Louisiana Legacies: Readings in the History of the Pelican State

Combining the best previously–published articles and essays on avariety of historical topics, Louisiana Legacies provides acompendium of well–written and accessible perspectives on thestate′s history. The volume covers material ranging from colonialera interactions between Native Americans and the first Europeansettlers to the environmental history of the state s southernwetlands, whose ecology is internationally recognized for itsstunning natural diversity as much as its extreme vulnerability tothe pressures of climate change and human encroachment.

The collection reflects the richness of today s historicalpurview, with tightly focused chapters on a multitude offascinating subjects. They include analyses of Louisiana stumultuous political history in the modern era, its troubled roadtowards racial equality, and the fiery debate over racialattitudes. The unique cultural qualities of Louisiana, includingits Cajun cuisine and the inimitable jazz tradition of New Orleans,are also areas of focus.

Editors′ Preface 1

PART ONE: LOUISIANA′S COLONIAL CONTEXT 3

The Frontier Exchange Economy of the Lower Mississippi Valleybefore 1783
by Daniel J. Usner 5

The Moral Climate of French Colonial Louisiana,1699 1763
by Carl A. Brasseaux 25

Oliver Pollock′s Plantations: An Early Anglo Landowner on theLower Mississippi, 1769 1824
by Light T. Cummins 37

PART TWO: WOMEN, RACE, AND CLASS IN EARLY LOUISIANA49

Desiring Total Tranquility and Not Getting It: ConflictInvolving Free Black Women in Spanish New Orleans
by Kimberly Hanger 52

A Female Planter from West Feliciana Parish: The Letters ofRachel O′Connor
by Sara Brooks Sundberg 63

The Murder of a "Lewd and Abandoned Woman": State of Louisianav. Abraham Parker
by Judith Kelleher Schafer 78

PART THREE: TRANSFORMATION OF THE LOUISIANA "CREOLE"93

Early New Orleans Society: A Reappraisal
by Joseph G. Tregle, Jr. 95

In My Father′s House: Relationships and Identity in anInterracial New Orleans Creole Family, 1845 1875
by Justin Nystrom 108

PART FOUR: VIOLENT LOUISIANA 127

"I Would Rather Be Among the Comanches": The Military Occupationof Southwest Louisiana, 1865
by Michael G. Wade 129

From the Barrel of a Gun: The Politics of Murder in GrantParish
by Joel M. Sipress 142

Feuding Is Our Means of Societal Regulation: Elusive Stabilityin Southeastern Louisiana′s Piney Woods, 1877 1910
by Samuel Hyde, Jr. 154

An Inhospitable Land: Anti–Italian Sentiment and Violence inLouisiana, 1891 1924
by Alan G. Gauthreaux 164

PART FIVE: PROGRESSIVES AND RACE 177

When Plessy Met Ferguson
by Keith Weldon Medley 180

The Rest of the Story: Kate Gordon and the Opposition to theNineteenth Amendment in the South
by Elna C. Green 188

In Pursuit of Louisiana Progressives
by Samuel C. Shepherd 197

PART SIX: MODERN LOUISIANA POLITICS 209

"What he did and what he promised to do . . .": Huey Long andthe Horizons of Louisiana Politics
by Jerry P. Sanson 212

Huey Long: A Political Contradiction
by Glen Jeansonne 220

"When I Took the Oath of Office, I Took No Vow of Poverty":Race, Corruption, and Democracy in Louisiana, 1928 2000
by Anthony J. Badger 232

The Politics of Poverty and History: Racial Inequality and theLong Prelude to Katrina
by Kent B. Germany 248

PART SEVEN: TRANSITIONS IN RACE RELATIONS 257

Racial Repression in World War Two: The New IberiaIncident
by Adam Fairclough 259

Transitional Generations: African American Workers,Industrialization, and Education in the Northern Louisiana Lumberand Paper Industries, 1930 1950
by Lesley–Anne Reed 270

PART EIGHT: CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT IN MODERN LOUISIANA289

Making the "Birthplace of Jazz": Tourism and Musical HeritageMarketing in New Orleans
by J. Mark Souther 291

Commercialization of Cajun Cuisine
by Marcelle Bienvenu, Carl A. Brasseaux, and Ryan A. Brasseaux314

Who Destroyed the Marsh?: Oil Field Canals, Coastal Ecology, andthe Debate over Louisiana s Shrinking Wetlands
by Tyler Priest and Jason P. Theriot 331

Michael S. Martin is Associate Professor of History atthe University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and director of itsCenter for Louisiana Studies. He also manages theuniversity s publishing concern and its Center for Culturaland Eco–Tourism. Dr. Martin is also the managing editor of theLouisiana Historical Association s quarterly journal,Louisiana History. His publications include ChemicalEngineering at the University of Arkansas:  A CentennialHistory, 1902–2002 (2002), and Historic Lafayette(2007).

Janet Allured is Professor of History at McNeese StateUniversity and coordinator of its Women s Studies program.The co–editor of Louisiana Women: Their Lives and Times(2009), she also shared the authorship of Images of America:Lake Charles (2012). She is currently working on a historyof the modern feminist movement in Louisiana.