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January 28, 2008

Feature Photo: Greenwood Cemetery and First Baptist Church

Greenwood Cemetery, from the westermost road inside the cemetery. In the background is First Baptist Church, a "megachurch" whose street address is Canal Blvd., on the opposite side of the cemetery. Behind the photographer is I-10, heading into downtown New Orleans.

A few weeks ago, there was some concern on neighborhood e-mail lists that First Baptist Church will be applying for a zoning variance to erect a large lighted sign on the back of the church that will be visible to drivers on I-10. The attitude of church members is that they have 700' of frontage to the interstate and they want to exploit that for evangelism.

This confused me, because when I drive by there, I see that the railroad right-of-way fronts I-10, and Greenwood Cemetery is right behind that. I think the church is talking about this frontage:

The church has a sign along the railroad right-of-way, here:

But they don't own that property.

The church wants to put up a sign on this side of their property, overlooking the cemetery. While I respect their right to do what they wish on their property, they're not being very good neighbors. When you come into New Orleans at night on I-10W, you cross over the 17th Street Canal and continue on the old Pontchartrain Expressway. Your first experience in New Orleans is darkness.

The Darkness of the Cities of the Dead.

On the right are Lake Lawn Cemetery/Mausoleum and Metairie Cemetery. On the left is Greenwood Cemetery. There are no artificial lights in any of these cemeteries. When the sun sets, it's pitch black inside them. Even at 60mph on the interstate, this darkness has a profound impact on visitors and locals alike.

First Baptist doesn't care about this, though. They want to put destroy a setting that has been around for 135 years. Travelers on the New Basin Canal experienced this on boats before the canal was filled in, and motorists have felt it since the 1940s.

I urge First Baptist to consider both the community and the dead. There are many things here that are uniquely New Orleans, and our cemeteries are one of them. I would also like to think that good Christians like the people of First Baptist would respect the dead and their families enough not to light their resting places up like Vegas.

Posted by YatPundit at 1:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 21, 2008

Feature Photo - "Dutch"

Tomb of Ernest Nathan "Dutch" Morial, 57th Mayor of New Orleans, in St. Louis Cemetery Number One on Basin Street.

It's fitting that we feature Dutch on MLK day, because he was such an important part of the New Orleans civil rights movement. Dutch was the city's premier "first black." He was the first African-American:

Morial defeated three white candidates in 1977 to win the city's top job. He won with 90% of the black vote and 20% of the white vote. Many white voters considered Dutch to be a "safe" candidate, because he was light-skinned and preferred to work from the inside for civil rights, litigating rather than demonstrating. He built a political machine that was strong enough to get his son, Marc, elected for two terms, in 1993 and 1997.

Dutch represents an interesting segment of the black community in New Orleans, the "Creoles." The Creole community has been on the forefront of civil rights issues in this country long before Dutch, as it was Homer Plessey's desire to ride in the "white" car of a train on the East Louisiana Railroad line. Plessey's great-grandmother was black, making him an "Octaroon," and by definition under Louisiana law, black. The resulting lawsuit legitimized the concept "separate but equal" public facilities.

There's a perception, most recently publicly vocalized by Spike Lee, that the black Creole community of New Orleans aren't "black enough." This view of the Creole community goes back throughout New Orleans' history. It's been romanticized in dozens of romance novels and films (most of which resemble the actual history of the city as much as Hollywood westerns represent the HBO series, "Deadwood"). While there is no doubt that many light-skinned black folks tried to "pass," it's totally unfair to tag the Creole families in general. The old-line black families of New Orleans became a community amongst themselves, particularly in the Third and Seventh Wards. The construction of I-10 along N. Claiborne Ave. in the 1970s broke up much of the feeling of community in those neighborhoods, and many families moved to other parts of town. There's still an element of "Creole society" in town, however, kept alive by black Carnival organizations and social clubs.

One of the best stories of Creoles in modern New Orleans was told on the television show, "Frank's Place," in 1987. The main character of the show, Frank (played by Tim Reid), returned to New Orleans after going to school and living "up north" to run the family restaurant. As a visible member of the black community, Frank was invited to join a black men's club. His staff at the restaurant derided the invitation to the "Capital C Club," because it was club of Creole men. To get in, you had to pass the "Schwegmann bag test." If you placed a brown grocery bag on your arm and your skin was darker, you didn't qualify. They were inviting Frank to be the "first black" in an all-black club! "Frank's Place" is by far the best show ever made in/about New Orleans. It's a shame it's not available on DVD.

In spite of the Plessey decision, Jim Crow laws, and the strong sentiment of racism that still exists in the city, New Orleans' Catholic cemeteries have always been integrated. Homer Plessey is buried just around the corner from Dutch in St. Louis #1. Dutch's tomb is next to the most well-known tomb in the cemetery, the one where Marie Laveau is reputed to rest.

Dutch's legacy is a positive one overall, in spite of his polarizing personality. After his death, the city named the massive convention center that was the backbone of the 1984 World's Fair after him. The Morial Convention Center is one of the most important components of the city's economy and a fitting tribute to one of our civil rights leaders.

Posted by YatPundit at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)

January 13, 2008

Feature Photo - Mount Olivet Cemetery


DeJan family coping in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Gentilly. Mount Olivet is a historically black cemetery. The three St. Louis cemeteries are not specifically segregated, because the Creoles had so much interaction with Les Gens De Couleur Libres, the Free Peoples of Color, that segregation would have broken up some the burial of some families. Other communities, such as the Irish, Germans, and Italians, had more separation between black and white. As the black community grew and Jim Crow became stronger, the community had a need for its own cemeteries.

This photo shows a number of aspects of New Orleans cemeteries. The DeJan coping is a typical working-class family grave. Tombs were expensive, but Mount Olivet is on (relatively) high ground, so there were more in-ground burials. In the center background, you can see a "society" tomb, where there are vaults in three rows of four. Various social and benevolent societies would purchase a tomb such as this, because pooling the resources enabled members to have traditional, above-ground burial. On the right side in the background is a granite "double" tomb that is typical of New Orleans cemeteries.

The headstones on the DeJan coping are military-style. The one on the left lists two veterans, Lawrence B. Blackwell, who served in WWII, and Arthur DeJan, who served in WWI. The right-hand stone lists Sidney DeJan, who was in the Infantry in WWI, and Bienville Ancar, Jr., who did not serve in the military.

Posted by YatPundit at 9:06 PM