While going through our photo archives, I found this little gem I didn’t know we had. It shows a graduating class of the Monroe Academy (1000 Texas Avenue), which I have talked about before. Using the list I have of students, which I have also posted about before, I suspect this was taken in 1914. The students and one teacher have been identified on the back as (left to right) Arthur H. Johnson, ____ Williams, Foraker W. Johnson, Venetta Hodge, Bernard Williams and on the steps behind the group is locally famed educator Henrietta Windham Johnson. She would become the principal when Professor M.J. Foster moved to the Monroe Colored High School.
P.S. Tomorrow, 2 pm at the Sterlington Branch Library, I will be doing a lecture on the History of Mardi Gras in Monroe. I will do the same program at the Louise Williams Branch Library in Lakeshore, 10:30 am the next day. Don’t forget parade day for both Krewes is Saturday, with de Riviere at 3 and Janus at 6!
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 