St. Landry Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 82,540. The parish seat is Opelousas. The parish was established in 1807.
Evangeline Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,350. The parish seat is Ville Platte.
Opelousas is a small city and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 were constructed with a junction here. According to the 2020 census, Opelousas has a population of 15,786, a 6.53 percent decline since the 2010 census, which had recorded a population of 16,634. Opelousas is the principal city for the Opelousas-Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 80,808 in 2020. Opelousas is also the fourth largest city in the Lafayette-Acadiana Combined Statistical Area, which has a population of 537,947.
Washington is a village in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 742 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Opelousas–Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area. Washington was the largest inland port between New Orleans and St. Louis for much of the 19th century.
The St. Charles Parish Public School System is a public school district headquartered in Luling, Louisiana. It serves all of St. Charles Parish.
Beau Chêne High School is a public secondary school located in southeastern St. Landry Parish between the communities of Grand Coteau and Arnaudville in the state of Louisiana, United States. The school was founded in 1991 when Sunset, Leonville, and Arnaudville High Schools were consolidated to form one centralized high school. The school serves the communities of Arnaudville, Cankton, Grand Coteau, Leonville, and Sunset. It is located at 7076 Highway 93, Arnaudville, Louisiana. Beau Chene High School has been cited for demonstrating inclusion among all their students.
Opelousas Catholic School is a private, Catholic school in Opelousas, Louisiana. Located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette, the school offers education from pre-kindergarten 3/4 through 12th grade.
The St. Landry Parish School Board is located in Opelousas, Louisiana. The St. Landry Parish School District is rated a C district. Mr. Milton Batiste, III is the superintendent of the St. Landry Parish School System.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.
Magnet Academy for Cultural Arts (MACA) is a public magnet high school, with focus on cultural arts, located at 1100 E. Leo Street in Opelousas, Louisiana, United States.
The Opelousas massacre, which began on September 28, 1868, was one of the bloodiest massacres of the Reconstruction era in the United States. In the aftermath of the ratification of Louisiana's Constitution of 1868 and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, tensions between white Democrats and Black Republicans in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana escalated throughout the summer of 1868. On September 28, white schoolteacher and Republican newspaper editor Emerson Bentley was attacked and beaten by three, Democratic white supremacists while teaching a classroom of Black children in Opelousas, Louisiana. Rumors of Bentley's death, while unfounded, led both Black Republicans and white supremacist Democrats, including the St. Landry Parish chapter of the Knights of the White Camelia, to threaten violent retribution. In the days following Bentley's subsequent covert flight to New Orleans, the massacre began. Heavily outnumbered, Black citizens were chased, captured, shot, murdered, and lynched during the following weeks. While estimates of casualties vary widely, several sources number the deaths between 150 and 300 black people and several dozen whites. Following the massacre, the Republican Party in St. Landry Parish was eliminated for several years.
The Opelousas Historic District, in the city of Opelousas in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana is a historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The area is roughly bounded by Bellevue Street, Court Street, Landry Street, and Market Street. It contains 18 contributing buildings in a 2 acres (0.81 ha) area.
The Rural African American Museum is a museum in Opelousas that focuses on the history of African Americans living in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States, from the American Civil War to the present. It was inaugurated in late 2018 and is free to tour, although its operations rely primarily on donations. The museum's creator and president is Wilken Jones, a retired social studies school teacher who grew up in the nearby town of Plaisance. The permanent exposition showcases books, objects and press clippings that pertain to the economic, religious and political history of the region. The items on display include antique bedroom furniture, kitchen utensils and farm tools, among other things. The exposition illustrates the conditions of life of many Black sharecroppers in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Merline Pitre is an American historian and educator. She is a professor of history at Texas Southern University and previously served as president of the Texas State Historical Association in 2011 and 2012.
Kinder High School is a senior high school in Kinder, Louisiana. It is a part of Allen Parish Public Schools.
Opelousas Senior High School is a public secondary school located in Opelousas, Louisiana. The school serves 840 students in grades 9 to 12 in the St. Landry Parish School district.
Holy Ghost High School (1874–1971) was a private, segregated, Catholic secondary school for African American students in Opelousas, Louisiana, United States. It was the first Catholic parochial school for Black students in the parish. It also was named St. Joseph’s Academy for Colored, St. Joseph Convent, St. Joseph School, Holy Ghost School, and Holy Ghost Training School.
Grimble Bell School (1830s–1860), was a segregated private school in Washington, Louisiana, United States, for African American students. It was the earliest African American school in the St. Landry Parish, founded in the 1830s, and shut down in 1860 by White vigilantes.
Opelousas Colored School (1919–1953) was a public segregated school for African American students in Opelousas, Louisiana, United States. It was the first public school for Black students in the city. It was known as St. Landry Parish Training School by 1942, and was succeeded by J.S. Clark High School from 1953 to 1970.
