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.
Antebellum Period
Antebellum Period Index
History
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.
Art
William Aiken Walker
Working in various Southern locations including New Orleans, painter William Aker Walker created small-scale works for tourists and large-scale, more stylized paintings for wealthy clients.
Government, Politics & Law
William B. Hyman
William B. Hyman served as the chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court from 1865 to 1868.
Government, Politics & Law
William Charles Cole Claiborne
William Charles Cole Claiborne was the first territorial and state governor of Louisiana in its transitional years from the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 to statehood in 1812.
Art
William Henry Baker
William Henry Baker was a itinerant Grand Manner portrait painter active in the New Orleans area during the nineteenth century.
Art
William Henry Buck
Artist William Henry Buck was among the originators of the “bayou school” of painting in Louisiana.
Architecture
William Ratcliffe Irby
William Ratcliffe Irby, a wealthy tobacco company executive, banker, and philanthropist in New Orleans, became a driving force in saving the French Quarter from potential mass demolition.
Art
William Rumpler
William Rumpler (born Johann Wilhelm) was a German portrait and landscape painter active in New Orleans between 1853 and 1866.
History
Winnsboro Easter Rock
Held on the Saturday before Easter Sunday, this women-led vigil includes counterclockwise percussive foot movement and call-and-response singing.
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.
Disasters
Yellow Fever in Louisiana
The last known epidemic of yellow fever in the United States occurred in Louisiana in 1905. Due to the intensity and frequency of these epidemics, it was often referred to as the "saffron scourge."
