New Orleans, LA

In 1800, Spain controlled a vast territory in the New World called Louisiana. The small, at that time, US had no particular interest in buying that land. That land which ran from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. The US and Spain had a treaty, the Pickney Treaty of 1795, that allowed American navigation of the Mississippi River and access to the Port of New Orleans. More than a quarter of everything produced in America traveled to the Gulf via the Mississippi River.

In 1801, France resumed control of Louisiana and America’s views on that changed. President Jefferson was concerned that France would try to block American use of the river stangling American growth. France at that time was the traditional American enemy. To make matters worse, Napoleon made public his intentions to occupy Louisiana and make that land the bread basket of France in America.

Many in the US wanted to declare war on France. Not just for this but it added fire to the flame. The Federalists had wanted war for a long time and this gave them added impetus. Jefferson did not want war and struggled for a way out. He wrote to the US ambassador to France and said (I paraphrase), “The day that France takes possession of New Orleans is the day we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation.” Meaning that he was willing to go to war over New Orleans. He also instructed the ambassador to make sure that the French, in particular, Napoleon, understood that.

France was facing a slave revolt in the Caribbean. Between fighting and yellow fever, Napoleon lost over 40,000 soldiers. He could not afford a war with the US and Britain. The US wanted to purchase New Orleans for $10 Million. Napoleon sold all of Louisiana for $15 Million, only 3/4 of which they were required to pay (the rest went to reparations to the US government).

In one fell swoop, the US doubled its land by acquiring Louisiana. The purchase was ratified in 1803 and Louisiana was admitted to the Union in 1812.

new orleans, louisiana, louisiana purchase, france, america, jefferson, history

The New Orleans Mint is reopening in October. The New Orleans mint was the mint that imprinted an O on coins. The mint shut down in 1909 but has been turned into a museum. It took some major damage by Katrina but has been renovated and is reopening for business.

For those collectors passing through New Orleans, the restored Mint Museum is well worth a visit. The former exhibit on the history of the New Orleans Mint has been totally revamped and expanded. It also now includes a section on the archeology of the Mint. The building served as both a U.S. and Confederate mint, but lack of bullion shut it down quickly under Confederate administration. Minting operations ceased once and for all in 1909 and in 1966 the landmark was transferred to the state. It opened to the public in 1981 as a state museum.

According to web sources, the old mint was built in 1835 and is the only mint in the US to server as both a US and Confederate mint.

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new orleans, us mint, o mint, tourism, history, museum, history, historical, numismatic

Specifically, 10 Headlines From New Orleans’ Past. From the newly opened, NY Times archive, I present 10 headlines from 1851-1980. Anything before 1922 is freely available. Anything between 1922 and 1980 will cost you to read more than a brief abstract.

I love this stuff. If you like this kind of thing, drop me a note and I’ll do some more. If you include a topic list (like Mardi Gras, Shrimp, Flood, etc), I will do a list of old headlines with about that topic.

October 7, 1851, Wednesday

LATEST INTELLIGENCE; Arrival of the Georgia at New-Orleans from Havana–Release of Capt. Ellis, one of the American Prisoners.

The steamship Georgia has arrived at this port in forty-seven hours from Havana. Her news is of no importance, further than the fact that Captain Ellis, one of the recent invaders, has been released from prison. The U. S. steamer Saranan, and ships Albany and Decatur, were at Havana. She brings a large number of passengers and the California mails of September 6th.

October 10, 1851, Wednesday

FATAL AFFRAY IN NEW ORLEANS.–Quite an excitement has been produced in New Orleans, by the death of Alderman William Laughlin, on Sunday evening last, In a rencontre with Ex-Alderman William Silk. Both of the gentlemen were highly respectable. It appears that they met at. Kathman’s Coffee-House, at the corner of Bienville and Marais-streets, and got into an altercation, when harsh words were exchanged.

July 4, 1853, Wednesday

The Wreck of the Ship William and Mary–A Passenger’s Statement.; From the New-Orleans Picayune

May 15, 1927, Sunday

THE LONG BATTLE TO SAVE NEW ORLEANS; Herculean Labors and Costly Strategy Used to Check the Mississippi

LAST to receive the impact of the crest of the heaviest flood that ever swept down the Mississippi will be the levees that half encircle New Orleans. Will they hold? The eyes of a nation are focused on these man-made embankments that hold the fate of the gay and lovely metropolis of the South, our chief foreign trade port after New York.

September 20, 1947, Saturday

NEW ORLEANS HIT, HURRICANE HOWLS ON TO ARKANSAS; 90-Mile Winds Batter the City as Tidal Waves Flood Bayou Area — Fury Is Dropping SIX DEAD AND 400 HURT Gulf port Destruction Is Heavy — Thousands Are Homeless Along Stricken Coast HURRICANE HOWLS ON TO ARKANSAS DESTRUCTION LEFT IN WAKE OF HURRICANE AT NEW ORLEANS

A devastating hurricane was centered in mid-Louisiana early today moving in a northwesterly direction toward Arkansas. Six persons were reported dead along the Gulf Coast and some 400 injured in its wake

April 10, 1955, Sunday

NEW ORLEANS RELIVES ITS CREOLE DAYS; Author of “Bayous of Louisiana,” “Queen of New Orleans” and “Plantation Parade.”

Today, Easter Sunday, marks the traditional opening of New Orleans’ “rival to the Mardi Gras” in its appeal to thousands of travelers–the annual Spring Fiesta. For ten days, through April 20, Orleanians and visitors will join in commemorating the Creole-American civilization which saw its golden days in and about the river city a hundred years or so ago.

September 11, 1965, Saturday

New Orleans Loss In Storm Heavy; 23 Dead in 3 States; STORM LOSS HIGH IN NEW ORLEANS Floodwaters Swirl in Southern Cities After Pounding by Hurricane

Hurricane Betsy dashed itself against lower Louisiana and Mississippi early today and ended a destructive journey that began 15 days ago in the Atlantic Ocean.

November 14, 1960, Monday

U. S. COURT BARS LOUISIANA’S MOVE TO SEIZE SCHOOLS; Enjoins Legislature After It Votes to Call Troopers to Prevent Integration SHOWDOWN DUE TODAY New Orleans Board Plans to Defy State and Admit 5 Negroes to White Classes — U.S. COURT BARS LOUISIANA MOVE

A special legislative session approved steps tonight to forcibly prevent desegregation of the New Orleans public schools.

April 9, 1971, Friday

Plan for Domed Stadium Stirs New Orleans Resistance

Louisiana officials are going ahead with plans to build a $150 - million air - conditioned sports arena in downtown New Orleans amid allegations of “boondoggle,” “swindle” and “kickbacks.”

August 9, 1957, Friday

New Orleans Laymen Asks Pope Bar Integration in Archdiocese; POPE GETS APPEAL FOR SEGREGATION

The Association of Catholic Laymen of New Orleans, bypassing its Archbishop, today asked Pope Pius XII to stop racial integration in the church.

new orleans, history, new york times, archive, headline, headlines, news, newspaper, story

Queen New Orleans, City By The River, was written by Harnett T Kane. Mr Kane was a lover of Louisiana and New Orleans. He wrote several books about the region, include Queen New Orleans, The Bayous of Louisiana and The Romantic South. Mr Kane died on September 4, 2007.

In honor of his memory, and to celebrate his writing, I thought I would share a short excerpt from Queen New Orleans. I have to say that I am quite proud to own a first edition; printed by Morrow in 1949. If you can get a copy, I recommend it. You can find them on ebay at times.

I enjoy this book from two perspectives. As a native New Orleanian, I can see Kane’s love for New Orleans. It’s in every word. As a writer I can see his love for words. When you read this excerpt, I don’t think you’ll be able to do anything but agree.

From Queen New Orleans, Introduction - New Orleans is a Lady.

New Orleans is a lady - part American, part Spanish, more French than either in her essential viewpoint. She is intriguing in her swift changes of mood, grande dame one moment, gamine the next. She enjoys laughter, appreciates a show, relishes a quiet hour of happiness. By the unco guid she is considered a little shady, if not worse she would be the first to admit she is no anemic Puritan. For she has seen a good deal in her day, and she doesn’t shock easily.

It is generally admitted, however, that she has taste and judgment and poise is unmistakable. To her have come glory and heartbreak, triumph and defeat, and she has profited from them all. She can look fate in the face and make the best of whatever befalls her. And above everything else she has her Gallic joie de vivre, her Latin appreciation of the generous intention, the gallant gesture.

Throughout her story New Orleans has remained faithful to herself, and to the river with which destiny has joined her. In fat years and thin, she has stayed his Queen, now a consort in ornate halls, now a tiresome helpmate eating red beans and rice in her kitchen. With the Mississippi she will live to the end; and meanwhile she will go on as always, savoring, appreciating what the days bring.

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You can hear a lot about racism in the news and when it’s in the South, the news person usually has an attitude of, “Well, the south is known to be racist.” If it’s in the north or west, everyone acts like it’s a shock.

I have lived all over the country while working as a consultant. The worst racism I ever saw was in New Haven Connecticut. Of course, not everyone was a racist, anymore than everyone in the south is a racist. I did see some very ugly stuff though.

The thing that amazed me was how secret and sneaky it was. In New Orleans, there was segregation. White lakefront and black lakefront, for example. I didn’t even realize that was weird until I was in my 20s. I thought that was just the standard. White lakefront wasn’t any better or any worse than black lakefront, it was just segregated by the Bayou St John bridge. That bridge was out of order all through my teens.

Anyway, my point is that the white people who didn’t like black people were pretty blatant and outspoken about it. The black people who didn’t like white people were just as outspoken. You knew where you stood.

In New Haven, it was sneaky. I was in an elevator with a guy I worked with. A black guy was in the elevator with us. When the black guy got off, my co-worker went off on a racist tirade that was embarrassing to watch. And the black guy hadn’t even said anything on the ride. I saw a lot of that.

Now, on to my point. I don’t really think much about racism. I try to avoid racists where I can. Color, religion, culture, etc just don’t drive my reactions. But hearing constantly about how the South was so much more racist than anywhere else has colored my views.

I had convinced myself that New Haven was an abberation and that the south really was that much worse. Turns out, that’s not true. At least not in the last and past behavior is the best indicator of future performance, as they say.

That’s why I was interested when I ran across this post on Orcinux, Truth & Reconciliation, Part II: James Loewen on Sundown Towns. I had never heard of a sundown town and that’s because it is a uniquely northern and western phenomona.

If you think the town you grew up in didn’t have a race problem because either a) it wasn’t in the South, or b) it was all white, Loewen — the author of “Sundown Towns” and an active Unitarian himself — has news for you.

“When I started researching this subject, I expected to find three types of sundown towns,” Loewen recalled. “I expected to find small towns that were all-white because they’d expelled their black populations; suburbs that were all-white because they excluded blacks (and usually Asians and Jews, as well) from the very beginning; and then a third class of places that were all-white simply because African-Americans never got around to coming there.

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Joshua Clark, author of Heart Like Water, recently told me about a new Katrina news site. The site is HurricaneKatrinaNews.org and it is a very comprehensive news story site.

The name of the page is Hurricane Katrina 2007, your go to page.

This is the description:

We present here the latest articles of note, and include a brief synopsis and quotes from each below its link, so you need not go any further unless you want to delve deeper about a particular subject. This is not a site not of outdated, archived news items. These pieces include breaking news, highlighting the ongoing debates, resources to better understand the hurricane—what we can do about both healing its wounds and preventing a future disaster—as well as resources for those still in need. Sadly, despite the fact that the storm’s second anniversary is approaching on August 29, 2007, Hurricane Katrina’s devastation is far from over.

Katrina made landfall just before dawn on August 29, 2005, seventy miles south of New Orleans. Largely because the wetlands that make up Louisiana’s coast had been eroded, the storm surge pushed unabated into southern Louisiana, breaching New Orleans’ levees at multiple points, leaving 80 percent of the city submerged, tens of thousands of victims clinging to rooftops, and hundreds of thousands scattered to shelters around the country. Many have yet to return. The devastation to Mississippi and Louisiana by hurricanes Katrina and Rita has been called the greatest disaster in our nation’s history.

The images of anguish and anger from Hurricane Katrina have been forever burned into the hearts and minds of all Americans. They must be the catalyst for change. Prevention of a future disaster of similar proportions is both possible and practical. But the United States must act now to restore the wetlands.

There are links here to current Katrina-related news stories, a Katrina info central with timelines and graphics, a lessons learned section (including myth busters). The page also has links to additional resources, important phone numbers, and some very impressive details on the Louisiana wetlands and what has been happening to them.

This site is a bookmark for sure.

new orleans, katrina, rebuilding, news

Two questions that I have been asked and have been seeing in forums.

K-Ville is a new series coming in September starring Blake Shields, Cole Hauser, Maximiliano Hernandez, Anthony Anderson, John Carroll Lynch & Tawny Cypress.

K-Ville is also a new name for New Orleans.

Why is New Orleans called K-Ville? It means Katrinaville. I don’t know who first coined the term but it has been in use in New Orleans since not long after Katrina hit.

Technically, I guess it could mean any place inundated by Katrina and that would include a large portion of the gulf coast. I typically hear it referring specifically to New Orleans, though.

A good description that I read some time back is in this article in the Guardian Unlimited, Hell and high water.

Katrina-ville is not just a trailer park. It is also a state of mind. It is a Checkhovian nightmare of bureacracy, corruption and insurance rip-offs that has plagued the region devastated by the storm and slowed reconstruction to a disgraceful crawl. It is of politicians unable to rise to the challenge. It is why New Orleans has still not unveiled a rebuilding plan. It is why $2bn of reconstruction funds have been wasted or stolen. It is the corruption that allowed 1,100 prison inmates to claim $10m in rental relief or saw renovations for an Alabama shelter eventually cost $416,000 per evacuee (more than the cost of a new home each).

Listen to the song Katrinaville by Mike Starling:

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Blake Shields, Cole Hauser, Maximiliano Hernandez, Anthony Anderson, John Carroll Lynch, Tawny Cypress, kville, k-ville, katrinaville, new orleans, louisiana, katrina

I am feeling somewhat melancholy and homesick today. More so than last year. I’m not sure why. Things have gotten better in New Orleans but for some reason I am more depressed this year as the anniversary rolls around. Maybe it’s because two years later and things aren’t further along.

My mom is moving out of her trailer at the end of this month. Housing is outrageous. My nephews have jobs. I have two less siblings this year than I did two years ago. I didn’t think it was possible for New Orleans to have fewer IT jobs than it did several years ago but that is the unfortunate truth.

So, today, I will leave you with two NPR stories. You can follow the links to hear the recordings.

The first is titled: Dear New Orleans: I’m Leaving You. This is the story of a reporter, a non-native, who had adopted New Orleans as her home. A female representative of Generation K. Eve from K-Ville. Maybe that makes her a native.

The story isn’t so much about her as it is about the sadness and the crime permeating the city two years after Katrina. The big easy that is less easy. Her feelings about New Orleans seem to be a lot like mine:

They don’t understand that I’m in love. I talk to friends about New Orleans like a dysfunctional romance. I gush over it one day, then call up bawling and heartbroken the next. Why can’t it change? Stop being self-destructive and violent? It has so much potential.

I don’t live in New Orleans anymore. I don’t know if I ever will. But I am still a local. I always will be. There is something about New Orleans that forces that on you. Even through the embarrassment of re-electing Nagin, I will forever be a child born in Mercy Hospital.

The reporter, Eve, is leaving New Orleans after a friend being murdered, after friends being mugged, after being mugged herself. I wish her the best. Go to the link above and listen to the audio. It’s worth a few minutes.

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The Houston Chronicle had a article last week, Church archivists fill gaps in New Orleans’ history. The article is a little slice of life in how Katrina is still impacting people’s lives.

Basically, the story is about how the archivists are the custodians of the church’s memory. They are trying to restore church documents that were soaked during the flood. Marriage certificates, baptisms, etc. All the stuff that make up the minutia of people’s lives.

These are the historical records of New Orleans. The church was the official source of records for many years. These records ARE the history of New Orleans. And there are millions of that need to be restored.

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Justice has been served in a racism case that was watched across the US. In 2003, incoming District Attorney Eddie Jordan, who is black, fired over 50 white employees and replaced them with black employees. In 2005, a court found the DA guilty of violating the employees’ civil rights.

Jordan appealed, and just this week, the appeals court rejected all points of the appeal and said that Jordan must pay almost US$ 4 million to the defendants and pay court costs for the appeals. The original case found that Jordan’s office must pay back pay and damages (minimal from the looks of it). With the appeal, interest has accrued and that’s bumped the dollar amount up.

Since Jordan was sued as the N.O. DA, the tax payers will have to pay the money. That part of it sucks but I am glad this instance of racism was brought to light and that the fired employees get back pay. I think they should also get their jobs back, Eddie Jordan’s replacements should be fired and Eddie impeached for racism. La doesn’t have a stellar record of keeping crooks out of office though.

Racism from the block New Orleans politicos shouldn’t surprise anyone. Nagin and his “Chocolate City” comments were the shot heard round the world. Where is Rev Jackson? Where is Sharpton? Where is the NAACP? Shouldn’t all of these “fighters for equality and justice for all” be cheering this verdict? Or are they bigots and racists?

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Dooky Chase’s to reopen after $500,000 in repair. According to the New Orleans City Business news, Leah Chase has been able to get the requires repairs funded and implemented. We’re coming up on the two year anniversary and while the article says no date is yet set, I hope it’s on the anniversary. That’s the kind of message the world needs about New Orleanians. The job will get done.

I watch Leah on PBS when I see that she’s on. Her show is “Creole Cooking with Leah Chase” and it’s a hoot to watch. She is one spunky lady. The article above says she is 84 and wikipedia says she was born on January 6, 1923.

She’s a local. She was born in my mom’s home town of Madisonville on the north shore. Even now, Madisonville is fairly rural (growing lot’s of very large homes right now, though) so I can imagine what it was ike in the 1920s. When I was kid, many of the roads were made up of little river rocks (and I’m not that old).

She moved to New Orleans when she was 18 and got a job at Colonial Restaurant . In 1945 she married Dooky and, after starting a family, she began working at his family’s restaurant, part-time. She soon took a more direct involvement and eventually changed the menu and became chef. The rest is history.

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New Orleans is a city surrounded by water. It is one of the few cities in the world that is in such a situation but is not an island. The land where New Orleans was to be built was a mosquito infested, swampy, hurricane-prone, flooded landscape. Why would anyone in his or her right mind built a city in such a place?

It is hard today to fathom why. After Katrina and the devastation it caused, many people wondered why build a city in a bowl. The answer lies in its position between land, river and ocean.

Photo Courtesy of Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

When New Orleans was founded, and for several hundred years afterwards, shipping was the most efficient method of moving goods from one place to another. Even today, that still holds true for international goods. In the mainland of the US, trains have replaced shipping but for many years, ships provided good everywhere.

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