Ouachita Parish History Tidbits

Category: African-American History

  • Gertrude Allen Ammons – Pioneer Educator

    I decided to end my Black History Month posts with a connection to one of my first posts this month. In that post, I told you about Ben Allen, who…

  • Harriet Gordan Foster – Pioneer Nurse

    The name is unfamiliar to most of Ouachita Parish residents. You may have heard of her husband, Dr. Madison Wright Foster, son of Professor Madison James Foster. Dr. Foster was…

  • Legends of Bryant’s Addition Documentary

    Please forgive the short post today. I’m still recovering from Saturday’s parades and my legs and hips are still in pain! OW! Riding a float hurts! A local filmmaker has…

  • Pioneer West Monroe Figure Ben Allen

    Monroe Morning World, November 18, 1934, Page 6. Ben Allen was born enslaved in Alabama. According to his death certificate, he was the son of Fed Allen and Willie A.…

  • Ouachita Parish Rosenwald Schools

    Just after the Civil War, the Freedmen’s Bureau, along with local African American churches, established the first schools in the south for the formerly enslaved. After Reconstruction ended, education for…

  • The Davis Market and the Central Cafe

    What you are looking at is an ad for two businesses, owned by a very forward thinking young man named T.J. Davis. Mr. Davis was only 23 years old when…

  • I Finally Have Proof!

    I have always heard that Louis Armstrong played at the Savoy in the Miller Roy building. I never found concrete proof of that. I found ads for him playing at…

  • Elderly Former Enslaved Man Passes Away

    Any mention of an enslaved person gets my attention, since so few of their stories remain. On the front page of the Southern Broadcast, Saturday, January 9, 1937, was the…

  • Monroe Colored High School Annex – 1936

    Here is another clipping from 1936. I have never seen this before!

  • Fats Waller at the Savoy – 1936

    I have been able to get my hands on a rare collection of Monroe African American newspapers from the mid 1930s. My jaw is continually on the ground from what…