100. Interview with Ibrahima Seck about Bouki Fait Gombo, Part 2

100. Part 2 of our interview with Ibrahima Seck about his book, Bouki Fait Gumbo. "Through an in-depth study of one of Louisiana's most important sugar plantations, Bouki Fait Gombo traces the impact of slavery on southern culture. This is a thorough examination of the Whitney's evolution-- from the precise routes slaves crossed to arrive at the plantation's doors to the records of the men, women, and children who were bound to the Whitney over the years. Although Bouki Fait does not shy away from depicting the daily brutalities slaves faced, at the book's heart are the robust culinary and musical cultures that arose from their shared sense of community and homesickness. The release of this book coincides with the opening of the Whitney Plantation Museum, a 'site of memory dedicated to a fuller understanding of the facts of slavery, our national tragedy'." 

1. This week in Louisiana history. April 18, 1864. Battle of Sabine Pass takes place in Cameron Parish.
2. This week in New Orleans history. The Canal streetcar line reopened April 18, 2004, almost 40 years after its close.
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Festival International de Louisiane
   April 22nd, 2015 - April 26th, 2015
   downtown Lafayette, Louisiana
   444 Jefferson St, Lafayette, LA 70501
   337-232-8086 | 337-233-7536
   Website

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99. Interview with Ibrahima Seck about Bouki Fait Gumbo.

99. Part 1 of our interview with Ibrahima Seck about his book, Bouki Fait Gumbo. "Through an in-depth study of one of Louisiana's most important sugar plantations, Bouki Fait Gombo traces the impact of slavery on southern culture. This is a thorough examination of the Whitney's evolution-- from the precise routes slaves crossed to arrive at the plantation's doors to the records of the men, women, and children who were bound to the Whitney over the years. Although Bouki Fait does not shy away from depicting the daily brutalities slaves faced, at the book's heart are the robust culinary and musical cultures that arose from their shared sense of community and homesickness. The release of this book coincides with the opening of the Whitney Plantation Museum, a 'site of memory dedicated to a fuller understanding of the facts of slavery, our national tragedy'."

1. This week in Louisiana history. April 10, 1806. General Leonidas Polk’s birthday.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Treme, the television drama series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer. which follows the interconnected lives of a group of New Orleanians in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, premiered on HBO on April 11, 2010.
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Bradshaw - Brooks Golf Tournament.  Join Louisiana Tech Athletics, Terry Bradshaw and Kix Brooks for the 11th annual Bradshaw-Brooks Golf Tournament at Squire Creek Country Club.
   April 12th, 2015 - April 13th, 2015
   Squire Creek Country Club
   289 Squire Creek Pkwy, Choudrant, LA 71227
   318-768-7000

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98. Inverview with photographer Deborah Burst

98.  We interview Deborah Burst, author of Louisiana's Sacred Places.  Louisiana’s Sacred Places takes you on a personal tour of Louisiana’s most solemn and revered locales. From New Orleans’ most telling portraits of eternal architecture to St. Roch Chapel’s chamber of miracles filled with relics of pain and suffering. Burst’s vivid photography and discerning eye bring the spirits and celestial wonder to life in every frame.

1. This week in Louisiana history. April 6, 1764. First Acadians actually arrived in Louisiana.
2. This week in New Orleans history. On April 4, 1812, the Territory of Orleans, which had been organized in 1804, was admitted to the Union as the 18th State. It was not contiguous to any other state, since Mississippi was not admitted until 1817, Arkansas until 1836, and Texas in 1845.
3. This week in Louisiana.
   April 5, 2015
   Poverty Point, Epps
   Tool Demonstation
   Time:    1:00-4:00pm
   Come and watch the rangers demonstrate the tools used by early inhabitants to build, hunt and create other articles used in their culture.
   Address:    6859 Highway 577
   Pioneer LA, 71266   
   Cost:    $4 per person
   Phone:    888-926-5492
   Web:   http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/ipvertypt.aspx

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97. Interview with Richard Sexton about Creole World. Part 2.

97. Part 2 of our interview with photographer and writer Richard Sexton, author of Creole World.  "Creole World is a complex, multi-layered photo essay linking New Orleans, which is frequently referred to as "the nothernmost Caribbean city," with its cultural kin further south. The similarities are quite striking and at times even uncanny. Richard Sexton traveled to and photographed not only in Havana, but throughout Cuba, in Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Santa Clara, Santiago de Cuba, Haiti, and other locales. The culmination of these travels has resulted in Creole World, which immerses the reader in an exotic world they would never be able to see on their own."

1. This week in Louisiana history. March 28, 1973. Lindy Boggs becomes first LA. women elected to US House of Representative. (Her husband Hale Boggs had died in a plane crash in Alaska.
2. This week in New Orleans history. On March 28, 1942, Delta Shipbuilding Co. in New Orleans launched its first Liberty ship, the SS William C.C. Claiborne, named after the first governor of Louisiana. Delta was one of the nine emergency shipyards established in 1941 by the United States Maritime Commission. Delta would launch a total of 187 Liberty ships (out of 2,710 produced overall) during the war.  The average time it took to build one of these massive ships was two months.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.Grambling State University Baseball vs La Tech
   March 31st, 2015
   Wilbert Ellis Field at R.W.E. Jones Park
   Main Street, Ruston, LA 71245
   318-274-4795
   Website  

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96. Interview with Richard Sexton about Creole World. Part 1.

96.  Part 1 of our interview with photographer and writer Richard Sexton, author of Creole World.  "Creole World is a complex, multi-layered photo essay linking New Orleans, which is frequently referred to as " the nothernmost Caribbean city," with its cultural kin further south. The similarities are quite striking and at times even uncanny. Richard Sexton traveled to and photographed not only in Havana, but throughout Cuba, in Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Santa Clara, Santiago de Cuba, Haiti, and other locales. The culmination of these travels has resulted in Creole World, which immerses the reader in an exotic world they would never be able to see on their own."

1. This week in Louisiana history. March 21, 1804. French Emperor Napolean Bonaparte enacts a new legal framework, the "Napoleonic Code," which gives France its first coherent set of civil and criminal laws. It will later become the basis of Louisiana Law.
2. This week in New Orleans history. The Great New Orleans Fire (1788) was a fire that destroyed 856 of the 1,100 structures in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 21, 1788, spanning the south central French Quarter from Burgundy to Chartres Street, almost to the riverfront buildings. An additional 212 buildings were destroyed in a later city-wide fire, on December 8, 1794.
3. This week in Louisiana. Amite City Community Market
   January 3rd, 2015 - December 26th, 2015
   Catha Park
   Catha Park, Amite, LA 70422
   985-514-8360 | 800-542-7520 | 985-542-7521
   Website 

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95. Interview with Cari Lynn about Madam, Part 2

95. Part 2 of our interview with Cari Lynn about Madam: A Novel of New Orleans. "Follow the rise of young, scrappy Mary Deubler, an alley whore who uses her looks and gumption to morph herself into Madam Josie Arlington, one of the most successful, influential, and feared women of the time. Set in 1900, Madam is based on the true story of New Orleans's 20-year experiment with legalized prostitution that turned castaway, dirt-poor women and free women of color into celebrity madams with unprecedented power and wealth.  But Storyville was about more than just sex.  These whores-turned-madams flipped Southern aristocracy on its head: singlehandedly, they created the diverse cultural and music mecca that we know today as The Big Easy." Read an excerpt at the Louisiana Anthology.

1. This week in Louisiana history. March 13, 1815. Gen. Andrew Jackson declares the end of martial law in New Orleans at the end of War of 1812
2. This week in New Orleans history. This notice was published in the March 14, 1891 edition of the Times-Picayune.  What followed, on the same day, was the largest mass lynching in American history, which was precipitated by the murder of Police Chief, David C. Hennessey.  Ironically, on this date in 1889, Hennessey was appointed the city’s first Superintendent of Police. On October 15, 1890, Hennessy was shot a half-block from his home. The following day, as he was dying, he allegedly informed Captain William O’Connor that he had been shot by "Dagos", an insulting term for Italians.  250 Italians were arrested. On October 18, Mayor Shakspeare appointed a "Committee of Fifty" to investigate the crime. On December 13, a grand jury indicted 19 Italians.  Many of them had been identified by the Committee of Fifty. The grand jury foreman and one other juror were also members and financial contributors to this group.  When the jury trial didn't find enough evidence to convict, a mod assembled.  Shouting "Kill the Dagoes," a large crowd stormed Parish Prison. Eleven of the 19 men who had been indicted for Hennessy's murder were shot and killed. According to witnesses, the "cheers were deafening".  The killings were allegedly carried out by a 12-man "Execution Squad" led by Parkerson.
3. This week in Louisiana.Blue Dog Comes Home
   January 15th, 2015 - April 11th, 2015
   Bayou Teche Museum
   131 East Main Street, New Iberia, LA 70560
   337-606-5977
   Website  

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94. Interview with Cari Lynn about the novel Madam

94. Part 1 of our interview with Cari Lynn about Madam: A Novel of New Orleans.  "Follow the rise of young, scrappy Mary Deubler, an alley whore who uses her looks and gumption to morph herself into Madam Josie Arlington, one of the most successful, influential, and feared women of the time. Set in 1900, Madam is based on the true story of New Orleans's 20-year experiment with legalized prostitution that turned castaway, dirt-poor women and free women of color into celebrity madams with unprecedented power and wealth.  But Storyville was about more than just sex.  These whores-turned-madams flipped Southern aristocracy on its head: singlehandedly, they created the diverse cultural and music mecca that we know today as The Big Easy." Read an excerpt at the Louisiana Anthology.

1. This week in Louisiana history. March 7, 1830. Gov. Jacques Villere died on his plantation south of N.O.
2. This week in New Orleans history.  March 7, 1939.  The first Pontchartrain Beach was demolished. The first Pontchartrain Beach opened in 1928, across Bayou St. John from the old Spanish Fort on filled land newly reclaimed from the lake by the Orleans Levee Board. The "Old Beach" featured a boardwalk, a bath house and rides. But the hard times of the Depression hit the new amusement park hard, in spite of improvements (including a seawall to replace the boardwalk and a vehicular bridge over Bayou St. John) made by the Batt family, which took over its operation in 1933. In 1938, when development (with the help of the WPA) of Lake Vista began just next door, the Batts took advantage of the opportunity to move the park farther east along the lakefront to Milneburg, and the "Old Beach" was demolished. 
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Wearin' of the Green St. Patrick's Day Parade
   March 14th, 2015
   Hundred Oaks Area
   1800 S Acadian Thruway, Baton Rouge, LA 70808
   866-920-4668

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