248. Jeremy Simien, part 2

248. Black History Month. Part 2 of our interview with Jeremy Simien. Jeremy studies the history of Louisiana's Free People of Color. He has also gathered a large collection of their personal possessions, especially pictures and portraits. Les gens de couleur libres were people of variant degrees of African descent who were either born free, liberated, or purchased their own freedom during the antebellum period. In their height, these people of African descent accounted for 1/5th of the population of New Orleans, owned ¹⁄₃ of the property in the Vieux Carré or “French Quarter” and had an 80% literacy rate. This important group consisted of planters, skilled tradesman, inventors and real-estate developers/speculators.

1. This week in Louisiana history. February 17, 1801. Thomas Jefferson elected 3rd president after tying Aaron Burr and winning the tie-breaking votes in the House of Representatives.
2. This week in New Orleans history. The New Orleans 1885 Mardi Gras [February 17] was extraordinary. On the streets were large numbers of international visitors connected with the [World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial] Exposition, several Central American Indian groups, and some fifty to sixty Plains Indians from the [Buffalo Bill] Wild West Show, including four chiefs, all of whom were likely on the street in native dress. For [locals of African descent, particularly groups who took to masking as Indians,] Mardi Gras translated nicely into a freedom celebration, a day to commemorate their own history and spirit, to be arrogant, to circumvent the hostile authorities, to overturn the established order, and now and then to seek revenge." From Mardi Gras Indians (Pelican Publishing Company, 1994), by 'Michael P. Smith.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Prospect 4 Exhibition "The Batture" by Jeff Whetstone
   February 17-25, 2018
   UNO St. Claude Gallery
   2429 St. Claude Ave.
   New Orleans, LA 70117
   Phone: 504.280.6493
   Website
   The UNO St. Claude Gallery is hosting "The Batture," an exhibit by photographer Jeff Whetstone that explores the economies and ecologies that exist along the banks of the Mississippi River near New Orleans. “The batture is the land the river owns. It is a thin strip of weeds, trees and mud between the edge of the Mississippi River and the tall, hardened levees that contain its floods,” said Whetstone. “The batture is ephemeral. It disappears with the river is high and reemerges when the tide falls, swept and changed. It is a cyclical land, untied to human time and unclaimed; a temporary alluvial wilderness.”
   
4. Postcards from Louisiana. Bruce listens to the Big Dixie Swingers on Frenchman Street in New Orleans.

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