Women of NOLA

Marie Laveau, "The Voodoo Queen"
This portrait painting is now displayed in Jackson Square's Cabildo.

Women of New Orleans had greater opportunity to excel and bridge the gender gap, than other areas of the United States. This led to successful artists, authors, businesswomen, and even millionaires, early on in New Orleans history.

Marie Laveau

Marie was born a free woman, although she was born in the 1790s, a woman of color and Creole descent. She was the love child of a rich plantation owner and his mistress. Marie started as a hairdresser and then she became a nurse. She continued to study the art of healing through a voodoo doctor and worked her way up the social strata. By 1830, Marie Laveau was known as the "Voodoo Queen" and had more power and prestige than most who resided here, men and women. She was feared and respected by all. Her place of burial is someone of a controversy, as there is a cemetery and Cathedral tomb that both claim to hold her resting place.

Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo

Altar in Laveau's House of Voodoo

I snapped a photo of Marie's House of Voodoo on our Haunted History Tour, although it was more souvinery than I would have liked. I was told to check out Voodoo Authenitica for the real deal.

Female Biker Gang

Caramel Curves- New Orleans first all-female biker gang was started in the early 2000s. The gang of women realized they no longer wanted to answer to others. Their combination of power and hustling is the epitome of New Orleans women.

Anne Rice

Anne Rice, now famous author, was born and raised in New Orleans. She has a Masters degree of English and Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and a Bachelor's degree of Political Science. Anne Rice's first and possibly most known novel "Interview With a Vampire" was set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Published in 1976, this novel is one of the bestselling and most widely known novels of all time, and was even made into a big screen picture in 1994. Anne Rice has written over 30 novels, including a continuation of her first novel, now known as The Vampire Chronicles. Her most recently novel, published in 2014 was another of The Vampire Chronicles. Her success in writing is largely due to her early life in New Orleans and ability to capture the unique culture of the city.

Henriette Delille

Born in 1812, "Mother" Henriette was born a free woman of color. She had a sincere compassion for those who were enslaved and uneducated. In time, she sought out to create a movement to care for and evangelize free and enslaved people of color and those living in poverty. It became the nation's second religious order for women of color and Henriette is now considered one of the Sister's of the Holy Family, a saint.

Henriette was talked about nearing Sainthood, as the first African-American, during our tour in the Saint Louis Cathedral, and was also displayed in Ursuline's Convent.

Stained-glass window of Henriette Delille

Delille bought her freedom through earning money at Congo Square. She used her freedom to create the Ursuline Nuns and brought "Works of Mercy" to children and impoverished people.

Sculpture of Henriette Delille found in Saint Louis Cathedral

Portrait of Henriette Delille in the Ursuline Convent

Angela Gregory

This Louisiana Sculptor became famous from creating endless monuments and art forms during her life of 1903-1990. She is also known for architectural embellishments around the city of New Orleans. She was able to excel in a field that was predominately ran by men and continue to create realistic images, after abstract art became of greater desire. Find her work in Louisiana museums, as well as parks, museums and buildings in New York, Baton Rouge, Paris, and Washington D.C.

See Angela Gregory's work in person at the Historic New Orleans Collections

Margaret Haughery

Also known as "Friend of the Orphans" is a notable female from 19th Century New Orleans. An Irish widow of the antebellum, she was drawn to serving others less fortunate. Her roots started here as well, in domestic service. She began volunteering for the Sisters of Charity, later purchasing two cows to provide milk for orphanages. She donated as much as two-thirds of her earnings to the orphanage and once she earned enough she started "Margaret's Bakery" which provided bread for the needy.

Margaret was the second woman in the U.S. to have a statue erected in her honor

Frances Joseph-Gaudet

Her legacy began as she worked to reform prisons in the late 1800s. She helped New Orleans to establish their first juvenile court system and reformed conditions for patients with mental illness. A woman that started life as a seamstress, turned philanthropic to full throttle. Gaudet believed that education was at the foundation of reformation and she provided scholarships for homeless children that became incarcerated. The Episcopal Church has taken over her legacy, by continuing to provide scholarships in her name.

Madam C. J. Walker

Also known as "the First Black American Woman Self-Made Millionaire," and Sara Breedlove (her given name), CJ invented the world's first hair straightener. Her journey is an amazing tale, as she worked her way up from impoverished cotton fields in Louisiana, born to two former slaves. The hair product was an instant hit, as bathing during this time was a rare luxury and women often lost their hair as a result. She struggled through life through failed relationships and the loss of her parents at a young age. She is an inspiration to this day.

Eliza Nicholson

Eliza started as a local poet of a small Louisianan town and worked her way to become the first female publisher of a Metropolitan newspaper "The New Orleans Daily Picayune." She was born in 1843, into a wealthy family that expected her to stay home and raise a family, but this does not stop her from pursuing a career in writing. Her writing was actually so impressive that the Forest and Stream Publishing Company incorrectly presumed she was male and had to send her a letter of apology. After many attempts of submitting poetry for publishing, she accepted a position in New Orleans as a paper literary editor. She successfully transformed a "men's" paper into a family paper and simultaneously transformed the image of women in New Orleans.

Madame LaLaurie 

Madame LaLaurie is famous for her wealth and notorious for her treatment of slaves in the LaLaurie Mansion that we visited on a Haunted History Tour. It is known to be the most haunted place in New Orleans and the United States. It is said that she had a torture room devoted to experimenting and harming her slaves, and even inviting party guests to do so. Her story was even combined with the history of Marie Laveau and made into a season of American Horror Story: Coven. 

Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba

Pontalba was a powerful woman, who was married into the wealthy French family. It is legend that she had an affair with Andrew Jackson when he was in New Orleans for the Battle in 1815. When her husband found out, he shot her and then killed himself, but she survived (with a few less fingers). She built the very first apartment buildings in the United States, which still stand today and are still rented as apartments. Originally made for store owners, the first floor was for the storefront, and top three floors were for the family to reside.

Portrait painting of Baroness Pontalba

Original cast-iron railing stamped AP for Almonester Pontalba

My first picture in NOLA, coincidentally was of the Pontalba Apartments

Side view of Pontalba apartments, taken from Cafe Du Monde

Napoleonic Law

From 1800-1820, Napoleon's Code allowed men to control women, legally. Due to this law, married French women like Baroness Pontalba were asked to give up their rights to property, which women were able to own in New Orleans at this time. Pontalba refused to give up her property to her husband.

Education

A description of women's academics from Cabildo Museum

Works Cited

"Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar's Life Story - Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)." NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service), www.nps.gov/daav/learn/historyculture/aliceruthmooredunbarslifestory.htm.

"Angela Gregory | Entries | KnowLA, Encyclopedia of Louisiana." Encyclopedia of Louisiana History, Culture and Community - KnowLA, www.knowla.org/entry/1266/.

"Anne Rice: the Official Site." Welcome To Anne Rice.com!, annerice.com/NewOrleans.html.

"Black Saints: Mother Henriette Delille." National Catholic Reporter, www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/black-saints-mother-henriette-delille.

"Famous Women in Louisiana History." Tulane University, www.tulane.edu/~wc/text/pathfinders/LAwomen.html.

"The Frances Joseph Gaudet Fund." The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, www.edola.org/gaudet-fund/.

Gates, Henry L. "Madam Walker, the First Black American Woman to Be a Self-Made Millionaire | PBS." The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/100-amazing-facts/madam-walker-the-first-black-american-woman-to-be-a-self-made-millionaire/.

Luck, Adrienne. "Margaret Haughery: "Friend of the Orphans"." New Orleans Historical, www.neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/477.

Makkos, Joseph. "Eliza Jane Nicholson, The Small-Town Poet Who Became The First Woman Publisher Of The Picayune | WWNO." WWNO | Your Source for NPR News, Music & Culture, wwno.org/post/eliza-jane-nicholson-small-town-poet-who-became-first-woman-publisher-picayune.

"Meet New Orleans First All-Female Biker Gang, Caramel Curves - VICE." Vice, www.vice.com/en_au/article/caramel-curves-001.

"Secrets of the Voodoo Tomb." CSI, www.csicop.org/sb/show/secrets_of_the_voodoo_tomb.

THNOC, www.hnoc.org/.

"Where Exactly Was Margaret Haughery's Iconic New Orleans Bakery? | NOLA.com." NOLA.com, www.nola.com/living/index.ssf/2016/03/where_was_margaret_haughery_bakery_234234.html.