MAMA D: SPIRIT OF THE 7TH WARD
farrah hoffmireIn order to understand Mama D and her mission to save her community, you have to understand the 7th Ward and its history.
The 7th Ward was considered by many to be the quintessential Creole neighborhood in New Orleans. Many educated and accomplished people of color lived here before the Civil War and throughout the time when Jim Crow laws were in effect. But after desegregation, the city built the I-10 interstate right over the Claiborne neutral ground, destroying the 7th Ward’s prosperous business district in the process.Today the community remembers the beautiful live oaks that were torn down to make way for the interstate by painting images of these trees on the cement pilings that replaced them.
Among the first large land owners was Claude Dubreuil, whose vast estate stretched from the river to Bayou Sauvage and Gentilly. By the late 1700s, this land had changed proprietorship several times and finally came into the holdings of Bernard Marigny, who successfully subdivided the Faubourg Marigny and continued with what was called Nouveau Marigny (between Elysian Fields and St. Bernard and from St. Claude to Gentilly Rd.). When, in 1830, the Pontchartrain Railroad connected the Faubourg Marigny with the settlement of Milneburg on the lake, these lots became more saleable. The railroad helped Nouveau Marigny to grow almost to Gentilly Ridge.
The area of the Seventh Ward neighborhood that did not belong to Bernard Marigny belonged to Charles de Morand, who also owned most of what is now the Tremé neighborhood. As the Vieux Carre became increasingly overcrowded, people were forced to seek residence in other developing areas of the city and Nouveau Marigny was one of them. The area was settled by the second half of the 19th century. A significant number of German immigrants and French Creole families inhabited the neighborhood by the mid-1800s. However, it was the free people of color who came to characterize the 7th Ward neighborhood.
Free persons of color, les gens de couleur libres, began to settle in New Orleans around 1720. By 1810, they composed about one-third of the city’s population. These people were well-educated, highly skilled in the building trades, spoke perfect French and called themselves Creole. By the mid-1800s, many free people of color had taken up residence in the 7th Ward. Creole 7th Ward families are known for strength in business enterprises, building trades, and music. Successful family-owned businesses, such as insurance companies, laundries, barbershops and funeral homes characterized the neighborhood from the mid 19th to the early 20th centuries.
Jazz flourished in the 7th Ward: When Creole musicians who were classically trained in Europe began to jam with recently freed Africans, who over the centuries of enslavement had maintained the traditional rhythms of their homeland, jazz was born. Not surprisingly, the 7th Ward was home to many early jazz greats.
Jim Crow laws hit the 7th Ward: After the Civil War all people of color were lumped together for the first time, and Creole families experienced a significant social demotion – suddenly being denied access to networks and resources that had previously been available to them as free people of color.
Because Creoles were of European and African descent, they had a lighter skin color than many of the recently freed Africans. Jim Crow laws reinforced the importance of skin color by declaring that anyone with at least “1/8th black blood” (known as an “octoroon”) was technically “colored.” So Creoles began to attempt to distinguish themselves from darker skinned “colored” people. Creoles developed a whole language that included French words but also included several references specific to skin and hair type.
The 7th Ward is opposite Esplanade Avenue from the Tremé. At one time, the most prosperous African American business-district in the country stretched along Claiborne Avenue from the Tremé into the 7th Ward. In the late 1960s, the 7th Ward’s prosperous business district along Claiborne Avenue was deemed dispensable by the city, so it was destroyed to make way for the new I-10 interstate loop. The rows of quadruple live oak trees were cleared from the neutral ground and the interstate cut the neighborhood in half.
The 7th Ward is opposite Esplanade Avenue from the Tremé. At one time, the most prosperous African American business-district in the country stretched along Claiborne Avenue from the Tremé into the 7th Ward. In the late 1960s, the 7th Ward’s prosperous business district along Claiborne Avenue was deemed dispensable by the city, so it was destroyed to make way for the new I-10 interstate loop. The rows of quadruple live oak trees were cleared from the neutral ground and the interstate cut the neighborhood in half.
Many Creoles worked at the forefront of the civil rights movement as lawyers and organizers. Jim Crow laws were not overturned all at once, but painstakingly one at a time. A.P. Tureaud was a prominent civil rights activist who today is honored in the 7th Ward with a park in his name. A.P. Tureaud was a lawyer for the New Orleans branch of the NAACP. He brought a suit against the state and the Orleans Parish School Board to force the desegregation of public facilities in Louisiana. His successes include the integration of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 1952. He also filed suits to obtain equal pay for Louisiana's African American teachers. The plaque in the A.P. Tureaud Park reads:
New Orleans Attorney A.P. Tureaud courageously led us toward equal justice and opportunity for all. He boldly challenged each obstacle in our way. He skillfully pried open the gates of segregation that separated us from each other and from our nation’s promise. A.P. Tureaud’s legal victories cleared the way toward reaching the promise of equal protection under the law. These civil rights triumphs encouraged others to lead us forward on the path that A.P. Tureaud made wider, more clear and more certain.
Mr. Tureaud was further honored when the Housing Authority of New Orleans’ (HANO) administrative offices in the 7th Ward were named for him. Mr. Tureaud served on HANO’s board of commissioners from 1966 to 1971.
This, of course, severely diminished the desirability of the properties on either side of the interstate. Suddenly an area that had been prosperous became quite undesirable. Homeowners moved, and finding their homes neither saleable nor rentable, eventually abandoned them. The irony of destroying this thriving business district in order to facilitate access to the suburbs is not lost on residents.
The 7th Ward today: Although not as prosperous as it once was, the neighborhood is identified with halls that each reflect a group of professionals, mechanics, skilled laborers or a benevolent society. They still use these halls for business and social functions. The Autocrat Club on St. Bernard Street is one of the liveliest, offering fish fries on Friday evenings and dances every Saturday night.
Information in this article gathered from the Greater New Orleans Center Community Data Center.