Fazendeville, Louisiana

Last updated
Fazendeville, Louisiana
Extinct, 1966
Chalmette National Park and Fazendeville, Louisiana, aerial view from southwest, 1963.jpg
Fazendeville and the Chalmette National Cemetery and Chalmette monument, aerial view from southwest, 1963
Nickname: 
The Village
Fazendeville Louisiana Map 1951.jpg
1951 United States Geological Survey map showing Fazendeville's geographic relationship to the Chalmette Battleground and town of Chalmette
USA Louisiana location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Fazendeville, Louisiana
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Fazendeville, Louisiana
Coordinates: 29°56′29″N89°59′29″W / 29.94139°N 89.99139°W / 29.94139; -89.99139
Country United States
State Louisiana
Parish St. Bernard
Time zone Central (CST)
 • Summer (DST)CDT
Village demolished between 1964 and 1966 to consolidate property into U.S. federal park land of Chalmette National Battlefield. Residents resettled mostly in 9th Ward of New Orleans.

Fazendeville was a small, historic, African American community in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States. Located near the Freedmen's Cemetery in the parish, this village was razed during the 1960s as part of an expansion of the Chalmette National Battlefield in the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

It was known to residents who lived there as "The Village." [5] [6] [7]

A significant percentage of the village's displaced residents resettled in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. [8]

History

As it matured, the self-contained village of Fazendeville grew to have its own general stores, a one-room schoolhouse which taught first through eighth grades, two benevolent societies, and the Battle Ground Baptist Church. The main street was Fazendeville Road, which ran from St. Bernard Highway to the River Road which formerly ran along the base of the Mississippi levee. "The houses were situated on the east side of the road. An open pasture lay behind the houses. It was used for a baseball field," according to Chapman. "A large grove of pecan trees flourished west" of a "millrace (a channel whose current is used to power a mill wheel)." [9]

Multiple structures in the village were built using a narrow, rectangular architectural style popularized after the Civil War, which was known as the shotgun house. [10] Individual rooms were placed behind each other, one after another, between a front and rear door, giving rise to the description that a bullet fired from a gun at a home's front door would be able to travel straight through to the back door without hitting anything in between. [11]

Mid-Late 1800s

In 1854, the land on which the village would be built was listed as part of the succession of Jean Pierre Fazende, a "free man of color", and was inherited by his son of the same name. At the end of the American Civil War, the younger Fazende divided what had been agricultural land into lots and sold them to recently freed slaves, which led to the start of the Black community by 1867. [12] The Battle Ground Baptist Church was subsequently established on April 16, 1868. "A one-street community of 33 lots evolved over the years," according to historian Ron Chapman, who notes that the 1888 state census documented a total of seventeen families who were residents of the community that year. [13]

Social structures within the village also began to emerge during this time. In 1881, residents of Fazendeville formed the Progressive Mutual Aid and Benevolent Association "to provide medical treatment and other kinds of relief for its members, including the cost of burial," according to The St. Bernard Voice, which reported on the sixty-first anniversary of the organization's establishment in its September 26, 1942, edition. "The organization was patterned after the St. Maurice Society, and among those who first guided its destinies were Homer Charles, Carl Cook, Chas. C. Cager, [14] [15] Sebastien Smith and Sol Calvin, who were among the original settlers of the village." [16]

On New Year's Day in 1890, Fazendeville residents commemorated President Abraham Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation with a special program involving an oration by Warren W. Beals of Michigan, speeches by the Rev. E. Nicholas, C.C. Cager, Carl Cook, and Leopold Charles, and a concert presentation by the Chalmette Brass Band. [17] According to music historian, Fazendeville had a very active concert band presence during the early 1890s with performances in the village by the Chalmette Brass Band and other ensembles covered frequently by area newspapers. [18] Nearly eight years later, on Christmas Eve in 1898, The St. Bernard Voice reported that Fazendeville civic leaders planned to hold a special entertainment event to raise public improvement funds to provide for the installation of sidewalks in the village. [19] In 1899, The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reported that Fazendeville residents were planning another special event to raise additional public improvement funding. [20]

Early 1900s

In April 1902, residents of Fazendeville approved a plan to create a new school for local children that would be operated from the basement of the village's Progressive Hall. [21] On October 12 of that same year, civic leaders hosted a festival to raise funds in support of the First Ward Colored School. According to The St. Bernard Voice, "The idea of giving a festival for the improvement of their school building originated with a number of the progressive citizens of Fazendeville, who aroused the interest and enthusiasm of their neighbors and labored earnestly to raise the necessary funds." Special events included "base ball games, greasy pig, dancing, foot race, etc.," and the crowd was "imbued with the spirit of the occasion." [22]

Roughly sixty years before Fazendeville was razed as part of the transformation of the Chalmette National Battlefield into the Chalmette National Historical Park, executives of the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (known more commonly as the "Frisco Railroad") were reported by newspapers as participating in similar efforts which would have erased the village from Louisiana's landscape. In 1903, Frisco executives engaged in negotiations to purchase large tracts of land in St. Bernard Parish "up to the Orleans Parish line" as part of their plans of "gigantic scope" to further the expansion of the company's rail lines and operations facilities across Louisiana. "The Frisco road cannot obtain title to the National Cemetery, but is after all the rest of the river front, and wants to cross the present public road practically at grade in many public places," wrote one newspaper editor. As part of this plan, Frisco executives proposed relocating Fazendeville's residents to the much smaller, neighboring village of Versailles, which was described as a "settlement consist[ing] merely of a row of very small properties along a public road running at right angles from the river to the railroad track"; however, many of Fazendeville's residents resisted and then ultimately refused the railway's financial offers. [23] [24] [25]

Among those who did sell to Frisco were "Homer Charles, proprietor of the Chalmette Grocery Store at Fazendeville, and the Charles' heirs who own[ed] property adjoining," according to New Orleans' Times-Picayune newspaper. The grocery was located "on the corner of Fazende Lane and the Levee." Per the agreement, Charles and his heirs were slated to "remain in possession until the Company [had] immediate use for the land." [26]

In 1905, "Judge A.E. Livaudais, of the firm of Livaudais & Livaudais, presented a petition signed by the property holders and residents of Fazendeville, asking the Police Jury to provide for a right of way in the rear of the village, so that would not be cut off from the rest of the world," according to local newspaper reports. A committee of three was "appointed to investigate the matter." [27]

Fazendeville's second Battle Ground Baptist Church was dedicated on Sunday, April 9, 1911. [28] [29]

On Sunday, September 28, 1919, Fazendeville church leaders hosted a Grand Celebration in the Progressive Hall to welcome home members of the village and parish who had served as soldiers and sailors during World War I. [30] [31]

1920s

During its fall 1922 report, the St. Bernard Parish School Board noted that, when the Fazendeville School was visited by school board members as part of their tour of parish schools, board members had determined that conditions in the school were "more or less unsatisfactory, but cannot be remedied under present circumstances." [32]

In January 1923, the Daughters of 1776-1815 lobbied the members of the St. Bernard Police Jury to replace the road between Fazendeville and the Chalmette Monument with a new public thoroughfare that would be maintained by the St. Bernard Parish government because the condition of the existing Southern Railroad-controlled private street had deteriorated so much that it had forced the postponement of the organization's annual commemoration of the Battle of New Orleans. [33]

Battle Ground Baptist Church and neighboring shotgun-style houses, Fazendeville, Louisiana, 1960 Battleground Baptist Church and Shotgun-style Houses, Fazendeville, Louisiana, 1960.jpg
Battle Ground Baptist Church and neighboring shotgun-style houses, Fazendeville, Louisiana, 1960

On January 9, 1927, a major fire swept through the community, destroying the old Battle Ground Church, where new pews valued at $1,000 had recently been installed, seven automobiles, and eight houses, leaving roughly sixty people homeless, according to newspaper accounts of the event which stated that "the fire spread so rapidly that they did not have time to even save their personal effects." None of the homes or their contents were insured; the total loss was estimated at $25,000. [34] [35] The cornerstone for the new Battle Ground Baptist Church was laid on Sunday, October 14, 1928. [36]

In October 1928, the St. Bernard Parish School Board reported that Fazendeville's school had begun the year with a total enrollment of 65 students. [37]

1930s

At its September 5, 1930, meeting, the Board of Commissioners of Water District No. 1, St. Bernard Parish, approved the installation of a two-inch water line "to serve consumers in Fazendeville Village, provided a reasonable number of applications for water could be procured." [38]

In 1931, local newspapers reported that "options on the properties at Fazendeville were obtained as one of the preliminaries to the establishment of a national park on the Battlefield of Chalmette," adding that, while "[s]ome of the homes have changed hands ... they are, in the main, occupied ... by descendants of the original owners." [39] [40] [41] [42]

The congregation of the Battle Ground Baptist Church celebrated the church's 65th anniversary at a special ceremony in June 1933. [43] The following year, the congregation experienced the second of two serious losses when its pastor, the Rev. John Minor, died from a stroke during his presentation of the Sunday sermon on September 30, 1924. Minor had been the immediate successor to the Rev. C.C. Cager, who had died several months earlier. [44]

During the summer of 1939, elected officials and newspapers announced the "strong probability that the Chalmette National Park" would "become an actuality before long," suggesting that the village of Fazendeville would likely be "absorbed" because U.S. Congressman Joachim O. Fernández had secured the passage of legislation authorizing the government to acquire Fazendeville and other land near the Chalmette National Battlefield. After that legislation was vetoed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, because "it was not the policy of the government to purchase land for national parks," Fernández continued to urge the Secretary of the Interior to acquire Fazendeville. [45] [46]

Laundry drying at an occupied cabin, Fazendeville, Louisiana, 1960 Cabins, One with Laundry Drying, Fazendeville, Louisiana, 1960.jpg
Laundry drying at an occupied cabin, Fazendeville, Louisiana, 1960

Among those playing a prominent role in advocating for the federal government's purchase of Fazendeville's land during this decade was the editor of The St. Bernard Voice. [47] [48] In its July 22, 1939, edition, The St. Bernard Voice observed, "The situation which the inhabitants of Fazendeville must eventually face is ... that they must bear segregation in mind—that is to say, the new village must be on a site that will meet with the approval of adjoining property holders," adding that "two sites have already been offered by A.P. Perrin and Albert Laburre, both on the wood-side of the main highway, the first in the rear of Arabi, and the latter at Versailles, but some distance away from Route 61." [49] Perrin, "a real estate man of St. Bernard," and past "president of the St. Bernard Volunteer Fire Company," according to New Orleans' Times-Democrat newspaper, had been involved in an automobile-train collision twenty-six years earlier while taking "J. Carter of the Association of Commerce, and two others ... on a trip to Fazendeville to inspect some property in that neighborhood." The newspaper also reported that Perrin had "declined to give the names of the other two occupants, who were strangers here, explaining that they had made that request, fearing that their families would be uneasy when they read of the accident." [50]

1940s

During the fall of 1944, members of Fazendeville's Silver Star and Progressive Benevolent associations secured permission from St. Bernard Parish officials to build a new road from the village to the associations' cemetery in Versailles. [51] By February 1948, thirty-six of the ninety-eight acres of land located between the Chalmette Monument and the national cemetery had been purchased as part of the land acquisition for the proposed national park expansion. The remaining sixty-two acres that had not yet been purchased included the village of Fazendeville. [52]

A second major fire damaged the village further on January 30, 1949, when a kerosene heater exploded in the rear of Noemie Williams' home. Three double houses were destroyed by the blaze, which left six families homeless and without food, clothing, and personal possessions. [53]

1950s

Fazendeville as seen from the American Rampart Line, 1958 Fazendeville Community from the American Rampart Line (George Statham, 1958).jpg
Fazendeville as seen from the American Rampart Line, 1958

During the summer of 1950, the St. Bernard Parish School Board announced that it was closing "[a]ll colored schools in the parish, except Verret," and that all of the students in those schools, including those at Fazendeville, would be "transported by bus to the new consolidated school at Violet." [54] In 1953, newspapers across America reported on a mass Mississippi River baptism held in Fazendeville on Sunday morning, June 21. Officiating at the service were the president of the Southern District Baptist Association and members of the Battle Ground Baptist Church. [55] That same decade, Mrs. Edwin X. deVerges, president of the Chalmette National Historical Park Association, lobbied members of the United States Congress to authorize "the appropriation necessary the purchase of the Fazendeville tract." [56] The Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation also played an active role in facilitating the national park's formation by donating sixty-six acres of land adjacent to the Chalmette battlefield on April 18, 1959. [57]

1960s

On February 27, 1961, U.S. Congressman F. Edward Hébert "introduced a bill in Congress to establish a commission to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans." In addition to arranging for funding to support the battle's sesquicentennial ceremonies and a twenty-three member commission to oversee the planning of those events, which were slated for December 1964 and January 1965, Hébert's bill "provide[d] for the adding of about seven acres of land to the Chalmette National Historical Park ... in St. Bernard Parish." Newspapers reporting on the proposed legislation noted that the seven acres Hébert proposed acquiring for the project were "along the Fazendeville Lane from the St. Bernard Highway toward the Mississippi River on the Chalmette or lower side as the Arabi or upper side of Fazendeville," which were owned, at that time, "by a number of individuals, principally colored families." Hébert added that he had introduced his proposed bill "at the request of Mrs. Martha Robinson, chairman of the Louisiana Historic Landmarks Council and president of the Louisiana Landmarks Society." [58]

On October 12, 1962, The St. Bernard Voice reported that U.S. President John F. Kennedy "signed into law the resolution creating a commission for the Sesquicentennial Celebration of the Battle of New Orleans and to authorize the purchase of land along Fazendeville Road for the Chalmette National Historical Park." [59] [60]

End of the community

Fazendeville, Louisiana, early 1960s Fazendeville Louisiana Early 1960s.jpg
Fazendeville, Louisiana, early 1960s

The community ended in 1964 [61] when the St. Bernard Parish Government expropriated the rights to the land for expansion of the park around the battlefield site. Allegations were made at the time (and continue to be made) that the expropriation was motivated at least as much to displace the Parish's largest concentration of Black residents as for need to expand the park. [62]

More than 50 families were forced to relocate when the National Park Service obtained the land. Fazendeville Road was closed on November 25, 1964, [63] and the demolition of Fazendeville was completed in 1966. [64]

"In the mid-1960s, the market price for a new home in St. Bernard was around $16,000," according to radio producer Eve Abrams; "residents of Fazendeville received around $6,000 per home." [65]

Many of those families relocated to the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, [66] and built a new "Battleground Baptist Church" there in 1964. That area was severely damaged in Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and even more so by the Hurricane Katrina levee failure disaster of 2005. A significant percentage of the village's displaced residents resettled in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. [67]

Present day

During the early years of the twenty-first century, cultural anthropologist and ethnomusicologist Joyce Marie Jackson, PhD, was hired by the United States National Park Service to research, document and write a cultural and historical study of the village of Fazendeville. Completed in 2003, the study included multiple oral histories recorded by Jackson with former residents and descendants of former residents of the village and resulted in the United States Department of the Interior's publication of Jackson's Life in the Village: A Cultural Memory of the Fazendeville Community. [68] [69] Jackson, who then published "Declaration of Taking Twice: The Fazendeville Community of the Lower Ninth Ward," in American Anthropologist in 2006, was subsequently awarded the James J. Parsons Endowed Professor and Chair of the department of geography and anthropology at Louisiana State University. [70] [71] In 2021, Jackson was recognized by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities for her Fazendeville research and writing and her enhancement of the understanding of African American culture and music, sacred and secular rituals in Africa and the diaspora with the endowment's Lifetime Contributions to the Humanities award. [72]

In the spring of 2020, park rangers and members of the Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative noticed that Louisiana iris and African lilies were blooming on the battlefield. After further investigation, they determined that those particular flowers could not have been growing wild because they were not native to the area, and theorized that the flowers might have been brought from Africa by enslaved people and planted there when Fazendville was still an active and thriving community. [73] [74]

In 2020 and 2021, assistant professor John Seefeldt and a team of researchers from Loyola University New Orleans worked with personnel from the National Park Service to analyze archival photographs and maps of Fazendeville and use a 3d printer to construct a model of the village. [75] Their plan was to create an interactive exhibit at the Chalmette National Battlefield to include interviews with descendants of the village's former residents and a virtual reality program. [76]

State of Louisiana's historical marker commemorating the former village of Fazendeville (Chalmette National Battlefield entrance, St. Bernard Highway) Fazendeville, Louisiana (front of State of Louisiana historical marker, Chalmette National Battlefield entrance, St. Bernard Highway).jpg
State of Louisiana's historical marker commemorating the former village of Fazendeville (Chalmette National Battlefield entrance, St. Bernard Highway)

On April 19, 2021, former residents of Fazendeville and descendants of original residents of the village participated in dedication ceremonies for a new state historical marker on St. Bernard Highway at the entrance of the Chalmette Battlefield. Funds for the marker were provided by the St. Bernard Tourist Commission and the St. Bernard Parish Office of Tourism and Film. [77] The event was hosted by Bishop Henry Ballard, Jr. of Christian Fellowship Family Worship; Elois Brooks of the Battle Ground Baptist Church delivered the invocation. Additional presenters included St. Bernard Parish historian William Hyland and U.S. Congressman Ray Garofalo. [78]

In a Spring 2022 article in St. Bernard Magazine, a representative of the U.S. National Park Service noted that visitors to the former village will likely notice that "only a slight depression is visible in the battlefield where the street that ran through Fazendeville was laid." [79]

In October 2022, WLAE-TV aired a documentary about the village, "Battlegrounds: The Lost Community of Fazendeville." [80] As part of its educational outreach for the program, the public television presented a special screening of the documentary at the St. Bernard Docville Farm in Violet on October 30. The event was supported by the Mereux Foundation. [81]

From December 9, 2022, to January 29, 2023, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art presented "Black Alchemy: Remembering Fazendeville," an exhibit of photographs of the village and its former residents, which was created by Arkansas-based photographer-educator Aaron Turner in collaboration with Richard McCabe, Ogden's curator of photography. [82] The exhibit was supported by the Darryl Chappell Foundation. [83]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana</span> Parish in Louisiana, United States

St. Bernard Parish is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat and largest community is Chalmette. The parish was formed in 1807. St. Bernard Parish is part of the New Orleans–Metairie metropolitan statistical area; the parish is located southeast of the city of New Orleans and comprises the Chandeleur Islands and Chandeleur Sound in the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Parish, Louisiana</span> Parish in Louisiana, United States

Jefferson Parish is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 440,781. Its parish seat is Gretna, its largest community is Metairie, and its largest incorporated city is Kenner. Jefferson Parish is included in the Greater New Orleans area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arabi, Louisiana</span> Census-designated place in Louisiana, United States

Arabi is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, between the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans and Chalmette within the Greater New Orleans metropolitan area. The population was 4,533 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chalmette, Louisiana</span> Census-designated place in Louisiana, United States

Chalmette is a census-designated place (CDP) in, and the parish seat of, St. Bernard Parish in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The 2010 census reported that Chalmette had 16,751 people; 2011 population was listed as 17,119; however, the pre-Katrina population was 32,069 at the 2000 census. At the 2020 U.S. census, its population rebounded to 21,562. Chalmette is part of the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner metropolitan statistical area. Chalmette is located east of downtown New Orleans and south of Arabi, towards Lake Borgne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Orleans metropolitan area</span> Metropolitan area

The New Orleans metropolitan area, designated the New Orleans–Metairie metropolitan statistical area by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, or simply Greater New Orleans, is a metropolitan statistical area designated by the United States Census Bureau encompassing seven Louisiana parishes—the equivalent of counties in other U.S. states—centered on the city of New Orleans. The population of Greater New Orleans was 1,271,845 in 2020, up from 1,189,166 at the 2010 United States census. Greater New Orleans is the most populous metropolitan area in Louisiana, and the 45th most populous in the United States. According to 2017 census estimates, the broader New Orleans–Metairie–Slidell combined statistical area (CSA) had a population of 1,510,562.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve</span> Protected area in Southern Louisiana

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve protects the natural and cultural resources of Louisiana's Mississippi River Delta region. It is named after French pirate Jean Lafitte and consists of six separate sites and a park headquarters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Malo, Louisiana</span> Ghost town in Louisiana, United States

Saint Malo was a small fishing village that existed along the shore of Lake Borgne in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana as early as the mid-eighteenth century until it was destroyed by the 1915 New Orleans hurricane. Located along Bayou Saint Malo, about 6 miles (9.7 km) east of the Isleño fishing village of Shell Beach, it was the first permanent settlement of Filipinos and perhaps the first Asian-American settlement in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WLAE-TV</span> Educational independent TV station in New Orleans

WLAE-TV is an educational independent television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The station is owned by the Educational Broadcasting Foundation, a partnership between the Willwoods Community and the Louisiana Educational Television Authority. WLAE's studios are located on Howard Avenue in New Orleans, and its transmitter is located on Paris Road/Highway 47.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chalmette National Cemetery</span> Historic veterans cemetery in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana

Chalmette National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located within Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Chalmette, Louisiana. The cemetery is a 17.5-acre (7.1 ha) graveyard adjacent to the site that was once the battleground of the Battle of New Orleans, which took place at the end of the War of 1812. Despite its proximity to the site of the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, the majority of the interments are of soldiers who were casualties or veterans of the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War. The cemetery was subsequently closed to new interments.

Versailles is an unincorporated community in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is located along the East Bank of the Mississippi River, approximately 3.5 miles below the lower limit of New Orleans. The community, for governmental and postal address purposes, is considered part of Chalmette and by some designations, part of neighboring Meraux. As a place designation, the name "Versailles" continues in local use.

The St. Bernard Unified School was the K-12 public school in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States, for the 2005-2006 school year after Hurricane Katrina hit the Parish directly on August 29, 2005. The school opened in mid-November 2005, less than three months after the devastating floods hit the parish, becoming the first school to open in the flood zone. The school was disbanded after spring 2006. The school was operated by St. Bernard Parish Public Schools.

St. Bernard Parish Public Schools is a school district headquartered in unincorporated St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States. The district operates public schools in the parish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Highway 47</span> Highway in Louisiana

Louisiana Highway 47 (LA 47) is a state highway located in southeastern Louisiana. It runs 15.91 miles (25.60 km) in a general southeast to northwest direction from the Mississippi River levee in Chalmette to the intersection of Hayne Boulevard and Downman Road in New Orleans.

Camp Hope is a volunteer base camp located in a former school in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Camp Hope has welcomed people from all over the United States and all over the world who have come to participate in the massive recovery efforts of St. Bernard Parish and New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chalmette High School</span> Public, co-educational school in Chalmette, Louisiana, United States

Chalmette High School is a public secondary school in the unincorporated Chalmette area of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is a part of St. Bernard Parish Public Schools.

The Community Center of St Bernard (CCSTB) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Arabi, Louisiana, in St Bernard Parish near New Orleans. The Community Center was founded in 2006 to serve local residents after the overwhelming devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. The center was closed briefly during Hurricane Gustav, but was able to reopen almost immediately after the storm. The purpose of the Community Center is to assist local residents in their return to their homes, and to help normalize life.

The Malus-Beauregard House, previously known as the Rene Beauregard house, is a home built in 1832-1833 and significantly altered in 1850's to a Greek Revival style overlooking the Battle of New Orleans battlefield. Located in St. Bernard Parish about 6 miles east of the City of New Orleans and adjoining the field of Chalmette where the Battle of New Orleans was fought in 1815. The house is named after its first and last owners and served as a country residence for several wealthy families during the 19th century. Its latest use was the Visitor's Center for the Chalmette Battlefield but has been closed since Hurricane Katrina due to its poor condition. It is not considered of historical importance due to it being located on the famous battlefield but unrelated and built after the event. No restoration efforts are planned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodriguez Canal</span>

Rodriguez Canal was a ditch that cut across the battlefield during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Andrew Jackson arranged his defensive line behind it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freedmen's Cemetery (Louisiana)</span> African-American cemetery in Louisiana

The Freedmen's Cemetery was a cemetery in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, where formerly enslaved men, women and children were buried following the end of the American Civil War. Established in 1867 as a four-acre civilian cemetery by the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, also known as the Freedmen's Bureau, it was located near the historic African American community of Fazendeville, Louisiana and adjacent to Monument Cemetery, where the U.S. government had begun burying deceased Union soldiers in 1864, many of whom had been involved in the Red River campaign.

Joyce Marie Jackson is the James J. Parsons Endowed Professor and chair of the department of geography and anthropology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A cultural anthropologist, ethnomusicologist and folklorist, she was also the director of the university's African and African American studies program from 2010 to 2016.

References

  1. ↑ Pena, Allison, H. Fazendeville - Highlighting Invisible Pasts and Dignifying Present Identities, National Park Service, 2000. Available as PDV via
  2. ↑ Chapman, Ron. "Fazendeville." New Orleans, Louisiana: New Orleans Magazine, Renaissance Publications, December 28, 2004.
  3. ↑ Fender, Jessica. "'People want to get in their car right now and just drive': TV series tours St. Bernard Parish." New Orleans, Louisiana: Nola.com, October 5, 2020.
  4. ↑ Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve: Chalmette Unit: Cultural Landscape Report , pp. 1-5, 24, 30-31, 33, 37-40, Illustration 2.3, 43, 46-47, Illustration 2.4, 53-54, 68, Illustration 2.6, 71-74, 78-81, Illustration 2.7, 86-88, 91, 102, 107, 118-119, 126-127, Illustrations 3.1, 3.3 and 3.4, 152, 163-183, 193, 199-200, 203-209, 216-218, Illustration 4.1, 227, 230-231, 235, 239-240, 243-248, and Illustration 5.1. Atlanta, Georgia: Cultural Resources, Partnerships and Science Directorate, Southeast Regional Office, National Park Service, May 2022.
  5. ↑ Abrams, Eve. "The Defeat of Fazendeville," in 64 Parishes. New Orleans, Louisiana: Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, retrieved online October 10, 2022.
  6. ↑ Jackson, Joyce Marie. "Life in the Village: A Cultural Memory of the Fazendeville Community." Washington DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Historical Park, 2003.
  7. ↑ Abrams, Eve. "Fazendeville, the town razed to make way for the Chalmette National Monument," in "All Things New Orleans." New Orleans, Louisiana: WWNO 88.9 FM, January 8, 2015.
  8. ↑ Jackson, Joyce Marie. "Declaration of Taking Twice: The Fazendeville Community of the Lower Ninth Ward," in American Anthropologist, Vol. 108, No. 4, pp. 765-780. Arlington, Virginia: American Anthropological Association, December 2006.
  9. ↑ Chapman, Fazendeville.
  10. ↑ "Fazendeville, Louisiana," in "Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve." Clemson, South Carolina: Open Parks Network, Clemson University, retrieved online October 12, 2022.
  11. ↑ Campanella, Richard. "Shotgun geography: the history behind the famous New Orleans elongated house." New Orleans, Louisiana: NOLA.com, February 12, 2014.
  12. ↑ O'Connell, Kim. "Swamp Fever At Jean Lafitte National Historical Park And Preserve." Park City, Utah: National Parks Traveler, December 20, 2019.
  13. ↑ Chapman, Fazendeville.
  14. ↑ "Charles Cager, Oldest Inhabitant of Fazendeville, Is Badly Injured." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, August 9, 1930, front page (subscription required).
  15. ↑ "C.C. Cager Passes On." Arabi, Louisiana: "The St. Bernard Voice, February 4, 1933, front page (subscription required).
  16. ↑ "Progressive Association Is Sixty-one Years Old: Founded at Fazendeville It Accomplished Much in the Field of Charity." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, September 26, 1942, front page (subscription required).
  17. ↑ "News Items in The Voice 25 Years Ago." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, January 16, 1915, p. 5 (subscription required).
  18. ↑ Koenig, Karl. Music in the Parishes Surrounding New Orleans: Plaquemines," pp. 60-61. Lafayette, Louisiana: Basinstreet.com, September, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Want Side-Walks: Residents of Fazendeville After Improvements." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, December 24, 1898, p. 3 (subscription required).
  20. ↑ "In St. Bernard." New Orleans, Louisiana: The Times-Picayune, January 26, 1899, p. 13 (subscription required).
  21. ↑ "In St. Bernard." New Orleans, Louisiana: The Times-Dispatch, April 29, 1902, p. 9 (subscription required).
  22. ↑ "Successful Festival, For the Benefit of the First Ward Colored School." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, October 18, 1902, p. 3 (subscription required).
  23. ↑ "St. Bernard Progress: Gigantic Scope of the Plans of the Frisco: Buying Upland Up to the Orleans Parish Line." New Orleans, Louisiana: The Times-Democrat, July 16, 1903, p. 7 (subscription required).
  24. ↑ "Expropriation Suits Will Be Filed Against Fazendeville Property Holders Who, the Frisco Claims, Are Asking Too Much." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, August 29, 1903, p. 3 (subscription required).
  25. ↑ "Expropriation Suits Will Be Fought By the Colored Property Owners." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, September 5, 1903, p. 3 (subscription required).
  26. ↑ Jackson, Charles D. "Homer Charles Built Distinguished Legacy." Chalmette, Louisiana: St. Bernard Magazine, Spring 2022, p. 7.
  27. ↑ "Items in The Voice 25 Years Ago." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, March 22, 1930, p. 3 (subscription required).
  28. ↑ "Latest Happenings in St. Bernard Parish." New Orleans, Louisiana: The Times-Democrat, April 11, 1911, p. 15 (subscription required).
  29. ↑ "Items in The Voice 25 Years Ago." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, April 11, 1936, p. 4 (subscription required).
  30. ↑ "To Our Colored Soldier and Sailor Boys" (Grand Celebration announcement). Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, September 20, 1919, p. 4 (subscription required).
  31. ↑ "Colored Service Men To Be Guests Sunday." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, September 27, 1919, p. 5 (subscription required).
  32. ↑ "Colored Schools," in "Official Proceedings: St. Bernard Parish School Board." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, November 4, 1922, p. 5 (subscription required).
  33. ↑ "Celebration at Chalmette Monument Abandoned By Daughters: Condition of Road Along Levee Said to Be Responsible for Decision." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, January 20, 1923, p. 4 (subscription required).
  34. ↑ "Fire at Fazendeville Destroys 8 Houses, Church and Contents." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, January 15, 1927, front page (subscription required).
  35. ↑ "Helping Fazendeville Sufferers." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, March 12, 1927, p. 2 (subscription required).
  36. ↑ "Parish Happenings Told in Brief." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, October 20, 1928, p. 4 (subscription required).
  37. ↑ "Official Proceedings of the School Board: October 6, 1928." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, January 12, 1929, p. 4 (subscription required).
  38. ↑ "Official Proceedings of the Water Board." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, December 13, 1930, front page (subscription required).
  39. ↑ "National Park on Chalmette Battlefield: Survey Is Ordered By Government: Southern Railway Is Largest Landowner: Village of Fazendeville Will Be Absorbed By the Improvement." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, January 10, 1931, front page (subscription required).
  40. ↑ "Fazendeville Home-Owners Ask Fair Prices: 38 Options Readily Granted By Them." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, November 21, 1931, pp. 1-2 (subscription required).
  41. ↑ "St. Bernard Improvement Ass'n. Again Scores: Colonel Landers Pleased with Options: Will Support Report Soon: Indications Are Good for National Park." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, November 28, 1931, front page (subscription required).
  42. ↑ "Chalmette Nat'l Park To Cost $541,000: Area Is Curtailed For Present Time: Fazendeville Included And Action By Congress Awaited." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, December 26, 1931, front page (subscription required).
  43. ↑ "65th Anniversary of the Battle Ground Baptist Church Observed." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, June 24, 1933, front page (subscription required).
  44. ↑ "John Minor, Colored Preacher, Dies Suddenly in Church Sunday." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, October 6, 1934, front page (subscription required).
  45. ↑ "Fazendeville to Be Absorbed by Nat'l Park: Memorial Seems to Be Certainty: Colored Home Owners Entitled to Fair Prices." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, June 17, 1939, front page (subscription required).
  46. ↑ "LA. Parks Commission Is Ready To Buy Lands: Chairman of Body Writes to Property Owners Regarding Prices for Their Homes." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, June 24, 1939, front page (subscription required).
  47. ↑ "Pass the Park Bill." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, June 25, 1938, p. 4 (subscription required).
  48. ↑ "Buying Land For Park." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, June 24, 1939, p. 2 (subscription required).
  49. ↑ "Site for New Negro Village Is Being Sought: Chalmette National Park to Absorb Burg: Two Locations Are Under Consideration by Leaders." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, July 22, 1939, front page (subscription required).
  50. ↑ "Auto Accident in St. Bernard: Terminal Train Collides with Machine and Four Occupants Slightly Hurt." New Orleans, Louisiana: The Times-Democrat, November 19, 1913, p. 15 (subscription required).
  51. ↑ "Road to Cemetery." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, October 14, 1944, front page (subscription required).
  52. ↑ "Ground to Be Acquired for Chalmette National Park from Southern Railway." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, February 14, 1948, front page (subscription required).
  53. ↑ "Three Double Houses Are Destroyed By Fire At Fazendeville Sunday Morning." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, February 5, 1949, front page (subscription required).
  54. ↑ "School Board Meets and Teachers Are Appointed." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, July 15, 1950, front page (subscription required).
  55. ↑ "River Baptism at Fazendeville." Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh Courier, June 13, 1953, p. 12 (subscription required).
  56. ↑ "Wants Fazendeville." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, April 24, 1959, front page (subscription required).
  57. ↑ "Kaiser Donates 66 Acres to Chalmette National Park." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, April 17, 1959, front page (subscription required).
  58. ↑ "Hebert Introduces Bill to Appoint Commission for 150th Celebration Of the Battle of New Orleans: Would Also Acquire Balance of Land on Fazendville [sic] Road for Chalmette National Park." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, March 3, 1961, front page (subscription required).
  59. ↑ "$165,000 To Purchase Fazendeville Property." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, May 25, 1962, front page (subscription required).
  60. ↑ "Kennedy Signs Chalmette Bill." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, October 12, 1962, front page (subscription required).
  61. ↑ Fazendeville in "Acorns." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, August 14, 1964, p. 3 (subscription required).
  62. ↑ "WLAE Documentary 'Battlegrounds: The Lost Community of Fazendeville' Premieres Sunday, October 30." New Orleans, Louisiana: New Orleans Magazine, Renaissance Publications, October 4, 2022.
  63. ↑ "Fazendeville Road Closed Effective November 25, 1964." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, November 27, 1964, front page (subscription required).
  64. ↑ McConnaughey, Janet. "Louisiana iris, African lilies may mark Black community razed in Chalmette Battlefield expansion." New Orleans, Louisiana: The Associated Press, April 2, 2022.
  65. ↑ Abrams, "The Defeat of Fazendeville."
  66. ↑ "Fazendeville," in "Acorns." Arabi, Louisiana: The St. Bernard Voice, September 4, 1964, front page (subscription required).
  67. ↑ Jackson, "Declaration of Taking Twice: The Fazendeville Community of the Lower Ninth Ward," in American Anthropologist, Vol. 108, No. 4, pp. 765-780.
  68. ↑ "Places—Fazendeville," in "Jean Lafitte." Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Park Service, retrieved online January 9, 2023.
  69. ↑ Jackson, Life in the Village: A Cultural Memory of the Fazendeville Community, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Historical Park, 2003.
  70. ↑ Jackson, "Declaration of Taking Twice: The Fazendeville Community of the Lower Ninth Ward," in American Anthropologist, Vol. 108, No. 4, pp. 765-780, December 2006.
  71. ↑ "Joyce Marie Jackson: Chair, Professor" (biography). Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University, retrieved online January 9, 2023.
  72. ↑ "Joyce Marie Jackson Honored by Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities." Bloomington, Indiana: American Folklore Society, December 14, 2021.
  73. ↑ "Irises found on a national park battlefield in Louisiana may mark razed homes in historic Black community 'Fazendeville,' founded by a New Orleans-area grocer." Louisiana: Associated Press, April 2, 2022.
  74. ↑ "Louisiana Irises found on Chalmette Battlefield are likely remnants of an historic Black community." Minden, Louisiana: Minden Press Herald, March 28, 2022.
  75. ↑ "Faculty Member John Seefeldt completes Fazendeville project with the National Parks Service [sic]." New Orleans, Louisiana: Loyola University New Orleans, retrieved online January 9, 2023.
  76. ↑ Leach, Christopher. "The Story of Fazendeville: An African American Town in the Middle of a Battlefield." New Orleans, Louisiana: WGNO-TV, April 20, 2021.
  77. ↑ "Fazendeville Historical Marker Dedicated." Chalmette, Louisiana: St. Bernard Magazine, Spring 2022, p. 17.
  78. ↑ "Fazendeville marker dedication 4/19/21" (video of dedication ceremonies). Chalmette, Louisiana: St. Bernard Parish Television, April 19, 2021.
  79. ↑ "Choice to Preserve One History, Sacrificed Another." Chalmette, Louisiana: St. Bernard Magazine, Spring 2022, p. 8.
  80. ↑ Pope, John. "Lost Black settlement on the Chalmette Battlefield is the topic of documentary." New Orleans, Louisiana: Nola.com, October 21, 2022.
  81. ↑ Rooney, Meghan. "WLAE-TV Debuts Groundbreaking Documentary Battlegrounds: The Lost Community of Fazendeville (Presented by the Mereaux Foundation)," in "Snapshots." New Orleans, Louisiana: New Orleans Magazine, December 30, 2022.
  82. ↑ "Black Alchemy: Remembering Fazendeville." New Orleans, Louisiana: Ogden Museum of Southern Art, December 9, 2022 to January 29, 2023 (retrieved online January 8, 2023).
  83. ↑ Songy, Marielle. "Black Alchemy: Remembering Fazendeville." New Orleans, Louisiana: Big Easy Magazine, November 16, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.