praline, a confection made of sugar and nuts, is a representative dish of the Franco- and Afro-Creole Atlantic diasporas.
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
Barq's Sodas
Brothers Edward and Gaston Barq began bottling carbonated water and soft drinks in New Orleans in 1890.
Geography
Geography IndexGeography
Florida Parishes of Louisiana
A portion of Louisiana was once the western extremity of colonial Florida
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
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.
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
Longism
“Longism” refers to both the political machine and the radical populist doctrine established by Huey Long in Louisiana in 1928.
Government, Politics & Law
Oramel Simpson
Former Louisiana senator Oramel Simpson became the state's governor following the death of Henry Fuqua in 1926.
Government, Politics & Law
William Pitt Kellogg
William Pitt Kellogg was governor of Louisiana during the divisive period of Radical Reconstruction.
Government, Politics & Law
Revolt Aboard the Ship Creole
The rebellion of enslaved people aboard the ship Creole resulted in the self-liberation of more than 120 people.
History
History IndexHistory
Pierre Auguste Charles Bourguignon Derbigny
French-born Pierre Derbigny became the sixth elected governor of Louisiana in 1828 and played a role in the Louisiana Purchase.
History
Joseph Biedenharn
Monroe's Joseph Biedenharn was an internationally successful entrepreneur who revolutionized the soft drink industry and founded Delta Air Lines.
History
Henriette Delille
Henriette Delille was a free Afro-Creole woman who founded sodalities, or religious sororities, for women of African descent that dedicated themselves to the care of the poor, the enslaved, and free people of color.
History
Stewart Butler
Stewart Butler was a pioneering LGBTQ+ activist who made an impact across the state and nation.
Literature
Literature IndexLiterature
Roark Bradford
Roark Bradford was a writer and editor for The Times-Picayune and the author of numerous articles, stories, and books in the 1920s and 30s.
Literature
Cleanth Brooks
Cleanth Brooks, one of the foremost American literary critics of the twentieth century, spent fifteen years as a professor in the English Department at Louisiana State University (LSU).
Literature
Free Southern Theater
Founded in 1963, the Free Southern Theater was designed as a cultural and educational extension of the civil rights movement in the South.
Literature
Women Writers
Louisiana women have written about life in the state since before the Civil War, presenting their views of its unique society and landscape.
Music
Music IndexMusic
Camille Nickerson
Born in New Orleans on March 30, 1888, composer Camille Nickerson was a highly accomplished musician and scholar.
Music
Paul Emile Johns
Paul Emile Johns is credited with the first performance of a Beethoven piano concerto, in New Orleans in 1819.
Music
Hubert Rolling
Hubert Rolling was a nineteenth century New Orleans pianist and composer.
Music
Marc Savoy
Marc Savoy is a Cajun folklorist, musician, and master accordion maker in Eunice.
Peoples of Louisiana
Peoples of Louisiana IndexPeoples 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
Les Petites Nations
Approximately forty ethnically and politically distinct North American Indigenous polities located in the Gulf Coast region and lower Mississippi River valley made up les petites nations.
Peoples of Louisiana
Taensa Tribe
One of Louisiana's pre-contact indigenous groups
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.
Religion & Spirituality
Religion & Spirituality IndexReligion & Spirituality
St. Joseph Altars
Catholic Louisianans of Sicilian descent erect altars laden with fresh produce, baked goods, and other foods to honor Saint Joseph.
Religion & Spirituality
St. Mark's Community Center
St. Mark's Community Center, a settlement house run by Methodist deaconesses, opened its doors in New Orleans in 1909 and continues to operate today.
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
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
Coastal Restoration
For a state experiencing land loss at an alarming rate, coastal restoration has become an urgent need.
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
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.
Sports & Recreation
Sports & Recreation IndexSports & Recreation
Buddy Friedrichs
New Orleans sailing champion Buddy Friedrichs won a gold medal in the 1968 Summer Olympics in the Dragon Class.
Sports & Recreation
Willard Brown
Louisiana-born Willard Brown was a power-hitting star in Negro League baseball before the integration of the major leagues in 1947.
Sports & Recreation
Louis "Rags" Scheuermann
Louis "Rags" Scheuermann was a winning baseball coach at Loyola University and Delgado Community College, as well as in municipal sports programs for the city of New Orleans.
Sports & Recreation
Whitey Esneault
For nearly fifty years, legendary boxing trainer Whitey Esnault trained both neighborhood children and world champions in his French Quarter gym.
