There’s a political component to “One Big Self,” of course. By creating present-day inmate portraits that appear to be antiques, Luster slyly suggests that while the rest of the world has undergone social and technological sea changes, incarceration is essentially … Continue reading →

A quadroon nurse followed them about with a faraway, meditative air. — Kate Chopin, The Awakening. (2) Kim Vaz-Deville, author of The Baby Dolls: Breaking the Race and Gender Barriers of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Tradition:

Ladies and Men of Unity and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux.  

Resa “Cinnamon Black” Bazile of the the Tremé Million-Dollar Baby Dolls.

Ausettua Amor Amenkum, queen of the Yellow Pocahontas and Washitaw Nation.

From NPR: Regine Chassagne of Arcade Fire pays tribute to her Haitian roots with a new Krewe du Kanaval at Mardi Gras this year. The effort is a collaboration with Preservation Hall Jazz band. Go here to listen.

The inequalities between men and women are present throughout the entirety of The Awakening.  More specifically, they are present in the marriage of Léonce and Edna. Léonce views his wife as a piece of property more than a life partner. This is apparent … Continue reading →

New Orleans music has a whole breath of life in it. It’s music for the mind, body, and soul. — Donald Harrison, Jr.

Here is a remarkable collection of portraits by Christopher Porché West of New Orleanians who masquerade as Mardi Gras Indians.

Olivia’s post led me to this fascinating discussion of Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans’ painting Creole in A Red Headdress (c.1840). Amans travelled from his native France to New Orleans to find work as a portraiturist, and he was quite successful. As … Continue reading →

The Bayou Sauvage Wildlife Refuge is on the Eastern side of New Orleans. Not only is it home to many different types of wildlife, which I will talk about more below, but it is also home to many different habitats. … Continue reading →

  Screen Capture from How To Make Lemonade that depicts paintings of free women of color in tignons   Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas makes it a point very early on to highlight the unique ways in which the city and … Continue reading →

Many people have watched the popular TV series American Horror Story. Each season has a different theme and an abundance of characters based on real people. During the show’s third season, American Horror Story Coven, the story takes place in … Continue reading →

What many people don’t know about New Orleans, including myself, is that there is a Native American tribe (numerous actually) that are in the city right now, and they have been there for centuries. In an essay written by Monique … Continue reading →

The Irish Channel is deceptive. While its name suggests a majority Irish population, it is actually home to a large African American community. In its early days, however, this was not the case. Back then, the community living in the Irish … Continue reading →

As the trade and population in New Orleans began to increase, the need for healthcare in the city increased as well. The diversity of the population beginning to settle in the city made it so that practitioners of various backgrounds who … Continue reading →

There is a common myth told about 19th-century New Orleans. It goes something like this: Imagine you’re in an elegant dance hall in New Orleans in the early 1800s. Looking around, you see a large group of white men and free women of … Continue reading →

Congo Square, located in New Orleans within Louis Armstrong Park in Tremé, is a cultural landmark known for its deeply rooted significance to African- American and New Orleans culture. The square first came to be widely known during the 1800s … Continue reading →

Due to my strong interest in Wicca and eclectic witchcraft, I found the popularity of Voodoo in New Orleans fascinating. Voodoo queens such as Marie Laveau used skills such as clairvoyance and healing to do her spiritual work.  Something I … Continue reading →

There are 17 wards within New Orleans. Originally, these wards were created for political reasons. But while they have been replaced by council districts, the wards still hold a lot of meaning for neighborhood identity within the city.   When researching the wards in … Continue reading →