This thesis is a biography of Henry Louis Rey (1831-1894), a member of one of New Orleans' most prominent Creole of Color families. During the Civil War, Rey was a captain in both the Confederate and Union Native Guards. In postbellum years, he served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representative and in appointed city offices. Rey became heavily involved with spiritualism in the 1850s and established séance circles in New Orleans during the early 1870s. The voluminous transcripts of these séance circles have survived into the twenty-first century; however, scholarly use of these sources has been limited because most of the transcripts and all marginal annotations later written by René Grandjean are in French. The author's translations of the spirit communications through their entire run reveal insight into the spiritual and material realms negotiated by New Orleans Black Creoles as they weathered declining political and economic fortunes.

This study analyzes the development of the student protest movement at Loyola University New Orleans from1964 to 1971. It focuses on student protests against racial discrimination and the Vietnam War, student agitation for greater freedom on campus, and battles that Loyola's faculty had with the university administration. This study argues that Loyola's student protesters were acting as Catholics against situations they believed were immoral and unjust. In this sense, they were ahead of the Jesuit clergy at Loyola, who took action only after student protest on those issues. Indeed, student protest filled a void of moral leadership that the Jesuit administration at Loyola failed to provide. Moreover, in the areas of student participation in university governance, changes in curriculum and university restrictions, and student rights and freedoms, the student protesters joined with Catholic commentators who advocated for major changes at the country's Catholic universities.

With the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, the interstate system included an elevated segment of Interstate 10 constructed over Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana. The I-10 Claiborne Expressway provided access to downtown by destroying a tree-lined boulevard and contributing to the decline of an African American neighborhood. In 2005, after hurricane Katrina, several community-based plans proposed that the elevated I-10 Claiborne Expressway be removed. This thesis compares the removal proposals to the decision making processes of five case cities that have removed expressways. Necessary conditions were applied to all expressway removal cases. Currently, the I-10 Claiborne Expressway decision making process lacks defined structural integrity and safety concerns, a reduction in the value of freeways by power brokers, documented support of the business community and “selling” of idea by a public agency. These conditions were necessary to the decision to remove expressways in all case cities.

On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans, LA, causing catastrophic damage to the metropolitan area. The hurricane also exposed many of the racial, ethnic, and class-based vulnerabilities experienced by many New Orleanians. However, as is typically the case, gender was ignored in most media accounts in the aftermath of the disaster. This project examines the gendered dimensions of the disaster experience using New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina as a case study. Evidence from University of New Orleans Survey Research data indicates various gender differences from the initial response to the recovery efforts months later. Few gender differences were found regarding physical loss and displacement after the storm; however, psychological effects did often differ along gender lines, with women more likely than men to experience psychological symptoms directly after the storm, while men were likely than women to be affected approximately one year later. Interestingly, gender differences in evacuation plans and behavior varied according to whether or not a disaster had recently occurred. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, women were more likely than men to report having evacuated for Hurricane Georges, though no other variable was statistically significant. After Katrina, men were more likely than women to have an evacuation plan in place, while women were more likely than men to report a willingness to evacuate when recommended by local level officials, which they did when Hurricane Rita threatened the area. Public policy implications are discussed.

One seemingly lost aspect of working-class life in antebellum New Orleans stems from the effort of entrepreneurs to provide bathing and swimming facilities for the city's working poor. In exchange for a relatively inexpensive fee per use, working-class New Orleanians served as the customer base for “floating pools” moored along the Mississippi riverfront. Beginning in 1836, these pools represented a transitional phase between the long extant tradition of bathing and swimming for free in the river and the development of commercialized, waterfront pleasure resorts for the masses in the late 1800s. Close proximity of working class neighborhoods to the river allowed New Orleans entrepreneurs to capitalize on restrictions city official began to place on bathing in the river. The floating pools represented an early stage in the commercialization of recreation as well as public hygiene.

At the height of nuclear tension, governments at all levels took steps to both educate and protect their citizens. Plans that included mass evacuations and shelters were put forth to protect the public and prepare for the seemingly inevitable war with the Soviet Union. These efforts faced tremendous obstacles, including a persistent sense of apathy amongst the public. Many authors insist that life under the persistent threat of a nuclear holocaust had a profound effect on the American psyche. The main thesis of this paper argues that while people were undoubtedly aware of the potential danger, those greatly affected and traumatized by it were the exception, particularly in the New Orleans area. Most people recognized the danger, but opted to not let it dominate their thoughts. They were far more concerned with their own interests, including family, career and home ownership.

Louisiana's unique social and cultural history with its three-tiered racial system (rather than the biracial system that governed much of the United States) left the region and the history of its black inhabitants, outside of familiar narratives of United States black history. Marcus B. Christian, the self-trained intellectual, sought to research, and make public, the history of blacks in Louisiana. His career demonstrates the importance of training, economic status, and geographical focus in the production of African American history. Many of the stories he told, through writing and research, retrieved the largely forgotten history of Creoles of color. In fact, his own story was an extension of the black intellectual traditions of that Creole population. Even as his work revealed black Louisiana's unique culture, it also served as the foundation for Christian's own intellectual legacy, one with both material and intellectual dimensions.

This thesis serves as documentation of my efforts to explore and define my creative process as an actor in creating the role of Beatrice in William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. This includes research, character analysis, rehearsal journal and an evaluation of my performance. Much Ado About Nothing was produced by the University of New Orleans Department of Film, Theatre and Communication Arts. The play was performed in the Robert E. Nims Thrust Theatre of the Performing Arts Center at 7:30 pm on the evenings of April 23 through 25 and April 30 through May 2. There was a student matinee the morning of Friday, May 1 at 9:30 am as well as one public matinee at 2:30 pm on Sunday, May 3, 2009.

The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program was created in 2000 to incentivize commercial investment in low-income communities that have traditionally lacked access to capital. In addition to its use to foster community development, after Hurricane Katrina it was put to use as a disaster recovery resource as part of the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act. The program has successfully attracted investors, but gauging the community impact of NMTC projects is difficult to assess because of the diversity of allowable project types and their wide dispersion across the country. New Orleans affords a unique opportunity to examine how NMTCs have contributed to a specific community because of its pre-disaster economic and post-disaster recovery needs, and because 40 businesses in the city have received NMTC financing through 2008. At present, a disproportionate share of projects and dollars invested have gone to the Central Business District and other lightly flooded or unflooded areas.

Albert Baldwin Wood and his screw pumps modernized New Orleans by bringing flood-free streets and cleaner water to the city while providing the potential for growth by pumping swamp lands dry. While Wood was never part of the local Progressive movement, his work with the pumps fit with Progressive initiatives for modernization. At first, the screw pumps removed rain water from the streets. Then New Orleans expanded the drainage to include sewerage removal and water purification. The pumps successfully drained thousands of acres of land once considered uninhabitable swamp land. This additional land extended New Orleans city limits but also aided in the acceleration of residential segregation. Cities from around the world used the designs for the screw pump and consulted Wood for advice on drainage systems.