Category: African-American History
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The Rhythm Nightclub Fire of Natchez, MS
You may be wondering why I would talk about a fire that happened in Natchez, MS on a Ouachita Parish history blog. There is a Monroe connection. On the night…
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A Former Enslaved Person Passes Away
I have a feeling I am going to be sharing quite a few things from the new Willis collection! One of the things that was found was a newspaper clipping…
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Women Who Lead the Way in Ouachita Parish
I was asked to write an article about some of the women who made history in Ouachita Parish. I chose Louisa Lamy McGuire, Eliza Pinkston and Mary Goss. You can…
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The Ritz Theater
The below photo shows a rare view of the old Ritz theater, which was the only African American theater in town during segregation. It was located at 911 DeSiard street,…
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The First African-American That Tried to Integrate ULM
The first African-Americans to integrate ULM were Sarah McCoy (Abakwue) and Bobby Saucier in 1964, and the first to graduate was Donald Wayne Smith in 1967, but did you know…
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A Proposed New Building For the Monroe Academy
Wouldn’t this have been a gorgeous building? This was published in the Monroe News Star back in 1913. Professor Foster and the trustees of the Monroe Academy were looking to…
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Students in Other Parish schools
Last week, I told you about the Monroe Academy, a Leland University affiliate private school for African-American students at the turn of the last century. Leland had affiliate schools all…
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Henrietta Winham Johnson Recreation Center Program – 1962
This is another Rec Center program, this one is from the opening of the Johnson Rec Center. It is the same format as the Marbles program, with Henrietta’s biographical information…
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 