The African American Experience in Louisiana

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significant for this association. Furthermore, association with a significant African American does not necessarily lend a property significance in this category. For a property in this category to have significance for its association with the African American Experience in Louisiana, it must in some way reflect the significant historical patterns of this experience outlined in the background history, as in each of the above examples. Properties of this type must retain an appearance that would be easily recognizable to the individuals connected to it during its significant period. Whether the interior integrity or exterior integrity is any more or less important than the other will depend upon the individual nature and use of the property. Likewise, the importance of location and setting to the eligibility of properties in this category must be assessed on a case by case basis. G. Commercial Commercial properties reflect the manner in which rigid segregation permeated every aspect of life. Banned or provided with only the most limited services from most white businesses according to Jim Crow laws, African Americans needed separate commercial facilities of all kinds. The Negro Motorist Green Book, a travel guide to help African Americans negotiate the Jim Crow landscape, listed many different kinds of businesses. In 1949, the entries for Louisiana included hotels, restaurants, taverns, beauty parlors, barber shops, night clubs, service stations, road houses, taxi cabs, drug stores, trailer parks, and tailors. A good example of a property in one of the state’s smaller cities that portrays the story of segregated businesses is the Morgan Hotel in Natchitoches (Figure 77). Because of the extremely limited number of places where traveling African Americans could stay, this modest, two-story frame building was frequented by people of all classes and occupations, from laborers to business professionals. 254 It became particularly popular with soldiers who came to the area for training during World War II. It is from their patronage that it gained another moniker, the “Brown Bomber.” Figure 77: Morgan/ Brown Bomber Hotel, Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish. Any business could also be a potential community gathering spot. When clustered together as African American businesses sometimes were, they formed a distinct commercial and cultural hub. Such was the case for New Orleans’ South Rampart Street. The Green Book listed four hotels, one restaurant, one barber shop, one beauty culture school, and two taverns on South Rampart. In addition many other businesses for African Americans lined the popular street. Rampart Street is also a prime example of the decline of urban commercial areas in the second half of the twentieth century. Today, of over one hundred buildings that once occupied several 254 Paul Morgan, quoted in Dayna Bowker Lee, “Morgan Hotel, aka Brown Bomber Hotel,” in “Civil War Civil Rights: The African American Community in Natchitoches, Louisiana,” Louisiana Regional Folklife Program, Louisiana Folklife Center at Northwestern State University, 2006, http://winhttp.nsula.edu/regionalfolklife/civilwartocivilrights/15MorganHotel.html (accessed April 8, 2012). Page 93 of 123
locks of the street, just a dozen remain. Because of the great loss of buildings, this area would not qualify for nomination to the National Register as a district. Instead, three of the surviving buildings have been listed on the National Register individually for their association with this once vibrant African American commercial center. The Eagle Saloon, Karnofsky Tailor Shop and Residence and 445-449449 S. Rampart were operated as many businesses through the years (Figures 78-80). Another commercial mecca for African Americans in New Orleans was Dryades Street, now named Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard after the New Orleans Civil Rights activist. Two anchors of this area were Kaufman’s Department Store of 1919 and Handelman’s Department Store of 1922 (Figures 81 and 82). In Monroe, a National Register listed commercial property is the Miller-Roy Building of 1929 (Figure 83). It is an example of a building which served many important purposes for the African American community. It housed many businesses, served as a music venue, and provided space for NAACP and CORE offices. In addition to the commercial properties of bigger cities, the individual “mom and pop” operations in small towns and neighborhoods are also of potential significance to this context. Corner stores, barber and beauty shops, funeral homes, and businesses of all kinds may be eligible for the role they played in the community. In order to be potentially eligible for the National Register in association with this context, commercial properties must have played a significant role in the African American community that is documented and can be discussed in relationship to the broader state context. Simply having been a business operated or frequented by African Americans does not automatically make a property significant in relation to this theme. Commercial properties, in fact do not have to have been owned or operated by Figure 78: Eagle Saloon, New Orleans, Orleans Parish. Figure 79: Karnofsky Tailor Shop and Residence, New Orleans, Orleans Parish. Figure 80: 445-449 S. Rampart Street, New Orleans, Orleans Parish. Figure 81: Kaufman’s Department Store, New Orleans, Orleans Parish. Figure 82: Handelman’s Department Store, New Orleans, Orleans Parish. Page 94 of 123
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The African American Experience in
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary
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of the city of New Orleans, beautif
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BACKGROUND HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
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apprenticeships with skilled artisa
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Coartación seems to have been assi
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freeing slaves in all its colonies,
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slaying of his son. An immediate an
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to 129 at Parlange in Pointe Coupé
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was apparently different when they
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indicative of their individual weal
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the cleanliness and comfort of the
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chartered in 1848 and its building
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a horse, tanning leather or making
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which should go hand and hand with
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difficult to distinguish between th
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near riot with groups of African Am
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egan actively opening schools and p
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according to the terms of the contr
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estimated thirty-four whites and 15
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continued to vote in Louisiana unti
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suddenly being free with no wealth
Page 45 and 46: Bogalusa even established separate
Page 47 and 48: Into this situation entered the Rev
Page 49 and 50: provided some of the best facilitie
Page 51 and 52: their predecessors. 229 Two months
Page 53 and 54: State Historic Preservation Office
Page 55 and 56: example of this is the way that seg
Page 57 and 58: architecture or Criterion B signifi
Page 59 and 60: as the home and meeting place of De
Page 61 and 62: African architectural antecedents,
Page 63 and 64: Opelousas. 238 A private home used
Page 65 and 66: owner was the State of Louisiana, w
Page 67 and 68: to the ongoing struggle of African
Page 69 and 70: documented house of an African Amer
Page 71 and 72: 6. Cemeteries Plantation cemeteries
Page 73 and 74: would suffer from a loss of setting
Page 75 and 76: adding the benefits of modern techn
Page 77 and 78: commissioned to design would play i
Page 79 and 80: 1850s, serving free children of col
Page 81 and 82: eligious, there were some parochial
Page 83 and 84: Iberville Parish when it was docume
Page 85 and 86: housing just grades one through fou
Page 87 and 88: A compromise between the demand of
Page 89 and 90: uildings for African Americans vers
Page 91 and 92: loss of location or setting for som
Page 93 and 94: In order to be eligible for the Nat
Page 95: African American artists many times
Page 99 and 100: Masonic organization for African Am
Page 101 and 102: founded in 1883 (Figure 92). The bu
Page 103 and 104: uildings or structures. Possible ex
Page 105 and 106: Pontchartrain Park course, now rena
Page 107 and 108: J. Political This property type is
Page 109 and 110: K. Military Although the history of
Page 111 and 112: was likely the only place in Donald
Page 113 and 114: A careful evaluation of all buildin
Page 115 and 116: eviction by white landlords should
Page 117 and 118: 4. Towns and Settlements Towns and
Page 119 and 120: preserving the history of this remo
Page 121 and 122: GEOGRAPHICAL DATA This context is l
Page 123 and 124: etween Louisiana’s historic resou
Page 125 and 126: Edwards, Jay D. “Shotgun: The Mos
Page 127: Vlach, John Michael. “The Shotgun
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The African American Experience in Louisiana

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