Across the United States, efforts are being made to document African American history and its contribution to the development of this country. At all levels of government and through individual research, attempts are being made to recognize and pay tribute to the role of the Black American. These efforts involve documenting the architectural, cultural, historical, scientific, and social contributions. In New Orleans, the Black American played a major role in the development of the city. For most of the 20th century, African Americans have been the majority of the population. However, little has been done to document their rich architectural and cultural contributions. This thesis involves original research on the architectural, cultural and historic significance of the properties in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of New Orleans. This research will be used to determine if this neighborhood meets the National Park Service's criteria to be recognized as a National Register District. Keywords: New Orleans, African American, and Historic

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This paper will seek to provide a detailed analysis of the creative and technical elements of the filmmaking process as they pertain to the thesis project, Notes on Forgiveness. Attention will be given to the conceptual framework of the project, specifically the genre the film seeks to work through and beyond, the theoretical aspects of the feminist gaze, and the post-modern elements that were initially incorporated into the screenwriting process. Further, details will be provided on the pre-production and production phases of the project, including creative aspects such as the cinematography, production design, sound design, and technology. A discussion of the logistical aspects, such as budget constraints, insurance concerns, and contract negotiations, will likewise be provided, as they constituted a large aspect of the production timetable. Throughout all of these discussions, analysis will be provided on the implementation of the original plot directives described in the screenwriting process.

New Orleans, Louisiana, was founded in 1718 on what is known today to be unstable land. In 1719, a flood devastated the budding city. Several other strong storms quickly followed and forced reconstruction. The French colonists who built New Orleans had no experience with Louisiana’s climate or repetitive tropical storms and flooding. Damage from disasters occurred so frequently that the difficult work of reconstruction characterized the city’s first few decades. The lack of population of the area generated the sending of criminals and other unwanted individuals from France. These ended up taking an active part in the construction and reconstruction process. This research examines the reasons for founding the city where it still stands today, early challenges confronting New Orleanians, and their adaptation to an inhospitable environment, specifically underpopulation, disasters, and inexperience. This dissertation displays for the first time colonial materials on a large scale: primary sources from various archives originally written in French and translated by the author. Despite concerns that residents would leave their city to seek safer living conditions on higher land or move back to the home country as some did, early New Orleanians displayed a resilience that can be compared to that found recently in the aftermath of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. Other settlements had a different fate and eventually disappeared whereas New Orleans always rebuilt itself after each disaster, showing an exclusive sense of its own survival. Since the location of New Orleans became obvious for commercial purposes, early disasters provided the opportunity to rebuild a new town, more adapted to the needs of the colony. Once that town was built and the other local cities proved to be ineffective as capital of the colony, New Orleans appeared as a suitable choice and therefore colonists started investing more into the future of their city.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: John Corrigan, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Religion. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Feb. 25,2004). Includes bibliographical references.

"Ownership, Engagement, and Entrepreneurship: the gens de couleur libres and the Architecture of Antebellum New Orleans, 1820-1850" examines the architectural activities of New Orleans' gens de couleur libres, or free people of color, and the historical, cultural, and economic implications of their contributions to nineteenth-century American architecture. Specifically, this dissertation explores the histories of two black Creole families engaged in the building trades and real estate in the antebellum New Orleans, emphasizing their activities as a process of building culture that created and supported ethnic and architectural identity on individual and communal levels. The years from 1820 to 1850 saw New Orleans become an important American metropolis and industrialized commercial center. Changes in architecture included the introduction of East Coast urban forms, the introduction of Federal and Greek Revival styles, and professionalization of the building trades and the role of the architect. The antebellum period provides a challenging framework in which to the view the architecture-related accomplishments of New Orleans' gens de couleur libres. They faced a paradoxical situation where the stability of New Orleans' economy and racial hierarchies could positively or negatively affect their success in building as well as owning and developing property. Still the gens de couleur libres' investments thrived as racial separation was becoming increasingly strict and enabled the gens de couleur libres to retain black and Creole control in the city. The members of the Dolliole and Soulié families were key players as builders, owners, and speculators. The gens de couleur libres contact with the built environment created a process of ownership, engagement, and entrepreneurship through which they established, maintained, and underscored their individual and community identities. This process forms the foundation for the organization of the dissertation and invites analysis of the meaning of the gens de couleur libres' influence on New Orleans' antebellum architecture on several levels: social meaning as architecture affected the welfare and relations of the community of free people of color; cultural meaning as architecture pertained to, and was derived from, the artistic and intellectual pursuits of the gens de couleur libres and transmitted from one generation to the next; and socio-economic meaning as architecture affected the production, distribution, and use of wealth for individuals and in the gens de couleur libres community at large. Approaching the study of architecture through a set of diverse lenses including social networks and real estate speculation alongside building design and construction, this dissertation interjects the legacy of the gens de couleur libres into American architectural history. / text

The following report documents the evolution of the script The Other Side of Shadow and the effects that extensive rewriting, character work, and story restructuring have had on the author. / text

<p>After the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Fall of 2005, millions of dollars of Northern philanthropic aid have poured into the Gulf Coast, as have volunteers, rebuilding professionals, and NGO workers. Subsequently, New Orleans has witnessed an explosion of NGOs and Social Enterprises, all intent on rebuilding the city and "doing good" for its residents. However, it was not simply the opening of the economic floodgates that has drawn so many outsiders to the city, it was also the threat to New Orleans' mythic exceptionalism as the so-called "Creole Capital," which has spurred so many willing foot soldiers to action. Drawing on ethnographic material gleaned from participant observation, interviews, and some archival research, this dissertation attempts to demystify the social and cultural forces shaping New Orleans' ongoing process of rebuilding and recovery. Special attention is paid to the role of the arts and of aesthetics as political tools, and forms of capital available to Black actors. Illuminating the political and economic contexts within which the work of community building takes place reveals both the possibilities and the limitations which face Black New Orleanians, embedded in this dynamic landscape. Attending to external forces as well as internal relationships, it becomes clear that Black artist-activists see institution-building as a way to 1) build upon some of the only forms of capital available to Black New Orleanians - that is, social and cultural capital; 2) organize Black communities and begin to exercise some forms of Black Power; and 3) to sustain local social movements.</p> / Dissertation