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
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
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.
Architecture
Architecture IndexArchitecture
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
Camp Ruston
Camp Ruston was one of five large internment facilities established in Louisiana to house captured Axis soldiers transported to the United States during World War II.
Architecture
Audubon Park
Fronting the Mississippi River, Audubon Park is one of New Orleans' most popular attractions for both tourists and locals.
Architecture
Shadows-on-the-Teche Plantation
Until artist Weeks Hall donated Shadows-on-the-Teche to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1958, the New Iberia property had been in the Weeks family since the original Spanish land grant in 1792.
Art
Art IndexArt
Matthew Anderson IV
For three decades, photographer Matt Anderson has focused his camera on New Orleans's musicians, cultural events, and the performing arts.
Art
Luigi Marie Sotta
Italian painter Luigi Marie Sotta, a skilled and significant artist well versed in French academic practice, worked for at least two seasons in New Orleans.
Art
Louis Oscar Griffith
Artist Louis O. Griffith was not a native of Louisiana, but he discovered its charms on a visit to New Orleans and proceeded to depict the city in his artwork.
Art
Skylar Fein
Largely self-taught and working primarily in wood sculptures, Skylar Fein graphically combines pop-culture icons and revolutionary texts into artwork with embedded political critiques.
Business & Industry
Business & Industry IndexBusiness & 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
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.
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.
Business & Industry
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
The 2010 BP spill was one of the worst environmental disasters in US history.
Disasters
Disasters IndexDisasters
Mechanics’ Institute Massacre of 1866
Following the Civil War, an attempt to amend the state’s constitution to grant Black men the vote provoked a deadly reaction from white supremacists, sparking national outrage and significant reforms.
Disasters
Hurricane Andrew
After wreaking havoc on Florida, Hurricane Andrew made landfall in Louisiana and caused widespread devastation.
Disasters
Grand 16 Theater Shooting
The Grand 16 Theater Shooting was a 2015 mass shooting in Lafayette that left three dead and injured nine, catapulting the city into a national discussion about gun control.
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
Blessings of the Fleet
At Boat Blessings, a Catholic priest blesses a community’s shrimp boats before the start of shrimp season
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
Gay Carnival
Since the mid-twentieth century, LGBTQ+ residents of Louisiana have contributed unique traditions to Mardi Gras celebrations.
Folklife
Georgie and Allen Manuel
Allen and Georgie Manuel were a husband-wife team who made traditional costumes of the Cajun courir du Mardi Gras, the celebration of Carnival season in rural South Louisiana.
Foodways
Foodways IndexFoodways
Stuffed Shrimp
Popularized in the late 1950s, stuffed shrimp is a signature dish of Shreveport.
Foodways
Beignets
Beignets, or pockets of fried dough served with powdered sugar, are an iconic New Orleans treat.
Foodways
Barq's Sodas
Brothers Edward and Gaston Barq began bottling carbonated water and soft drinks in New Orleans in 1890.
Foodways
Crawfish Boils
Crawfish boils are a springtime ritual in Louisiana.
Geography
Geography IndexGeography
Bayou Teche
Before railroads and highways, Bayou Teche served as an important transportation route deep into the fertile interior of south-central Louisiana.
Geography
Coastal Master Plan
In response to decades of warnings about land loss, Louisiana released its first Coastal Master Plan in 2007.
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
Florida Parishes of Louisiana
A portion of Louisiana was once the western extremity of colonial Florida
Government, Politics & Law
Government, Politics & Law IndexGovernment, Politics & Law
E. A. Burke
Edward Austin Burke, known as Major E. A. Burke, was a Louisiana politician during the Reconstruction era.
Government, Politics & Law
Populism
In the late nineteenth century, Populist Party advocates railed against the prevailing system and urged cooperation among oppressed peoples to secure reform.
Government, Politics & Law
Louisiana National Guard Training Center in Pineville (Camp Beauregard)
More than a century of existence makes Pineville’s Camp Beauregard, renamed the Louisiana National Guard Training Center in 2023, one of the oldest training camps in continuous operation in the nation.
Government, Politics & Law
Andre Bienvenu Roman
Sugar planter and politician André Roman, a member of the Whig Party, served as governor of Louisiana from 1831 until 1835 and again from 1839 to 1843.
History
History IndexHistory
Fort Miro
Located on the site of present-day Monroe, Louisiana, Fort Miro was a late eighteenth-century Spanish outpost that served the Ouachita River valley.
History
Pentagon Barracks
Built in 1819 as a fortification against the Spanish and slave insurrections, today the Pentagon Barracks house a museum, apartments, and the lieutenant governor's office.
History
Siege of Port Hudson
The capture of Port Hudson in Louisiana gave Union forces control of the Mississippi River and was a significant turning point in the Civil War.
History
Rosalie Courteaux
An important woman leader in the Houma Nation’s history, Rosalie Courteaux defended her people against non-Indian encroachment in the nineteenth century.
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
Solomon Northup
Solomon Northup, a free Black New Yorker, was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841, spending twelve years enslaved on Louisiana plantations before regaining his freedom.
Literature
Louisiana Folktales
Louisiana’s folktales have been influenced by Indigenous peoples and the many cultural and ethnic groups that have immigrated to the state.
Literature
Swamps in Literature, Film, and Folklore
Swamps have a unique place in the literature, film and folklore of Louisiana.
Music
Music IndexMusic
Andrew Morgan
Andrew Morgan was a New Orleans traditional jazz clarinetist, saxophonist and audience favorite at Preservation Hall.
Music
New Orleans Musica da Camera
New Orleans Musica da Camera is the oldest early music ensemble in the Americas, and one of the oldest classical music organizations in the South.
Music
Boozoo Chavis
Wilson Anthony "Boozoo" Chavis was a pioneering zydeco musician best known for highly danceable tunes and his often-risqué sense of humor.
Music
Champion Jack Dupree
Champion Jack Dupree was was best known as a barrelhouse pianist and songwriter/raconteur but was also an accomplished boxer and cook.
Peoples of Louisiana
Peoples of Louisiana IndexPeoples 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.
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
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.
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
Sister Helen Prejean
Sister Helen Prejean is an anti-death penalty advocate in New Orleans and the author of "Dead Man Walking."
Religion & Spirituality
Marie Tranchepain
Marie Tranchepain was the first Mother Superior of New Orleans’s Ursulines and an early female diarist.
Religion & Spirituality
Marie Laveau
Marie Laveau was a free woman of color born in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Laveau assumed the leadership role of a multiracial religious community for which she gave consultations and held ceremonies. During her time, she was known as "The Priestess of the Voudous"; among many other colorful titles.
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
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
Paul Morphy
New Orleanian Paul Morphy rose to international fame as a chess master.
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
Craig Perret
Louisiana jockey Craig Perret won two Triple Crown races and numerous horse racing awards.
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.
