The New Orleans African American Museum in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, is located in the historic

Tremé Tremé ( ) is a neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana. "Tremé" is often rendered as Treme, and the neighborhood is sometimes called by its more formal French name, Faubourg Tremé; it is listed in the New Orleans City Planning Districts as Trem ...

neighborhood, the oldest-surviving

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

community in the United States. The NOAAM of Art, Culture and History seeks to educate and to preserve, interpret, and promote the contributions that

people of African descent The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...

have made to the development of New Orleans and Louisiana culture, as

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and as free people of color throughout the history of

American slavery The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Slave ...

as well as during

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchis ...

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

, and contemporary times. The NOAAM property encompasses seven historical structures located on the site of a former

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

. The main large building, built of brick in 1828–1829, is the Meilleur-Goldthwaite House, the finest remaining Creole ''"maison de maître"'' or master's house in the city. It is a raised center-hall cottage with large dormer windows. Its outbuildings, original interior, and much of the large lot on which it was built have been preserved as part of the site. In September 1991, the Villa Meilleur was purchased by the City of New Orleans. This

historic landmark A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

was restored under the administration of Mayor Marc H. Morial, the Mayor's Division of Housing & Neighborhood Development, New Orleans Affordable Home Ownership, and the

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Urb ...

. It has become the cornerstone of redevelopment in Tremé. Permanent and temporary exhibits spotlight contemporary artists in the main house and in the former slave quarters. Having suffered substantial roof and water damage during

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

in 2005, the museum was restored and reopened in February 2008. Additional improvements to the remaining structures started under the leadership of former Executive Director Jonn Hankins.

Collection and exhibits

One of the museum's centerpieces is the "Louisiana-Congo: the Bertrand Donation," a collection of

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

beadwork Beadwork is the art or craft of attaching beads to one another by stringing them onto a thread or thin wire with a sewing or beading needle or sewing them to cloth. Beads are produced in a diverse range of materials, shapes, and sizes, and vary b ...

costumes Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people. The term also was tradition ...

masks A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practi ...

textiles Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

and

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

s. The 70-piece assortment of original African artwork is from the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. It illuminates the parallels between everyday life in the Congo and Louisiana

folk culture Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...

. Other exhibits change regularly and highlight a range of works from traditional African art, to black influences and culture in modern life in New Orleans. In 2008, the NOAAM participated in

Prospect New Orleans Prospect New Orleans is a multi-venue contemporary art event in New Orleans. "Prospect.1 New Orleans" ran from November 2008 to January 2009. Conceived in the tradition of the international biennials, such as the Venice Biennale, São Paulo Bienn ...

, the largest biennial of international

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

ever organized in the United States and the first to be held in New Orleans. It was curated by

Dan Cameron Dan Cameron (born February 12, 1956 in Utica, New York) is an American contemporary art curator. He has served as senior curator for Next Wave Visual Art at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), an annual exhibition of emerging Brooklyn-based artists ...

, with exhibits by internationally celebrated artists McCallum + Tarry (Bradley McCallum and Jacqueline Tarry),

William Kentridge William Kentridge (born 28 April 1955) is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films, especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s. The latter are constructed by ...

, and

Rico Gatson Rico Gatson is a multidisciplinary artist working from Brooklyn, New York, whose work draws from his African-American background. Through his art, he provides social commentary on significant moments in African-American history. His work combines ...

. In August 2008, the Museum hosted an exhibit of Hurricane Katrina-related photographs by

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

photographer John Rosenthal. In January 2011, the city awarded the museum a $3 million

CDBG The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), one of the longest-running programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, funds local community development activities with the stated goal of providing affordable housing, anti-p ...

grant, to undertake renovation of existing properties: Villa Meilleur, Passebon Cottage (1843) and Passebon's servant quarters. In addition, the museum will acquire 1417-1419 Governor Nicholls Street to expand its campus. The latter building will be used to house administration, community events, and other support functions. The changes will enable the museum to collaborate more with area universities in "creative arts, museum studies, art, history, archiving and educational programming." The Museum is featured as a site on the

Louisiana African American Heritage Trail Louisiana African American Heritage Trail (french: Sentier de l'héritage afro-américain de la Louisiane) is a cultural heritage trail with 38 sites designated by the state of Louisiana, from New Orleans along the Mississippi River to Baton Rouge ...

.Louisiana African-American Heritage Trail
official website

References

External links

Official Website
(accessed August 24, 2010)
Audio Podcast with former Museum Director
(accessed August 24, 2010) {{Authority control African-American history in New Orleans Museums in New Orleans Museums of American art

Art museums and galleries in Louisiana Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisian ...

Historic house museums in Louisiana History museums in Louisiana African-American museums in Louisiana Houses in New Orleans Louisiana African American Heritage Trail Tremé Slave cabins and quarters in the United States

Collection and exhibits

See also

References

External links