ANNALS, AAPSS, 441, Jan.

1979

Race Relations and Residential Segregation in

New Orleans: Two Centuries of Paradox

By DAPHNE SPAIN

ABSTRACT: Because of its origins as one of the oldest

slave trading centers in the country, New Orleans has a
unique history in both race relations and residential
segregation. Slavery required blacks to live in close proximity
to their white owners. This created a mixed residential
pattern that was characteristic of other southern cities in
the nineteenth century. The rigid caste/race system defined
social distance when physical distance was lacking. In
the twentieth century, the advent of civil rights and equality
for blacks has led to less patriarchal race relations but,
paradoxically, greater residential segregation. Blacks have be-
come more residentially isolated since the turn of the cen-

tury. This essay documents the disappearance of the classic

"backyard pattern" in New Orleans.

Daphne Spain received her B.A. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill, in 1972 and her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts in 1977. She
taught at the University of New Orleans for a year before joining the Population
Analysis Staff at the Census Bureau in 1978. She is currently investigating the
effects of migration on career development; racial succession in housing; and
black suburbanization.
82
Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
 83

ORLEANS has the reputa- reputation of maintaining liberal

NEW
N tion of being the least Ameri-
can of American cities. Its European
race relations. Supposedly the close
residential proximity of Creoles,
origins in the early eighteenth cen- Americans, and slaves, enforced by
tury are still most visible in the limited land area, contributed to a
Vieux Carre, the French Quarter, high tolerance for racial and ethnic
and it is this tourist area that is differences. But before the Civil War
romantically visualized when one and again after Reconstruction,
mentions New Orleans. Even its legally enforced segregation be-
slogan, &dquo;The city that care forgot,&dquo; tween whites and blacks pervaded
reinforces the image of New Orleans the social structure. Whatever toler-
as a city untroubled by mainstream ance there was thus existed within
America’s urban problems. If these the strict norms of southern race
urban problems can be partially de- relations. The &dquo;backyard&dquo; pattern of
fined in terms of race relations, slave residences prevented social
however, New Orleans is very much and economic segregation from being
in the mainstream. translated into housing segregation
A city so famous for its French until the turn of the twentieth
and Spanish cosmopolitan aura must century. The Jim Crow era, from
also be remembered for its role as the 1890s until the 1950s, was the
the largest slave-trading center of period in which New Orleans began
the United States. A city that claims adopting the residential patterns of
to be the &dquo;birthplace of jazz&dquo; is large northern cities. Blacks be-
also the place about which the came increasingly concentrated in

phrase &dquo;being sold down the river&dquo; the central city while whites settled
was originated by slaves farther up the newly drained land surrounding
the Mississippi, fearful of the hard the initial settlement.
life on Louisiana sugar and cotton The lack of urban riots in the 1960s
plantations. Over one hundred years and the election of black politicians
after slavery, New Orleans has its in the 1970s indicate that New Or-
first black mayor with the election leans has a workable interracial
of Ernest &dquo;Dutch&dquo; Morial. But when community. But as race relations
Morial takes office there will still have improved, residential segrega-
be private clubs, like the Mirabeau tion has worsened. Social and eco-
Bar and Clematis Restaurant, where nomic conditions are combining to
one must ring a buzzer to be ad- create racial enclaves of larger mag-
mitted. And there may still be the nitude than previously were known
painted sign on the wall of a ware- in this city. Thus while other cities
house on Governor Nicholls Street may be experiencing slight de-
near the French Market, &dquo;Colored creases in levels of residential segre-
Entrance Only,&dquo; as a vestige of the gation, New Orleans is experiencing
Jim Crow era. slight increases in segregation be-
New Orleans in the 1970s is a cause : 1) it started from a relatively

pastiche-like other cities-of its low nineteenth century level, and 2)

past and present. What makes it its black population is exceedingly
atypical of other cities is its strange poor and does not have the socio-
blend of European culture with the economic ability to move to the
&dquo;peculiar institution&dquo; of slavery in suburbs. The ways in which the
its early stages of development. special history of New Orleans has
New Orleans has historically had a shaped existing residential patterns
Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
84

and race relations are the topic of Added to this mix of Spanish,
this essay. French, and slave blacks were the
free blacks, or &dquo;free people of color.&dquo;
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
By the census of 1788, their num-
The social history of New Orleans ber amounted to 1,500.2By 1803
is a history of successive cultural there were 1,335 free blacks in the
layerings dating from its founding city, or one-ninth of its total popula-
by the French in 1718. By 1763 New tion.3A large part of that increase
Orleans had become Spanish Terri- was due to the slave insurrection

tory, only to be returned to French in Haiti in 1791 and the black up-
rule in 1800. When the Louisiana rising in San Domingo in 1796.4
Territory was sold to the United Despite legislation prohibiting it,
States in 1803, the city had already there was a large influx of free
experienced nearly a century of people of color to New Orleans
European culture. after this West Indian turmoil.
The Spanish and French were not At the end of the eighteenth
the only residents of eighteenth century, New Orleans society was
century Louisiana. There were na- thus characterized by several layers
tive Indians, whom Bienville tried of ethnicity and race. Spanish and
to enslave as early as 1708; when French composed the white society,
that failed he attempted an ex- while slave and free blacks com-
change of Indians for blacks from posed the black society. The black
the West Indies. Although their society was not a united one, how-
origins are unclear, there were re- ever. There were sharp class dis-
ported to be approximately twenty tinctions between free and slave
blacks in Louisiana by 1717. The blacks. Many forms of public enter-
formal African slave trade began tainment and accomodations that
soon thereafter when a ship arrived were open to free men of color
5
in Pensacola in 1719 and slaves were closed to slaves.5

were sent to plantations outside When the Americans arrived in

New Orleans. The 1726 Census re- 1803 there was yet another layer
corded 1,540 slaves for Louisiana added to the city’s already diverse
(out of a total population of 3,997), culture. The Americans were con-
300 of whom lived in New Orleans; fronted with not just a frontier
by 1732 there were nearly 1,000 town, but with a highly cultured
slaves in New Orleans. With the &dquo;foreign&dquo; city. The French and
erection of the first sugar mill, and Spanish were confronted with the
the invention of the cotton gin in brash vulgarities and backwoods
1793, there was an increased de- manners of the &dquo;Americains.&dquo; In-
mand for labor which translated stant antipathy developed. The city
into an increased demand for slaves. 2. Grace King, New Orleans: The Place
Between 1732 and 1785, therefore, and the People (New York: Macmillan,
the number of blacks in Louisiana 1915), p. 334.
grew from 2,000 to 16,500; between 3. James E. Winston, "The Free Negro
in New Orleans, 1803-1860," The Louisiana
1785 and 1810, the slave popula-
Historical Quarterly 21 (1938): 1075.
tion more than doubled.’ 4. Constance M. Green, American Cities
in the Growth of the Nation (New York:
1. John S. Kendall, "New Orleans’ ’Pe- Harper and Row, 1965), p. 71.
"
culiar Institution,’ The Louisiana Historical 5. Winston, "The Free Negro in New Or-
Quarterly 23 (1940): 868. leans," p. 1082.

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
 85

soon became commercially and po- tion of foreign slave trading simply
litically split between the old-line meant that Louisiana turned to the
Creoles (those of French and Spanish interstate market for its labor supply.
heritage) and the new Americans. In 1812, Louisiana was admitted to
On the eve of the War of 1812, the Union as a slave state, and some
New Orleans was a predominantly of the largest slave auctions in the
black city. There were 10,824 slaves, country took place in New Orleans.
5,727 free blacks, and 8,000 whites Richard C. Wade reports that the
living in New Orleans in 1810.6 &dquo;conveyance records show over
The War of 1812 was particularly 4400 sales in 1830, and, though the
important for the free colored popu- figures fluctuated annually, over
lation because they helped defend 3000 transactions took place in the
the city. Forming a separate bat- last antebellum year.&dquo;7 The most
talion, they fought alongside whites famous auctions occurred at the St.
under General Jackson. After the Charles Hotel. One account docu-
victory Jackson promised them re- ments twenty-five slave pens within
wards equal to those for white one-half mile of the hotel, most of
soldiers; but many in New Orleans them on Baronne, Gravier, Maga-
felt Jackson had overstepped his zine, and Esplanade streets.8Wade
bounds. Whites perceived free Ne- found the highest concentration in
groes as little different from slaves. 1854 with seven slave dealers lo-
By 1816 such public sentiment re- cated in a single block of Gravier.
sulted in legislation that segregated Orleans Parish was the third largest
nearly every conceivable facility in slave-holding parish in the state,
New Orleans: theatres; the French with 18,068 slaves in 1850 and
Opera House; public exhibitions; 13,385 in 1860.9 Approximately one-
hotels; Charity Hospital; public third of the New Orleans popula-
schools; restaurants and saloons. tion owned one slave in 1860. These
Jails were segregated, with different figures were slightly lower than for
uniforms for blacks and whites (a 1820, since in that year &dquo;slavery
seemingly redundant measure). was as much a part of life in the
Streetcars were segregated and cars city as on farm and plantation
for blacks were marked with a star There were two types of slaves in
on all sides; hence the term &dquo;star&dquo; New Orleans at this time: those
evolved to denote all varieties of waiting to be sold at auction and
segregation in New Orleans, much those owned by residents. Slaves
as &dquo;Jim Crow&dquo; was used through- in the city performed primarily
out the United States after 1890. domestic tasks and were often hired
out for a day, month or even year
SLAVERY IN THE CITY
to defray the costs of their upkeep.
Congress outlawed the importa- Some slaves lived away from their
tion of slaves in 1808, but aboli- master’s house. But most lived in
6. In 1840, the free colored population
reached its peak of 20,000, Roger Fischer, 7. Richard C. Wade, Slavery in the Cities
"Racial Segregation in Antebellum New Or- (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964),
leans" American Historical Review 74 (Feb- p. 199.
ruary, 1969): 929; The city remained black 8. Robert Reinders, End of an Era: New
from 1810 until 1840, when the white Orleans 1850-1860 (New Orleans: Pelican,
population finally exceeded the black popu- 1964), p. 25.
lation. Kendall, "New Orleans’ "Peculiar 9. Reinders, End of an Era, p. 27.
Institution’," p. 869. 10. Wade, Slavery in the Cities, p. 4.

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
86

close proximity to their owners, activities as drinking, eating, and

in compounds composed of the main gambling. 15
house and slave quarters enclosed New Orlean’s special adaptation
by walls. Fire insurance maps of of the backyard pattern was the
New Orleans during this period &dquo;superblock.&dquo; In the American sec-
show the city was interlaced with tor, the richest whites were lo-
brick walls that divided each block cated along the major boulevards,
into smaller sectors. There were few which were in turn separated by
alleys because those became the ten fifteen smaller streets. Blacks
or
focal points for slave life outside who lived behind the big house
of white supervision.ll lived several blocks behind the main
Housing for urban blacks during boulevard on one of the interior
slavery was cramped and sparse, streets. Thus &dquo;superblocks&dquo; about
but seldom geographically segre- one-half mile square, with white
gated. Both slaves and free blacks perimeters and black cores, de-
were intermingled with whites veloped along such boundaries as
throughout the city in what Deme- St. Charles, Jefferson, and Napoleon
rath and Gilmore called the &dquo;back- Avenues. 16 Since not all whites
yard pattern.&dquo;12 The purpose of this could afford to live in mansions,
mix was hardly to promote racial however, the cores of superblocks
integration, but to keep an eye on were never entirely black. The rem-
blacks and prevent the growth of a nants of this pattern can still be
cohesive black community. The observed today with small four-
limited land space in New Orleans room houses backed up behind nine-
also dictated such close living teenth century mansions.
quarters. Wade interpreted this hous- As urban slavery became less
ing pattern as the physical mani- viable, housing arrangements began
festation of prevailing racial policy. 13 to disintegrate as well. Small black
New Orleans conformed to the sections began to appear in southern
backyard pattern very closely. Every cities by 1840, most of which were
area of the city had some blacks. concentrated at the edge of town.
The western part of the city had only The tendency for blacks to cluster
6,250 slaves to a total population of together at the periphery was more
35,000 in 1847, but they were evenly pronounced in 1860 than in 1820.
distributed throughout the seven Thus on the eve of the Emancipa-
wards. 14 Blassingame credits this tion Proclamation, the segregation
residential integration with the easy that pervaded other areas of life
race relations that existed during was finally instituted in housing.
the nineteenth century. The inter- DISEASE AND DIVISIONS
racial housing pattern often led to a
disregard of the color line in such Between the War of 1812 and the
Civil War, two major events af-
fected the population and its dis-
11. Wade, Slavery in the Cities, p. 60.
12. N. J. Demerath and Harlan Gilmore,
"The Ecology of Southern Cities," in The 15. John W. Blassingame, Black New Or-
Urban South, ed. Rupert Vance and N. J. leans: 1860-1880 (Chicago: University of
Demerath (Chapel Hill: University of North Chicago Press, 1973), p. 16.
Carolina Press, 1954), p. 155. 16. Peirce F. Lewis, New Orleans: The
13. Wade, Slavery in the Cities, p. 75. Making of an Urban Landscape (Cambridge,
14. Wade, Slavery in the Cities, p. 76. MA: Ballinger, 1976), p. 44.

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
 87

tribution in New Orleans. The first west, they constructed the Garden
was a series of epidemics which as a counterpart to the fine
District
started in the 1820s and culminated homes in the Quarter. Canal and
in 1832 with a combination of yel- Esplanade Streets were perceived
low fever and cholera that killed almost as national boundaries, and
5,000 people in ten days. Another people of one political sector rarely
major yellow fever outbreak struck lived in the other sector. Well
in 1847, leaving over 2,000 dead. before the outbreak of the Civil War,
Neither of these was as bad as therefore, New Orleans had expe-
1852, however, when 1,365 died in rienced not only legal segregation
one week, with the toll for that between races, but had formalized
summer at 8,000. 17 Until the swamps ethnic segregation as well. The Civil
were drained and filtered water War separating North and South was
introduced in 1910, New Orleans thus just another schism in the his-
had a well deserved reputation as tory of New Orleans.
the most deadly city in the U.S.
THE CIVIL WAR
While epidemics were affecting
the population size of the city, Between 1860 and 1870, the white
events on the political front were population of New Orleans declined
affecting the distribution of that from 144,601 to 140,923, but the
population. In 1836, relations be- black population doubled from
tween the Creoles and the Ameri- 24,074 to 50,456. This large growth
cans had deteriorated to such an
began when the city fell to the
extent that the city was actually Federals in 1862. Although the
split into three municipalities: that rate of black increase declined
between Canal and Esplanade Streets steadily after 1870, it never fell
to be governed by the Creoles; west below twelve percent in any decade
of Canal by the Americans; and east before 1900.1$ It was just after the
of the Quarter by immigrant truck Federal victory that the free black
farmers. Each sector had its own population mounted sustained pro-
fiscal system and its own currency tests against the color barrier. In a
(called &dquo;shin plasters&dquo;) with which battle that was to last fifteen years,
to pay employees. The Americans free blacks fought all forms of pub-
moved ahead with street and wharf lic segregation: in schools (for which
repairs, public school building, and they paid taxes but could not let
numerous other civic improvements, their children attend); in theatres;
and by the time the three sectors in hotels and in restaurants. The
recombined in 1852, New Orleans first of four black newspapers was
was an American city. formed at this time, L’Union (1862-
During this sixteen year period 1864), to be followed by the Tribune
ethnic loyalties were so great that (1864-1870), the Louisianian (1870-
the Creole and American societies 1882), and the Pelican (1886-1889).
rarely mixed. The Americans created Despite the public pressure exerted
separate churches, cemeteries, ca- by the black media, the fight for
nals, and public parks in parallel civil rights made little headway until
development to the old French the Radical Republicans cleared the
Quarter. As they moved farther 18. Dale A. Somers, "Black and White in
17. Charles N. Glaab and Theodore A. New Orleans: A Study in Urban Race
Brown, A History of Urban America (New Relations, 1865-1900," The Journal of South-
York: Macmillan 1967), p. 89. ern History 40 (February 1974): 21.

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
88

way for Congressional Reconstruc- the days of black equality were

tion in March 1867, by granting numbered. Federal troops were
blacks the right to vote. withdrawn from New Orleans in
A massive demonstration in May 1877 and the Democratic &dquo;redeem-
of 1867 led to the desegregation ers&dquo; who came to power soon re-
of city streetcars. The Louisiana established the black person’s in-
Constitution of 1868 (known as the ferior status in Louisiana.
&dquo;black and tan&dquo; constitution due to
its creation by Negroes and Repub- THE INTRODUCTION OF JIM CROW
licans) wrote desegregation of pub- The Democrats passed discrimi-
lic schools and accommodations into
natory legislation in the 1890s when
Louisiana law. Blacks attended pub- it appeared that they would no
lic schools from 1871 to 1877, and longer face interference from the
sometimes ate and drank in white federal government. Interracial mar-
restaurants and saloons.19 These
riages that had been legalized in
laws never really took effect in 1870 were prohibited in 1894. The
rural parishes, but New Orleans Plessy v. Ferguson ruling endorsing
blacks could demand desegregation &dquo;separate but equal&dquo; facilities was
of their Radical representatives, and a Louisiana case settled by the
the Federal soldiers stood by to Supreme Court in 1896.22 Blacks
support them. The war against the were disenfranchised by the state
color line in Louisiana was fought constitutional convention in 1898.
&dquo;in the streets and saloons and By 1902, Jim Crow laws were in
schools of New Orleans. &dquo;20 full effect with the resegregation of
By 1870, however, blacks had still city streetcars.
not achieved full equal rights. The The only apparent exception to
private school system was revived the interracial schisms of the 1890s
from pre-Civil War days so that was the labor movement in New
white children could avoid attend- Orleans. There was a strike of both
ing integrated schools. In 1868 there black and white longshoremen in
were only ten private schools in the
1865, and a Negro Longshoremen’s
city; by 1871 there were over one Protective Union was formed in
hundred. In September of 1874 a 1872 to divide jobs with whites.23
white supremacist organization, the The Knights of Labor organized as-
White League, led a three-day out- sociations of skilled and unskilled,
break that temporarily overthrew the black and white workers into geo-
Radical government. That was fol- graphic districts, and by 1887 there
lowed shortly by the great school were twelve such associations in
riots of 1874.21 Although the Civil
Rights Act of 1866 helped put some 22. Homer Adolph Plessy, one-eighth Ne-
force behind the state constitution, gro and seven-eighths white, was arrested
for refusing to ride in the "colored" section
of a train from New Orleans to Covington,
19. Somers "Black and White in New Or- La.; this violated the Louisiana law requiring
leans," 24; Fischer, "Racial Segregation
p. "equal but separate accomodations for the
in Antebellum New Orleans," p. 936. white and colored populations." Albert P.
20. Roger Fischer, "The Post-Civil War Blaustein and Robert L. Zangrando, eds.,
Segregation Struggle," in The Past as Pre- Civil Rights and the American Negro: A
lude : New Orleans 1718-1968, ed. Hodding Documentary History (New York: Washing-
Carter (New Orleans: Pelican, 1968), p. 295. ton Square Press, 1968), p. 189.
21. Fischer, "The Post-Civil War Segrega- 23. Somers, "Black and White in New Or-
tion Struggle," p. 300. leans," p. 30.

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
 89

New Orleans and thirty outside the of prejudice had intensified to such
city. This interracial labor activity an extent that Mayor Capdeville won
culminated in the three-day General the 1900 election on the promise
Strike of 1892, which was &dquo;the first that &dquo;public works must be done
general strike in American history by whites. &dquo;26
to enlist both skilled and unskilled Two technological inventions com-
labor, black and white, and to para- bined at the turn of the century
lyze the life of a great city.&dquo;24 to help shape the racial geography
More than 20,000 men participated of New Orleans. The first was the
in the strike. Counting their families, Wood Pump. Invented in 1917, it
they equalled nearly one-half of the was the first effective means of
city’s population. draining the large swampy areas
This form of racial cooperation surrounding the city. The city then
soon ended, however, and by 1900 expanded in directions thought pre-
Jim Crow was as prevalent in the viously impossible. Because the
city as in the country. The turn of land was opened up during the
the century in New Orleans was Jim Crow era, however, only whites
ushered in by a race riot that was could take advantage of the newly
to &dquo;establish the pattern for Negro- available housing. Thus the Wood
white relations for the next half Pump was an unwitting agent of resi-
century.&dquo;25 dential segregation in New Orleans. 27
The other event was the expansion
TWENTIETH CENTURY-THE
of the city streetcar system. With
FIRST HALF
public transportation available,
The New Orleans Race Riot of blacks no longer had to live near
1900 was precipitated by the police their white employers and they
questioning of a black man, Robert began moving back toward the cen-
Charles, who was active in the tral business district, into formerly
Liberian emigration movement. The swampy areas.28 Public transporta-
police and Charles exchanged shots; tion also meant that whites could
Charles killed several officers and move farther out of the city and still
a three-day riot ensued in which be within reasonable commuting
whites killed over 30 blacks; three distance of the business district.
whites were wounded in the rioting, The two opposite directions in
and Charles killed and wounded which the races moved set the stage
fifteen more people before he was for the development of racial en-
shot. The riot was partially at- claves.
tributable to economic conditions in
New Orleans at the time. There 26. Parkash Kaur Bains, "The New Or-
had been several years of heavy leans Race Riot of 1900" (Diss., Univer-
black inmigration from the planta- sity of New Orleans, 1970), p. 10.
27. Lewis, New Orleans: The Making of an
tions, and blacks were displacing Urban Landscape, p. 63.
whites in unskilled jobs. Over 90 28. H. W. Gilmore, "The Old New Or-
percent of the labor force in public leans and the New: A Case for Ecology,"
works was black in 1900. The level American Sociological Review 9 (1944):
p. 393; Zane Miller, "Urban Blacks in the
24. Roger W. Shugg, "The New Orleans South, 1865-1920: The Richmond, Savannah,
General Strike of 1892," The Louisiana New Orleans, Louisville, and Birmingham
Historical Quarterly 21 (April, 1938): 547. Experience," in The New Urban History,
25. Somers, "Black and White in New Or- ed. Leo Schnore (Princeton, NJ, Princeton
leans," p. 42. University Press, 1975) p. 200.

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
90

The beginning of this clustering at $3,800 as compared with $10,000

did not become evident until the for whites. Four-fifths of all black
1930s. Levels of residential segre- dwellings were dilapidated or lacked
gation, as calculated by the index of plumbing, and forty percent were
dissimilarity, working from census overcrowded. &dquo;Nonsegregation for
tracts and ward data when it became Negroes in New Orleans seemed to
available, indicate that scores were mean the right to crowd into old and

fairly stable until 1930 and then be- poor dwellings as whites left them
gan to increase gradually to their for new housing. &dquo;31
highest level in 1960. These cal- It may be true that there were few
culations reveal modern levels of neighborhoods or blocks that were
segregation that surpass those of completely white or completely
seventy years ago. black between 1900 and 1950. But
Scattered literature about New if the distribution of the black
Orleans during the first half of the population is examined by wards,
twentieth century suggests that al- it becomes clear that over twenty-
though there was a Negro &dquo;Main five percent of all blacks in the
Street&dquo;-Rampart, on the edge of city were concentrated in two or
the French Quarter-there were no three out of a total of seventeen
neighborhoods in the city with a wards during this period, as shown
concentration of a majority of blacks. 29 in Table 1.
But by 1950 there were numerous
TWENTIETH CENTURY-THE
segregated blocks emerging in the SECOND HALF
city. Fifty-seven percent of all blocks
had less than one percent black Ironically, an effort to supply
housing units, while eight percent good, inexpensive public housing
had less than one percent white. 30 began the process which put an end
This could be interpreted to mean to the relative integration of New
that thirty-five percent of all blocks Orleans neighborhoods. The Hous-
were integrated. A housing profile ing Authority of New Orleans was
for New Orleans blacks in 1950 created in 1937, and was the first
shows that such integration did not such agency in the United States
insure equality, however. Fewer to receive federal funds for slum
than twenty-five percent of blacks clearance and publicly subsidized
were home owners compared to
housing. By the end of 1941, the
forty-four percent of whites; median Housing Authority had built two
rent for blacks was $13 less per white projects (with 1,826 units)
month than for whites; and black and three black projects (2,309
owner-occupied homes were valued units), with another black one
under construction. By 1956, when
29. John H. Rohrer and Munro S. Edmon- the Desire Project was completed,
son, Eighth Generation (New York:
The
there were 3,102 units for whites
Harper, 1960); Henry Allen Bullock, "Ur- and 7,173 units for blacks. 32 The
banism and Race Relations", in The Urban
South, ed. Rupert Vance and N. J. Demerath projects were eventually integrated
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina but remained predominantly black.
Press, 1954) p. 222.
30. Forrest E. LaViolette, "The Negro in
New Orleans," in Studies in Housing and 31. LaViolette, "The Negro in New Or-
Minority Groups, ed. Nathan Glazer and leans," p. 117.
David McIntire (Berkeley: University of 32. LaViolette, "The Negro in New Or-
California Press, 1960), p. 116. leans," p. 119.

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
 91

The areasin which these projects nine percent of all black registered
were built have become the current voters lived in the Ninth Ward in
areas of greatest black concentra- October, 1977, and seventeen per-
tion. (Table 1). In 1960, LaViolette cent in the Seventh Ward, for a
wrote that residential segregation in total of forty-six percent of the black
New Orleans was increasing, but registered population of voters.33
was paradoxically increasing the po- There are obvious drawbacks to
tential political power of blacks the use of voter registration data
by making it easier to organize the rather than actual population. Blacks
community. But, he predicted, as are historically underregistered com-
blacks gained in power, that power pared to whites. The percent of the
would be turned against the segre- black population registered to vote
gation that originally made it pos- in 1960 varied from 10.2 to 25.5
sible. Later events tended to sup- compared to 36.7 to 64.6 percent
port his prediction. for whites the same year. In 1960,
The Seventh Ward has consis- registered constituted 18.5
voters
tently contained over 10 percent of percent of the black population in
the black population, while the the Seventh Ward and 12.7 percent
Third and Eleventh overlap as in the Ninth Ward. Whites regis-
areas of high black concentration. tered to vote equalled 39.6 percent
The emergence of the Ninth Ward in the Seventh and 37.6 percent in
in 1960, as an area in which nearly the Ninth Wards.34
25 percent of all blacks lived, is Voter registration figures actually
largely due to urban renewal. Not underestimate the amount of racial
only is the city’s largest housing segregation because the Ninth Ward
project (Desire/Florida) located in has one of the lowest voter regis-
the Ninth Ward, but blacks dis- tration rates due to its high incidence
placed by other types of urban of poverty and illiteracy. But with a
renewal, for example the Interstate black candidate in the 1977 election
and the Superdome, were forced into there is reason to believe there was
the Ninth Ward as one of the few higher black registration than in
remaining low rent areas. The area 1960. If that were the case, the
is now almost 90 percent black and estimate might be closer to the ac-
has some of the city’s highest un- tual population figures than in 1960.
employment, illiteracy, and poverty Whatever adjustments are made,
rates. Thus, in 1960 over 40 per- however, figures still indicate that
cent of all blacks lived in only blacks have become increasingly
two wards, the Seventh and the residentially isolated since the turn
Ninth, compared to the 27 percent of the century.
to 36 percent concentrated in two The Brown v. Board of Educa-
wards in earlier years. tion decison in 1954 marked the
Although data by ward are not legal end of the Jim Crow era. Segre-
available after 1960, it is possible gation of public schools ended in
to get a current estimate of black New Orleans in 1960 with a federal
population distribution by ward
using the voter registration lists 33. Mr. Joseph Givens, "Total Community
for 1977. These records for the 1977 Action, New Orleans, Louisiana," April 1978,
personal communication.
mayoral election indicate that the 34. Wards of New Orleans, Bureau of
black population has become even Governmental Research, New Orleans,
more segregated since 1960. Twenty- Louisiana, 1961, p. 40.

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
92

decree from Judge J. Skelley Wright. of the counh)’.37 Such a small-scale

A poll taken just after his ruling attempt (only 40 people were in-
revealed that 82 percent of New volved) at remedying a 200 year-old
Orleans parents would rather see problem seems desperately naive in
the schools closed than desegre- retrospect.
gated.35 Disputes over the progress New Orleans began the decade
of integration continued until 1966. with the fifth highest level of
Many parents opted out of the fray poverty in the country. It also had
by sending their children to private the highest amount of sub-standard
schools set up exclusively to avoid housing of any city. Unemploy-
desegregation. New Orleans today ment was high, varying from 3 to
has a high proportion of its school 7 percent throughout the 1960s;
age population in private schools; among blacks rates varied from 10
thirty-one percent of the high-school to 35 percent, depending on age
students attend nonpublic institu- and sex. 38
tions in the city.36 There are still Three largely black areas emerged
occasional racial upheavals in high as &dquo;target areas&dquo; for the newly
schools which cause them to be shut created Model Cities Program: the
down; a student was killed in one Desire-Florida Housing Project;
such incident. But the frenzy of the Central City Housing Project; and
&dquo;cheerleaders&dquo; of the early 1960s the Lower Ninth Ward. Although
has ebbed, in New Orleans as voter registration has been very
elsewhere. low-13 percent in both the 1950
The 1960s were relatively calm and 1960 elections among blacks in
in New Orleans. There were no riots the Ninth Ward,39 LaViolette’s
in the mid-60s as there were in other thesis regarding the relationship of
large cities, although the socioeco- residential segregation and political
nomic conditions for blacks were as power appears to have been sup-
bad or worse than elsewhere. That ported in the 1960s with the elec-
the city expected the possibility of tion of the first black to the
riots is evidenced by a project, Louisiana legislature since Recon-
funded by the New Orleans Hu- struction .40 That man was E. N.
man Relations Committee, on the
establishment of black-white sensi- 37. City of New Orleans Human Relations
tivity groups. It was an effort to Committee, "Report to the Committee: A
bring blacks and whites into contact Pilot Study for the Establishment of Black-
with one another to reduce racial White Sensitivity Groups in the City of
tensions in the community. The re- 1969. Orleans,"
New New Orleans, Louisiana,

sults were inconclusive and the 38. New Orleans City Demonstration
attempt was apparently abandoned Agency, "First Year Action Plan for New
when things cooled off in the rest Orleans’ Model Cities Program," March 1970.
39. Leonard Reissman, K. H. Silvert, and
Cliff Wing, Jr., "The New Orleans Voter: A
Handbook of Political Description," Tulane
35. Warren Breed, "The Emergence of Studies in Political Science, vol. II, (New
Pluralistic Public Opinion in a Community Orleans, LA: Tulane University, Urban Life
Crisis," in Applied Sociology, ed. Alvin Research Institute, 1955) p. 17; Bureau of
Gouldner and S. M. Miller (New York: Governmental Research, 1961, p. 40.
The Free Press, 1965), p. 130. 40. Martin Siegel, New Orleans: A Chro-
36. Louisiana School Directory, State De- nology and Documentary History, 1539-
partment of Public Education, Baton Rouge, 1970 (Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceans
Louisiana, 1977. Publications, Inc., 1975), p. 55.

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
 93

TABLE1
NEW ORLEANS WARDS WITH THE HIGHEST PROPORTIONS OF THE TOTAL BLACK POPULATIO~
1900-1930 ; 1960*

*
Calculated by dmdmg the number of blacks m each ward by total number of blacks m the city.34

Morial, who has now been elected covert racial discrimination among
mayor of the city. It was estimated realtors and lending agencies.43 A
that approximately ninety-five per- more optimistic report found no evi-
cent of the black vote went to Morial dence of concerted price discrimina-
as did only twenty percent of the tion in black housing, but acknowl-
white vote. 41 Morial could not have edged that blacks got less quality (in
won on black votes alone; he needed both housing and neighborhood) for
the coalition of both blacks and their money than whites.44
whites. But he also could not have Although the city escaped riots,
won without the solid support of the there was racial unrest due to the
black community, the successful or- poor housing and socioeconomic
ganization of which may have been status of blacks. The 1970s were
the result of encroaching residential ushered in by a particularly violent
segregation. incident. A branch of the Black
Studies conducted during the Panther Party set up headquarters
1960s reflect an awareness of the in an apartment in the Desire Hous-
problem of race relations and hous- ing Project. On 16 September 1970,
ing discrimination in New Orleans. the New Orleans police were in-
The Urban League catalogued a list volved in a shoot-out with the group
of grievances against banks, the which resulted in the death of a black
FHA, VA, and realtors as agents of youth, the wounding of three, and
housing discrimination.42 Another the arrest of fourteen other blacks.
study found that blacks paid a greater Three months later local clergymen
proportion of their income for hous- protested that the police had gained
ing than any other group in the entry to the apartment by wear-
city; lived in overcrowded condi- ing clerical garb. Mayor Landrieu
tions more frequently; and were less pledged that such tactics would
satisfied with their living arrange-
ments. The same study documented 43. Leonard Reissman, "Housing Dis-
crimination in New Orleans: Summary and
Recommendations," New Orleans, Louisiana
41. The New Orleans States-Item, 10 Tulane University, Tulane Urban Studies
December, 1977, p. A-5. Center, 1970.
42. Urban League of Greater New Or- 44. Larry Smith and Company, New Or-
leans, "To House a City: An Introductory leans Community Renewal Program, Report
Handbook on Housing in New Orleans," Series #4, "Minority Housing Patterns,
Division of Community Services, Depart- Needs, and Policies," Report to the City
ment of Housing, New Orleans, Louisiana, Planning Commission, City of New Orleans,
November 1967. May 1970.

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
94

not be permitted again, possibly 1970.49 As they increase in land

an admission that such had ac- area, the black areas are beginning
tually been used.45 Black Panther to merge toward each other. It
activities dissipated after the con- appears that by
1980 there could be
frontation and the organization is a black residential belt following the
no longer highly visible in New curve of the river, in the area that
Orleans. was undesirable backswamp one
In 1970, New Orleans was 45 per- hundred years ago.
cent black, with projections of a Other forces are coalescing to
black majority by 1980. But eco- relocate the black population and in
nomic conditions for blacks failed the process destroy what viable
to improve over the 1960 level. communities once existed. In 1965
Forty-four percent of the city’s a new Interstate highway was built
blacks earned incomes below the through the middle of Claiborne
poverty level, compared to 10 per- Avenue, a main thoroughfare in the
cent of the whites. Blacks below central city black community. Where
the poverty level made up fully 20 there were once old oaks com-
percent of the New Orleans popu- parable to the ones on St. Charles,
lation in 1970, and the housing there are now concrete posts holding
projects showed the highest overlap up more concrete. A Cultural Cen-
of percent black and four poverty ter was located just outside the
indicators: highest percentage of French Quarter in the old black
families below the poverty level; community of Treme. The plans
lowest median family income; highest called for the demolition of eight
percentage receiving public assist- square blocks; by the time con-
ance ; and highest unemployment. 46 struction began in the early 1970s,
Approximately 70 percent of the 410 families had been displaced.50
housing in New Orleans was over The Cultural Center is surrounded
twenty-one years old in 1970, and it on all sides by six-foot barbed
is estimated that 25 percent of the wire fences and one must park in-
housing was substandard at that side the gates to attend any func-
date. 47 Homeownership rates are tions. Thus the Center has been
currently low for the city as a whole effectively cut off from the French
-35%-and blacks average only a Quarter which it was meant to
10 percent ownership rate.48 border. The Louis Armstrong Park,
Previously small and scattered all- on the site of the former slave
black residential areas have begun dancing grounds called Congo
to expand. The number of census Square, is practically inaccessible to
tracts with over 80 percent black the surrounding black community.
nearly doubled between 1940 and Aside from the efforts of city
officials to improve New Orleans at
the seeming expense of blacks, private
45. Siegel, New Orleans: A Chronology
and Documentary History, 1539-1970, p. 57. investors are having an impact as well.
46. Total Community Action, Profile of The &dquo;renovation boom&dquo; experienced
Poverty in New Orleans (April 1973), p. 1.
47. New Orleans City Planning Commis- 49. Lewis, New Orleans: The Making of an
sion, "New Orleans Housing, 1973: Prob- Urban Landscape, p. 98.
lems, Goals, Programs." (1973), p. 1. 50. Beverly G. Andry, "The Impact of
48. Office of Policy Planning and Analysis, Civic Decisions on Treme: A Community
Needs Assessment, City of New Orleans, in Transition," (Diss., University of New
2 June 1977. Orleans, 1976).

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
 95

by other large central cities has hit

developed all-black upper middle
New Orleans with a class neighborhood (Pontchartrain
vengeance.
Colliseum Square, the Irish Chan- Park) was built in the 1950s. Since
nel, Algiers Point all are previously New Orleans East was only sparsely
black neighborhoods with good populated in 1960, the introduction
housing stock which have become of a black suburban enclave con-
targets of upper middle class white tributed to increasing the index of
renovators. Housing prices in some segregation. After whites and other
of these areashave doubled within blacks started moving out to the
a year less. Many blacks, the
or surrounding area, however, which
elderly, and the poor are being occurred during the 1960s, the index
displaced.51 And there is evidence declined. New Orleans East now has
that the renovators expect their an even racial balance, but the belief
neighborhoods to become increas- among realtors and New Orleans
ingly white over the next five years.52 residents who live there is that it
Although some houses of valuable will eventually become mostly black.
architectural design are being sal- When and if that happens, the index
vaged, there is local concern over of segregation will probably rise
the fate of those displaced. What once again.
is good for the city is not always
good for the poorer citizens, of CONCLUSIONS
whom New Orleans has a large New Orleans in the late 1970s
proportion. is catching up with the rest of the
All these factors have led to in-
country in both race relations and
creasing levels of residential segre- residential segregation. A largely
gation for the city. Indexes of black city has finally elected a black
segregation show an increase from mayor, and black residential en-
1940 (81.0) to 1960 (86.3) and then claves are merging into the ghettos
a slight decline for 1970 (83.1).
characteristic of other large cities.
The decline from 1960 to 1970 is As Taeuber says of old southern
probably a result of the develop- cities with remnants of the back-
ment of a new section of the city
known as &dquo;New Orleans East.&dquo; Al-
yard pattern, urban renewal is
completing the process of &dquo;racial
though suburban in character, it is modernization.&dquo;53
within the city limits and provides In 1980, the residential segregation
inexpensive housing and a large score for New Orleans will no doubt
number of rental units. This is also be higher than previous scores.
the same area where a privately It cannot increase indefinitely, of
course, but if current trends per-
51. Ralph E. Thayer and Paul Waidhas,
sist the score may reach the low
"What do In-Town Investors Want?," Urban
Land 37 (June, 1977): 19-21; Helen Rosen- 90s. A growing black population
berg, "Areas of Relocation of Displaced with nearly half of its members in
Lower Garden District and Irish Channel poverty does not bode well for
Residents," (Diss. University of New Or- the integration of blacks into white
leans, 1977); Andry, "The Impact of Civic middle class neighborhoods. The
Decisions on Treme."
52. Shirley Laska and Daphne Spain, "Im-
pact on New Orleans of ’Back to the City’ 53. Karl E. Taeuber, "Racial Segregation:
Movement: Implications for Future Urban The Persisting Dilemma," Annals of the
Problems," paper presented at the Southern American Academy of Political and Social
Sociological Society, March, 1978. Science 422 (November 1975) p. 95.

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015
96

suburban parishes around New Or- New Orleans are putting their faith
leans have been increasing in popu- in the new black administration. But
lation while New Orleans has lost the city is in such poor financial
population, and the white inner- condition that it will take years to
city renovators are a small minority implement programs aimed at im-
compared to the white migrators to proving the socioeconomic status,
the suburbs. If blacks cannot join and hence, the housing conditions,
that suburban push, the central city of blacks. As New Orleans joins
will not only become more black, mainstream America, it also joins
but more segregated as well. the ranks of cities with severe resi-
The forecast is gloomy. Many in dential segregation.

Downloaded from ann.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on March 10, 2015