The music of Louisiana can be divided into three general regions: rural south Louisiana, home to Creole Zydeco and Old French, New Orleans, and north Louisiana. The region in and around Greater New Orleans has a unique musical heritage tied to Dixieland jazz, blues, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. The music of the northern portion of the state starting at Baton Rouge and reaching Shreveport has similarities to that of the rest of the US South.
The Louisiana State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Louisiana and is located in downtown Baton Rouge. The capitol houses the chambers for the Louisiana State Legislature, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as the office of the Governor of Louisiana. At 450 feet (137 m) tall and with 34 stories, it is the tallest skyscraper in Baton Rouge, the seventh tallest building in Louisiana, and tallest capitol in the United States. It is located on a 27-acre (110,000 m2) tract, which includes the capitol gardens. The Louisiana State Capitol is often thought of as "Huey Long's monument" due to the influence of the former Governor and U.S. Senator in getting the capitol built. The building's construction was completed in 1931. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982.
Jean Étienne de Boré was a Creole French planter, born in Kaskaskia, Illinois Country, who was known for producing the first granulated sugar in Louisiana. At the time, the area was under Spanish rule. His innovation made sugar cane profitable as a commodity crop and planters began to cultivate it in quantity. He owned a large plantation upriver from New Orleans. De Boré's plantation was annexed to the city of New Orleans in 1870, and is now the site of Audubon Park, Tulane University, and Audubon Zoo.
Plaçage was a recognized extralegal system in French and Spanish slave colonies of North America by which ethnic European men entered into civil unions with non-Europeans of African, Native American and mixed-race descent. The term comes from the French placer meaning "to place with". The women were not legally recognized as wives but were known as placées; their relationships were recognized among the free people of color as mariages de la main gauche or left-handed marriages. They became institutionalized with contracts or negotiations that settled property on the woman and her children and, in some cases, gave them freedom if they were enslaved. The system flourished throughout the French and Spanish colonial periods, reaching its zenith during the latter, between 1769 and 1803.
Louisiana Creoles are a Louisiana French ethnic group descended from the inhabitants of colonial Louisiana before it became a part of the United States during the period of both French and Spanish rule. They share cultural ties such as the traditional use of the French, Spanish, and Creole languages and predominant practice of Catholicism.
Charles Lucien Lambert, also known as Lucien Lambert, Sr. or Lucien Lambert père (1828–1896), was an American pianist, music teacher and composer, born a free person of color in New Orleans before the American Civil War. Part of a family of prominent African-American composers, Lambert was noted for talent in music and gained international acclaim.
Jean Saint Malo in French, also known as Juan San Maló in Spanish, was the leader of a group of runaway enslaved Africans, known as Maroons, in Spanish Louisiana.
The Magnolia Mound Plantation House is a French Creole house constructed in 1791 near the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Many period documents refer to the plantation as Mount Magnolia. The house and several original outbuildings on the grounds of Magnolia Mound Plantation are examples of the vernacular architectural influences of early settlers from France and the West Indies. The complex is owned by the city of Baton Rouge and maintained by its Recreation Commission (BREC). It is located approximately one mile south of downtown.
Adrien Rouquette was a Louisiana Creole writer, poet, and Catholic missionary to the Choctaw Native Americans, among whom he was also known as Chahta-Ima.
Alcée Fortier was a renowned Professor of Romance Languages at Tulane University in New Orleans. In the late 19th and early 20th century, he published numerous works on language, literature, Louisiana history and folklore, Louisiana Creole languages, and personal reminiscence. He had French Creole ancestry dating to the colonial period.
Victor-Eugène McCarty was a Louisiana Creole singer, pianist, amateur actor, comedian, orator and writer. McCarty was a civil rights activist who held a seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives and was one of the first of several prominent free black composers. The musician frequently spoke at Creole meetings to advise them of their civil rights during the early phases of Reconstruction. He is best known for publishing Fleurs de salon: 2 Favorite Polkas in 1854 in New Orleans.
The foundation of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, dates to 1721, at the site of a bâton rouge or "red stick" Muscogee boundary marker. It became the state capital of Louisiana in 1849.
Carlos Louis Boucher De Grand Pré was Spanish governor of the Baton Rouge district (1799–1808), as well as brevet colonel in the Spanish Army. He also served as lieutenant governor of Red River District and of the Natchez District.
The literature of Louisiana, United States, includes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Representative authors include Kate Chopin, Alcée Fortier, Ernest Gaines, Walker Percy, Anne Rice and John Kennedy Toole.
The Athénée Louisianais was a francophone literary society in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founding members were P. G. T. Beauregard, Oliver Carrière, Paul Fourchy, J. G. Hava, Auguste Jas, Sabin Martin, Alfred Mercier, Armand Mercier, Léona Queyrouze, and Charles Turpin. It published a magazine, Comptes-Rendus de l'Athénée Louisianais, and began an essay contest in 1878. It organized lectures by Eugène Brieux, Hughes Le Roux, Henri de Régnier, and Firmin Roz, among others. Around 1913 the group operated from headquarters in the Hibernia Bank Building on Gravier Street. As of 1929 it belonged to the Fédération de l'Alliance française.
Louisiana French is an umbrella term for the dialects and varieties of the French language spoken traditionally by French Louisianians in colonial Lower Louisiana. As of today Louisiana French is primarily used in the state of Louisiana, specifically in its southern parishes.
Eugène Chassaignac was a French-American musician, professor, composer and music critic. Eugene was a prominent member of the New Orleans community and is known for desegregating Scottish Rite Freemasonic lodges in New Orleans in 1867 for which he won a gold medal. Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi personally sent Eugene a letter of praise for his courageous act of kindness towards people of color. His son Charles Louis Chassaignac became a prominent doctor in New Orleans and worked for Charity Hospital and was a humanitarian. His daughter Marie Chassaignac married Baron Randolph Natili. Natili's parents were involved in an interracial marriage and he was a member of the prominent Creole Dimitry Family. Natili became closely associated with Italian American composer Giuseppe Ferrata because of the marriage of his first cousin's daughter Alice. Natili's relationship with his father-in-law Eugene benefited Ferrata because of Natili's knowledge and appreciation for musical composition.
Randolph Natili was a mixed-race Louisiana Creole author, politician, diplomate, special railroad agent, art collector, and socialite. He was a member of the prominent New Orleans mixed Greek Creole family known as the Dimitry Family. His father-in-law French-American composer Eugene Chassaignac desegregated Scottish Rite Freemasonic lodges in New Orleans around 1867 and Randolph's first cousin George Pandely was involved in a racial incident entitled the Pandelly Affair. Natili worked in the railroad enterprise because of his cousin superintendent Pandely. Natili was a patron of the arts and by 1900 published a book entitled Martin H. Colnaghi, Marlborough Gallery. Natili's first cousin once removed Alice married Italian American composer Giuseppe Ferrata. Natili was close friends with the Huntington family and at the time of his death is listed as receiving a salary of 25,000 a year close to one million dollars adjusted for 2024 inflation due to his close affiliation with the Huntington family.
Jean François Canonge lawyer, judge, slave owner, clerk, and politician. He was the judge who provided the deposition on the mistreatment of slaves by Delphine LaLaurie. Jean studied law with French American linguist and philosopher Peter Stephen Du Ponceau. He spoke French, Spanish, and Haitian Creole and functioned as an orator, linguist, and improviser for the Louisiana legislature as a clerk for over ten years. He translated Georgics into Haitian Creole and was a Grand Master Freemason. Records indicate Jean and his wife Amelie Mercier freed two slaves Joseph and Marcel. His son was the dramatist Louis Placide Canonge.
Louis Placide Canonge was a Creole journalist, politician, playwright, actor, librettist, and lyricist. His most celebrated play Le Comte De Carmagnola appeared in Paris for one hundred nights. He regularly contributed to New Orleans newspapers some included: L’Abeille, Louisiana Lorgnette, Le Propagateur Catholique, Le Courrier De La Louisiane, La Presse and many more. Canonge is known for participating in two infamous duels involving theater. Canonge translated Nojoque A Serious Question For A Continent into a French version entitled Nojoque Une Grave Question Pour Un Continent. The book violently features the use of the word negro and subjugates their community, it was written by Hinton Rowan Helper. Canonge uses the translation to voice his discontent with reconstruction and the status of the negro; in contrast, he wrote lyrics for Francois-Michel-Samuel Snaer a Creole of color, and a favorable eulogy for Louis Charles Roudanez a Creole of color who founded the nation's first daily Black newspaper, which was also bilingual.
