148. LaKisha Simmons, part 1.

148. LaKisha Simmons interview, Part 1.  Author of Crescent City Girls. “What was it like to grow up black and female in the segregated South? To answer this question, LaKisha Simmons blends social history and cultural studies, recreating children's streets and neighborhoods within Jim Crow New Orleans and offering a rare look into black girls' personal lives. Simmons argues that these children faced the difficult task of adhering to middle-class expectations of purity and respectability even as they encountered the daily realities of Jim Crow violence, which included interracial sexual aggression, street harassment, and presumptions of black girls' impurity.” LaKisha Michelle Simmons is assistant professor of global gender studies at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. She specializes in Black gender history, history of sexuality, childhood, and cultural geography.

1. This week in Louisiana history. March 19, 1687. French explorer Rene'-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle who claimed the entire Mississippi river drainage for France, is murdered by his own men. (most creditable account).
2. This week in New Orleans history.  March 19, 1835. New Orleans Draining Company was established by act of the Louisiana legislature on March 19, 1835, the Company was to drain, fill, and improve all of the land between the settled portion of the city of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Capital in the amount of $1 million, divided into 10,000 shares, was authorized by the act, which also provided limits for purchase of stock by the city and state.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Acadiana Dragon Boat Festival
   March 26th, 2016
   Bouligny Plaza
   102 W Main St, New Iberia, LA 70560
   337-352-2180
   Website
   Bouligny Plaza
   Traditional dragon boats holding 20 rowers and one drummer will race down the Bayou Teche. Food, beverages, etc will be available and music through the day.

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