These narratives were compiled from interviews conducted by the Neighborhood Story Project, a collaborative ethnography organization in partnership with the University of New Orleans, for The Historic New Orleans Collection. The interviews were done in connection to THNOC's 2021 exhibition "Dancing In The Streets" and included more than 30 club founders, presidents, and longtime members of African American Social and pleasure clubs and benevolent associations. Cultural anthropologist Rachel Breunlin worked with the interviewees to develop the narratives and select accompanying images from photographers throughout the city that are important to the organizations. Told in the voices of the interviewees themselves, these stories shed new light on the lineages of parading organizations and the neighborhood traditions and practices of second-line parades. Click on the links below to explore the narratives. The images on this introductory page are by and courtesy of Pableaux Johnson, MJ Mastrogiovanni, and Freddye Hill.
