Howard Philips Smith (1956) is an American writer, novelist, and photographer, known primarily for his historical works, which focus on expanding the scope of gay history, especially in New Orleans. His books include ''Unveiling the Muse: The Lost History of Gay Carnival in New Orleans'' and ''A Sojourn in Paradise: Jack Robinson in 1950s New Orleans''.
Education
Smith grew up in
Oloh, Mississippi
Oloh is an unincorporated community located in Lamar County, Mississippi, United States. Oloh is approximately west of West Hattiesburg near U.S. Route 98 and a part of the Hattiesburg, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area.
In 1907, Oloh ...
, a small rural community near
Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County (where it is the county seat and largest city) and extending west into Lamar County. The city population was 45,989 at the 2010 census, with the populat ...
. He attended the
University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...
, graduating ''cum laude'' with majors in history and French. A Fulbright Scholarship (1977) brought him to France for study, where he attended the Université de Bourgogne, Dijon.
After teaching English in Bordeaux, Smith was drawn back to
where he spent almost a decade during the 1980s. Here he collected notes for a novel and seriously pursued photography. In 1986, he moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
where his photography gained some notoriety and by 1995 he was included in the exhibition P.L.A.N.: Photography Los Angeles Now, curated by Robert Sobiezek and Tim Wride at the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
.
Career
In 2000 Smith began work on the first history of the gay carnival
krewes
A krewe (pronounced "crew") is a social organization that puts on a parade or ball for the Carnival season. The term is best known for its association with Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, but is also used in other Carnival celebrations ...
of New Orleans, an important part of the celebration seldom included in the traditional narrative of the city’s carnival history. ''Unveiling the Muse: The Lost History of Gay Carnival in New Orleans'' was published in 2017 by the
University Press of Mississippi
The University Press of Mississippi, founded in 1970, is a publisher that is sponsored by the eight state universities in Mississippi.
Universities
* Alcorn State University
*Delta State University
*Jackson State University
*Mississippi State U ...
and explores the origins of gay carnival and how the gay krewes were formed amid the repressive 1950s. In 2020 ''A Sojourn in Paradise: Jack Robinson in 1950s New Orleans'' was published, a look at the work of photographer Jack Robinson when he lived in the city. These photographs reveal much about this time, especially the emerging gay community and the unique art scene. Smith has published one work of fiction entitled ''The Cult of the Mask; Or, the Strange and Delectable Tale of Life Among the Sybarites'', which explores the subterranean gay community of New Orleans during the early 1980s. In addition, he has also compiled the first history of the Southern Decadence festival, an annual gay and lesbian celebration at the end of August, begun in 1972 as a friendly get-together in the Treme neighborhood. In 2021, associate professor Robert Azzarello of Southern University of New Orleans contextualized the first gay historical publications of the city in a review essay in the ''Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association'' and cited two of Smith's works as important contributions.
Azzarello, Robert. ''Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association'', vol. 62, no. 1, 2021, pp. 87–94.
Retrieved May 2, 2021.
Publications
* ''A History of Empty Places'' (2011)
* ''Unveiling the Muse: The Lost History of Gay Carnival in New Orleans'' (2017) , Foreword by Henri Schindler
* ''Southern Decadence in New Orleans'' (2018) , With Frank Perez - Foreword by Robert Laurent
* ''The Cult of the Mask; Or, The Strange and Delectable Tale of Life Among the Sybarites'' (2019)
* ''A Sojourn in Paradise: Jack Robinson in 1950s New Orleans'' (2020) , Foreword by Emily Oppenheimer
* ''Louisiana Lens: Photographs from The Historic New Orleans Collection'' by John H. Lawrence (2023) , Featuring photography by H. P. Smith
References
External links
Howard Philips Smith - Author Website
Podcast , The Reading Life: Howard Philips Smith - ''A Sojourn in Paradise'' , Susan Larson New Orleans Public Radio - February 5, 2021
Podcast , QUEER SOUTHS: Memory, Change, Love, and Marriage - June 2020
Podcast , The Reading Life: Howard Philips Smith - ''Unveiling the Muse'' , Susan Larson New Orleans Public Radio - February 12, 2018
Podcast , ''Unveiling the Muse'' and Carnival in New Orleans , Isabel Machado New Books Network - July 30, 2019
Podcast , ''Southern Decadence in New Orleans'' , Isabel Machado New Books Network - June 11, 2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Philips Smith, Howard
1956 births
Living people
University of Southern Mississippi alumni
People from Lamar County, Mississippi