Maurice Martinez

Maurice Martinez

October 24, 2017
6–8:30 p.m.
Williams Research Center
410 Chartres Street
Admission is free, and reservations are encouraged. To register, email wrc@hnoc.org or call (504) 523-4662.

On Tuesday, October. 24, THNOC will host Maurice Martinez for an evening celebrating his work, including a screening of the documentary Too White To Be Black, Too Black To Be White: The New Orleans Creole (2007) and a book signing for his forthcoming Blackcreole: Recollections of a Mixed-Race New Orleans Colored Creole In Limbo, which will be released October 20.

A New Orleans-born poet, photographer, musician, filmmaker and more, Martinez is a scholar steeped in African American culture through both his heritage and academic endeavors. Martinez, who is also professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, has written extensively about the Mardi Gras Indians, and his award-winning film The Black Indians of New Orleans (1976), edited by Sam Pollard, is considered a classic. 

Martinez earned a bachelor’s degree at Xavier University of New Orleans and a master’s and doctorate at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and went on to teach in high schools and universities for 51 years.

The film Too White To Be Black, Too Black To Be White provides first-hand accounts of the experiences of a group of mixed-race New Orleanians who identify as Creole. The Wilmington Star News, covering the film’s premier at Cine Noir: A Festival of Black Film, called it “a beautiful valentine to the Creole culture of New Orleans.”

Martinez will provide a brief introduction to the screening, following which he will be available to sign copies of Blackcreole, his personal account of growing up in New Orleans as a mixed-race individual.

Any unclaimed seats will be released to the public five minutes prior to the start of the program.