The African American Experience in Louisiana

loss of location or setting for some schools of this type as long as they retain an easily
recognizable historic appearance.
2. Colleges, Universities, and Business Schools
During the Reconstruction era, three institutions of higher learning for African Americans were
established in New Orleans. This was a milestone in educational opportunities for African
Americans which had not existed before the war. Those previously privileged enough to receive
a higher education did so out of the state or indeed, out of the country. The institutions of higher
learning established during Reconstruction were Straight, Leland and New Orleans universities.
Straight University and New Orleans University eventually merged into Dillard University,
while Leland moved out of the city. The original Leland buildings on St. Charles Avenue are no
longer standing, nor are those of New Orleans University
which were torn down to make way for De La Salle High
School. The original Straight University campus on
Esplanade Avenue burned in 1877. Straight then moved to
Canal Street and the buildings of that campus have been
demolished. It was thought that no building features of
Straight remained until recently, when the Preservation
Resource Center of New Orleans discovered that a house it
was in the process of rehabilitating was part of the original
campus (Figure 68). The grand home was constructed c.
1866 and purchased by the American Missionary
Association, the founding organization behind Straight
University, in 1871. Believed to have functioned as a
housing and dining hall, this property is very significant as
the last remnant of the important Reconstruction years of
these institutions and was added to the National Register in
2011.
Figure 68: Straight University Boarding
Hall and Dining House, New Orleans,
Orleans Parish.
The remainder of buildings associated with the state’s Historically Black Colleges and
Universities date from the 1920s-1950s. The historic buildings of five different institutions are
presently listed on the National Register. Leland, as noted above, moved from New Orleans in
1923, and its campus in East Baton Rouge Parish retained four buildings dating between 1923
and 1930 when it was added to the National Register in 1982, but all four have since been
demolished. Southern University, which was also founded in New Orleans in 1880, is notable as
a public, rather than private institution. It was originally located near Tulane University and was
relocated to a former plantation in East Baton Rouge Parish where it opened the doors of its
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Figure 69: Southern University, Riverside Hall and Industrial Building for Girls, Scotlandville, East Baton Rouge Parish.