406. Maddie Lafuse on Marie Laveau

406. Maddie Lafuse talks to us about Marie Laveau. Part 1. Marie Laveau was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo, herbalist and midwife who was renowned in New Orleans. Her daughter, Marie Laveau II, (1827–c. 1862) also practiced rootwork, conjure, Native American and African spiritualism as well as Louisiana Voodoo.

405. John DeSantis on the Thibodaux Massacre

405. As part of our Black History Month emphasis, Jeffrey Barrois from Good Morning Comrade joins us to interview John DeSantis about his book, The Thibodaux Massacre: Racial Violence and the 1887 Sugar Cane Labor Strike. On November 23, 1887, white vigilantes gunned down unarmed black laborers and their families during a spree lasting more than two hours. The violence erupted due to strikes on Louisiana sugar cane plantations.

404. Mark Charles Roudané

404. We interview Mark Charles Roudané about the New Orleans Tribune and l'Union newspapers.

403. Maggie Collins

403. Our interview with Maggie Collins about her novel, Celestial Blue Skies. In Belle Place, Louisiana, where the sugarcane grows a mile high to the bright blue sky, Celeste struggles with her mentally ill mother, Tut, and works with her grandmother Maymay to hold the Creole Bastille family together.

402. Thomas Ruys Smith on Sam Clemens at Mardi Gras

402. Thomas Ruys Smith discusses Sam Clemens and Mardi Gras. "On March 8 1859, a 23 year old trainee steamboat pilot named Samuel Clemens, a month away from getting his full pilot’s license, arrived in New Orleans after a week’s voyage down the Mississippi from St. Louis.

401. Timothy Bartel. "Evangeline." Part 2.

401. Part 2 of our interview with Timothy Bartel about Evangeline. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Evangeline was a bestseller in nineteenth-century America, inspiring generations of readers with a heroine who overcomes colonial violence and exile in her romantic and spiritual quest across America.

400. Timothy Bartel, "Evangeline," part 1.

400. Part 1 of our interview with Timothy Bartel about Evangeline. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Evangeline was a bestseller in nineteenth-century America, inspiring generations of readers with a heroine who overcomes colonial violence and exile in her romantic and spiritual quest across America.