Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region

October 2013 Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region

Introduction this group was the foundation of will find the seventh in a series of the culture, economy and history of reviews. This review discusses the As part of a larger project that the region, and many Southerners experiences of African-Americans in examines demographic and com- can trace their ancestry to Native the region. African-Americansmunity-level changes in the Gulf of American roots. Mexico region, we reviewed racial African-American or Black? and ethnicity literature for eight These eight groups emerged as The terms African-American and key groups with significant influ- significant through the existing black will be used interchangeably ence in part, or all, of the region. literature that details their unique within this report. The Gulf of Mexico region is incred- effects in building the culture, eco- ibly diverse, with more than 13.5 nomic stability and political climate Research has shown the in-group million residents who trace their ori- in the region, as well as their ties to preference between these two labels gins to scores of places in Europe, the oil and gas industry operating in has fluctuated throughout history. A Africa, Asia and Latin America (see the Gulf of Mexico. For each group, 1991 survey conducted by the Joint Table 1). we have focused our review on com- Center for Political and Economic mon elements such as the culture, Studies found nearly three-fourths Of these various groups, we have history, immigration, ties to the of African-Americans prefer the focused our reviews on eight specific oil and gas industry and economic term black to African-American. racial, ethnic and ancestry groups: standing. In addition to these com- Those results challenged the rising African-Americans, Cajuns, Creoles, mon elements, we examined other popularity of the term African- Croatians, Latinos, Native Ameri- prominent themes that emerged American following the 1989 cans, Vietnamese and Other Asians for particular groups. For example, African-American Summit in New (not Vietnamese). Although some the effects of Hurricane Katrina Orleans, where it was suggested this of these groups may be small in on the Vietnamese fishermen living identification would provide people number, their effects on the region in southern Louisiana were widely a better sense of their cultural have been substantial (see Table discussed by scholars and thus be- heritage (Social Science and Citizen 2). For instance, although less than came a prominent discussion in our 1991). Gallup polls throughout the 1 percent of the residents in the review of the literature on Vietnam- 1990s and 2000s suggest the ma- region identify as Native American, ese living in the region. Below you jority of black Americans do not

Table 1. Diversity in the Gulf of Mexico Region. Table 2. Groups of Interest in the Gulf of Mexico Region. Percentage Percentage Ancestry Category of Total Number Racial/Ancestry Group of Total Number Population Population British 15.36 2,147,789 African-American 19.14 2,568,703 French 7.81 1,092,377 Cajun 7.81 1,092,377 German 8.71 1,218,236 Croatian .05 6,422 Middle Eastern .49 68,544 Latino 29.72 3,988,491 Northern/Eastern European 5.24 733,424 Native American .64 85,455 Southern European 3.09 432,724 Other Asian 2.95 396,007 Subsaharan African/West Indian 1.22 170,670 Vietnamese 1.15 154,669 Total Population: 13,985,914 White 63.72 8,912,239 Table 1 data from ACS Five-Year Estimates. Table 2 data from ACS Five-Year Estimates and 2010 Decennial Census. Percent- ages do not add to 100 percent because individuals can indicate more than one race, ethnicity or ancestry group. “Other Asian” refers to Asian groups other than Vietnamese.

LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans 1 have a preference for either term. African-American history in the (1969) describes the Canary Island Since 1994, however, respondents Gulf of Mexico region dates back to origins of many of the people who have been more likely to identify as the 17th century. In this section, we settled in St. Bernard Parish, in- African-American than black (New- describe the literature that covers cluding a large number of Spanish- port 2007). three broad historical periods: (a) speaking blacks who lived along the the origins of the Louisiana Settle- northern end of Bayou Terre-Aux- The racial heritage of the Gulf ment to the Civil War; (b) the Civil Boeufs in Verrette (Verret). Coast region has resulted in numer- War and Reconstruction; and (c) the ous groups with partial African- Jim Crow era and the civil rights In Louisiana, the Code Noir American ancestry. Some of the movement. (Black Codes) served as a legal most notable groups of mixed basis for creating a third class of African-American ancestry include Early Settlement Through the free blacks and mulattoes (Everett Creoles of color (Brasseaux, Fon- Civil War 1966). Kein’s (2000) edited volume tenot and Oubre 1994; Dormon includes 14 essays that describe Historical studies suggest the Gulf 1996), mulattoes (Everett 1966, Us- the histories and lifestyles of the Coast region included both African ner 1981) and black Indians (Powell free people of color in Louisiana. slaves and free blacks dating back 2004). A significant number of Loui- Aslakson (2007) argues that the role to the original settlements in the sianans who identify themselves as of free blacks in creating the three- region. Settlers brought slaves with Creole are African-American. The caste society of New Orleans from them as they occupied the territory term Creole, as used in Louisiana 1791 to 1812 was critical in shaping of present-day Louisiana. Begin- technically refers to anyone who the history of both the city and ning in 1719, thousands of slaves traces their heritage back to the the broader region. Foner (1970) were transported directly to New early French, Spanish and Haitian compared the three-caste system Orleans, many of them thought settlers who came and lived in the that emerged in Louisiana to that to be from the Senegambia region area before the Louisiana Purchase. in Haiti and argued that, in both (Sydnor 1927; Usner 1981). Early Although many modern-day Creoles cases, the goal of the middle caste in the history of this region, there are mixed-race people of African, was to integrate into white society, were also free persons of color, some European and possibly Native but those goals were not realized who arrived on ships coming from American ancestry, some Creoles because the structure of the caste the French West Indies, some who have no African ancestry at all and system prevented it. purchased their own freedom and therefore are not also considered some who were manumitted (set African-American by the wider Free blacks enjoyed many legal free) by their masters (Sydnor 1927; society (Brasseaux, Fontenot and privileges, including the right to Nordmann 1990; Brasseaux, Fon- Oubre 1994; Dormon 1996). Gram- own property in Louisiana and tenot and Oubre 1994). ling (1982) asserts the ethnic mix of thus became the most prosperous group of African-Americans in Creole, Cajun and Indian culture led In the 18th century, New Orleans’ the South during the antebellum to many shared characteristics as population grew partially due to the period, but black ownership of Cajuns assimilated certain African in-migration of slaves. They were property led to backlashes against linguistic and cultural traits that joined by Haitian refugees who fled the black property owners by poor persist even today. While we touch their homeland following rebellion whites (Schweninger 1990). At on some aspects of the multiracial (Fussell 2007). Free blacks repre- times, hostile reactions even led to identities and histories of African- sented a significant percentage of government action. For instance, an Americans in this report, the final New Orleans’ population during the escaped slave known as Bas-Coupé report in our series will discuss Cre- late 18th and 19th centuries, attain- was a victim of a manhunt during oles and multiracial groups in more ing their freedom through manumis- the 1830s that was supported by detail. sion, migration and coartacion (the the New Orleans city government right of self-purchase). Although (Wagner 2005). In some instances, Origins and History many former slaves earned their free blacks owned their own slaves. From the early 18th century to liberty, they rarely enjoyed the Whitten (1995) notes that Andrew now, African-Americans have lived same freedoms and rights extended Durnford, who established a planta- in Louisiana and the other Gulf to whites (Hanger 1997). Hanger tion in Plaquemines Parish on the states and played an integral role in (1997) argues free blacks had more Mississippi River, owned as many as shaping the linguistic and cultural opportunities to succeed under 37 slaves. traditions of the region. Spanish rule, as opposed to French rule or the United States. Shumaker

2 LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans In addition to the free blacks and African-Americans in the Gulf of Mexico Region mulattoes, historical literature also suggests significant interactions by State: 2010 between African-Americans and 3.5 Native Americans in the Gulf region 12.42% 16.54% 3 (Powell 2004). During the frontier period (1699-1783), Usner argues 2.5 that the substantial economic and 2 social interactions between three 32.37%

Millions 1.5 26.70% major racial/ethnic groups – whites, 37.47% blacks and American Indians, made 1 the Gulf region and Louisiana, in particular, unique in many ways. 0.5 There also were Native American 0 slaves in the Gulf region, and some AlabamaLouisiana Mississippi TexasFlorida historians believe there was sub- Data from 2010 ACS Five-Year Estimates. stantial intermixing between blacks (slaves and free) and Native Ameri- were issued dishonorable discharges can populations during this period Civil War and Reconstruction from the Army by President Roos- (Usner 1981). The national debate and Civil evelt, who bowed to public outcry War that brought an end to slavery after a group of men went on a During the early 1800s, the shift- and freedom for about 3.5 million shooting rampage in the town that ing economic relationships between black Americans led to significant left one person dead and another American settlers and blacks led to changes for blacks throughout the wounded (Malbrew 2007). Malbrew military intervention intended to South, including those living in the (2007) argues the reasons for the dis- control slave rebellions and Ameri- Gulf region. Those changes affected honorable discharges were not sup- can Indian resistance (Usner 1985). both former slaves and free people ported by facts and also argues for Milne (2006) argues the French mis- of color. treatment of the Natchez and other reparations recognizing the discrimi- Southern Native American tribes, Many Southern states contributed natory aspects of these actions. along with its use of African slaves, troops to the Union Army during Freed slaves who remained in the contributed to its inability to effec- the Civil War. Rein (2001) presents South sometimes stayed in the com- tively govern and ultimately main- an historical, descriptive account munities where they were slaves but tain its colonies in North America. of Southern troops in Louisiana, in other cases moved to form new Texas, Arkansas and other Southern communities of freed slaves. For ex- In the decades leading up to the states that joined the Union Army ample, an isolated area on the Gulf Civil War, the three-caste society in during the Civil War. While troops Coast of Texas – Aransas, Texas – the Gulf Coast region became en- included whites, immigrants and became home to a number of freed meshed in the broader national eco- Latinos, there also were a substan- slaves (Allen and Taylor 1977). nomic cycles as well as the national tial number of free blacks from the discourse on slavery. Buchanan “Trans-Mississippi” area that served Rosenberg (1988) argues that (2004) argues the invention of the in the Union Army (Rein 2001). labor solidarity between black Steamboat and the corresponding Louisiana was particularly impor- and white dockworkers was strong emergence of major urban centers tant because New Orleans was one during Reconstruction, culminat- along the Mississippi River (St. Lou- of the largest ports and cities in the ing in the general dock strike at the is, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, Confederacy that served as a trans- Port of New Orleans in 1907. Other Memphis, etc.) provided opportuni- portation hub both up the Mississip- scholars have argued, however, that ties for free blacks from the South pi River to the urban centers of the “Jim Crow” racism, technological to find employment and for slaves Midwest and around the Atlantic to progress and white flight weakened to escape to the North. Prior to the the Northeastern United States. interracial labor solidarity and Civil War, African-American slave unionism as a whole in the South. labor was involved in nearly every After the war, all black regimens For example, Schweninger (1989) aspect of the sugarcane industry be- posed serious political problems in details how many affluent free black cause the crops were grown primar- the region. In Brownsville, Texas, and mulatto families in Louisiana ily on Southern plantations (Conrad all members of the 25th Infantry and Lucas 1995).

LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans 3 that had amassed wealth before the in the decades following the end of tion of African-Americans as the Civil War subsequently lost their slavery. The sugar industry needed centerpiece for social gatherings fortunes during Reconstruction as the surplus labor, therefore, former attended by hundreds of white wit- a result of general backlash against slaves therefore were able to secure nesses (Hill 2010). them. paid labor on the sugar plantations. The social position of blacks re- About 500 African-Americans During Reconstruction, there was mained subjugated in the still white- immigrated from the Chattahoochee consensus among African-Americans dominated society, however. Ac- Valley of Georgia and Alabama to to push for agriculture reforms that cording to Scott (1994), sugarcane the West African republic of Liberia would allow them to become land- workers in Louisiana fared about between 1853 and 1903. Most of owners (Bond 1938). After the Civil the same as sugarcane workers in these people left during the uncer- War, the Mississippi Delta region Cuba and Brazil after slavery ended tainty following the Civil War and offered mutually beneficial economic in those countries, even though sug- sought to escape white suprema- opportunities in agriculture (pri- ar plantation owners pursued differ- cists. Others, however, were moti- marily cotton) to both former slaves ent methods of securing labor. 1870 vated by Black Nationalist attitudes (to work for pay) and whites who to 1910 was a period when sugar and the evangelical opportunities owned the land. These opportunities planters in Louisiana believed black to spread Christianity throughout were short-lived, however, (Willis laborers were not suited to farming Africa (McDaniel 2007). 1991) because many blacks left the and producing sugar. In response, Delta region to escape white vio- they unsuccessfully attempted to Jim Crow and Civil Rights lence and lynching while pursuing replace African-Americans with During the Jim Crow era of seg- opportunities in the industrializing Chinese contract laborers and then regation and the events that led to North. Italian immigrants (Halpern 2004). and culminated in the civil rights movements of the 1960s, African- In response to increasing attacks The Reconstruction period was American and white Southerners by whites in Alabama, black leaders a time of horrific violence against continued to coexist in their daily organized the “colored conventions” blacks by whites in the South, sym- lives. In the Alabama coal industry, to explain their plight to the federal bolized by lynching. According to for example, black and white work- government (Leforge 2010). The Corzine (1996), lynching was a com- ers were segregated during work, limited success of these conventions monly employed form of extralegal but there were enough similarities and the increasing frustration with justice and social control in which and shared hardships that blacks Reconstruction among many blacks both blacks and whites participated. joined whites in a major industry in Alabama (feeling that the federal Although this violent practice has strike in 1921 (Alexander 2004). In government was not doing enough been primarily associated as a crime Louisiana, blacks became involved to ensure their civil rights) led to against blacks, African-Americans in the Louisiana Shrimp Festi- an exodus movement to the Mid- did not become the primary victims val in 1957, when a black festival west that started in the late 1890s. of this heinous act until 1886. Intr- subcommittee was established and During Reconstruction, African- aracial lynching – involving whites organized a shrimp gumbo cooking American communists organized executing other whites and blacks contest, an art exhibit and tennis the East Central Alabama Negro executing other blacks – was more matches (Thibodaux 1986). tenant farmers into a sharecrop- common than interracial lynch- per’s union that had no long-term ing during the 1880s, with whites While groups such as the Louisi- effect on a national or local level due suffering more deaths than blacks. ana French reaped socioeconomic to the united opposition of whites Much of the black-on-black lynch- benefits from the booming rice (Beecher 1934). ing was a response to the failure industry during the Jim Crow era, African-Americans – especially later Curtin (1992) describes the con- of the white-dominated criminal justice system to convict felons. One arrivals – obtained manual labor text of black political prisoners jobs in that industry but were not in Alabama during Reconstruc- of the primary arguments the Ku Klux Klan used to support lynching involved in the more lucrative as- tion, suggesting that they played pects of this business (Sexton 2006). an instrumental role later in the was the claim that it was a necessary means to prevent the “black Tenant farmers lived in particularly long-term fight for racial justice in miserable conditions during this Alabama. beast rapist” from sexually assaulting white women. During the 1890s, period, stuck in isolated and poorly Scott (1994) analyzed how sug- white mobs organized “spectacle furnished facilities (Agee and Evans arcane workers in Louisiana fared lynchings” that featured the execu- 1941).

4 LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans A questionnaire and series of of Racial Equality (CORE), the abled the civil rights movement and interviews conducted by Richards Student Non-Violent Coordinating led to the end of Jim Crow era. (1943) found that African-American Committee (SNCC) and the Black workers were primarily motivated Panther Party established their One of the most recognized orga- by money when pursuing an occu- bases (Firven 2008). nizations involved in the civil rights pation, and did not consider oc- movement in Mississippi was the cupational change after obtaining Substantial northern migration Student Nonviolent Coordinating a job that provided a living wage, of both blacks and whites occurred Committee (SNCC). SNCC partici- although discrimination was com- during the 1930s and 1940s. While pants in the Mississippi Freedom monly reported across all occupa- many Southern whites ultimately Summer in 1964 helped usher in a tions observed in this study (1943). merged with Northern whites in period of profound changes for race According to a series of interviews affluent urban and suburban neigh- relations in Mississippi, in the entire conducted within rural Georgia, the borhoods, the majority of black Gulf Coast region and in their own most influential African-American migrants ended up in African-Amer- lives (Miller 1994). community leaders came from a ican enclaves throughout the North- ern cities. Interestingly, Southern Other studies of participants in diversity of professions, such as the Mississippi Freedom Summer barbers, blacksmiths, brick masons, whites who migrated north virtually disappeared and played no sig- explored how the race and gender of businessmen, cabinet makers, car- civil rights activists influenced their penters, dentists, farmers, janitors, nificant role in any anti-civil rights movements (Sugrue 1998). interpretations of the successes and jewelers, lumbermen, ministers, shortcomings of the civil rights morticians, nurses, physicians and Although whites violently re- movement (Irons 1998; Mills 1999; teachers (Edwards 1942). pressed rural blacks and denied Harwell 2010). During the 1960s, New Orleans remained a critical them access to power, good schools civil rights activist groups such as area of racial tension during both and other opportunities, some Womanpower Unlimited responded the Jim Crow and civil rights eras. suggest race relations were slightly to the unjust arrests and torture of The city had mixed-race residential more complex than these com- the Freedom Riders. They later took patterns during the Jim Crow era mon stereotypes indicate. Johnson an active role in the Women Strike that set it apart from Northern cit- (2003), for example, provides some for Peace movement (Morris 2002). accounts of black-on-white violence ies and its Southern counterparts Another key organization was due to factors such as scarcity of in the 1940s in northern Louisiana, suggesting that both races knew (or the National Association for the higher terrain, economic difficul- Advancement of Colored People ties which reduced opportunities to should have known) their “place,” and that blacks in some areas could (NAACP). In Iberia Parish, Mor- create new segregated subdivisions gan City and many other smaller and a unique racial heritage with a turn to militancy to keep arrogant whites in their place. Scholars such towns and communities throughout lethargy towards segregation (Hast- the South, the NAACP played a ings 2004). Data collected from New as Williams (1985) argue the stulti- fying denial of civil rights to blacks dominant role in bringing about Orleans employment firms in 1943 civil rights for African-Americans found that nearly all African-Amer- in Mississippi did not completely stifle African-American efforts, (Fairclough 1995). In Louisiana, icans were employed in unskilled community organizations that arose labor positions. Manual labor was particularly after World War II, to improve their situations. Williams as byproducts of civil rights and the the only sector where blacks and war on poverty managed to make whites worked the same jobs; only (1985) describes efforts by blacks in Mississippi from 1945-1955 to pre- some federal programs more flexible one in four employers reported this at the local level (Brabant 1993). form of integrated labor (Wilson vent anti-black violence, gain voting and Gilmore 1943). While many rights, fight for income equality Although the civil rights move- Southern cities became known as across various industries and de- ment is largely known for the non- the exclusive domain of a single mand equal educational facilities violent forms of activism promoted black protest organization during – all precursors to the more well- by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., there the civil rights era, New Orleans known and celebrated movements also were some violent elements of became a place where numerous na- of the 1960s. the movement. Umoja (1996), for tional groups such as the National McMillen (1997) emphasizes how example, argues that armed defense Association for the Advancement of World War II influenced significant of life, property and civil rights Colored People (NAACP), Congress changes in Southern society that en- played a critical role in reducing racial violence in Southern black

LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans 5 communities and in winning conces- that was heavily inspired by the have had net outmigration rates in sions in the form of civil and human pursuit of better economic oppor- Louisiana since 1870 due to better rights. At the extreme, an effective tunities in Northern cities. Mean- job opportunities in Northern cities Black Nationalist movement known while, blacks who remained in rural and areas outside of the state, while as the Republic of New Africa areas encountered poor economic whites and other races have had net (RNA) emerged in Mississippi. Cun- prospects (Pfeffer 1993). Much of in-migration rates. At the time of nigen’s (1999) study of the RNA the economic growth was in the Bennett’s study (1952), blacks com- suggests that even though the Black manufacturing industry. Although prised about a third of Louisiana’s Power movements were dominated manufacturing growth also occurred population and were most highly by the urban North, the RNA was in the South, blacks were blocked concentrated in the plantation and very important for the rural South from job opportunities in industri- cotton areas in the Mississippi and and led to significant changes for alization because of frequent salary Red River deltas, the northern re- blacks as it allowed them to connect discrimination, a form of inequality gions of the sugarcane area and the their struggles to larger, universal that unions were unable to reduce northwestern portion of the Florida struggles for human rights. during the 1950s and 1960s (Cobb parishes. 1984). Although the civil rights move- The rise of the oil industry ment faced severe opposition from The return of African-Americans reduced the black population in whites all over the South (par- to the South during the early 1970s St. Mary Parish, where this demo- ticularly in Mississippi), change did was due to increased underemploy- graphic fell from 45.3 percent to occur at many levels in society. For ment in the North. Many moved to 28.6 percent from 1940 to 1970. example, Horn and Young (1975) metropolitan areas, however, instead During the same time period, the compared a local newspaper story in of rural ones because of better black population of Morgan City 1975 in Carthage, Miss., to the types economic opportunities in Southern fell from 22.7 percent to 16 percent. of news coverage that prevailed cities (Pfeffer 1993). This phenom- The decline of the region’s black just 10 years previously and found enon continues to the present day, population correlates with a rise significant improvement in how race as many natives and descendants of its white population, as well as relations were portrayed by these return to regions such as the Yazoo- the shift in economic opportunities media outlets. Mississippi Delta (Brown 2006). from rural to urban areas (Gramling and Joubert 1977). At the time oil Despite improvements in lo- The declining outmigration rates was discovered in southern Louisi- cal news coverage and in the legal of nonwhites in the Alabama Black ana, blacks were the lowest on the system, residential segregation Belt region from 1960-1970 has occupational hierarchy and were increased in many Southern cities been attributed to increased po- therefore initially excluded from during the 1970s (Fly and Reinhart litical and economic equality, such participating in this lucrative indus- 1980), even while social segregation as employment opportunities in try (Gardner and Austin 2002). declined. nonagricultural industries (Bogie 1982). Between 1975 and 1980, There were significant net out- Migration and Economics many blacks left the South again migration rates among African- From 1910 to 1970, African-Amer- – particularly those with higher Americans from 1960-1970, as the icans participated in one of the larg- levels of education (Pfeffer 1993). state’s population became older and est migrations in human history as According to the 1980 Census, there whiter during this period. According more than 9 million blacks left the were level net migration rates within to Burford and Murzyn (1972), these South and settled in the North and low-income Southern counties but a results reflect the limited economic the West. Known as the Great Black net loss among African-Americans opportunities in the state. Shreve- Migration, this process peaked in (Voss and Fuguitt 1991). Black com- port, Monroe, Lake Charles and the 1950s and slowed in the 1960s munities were plagued with high Lafayette were the areas with the before many African-Americans poverty rates throughout the 1980s, highest outmigration rates in the and their descendants returned to when more 35 percent of African- state (Christou 1972). the South during the early 1970s Americans lived below the poverty (Brown 2006). line (Cobb 1984). Plaquemines Parish was another area where blacks continued to face Blacks had remained highly con- Although the bulk of African- labor market discrimination fol- centrated in the rural South prior to American migration occurred from lowing the civil rights movement. this massive migration movement 1910 to 1970, Maruggi and Wart- For example, a law passed in 1979 enberg (1996) found that blacks illegalized the use of 2-foot hand

6 LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans dredges by fishermen. This piece throughout the region (Davis 1941). Race has been the primary distin- of legislation disproportionately Western (1973) observed that al- guishing factor in geographic distri- targeted independent black oyster though the different ethnic groups bution throughout Mississippi, with fishermen (Bryant 1982). of whites within Houma, La. had black and white residency varying become significantly less segregated, dramatically at the regional, lo- Segregation and Discrimination African-Americans in that city cal and intermediate levels (Lowry African-Americans have encoun- remain relatively isolated in terms II 1971). A statewide analysis of tered the most intense discrimina- of residency, relationships and social residential segregation in Missis- tion practices of any ethnic group interactions. Racial discrimination sippi found relatively high levels of within the Gulf Coast region. The was even justified on a national level segregation across the state, with history of the South has upheld race throughout this timeframe. For higher rates in the Delta and the as one of the primary social bound- instance, the WPA published guides Piney Woods and lower rates along aries in the region, particularly to the Deep South that portrayed the Gulf Coast. This phenomenon between whites and blacks (White blacks as the most exotic segment is most strongly correlated with 1998). Park (1931) observed how of the region’s population to justify black/white income differences and the physical characteristics of race racial segregation (Means 2003). with higher residential segregation create an immediate distinction that existing in areas where the income does not exist in other cultural char- Some African-Americans tried to gap between these races is higher acteristics such as religion. Duncan isolate themselves to avoid discrimi- (Marcum, Holley and Williams (1934) claims early French and nation. For example, the Louisiana 1988). Chen (2009) found Alabama’s Spanish settlers were indirectly re- Chapter of the American Folklore coastal population has a higher sponsible for initiating the enslave- Society and the Federal Writer’s percentage of blacks than the rest ment of African-Americans in states Project attempted to use their of the nation, as well as less afflu- such as Arkansas and Texas. Even influence to develop racial and class ent residents with lower levels of when the plantation industry had identities that separated upper-class education. A case study conducted nearly completed its transition to African-Americans from other black by Friend et al. (1982) in Alabama sugarcane as one of its primary cash Louisianans through folklore (Jor- found that the integrated index of crops, blacks and whites remained dan and Caro 1996). wilderness decreased significantly at the center of the agricultural Residential segregation has been as the African-American popula- social hierarchy (Gramling 1982). an ongoing issue in the Gulf Coast tion increased across counties. He region. Heberle (1948) stated the suspects socio-historical factors such Cajuns, who had lived in relative as slavery and segregation, as well isolation throughout rural south movement of wealthy whites from the center of oil communities as socioeconomic conditions, might Louisiana, were recruited by South- relate to this geographic distribution. ern elites and white supremacists to toward the periphery area resulted oppose black emancipation (Sexton in spatial segregation because their Negative racial stereotypes 1990). Like the other groups of Eu- outmigration pushed blacks toward combined with discriminatory ropean immigrants who joined this less economically advantaged areas. practices reflected how whites coalition of white solidarity, Cajuns According to Aiken (1990), in- perceived blacks as inferior to them. enjoyed privileges such as suffrage, creased segregation on the regional According to a study conducted by access to better jobs and the right to level has led to a greater separa- Powdermaker (1968), less than 40 own land (Abbott 2006). Although tion of blacks and whites within percent of whites believed blacks slavery ended, white solidarity con- many municipalities. For example, were “no different essentially from tinued decades later in opposition to federally sponsored housing and other people.” On the other hand, the civil rights movement (Pinkney restructured business districts have nearly a quarter of whites consid- 1975; Abbott 2006). left many African-Americans in new ered blacks “abhorrent” and more black ghettos that lie throughout than 80 percent believed blacks Discriminatory practices were former plantation regions, where should exclusively work manual la- common between these two piv- they account for at least 75 percent bor jobs (Powdermaker 1968). Muir otal periods of African-American of the municipalities’ population. (1991) found institutionalized racial history. Some have described the In addition to federal housing, these prejudice also was exhibited by col- Deep South during the 1930s as a regions have high poverty rates and lege students at the University of color caste system due to the severe scarce employment opportunities Alabama following desegregation, segregation practices that existed (Aiken 1990). where Greek fraternities and sorori-

LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans 7 ties were significantly less accepting have more than one child outside of the primary motivation behind the of blacks than whites unaffiliated marriage. Known as the “segrega- prosecution. They also were most with these organizations. A survey tion package,” these laws dispro- likely to believe the decision to pros- conducted with LSU students in the portionately affected blacks – who ecute was wrong (Goidel, Parent and 1940s found that less than 9 percent were more likely to live in abject Mann 2011). of them were willing to accept an poverty – by removing thousands of integrated college campus and more African-Americans and more than a Politics than two-thirds believed interracial quarter of ADC recipients from wel- The Gulf Coast region’s history marriage should be illegal (Turbev- fare programs during a time when of racism and discrimination has ille and Hyde 1946). two-thirds of the children depen- dramatically affected the level of dent on ADC were black (Neubeck African-American participation in Mississippi and Louisiana share an and Cazenave 2001). politics. In the 1890s, the Populist infamous history of racial discrimi- political party had gained black nation practices. The racial climate Ezeala-Harrison and Glover supporters who had become heavily in early to mid-20th century was so (2008) discovered minority housing involved in its political revolt. White tense in this area that Davis Knight loan applicants have consistently supremacists overcame this move- – who appeared white and claimed high denial rates that cannot be ment, however, and its efforts were Caucasian descent – was labeled a easily explained by their financial buried by an earlier political group “white Negro” and found guilty of backgrounds. Results from a recent known as the Negro Alliance, which miscegenation on December 7, 1948, study conducted on seatbelt law also had sought political equality in Mississippi. The label was likely enforcement in Louisiana and Mis- (Rogers 1960). due to the fact that Davis’ great- sissippi found primary enforcement grandmother was a “freed woman” of these laws – which involve citing African-American voter regis- and his father was a famous Civil a driver only for breaking a seat- tration remained a huge issue in War outlaw who led a group of Con- belt law – is more likely to reduce Louisiana more than a decade after federate army deserters that later the racial disparity in black/white the 1944 Supreme Court ruling to joined the Union (Bynum 1998). motor vehicle mortality rates than prevent whites from blocking black secondary enforcement (Levine et voter registration in the South. In Gray (1970) observed that from al. 2006). A recent study conducted 1956, only 30 percent of African- 1959-1968, the overwhelmingly across 12 of Mississippi’s 15 commu- Americans eligible to vote were reg- white population of Lafourche nity colleges found instructors had a istered – compared to 73 percent of Parish excluded African-Americans negative bias towards black Ameri- whites. The voter registration rates from many economic opportunities can English accents (Ivey-Hudson for blacks varied dramatically by during this growth period of indus- 2007). parish, including 17 parishes where trial jobs. He outlines the factors less than 20 percent of eligible that contributed to the discrimina- The hanging of a hangman’s African-Americans were registered tory practices: high percentages of noose in Jena, La., was one of and 11 where at least 70 percent family businesses in shrimping and the most recent examples of hate of eligible blacks had undergone fishing; large family-based landown- speech in the Gulf Coast region that voter registration (Fenton and Vines ers reluctant to sell their property, garnered national attention. Few of 1957). particularly to nonwhites; and an those who commented on it focused oil industry historically unwilling to on the hate speech behind this ac- During the 1940s, blacks in St. hire nonwhites (Gray 1970). tion because blacks and whites had Landry Parish struggled to increase drastically different interpretations their political participation due to Neuback and Cazenave’s (2001) of the incident (Bell 2009). A study the racial hostility of the area’s study concludes white supremacists of the “Jena Six” court case found predominately Cajun population used negative racial stereotypes in that Jim Crow ethics, which depict and their use of intimidation tactics their attempts to deny black moth- black offenders as culturally and so- (Fairclough 1995). Plaquemines ers access to the welfare program cially inferior, were used in the form Parish, dominated by the actions known as Aid For Dependent of coded racial narrative during of Judge Leander Perez, aggres- Children (ADC) in the 1960s. During that trial (Alfieri 2009). Goidel et al. sively pushed against black voter the decade the Louisiana Legisla- (2011) conducted a telephone survey registration in the 1960s. He openly ture made common-law marriage that found blacks followed news opposed President Johnson and between men and women illegal about the Jena Six more closely described the Voting Rights Act of and made it a crime for women to than whites and considered race as 1965 as an attempt by the federal

8 LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans government to impose African- acquired somewhat limited political tion following the storm (Bankston American leadership upon the South authority in southern cities such as III 2010). A Gallup poll (2006) pub- (Conaway 1973). Bogalusa, La. On the other hand, lished a few months after the storm Harvey Johnson was elected the found the city’s racial demographics The passage of the 1965 Vot- first black mayor of Jackson, Miss., had changed from 67 percent black ing Rights Act led to substantial in 1997. Orey (2006) attributes and 28 percent white before Katrina increases in black voter registration Johnson’s political success follow- to 52 percent white and 37 percent in highly resistant states including ing his failure to even make the black following the storm. Alabama, Louisiana and Missis- Democratic primary runoffs in 1993 sippi, with the most dramatic effects to the different race-based political Prior to Katrina, more than one- occurring in the latter (Timpone strategies he used in each campaign. third of African-Americans in New 1997). Only 28,500 black voters were While Johnson ran a “deracialized” Orleans lived in poverty, compared registered in Mississippi in 1965, but campaign in 1993 that failed to at- to only 11.5 percent of Americans that number jumped to 406,000 by tract white voters and weakened his of European descent living in Or- 1984 (Colby 1986). African-American support, his deci- leans Parish (Ruscher 2006). Of the 142,000 people living in poverty in Despite their increased politi- sion to run a “racialized” campaign in 1997 resulted in nearly twice as New Orleans prior to Katrina, 84 cal participation, blacks remained percent were black and most worked less likely to vote or to be elected many black voters supporting him (Orey 2006). from sunrise to sunset without to public office than whites (Colby earning a living wage (Mann 2006). 1986). Following the 1965 Voting Race also played a major role in Graham (2010) states that black Rights Act, the Mississippi Repub- the 1995 Louisiana gubernatorial Americans were shipped out of New lican Party spent the 1970s and election, where “symbolic racism” Orleans in 2005 to cleanse the urban early 1980s in an internal conflict occurred three decades after the area and reshape the city’s demo- regarding whether they should pur- Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights graphics. The author goes so far as sue black voters. As a result, they Act. During this election, there to describe the Superdome and the alternated between vigorously seek- was heavy white backlash towards Convention Center as “concentra- ing the black vote and relying upon the increasing political presence of tion camps” where blacks were herd- the strength of their segregationist African-American candidates and ed during the storm (Graham 2010). white base (Danielson 2009). a tendency to have race influence Many of the city’s most flood-vul- The civil rights movement led to white conservative voting tendencies in opposition towards black can- nerable regions were overwhelming- a transition from older, conserva- ly black, including the Lower Ninth tive black leaders concerned with didates (Knuckey and Orey 2000). Orey (1998) found that during this Ward (98 percent black) and New economic change and avoiding civil Orleans East (more than 80 percent protests to younger, more militant election, white voter support for racially conservative white candidates black). About 70 percent of the leaders who organized protests in 1,836 people killed during Hurricane support of desegregating commu- had a positive significant association with the level of black population Katrina were African-American and nity services unions and other social more than a quarter-million blacks institutions – as well as including density by parish, supporting his “black threat” thesis. Recent re- relocated to 44 different states dur- blacks on decision-making boards. ing the storm, with common loca- While this new group of black lead- search found African-Americans are more likely to vote or participate in tions including Shreveport, Baton ership had some success during the Rouge, Houston and Atlanta. Many 1970s, the “old line” black leader- political activities once they become involved in church projects that have not returned to New Orleans ship re-established their economic- (Mann 2006). based platform to limited success provide opportunities to exchange when economic development began political messages and acquire civic The housing crisis in New Orleans to decline in the early 1980s (Hill skills (Brown and Brown 2003). following Katrina displaced many 1990). Hurricane Katrina African-Americans who remained in the city during the storm or wanted African-Americans have made New Orleans’ black citizens were to return. As of 2006, only about some political progress in the past affected disproportionately by the 1,000 of the 5,100 housing units couple of decades, although racial aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, affected by the storm had reopened. elements have remained in play. which resulted in a decline in the Housing problems stretched beyond At the time of Hill’s (1990) study, city’s majority black population and the realm of public housing and he found blacks had only recently a rise in its minority white popula- also included issues with the Federal

LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans 9 Emergency Management Agency commitment to tradition (Jackson racism in the Hurricane Katrina (FEMA) trailers, insurance claims 2006). response than white Americans. and securing federal money to re- Adams et al. (2006) suspects the build the city (Ruscher 2006). These Based on her comparison of following are two of the primary also affected blacks across different victims of Hurricane Katrina to causes: Whites are less likely than social strata. Almost four years after the victims of the 2007 San Diego African-Americans to be aware Katrina, less than 50 percent of the wildfires, Rubin (2008) concluded of historically documented acts residents of Pontchartrain Park the lackluster assistance provided of discrimination, and conflict of – a black middle-class neighbor- to the hurricane victims was due to group interests might arise due to hood – had returned to their homes. the fact they were primarily poor the fact that whites and African- According to Gafford (2010), New African-Americans. The wildfire Americans face opposing motiva- Orleans’ history of racial discrimi- victims, on the other hand, were tions in regard to how they perceive nation placed obstacles in the way predominately middle-class whites racism, with the former benefitting of middle-class blacks interested in (Rubin 2008). Lavelle and Feagin from legitimizing the status quo and moving back to their homes that (2006) argue race and class have the latter interested in remaining did not affect middle-class whites. always been a means for both the aware of possible instances of racial Due to the history of the city, rich white elite and the white citizenry discrimination. Racial tensions whites were able to build on higher to preserve white supremacy and even occurred within relief efforts, ground prior to other groups, even privilege in New Orleans. Pinder such as when the Common Ground middle-class blacks (Economist (2009) challenges scholars who claim Collective accused the black commu- 2006). the fate of the African-American nity of sexually assaulting some of victims during Hurricane Katrina their white female workers in 2006, Social reformation advocates have was due solely to their class and only to later discover almost all of sought to address the racially dis- states race remains inherently linked the sexual assaulters were nonlocal proportionate effects of Hurricane to class in this scenario due to fac- white men (Luft 2008). Katrina by rebuilding New Orleans tors such as the monolithic media in a manner that seeks social justice portrayal of African-Americans and Germany (2007) provides histori- through methods such as provid- New Orleans’ status as a racially cal context for the racial inequality ing affordable housing and enabling segregated community. from prior decades that precluded active participation in democracy the disproportionate effect of Hur- (Bankston III 2010). At the time Analysis of national television ricane Katrina upon African-Amer- of Mann’s study (2006), there was news coverage following Katrina ican communities. During the 1960s much concern regarding whether revealed stress within unfamiliar and 1970s, New Orleans attempted the city would be radically rebuilt in situations leads to ethnocentric, di- to reverse its high poverty rate and a manner that addressed the city’s chotomous and stereotypical modes racial inequality through govern- inequalities or merely restored to of thinking among individuals, ment assistance programs. But the maintain the status quo. Following which was reflected in the manner oil market bust of the 1980s, com- Katrina, many poor New Orleans by which white privilege influenced bined with the long-term reduction constituencies consisting of predom- how journalists discussed racial of jobs at the New Orleans port, inately poor black residents orga- matters after the storm (Johnson et resulted in a depression as whites nized and resisted those attempting al. 2010). Mainstream media outlets and many middle-class blacks fled to destroy their communities. They often presented distorted images the city and moved to the suburbs. also sought access to adequate of poor blacks in and from New Government assistance declined housing, healthcare and dignity in Orleans during this period (Lavelle following this depression, and the response to the post-Katrina viola- 2006). city never completely recovered tions of the basic human rights to Marable (2006) views the in- from this economic downturn. The housing (Gardner, Irwin and Pe- adequate response to Hurricane citizens of New Orleans ended up terson 2009). Groups such as the Katrina by the Bush administration abandoning the war on poverty that Fazendeville community from the and the resulting public display of had started in the 1960s and instead Lower Ninth Ward have maintained black suffering as part of a “civic accepted its economic inequality as their cultural livelihood, despite the ritual” highlighting the United a social reality they merely sought tremendous destruction resulting States’ racial hierarchy, which to contain instead of eliminate (Ger- from the storm, through a sense white America denies to preserve many 2007). of communality, spirituality and its dominance. Survey data found African-Americans perceived more

10 LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans Contemporary Economic and Jones and Carter (1994) challenged The focus of scholarly work Environmental Issues the notion that blacks are less shifted, however, toward the effects concerned about the environment of urbanization and modernization Analysis of the recent economic than whites and even suggested the throughout the 20th century. Adams situation for African-Americans in reverse is true. While blacks are (1947) studied black sharecroppers the Gulf Coast region continues to less likely to actively participate in in the Mississippi Delta and con- highlight instances of inequality. environmental organizations, they cluded they were disproportionately Although the South has been fairly are more likely than whites to re- affected by acculturation through successful in attracting high-tech in- main committed to the environment urbanization due to increased popu- dustries to the region, blacks remain during economic hardships. A study lation isolation, increasing literacy disproportionately concentrated in conducted by Marshall (2004) in the rates, the rise of new media forms low-skill positions that yield lower Louisiana region known as “Cancer such as the press, movies, radio, the income than high-tech occupa- Alley” found that black females are jukebox and other characteristics tions (Colclouch and Tolbert 1990). significantly more cautious toward of city life. According to Hannerz Cray’s (1991) content analysis of the environmental risks than white (1969), black urban society empha- Southern Growth Policy’s Southern males. Marshall (2004) suggests this sizes distinctions between itself and Count-Level Data Files found racial is because white males feel less vul- white culture. This study claims the tension combined with the high nerable due to their privileged posi- ghetto ideals of black males and concentration of poor blacks in the tion in society, while black females females, known as soul, are orga- Mississippi Delta are associated with potentially feel more vulnerable due nized into four different categories: the region’s absence of new technol- to their lower position on the social mainstreamers, swingers, street fam- ogy industries. African-Americans ladder. A study of a Mississippi ilies and street corner men (Hannerz in the Mississippi Delta are consid- Head Start program found that 1969). A study conducted decades ered more likely to participate in the black mothers were less likely to later in nonmetropolitan Louisiana informal economy for subcultural store pesticides in a storage room, to found the sex ratio (the number of reasons as opposed to ones that understand the causes of food poi- men per 100 women) within black provide them personal economic soning or to take precautions in rela- communities had a positive effect benefits (Brown, Xu and Toth 1988). tion to environmental hazards than upon the marriage rates of black Adeola’s (1999) research on minor- white mothers (Whitehead et al. women, two-parent households and ity poverty in Louisiana parishes 2008). Crawford (1996) argued the the number of black children reared found female-headed households, Mississippi state government failed in two-parent houses. The sex ratio race and minority employment in to provide safeguards for the poor, also had a negative effect upon non- the economy’s primary sector serve predominately black community marital births (Fossett and Kiecolt as significant predictors of eco- of Noxubee, Miss., when corporate 1990). nomic hardship. A study conducted outsiders moved into the area and on prison admissions in Louisiana built hazardous waste facilities. African-Americans within the found a lower association between Black Belt region have struggled to unemployment and African-Ameri- Culture maintain land ownership primarily can prison admissions than whites. Family and Community due to the lack of property inheri- Dobbins and Bass (1958) suspect After the Civil War and through tance, which frequently results from the following reasons might explain the period of Reconstruction, schol- lack of clarity within a will. The their results: Blacks are more likely ars and folklorists were interested in Black Belt refers to the Southern to commit crimes against people how African-American families and region that spans from east-central than whites; blacks are less likely to communities in the Gulf Coast re- Mississippi to the Virginia Tidewa- commit crimes that result in direct gion were influenced by slavery and ters and can be identified by the economic gain; and unemployment its residual effects (Fauset 1927). following characteristics: high con- might be more critical to sustaining Young (1970) concluded from her centrations of African-Americans; a white person’s self-esteem than a research of black families and their agrarian landscapes; a relative lack black person’s, because blacks are children in a small Georgia com- of urbanization and few nonagricul- more likely to be marginalized in the munity that indigenous behavior ture related jobs; high poverty and workforce. – as opposed to deprivation – serves unemployment rates; relatively low levels of education; high dependen- A few studies have examined as the primary formative agent of behavior in African-Americans. cy rates; slow population growth or environmental issues in relation to declining populations; poor commu- the African-American community. nity health, including high infant

LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans 11 mortality rates; and high rates of authenticity of the culture (Gulyas Adams (1947) claims city life has Democratic Party support (Webster 2008). challenged the church’s central role and Bowman 2008). In these rein the African-American community gions, property typically is subdi- While the legacy of African- because the appeal of secular life vided among numerous co-owners, Americans in the blues genre has has reduced the authority churches with a single co-owner or a small been well documented, Snyder and ministers have over the lives of group of them living on the land (1997) emphasizes the relatively their congregations. and taking on all the financial and ignored phenomenon of black ac- maintenance responsibilities (Dyer, cordion players who were born in Health Bailey and Van Tran 2009). Mississippi between 1870 and 1880. The African-American community Black accordionists frequently have of the Gulf Coast region continues Music been overlooked because many to suffer disproportionately from African-Americans established people assumed there was never a health risks in several areas. Limited two of the most popular cultural significant population of blacks that health care access has long been at music genres in Louisiana – blues played this instrument outside of the root of this problem. Discrimi- and rhythm and blues – and the the Cajun southern Louisiana region natory health care practices have popularity of that music eventually (Snyder 1997). persisted throughout the late 20th expanded throughout the country century, partially due to revision- (Louisiana Division of the Arts Religion ist historical accounts, such as the 1999). Juke joints in the Mississippi Religion has long been an integral downplaying of prejudice in health Delta served as a central hub for part of the African-American com- care initiatives when editing Afri- black music and culture during the munity. White (2003) found Loui- can-American midwives’ memoirs Jim Crow era. They were typically siana black’s religious roots can be (Craven and Glatzel 2010). based in abandoned buildings where traced back to Africa. Even during African-Americans could publicly slavery times, masters allowed their Sumpter (2010) discusses how gather without alerting the whites slaves the freedom of public worship many black residents of St. Tam- who lived outside of their towns (Davis 1917). many Parish were denied treatment (Nardone 2003). during the late 19th and early 20th The Black Holiness Movement, centuries as the spread of yellow fe- Popular blues musicians toured which originated in Arkansas, was ver occurred, despite the fact many the South throughout the 1930s. one of the most notable religious New Orleans residents had fled to Artists Muddy Waters and Robert groups to emerge from the post-An- this safe haven to restore their own Johnson spent the following decade tebellum South. Their charismatic health. Civil rights groups eventu- touring Northern and Midwestern worshipping and literal Bible inter- ally would address some of these cities such as Chicago, Detroit, St. pretations embraced the traditional prejudicial practices. Led by the Louis and Cleveland. Although the African-American church culture activism of black feminists through- artists received little pay for their and gained favor among rural out the 1970s, the Delta Health performances, they found the tour- working-class blacks. Middle-class Center in Mississippi developed an ing lifestyle more satisfying than African-Americans, on the other initiative that addressed the connec- the arduous sharecropper work they hand, despised and fought against tion between reproductive health previously had done in the Mis- this movement because they feared with the larger health issues affect- sissippi Delta (Rutkoff and Scott these religious practices would cause ing minority women in the state 2005). whites to view them as primitive by providing this segment of the and childlike (White Jr. 2009). population the sanitation, transpor- Recently, locations such as Far- tation, housing, clothing and food ish Street in Jackson, Miss., have Religion and race combined to play a significant role in the presi- necessary to improve their situation emerged as centers for “new blues (Nelson 2005). tourism.” This initiative focuses on dential campaigns throughout Loui- promoting the African-American siana during the 1960s. At the time, Numerous studies have examined heritage of this region through the African-Americans were nearly a racial differences in sexual behavior preservation of urban neighbor- third of the state’s population. Re- and drug use. Research has shown hoods where numerous buildings publicans had the most success dur- African-Americans below 40 have have ties to the blues genre, support ing this campaign in parishes with higher rates of HIV and AIDS than from the local population and media low Catholic and African-American the majority of the nation’s popula- outlets for these establishments and populations (Cosman 1962). tion (Lichtenstein 2000; Dévieux et a commitment to preserving the al. 2005). Analysis of subsections

12 LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans within the black population reveals the problems can’t be solved by African-Americans in the United States: treating African-Americans as a 1980-2010 monolithic demographic. Some of these studies have connected life- 13.5 style choices to higher HIV rates, 13 (40.63) ranging from bisexual activity 12.5 (36.42) among black men in Alabama to religious attendance having a sig- 12 nificantly smaller inverse influence (29.99) Percentage 11.5 upon black drug use compared to (26.5) Percentage its effect upon whites and Hispanics 11 (Lichtenstein 2000; Rote and Starks 10.5 2010). In certain cases, the African- 1980 1990 2000 2010 American community’s perception Year of drugs influences the ones they Data from U.S. Decennial Census and ACS Five-year Estimates. (African-American population in millions in choose to consume. A study of black parentheses.) adult smokers in Atlanta found their overwhelming preference for men- obtaining their average daily con- areas have suffered high rates of thol cigarettes is likely due to the sumption of 50 grams (Vermeer and cancer. This phenomenon raised fact they perceive such “light ciga- Frate 1975). In a study conducted environmental concerns due to the rettes” as having fewer health risks in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, more than 125 oil and chemical (Richter et al. 2008). Allen and Page every African-American respondent plants in this highly industrial- (1994) found that despite the overall was familiar with the practice of ge- ized region that uses the Missis- lower drug use for blacks compared ophagy and knew a few people who sippi River as its primary drinking to whites, African-American high partook in it. Reasons for geophagy water source (White 1998). While school students in Mississippi re- include the sour lemonlike taste of relatively little research has been mained overrepresented “in public clay and the belief that it is health- conducted on black suicide rates, drug treatment programs, hospital ful – especially for pregnant women a recent study in Fulton County, admissions for drug problems, drug- (Dickins and Ford 1942). Georgia, found black suicide victims related mortality and arrests with tend to be younger, male and more Environmental issues have af- drug-positive urine samples.” likely to hurt others when taking fected African-Americans dispropor- their own lives. They also are less Dietary issues also have been tionally in the Gulf Coast region. likely to leave a suicide note, report explored for African-Americans in White (1998) found that poverty- suffering from depression or have a the Gulf Coast region. McGee et al. stricken African-Americans living in family history of depression (Abe et (2009) found that younger, lower-in- the New Orleans and Baton Rouge al. 2008). come black males in the Mississippi Delta are less likely to eat out than their white counterparts. A couple African-American Populaon of the United States of studies also have detailed the and the Gulf of Mexico Region: 1980-2010 practice of geophagy, or dirt eating, 40 among some African-Americans in Mississippi. According to Vermeer 35 1980 1990 and Frate (1975), the practice is 30 an Old World custom that was 2000 25 brought by slaves to America and 2010 was practiced by black women and 20 children of both sexes in Holmes Percentage 15 County, Mississippi. Although black males were not known to partake in 10 this practice, young black women 5 were reported to use laundry starch, baking soda, wheat flour and dry 0 powdered milk as substitutes for United States AlabamaLouisiana Mississippi TexasFlorida Data from U.S. Decennial Census and ACS Five-year Estimates

LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans 13 New Orleans American residents whose issues the ers even taught their slaves to read. leaders fail to adequately address Following slavery, whites would help No review of the literature on (Cunnigen 2006). African-Americans establish histori- African-Americans in the Gulf cally black colleges and universities. of Mexico region would be com- Education and Historically Black Blacks eventually sought to gain plete without specific mention of financial and leadership control the city of New Orleans. Accord- Colleges and Universities from whites because they believed ing to Kaslow (1981), the French While blacks saw education as an this was vital to developing African- and Spanish colonial influences opportunity for social advancement, American men who would serve as combined with the high concentra- many whites attempted to main- capable community leaders (Wright tion of African-Americans in New tain control over African-American 2008). Historically black colleges Orleans created a cultural landscape learning to preserve their own self- and universities such as Jackson that consists of benevolent societ- interests (Span 2001). Reed (1965) State University and Tougaloo Col- ies, carnival organizations, ecstatic investigated how legislative Recon- lege sheltered their students from religions and other factors that con- struction efforts failed to provide Mississippi’s discriminatory practic- tribute to a unique sense of black equal educational opportunities for es by functioning as a closed society community within this region. African-American children. In fact, white Southern legislators worked that isolated students from politi- White (2003) studied how slaves in collaboration with municipal and cal hostility and “state-sanctioned in French Colonial New Orleans civic leaders to establish a racially terrorism” (Favors 2006). As racial used different dressing techniques segregated education system to tensions eased following the civil to distinguish themselves from one limit the economic and social op- rights movement, the University of another. She found many examples portunities for African-Americans Alabama established eight African- of West African aesthetics in their (Green 2010). Although Southern American fraternities and sororities attire, such as head adornments African-American teachers worked between 1973 and 1976, with the layered with ornaments and jewelry; in tremendously unfair and dis- intent of enhancing social, cultural, frequent use of the color red; and criminatory positions, they refused spiritual and academic opportu- turbanlike head wraps. to become victims of this hostile nities for the black student body environment as they self-identified (Jones 2007). Many working class African- as professionals and performed their Over the years, college athletics Americans in New Orleans are jobs accordingly (Walker 2001). have become equally important to members of benevolent societies Fairclough (1995) notes the average blacks as to whites as part of South- that host second-line parades. These per capita sum for black students in- ern heritage. Much of this is due to parades, which occur most Sunday creased dramatically between 1940 the increased popularity of college afternoons from mid-August to late and 1955, rising from 24 percent of football at historically black colleges March, celebrate the anniversaries the amount spent upon white stu- and universities. The annual Gram- of their social groups. They also dents to 74 percent. take the form of “jazz funerals” bling/Southern rivalry, which began honoring their deceased members Racial animosity toward blacks in 1932, was ignored by the white (Regis 1999). carried over to the collegiate level press at that time. Today, known as as well. A survey conducted with the Bayou Classic, it has become a Black leaders began to gain politi- LSU students during the 1940s nationally broadcast game held in cal power due to the rise of the elite found only 13 percent approved of the Superdome (Aiello 2010). “Creoles of Colour” several decades integrated schools (Turbeville and Educational inequality continues ago. Massive racial inequality has Hyde 1946). These racial attitudes to plague African-American com- persisted, however, despite their did not prevent LSU from becoming munities in the Gulf Coast region increased political representation in the first Deep South state university in the post-civil rights era. McAl- the city. This includes high rates of to admit a black student in 1950 lister (1972) states that for the sake black-on-black crime and dispropor- (Fairclough 1995). tionate numbers of African-Ameri- of improving Louisiana’s schools, cans living in poverty. A disconnect Despite the vehement discrimina- public sentiment needs to favor the exists between the socioeconomic tion many whites fueled through- implementation of teacher train- background of the contemporary out the history of the Gulf Coast ing specifically focused on African- black leadership, who come primar- region, some played an important American education and improving ily from middle-class backgrounds, role in educating blacks. According the places where these educators are and the poverty-stricken African- to Davis (1917), some slave own- trained. Whites continue to outper-

14 LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans form blacks on academic achieve- Table 4: Overview ment tests (Bankston III, Caldas Overview of African-Americans in the Gulf of Mexico Region and Zhou 1997). Since Louisiana passed Act 478, its most recent Section Broad Conclusions educational accountability system Origins and History African-Americans originally were brought as slaves to the Gulf in 1997, there has been a slight Coast region. Although they were emancipated following the Civil War, discrimination and inequality have persisted, even since the improvement in African-American advent of the civil rights movement. student achievement – although the Migration From 1910-1970, African-Americans participated in one of the achievement gap persists between largest migrations in human history as they left the rural South and black and white students. Black sought better economic opportunities in the urban areas of the students also remain more likely to North and the West. Once industrialization helped to urbanize the be retained, suspended or expelled, South and underemployment occurred in the North, many blacks or to drop out of school, than their moved to Southern cities for better job prospects. white counterparts (Szymmanski Culture African-Americans have made unique cultural contributions to 2010). the Gulf Coast region, particularly in the realms of music, religion, education and community celebrations. Racial segregation also remains Occupations After slavery, many African-Americans struggled to find employ- an issue in the contemporary ment outside of agriculture or manual labor. They gradually have education system. In May 2000, a begun to integrate into other labor markets. court order was issued to close two Oil and Gas Industry When the oil industry expanded in the Gulf of Mexico region, predominately African-American many African-Americans initially were excluded from this lucrative profession. The oil bust left many blacks geographically isolated in elementary schools in southwestern poverty-stricken regions with few well-paying economic opportu- Louisiana and bus the students to nities as well-to-do whites moved to the suburbs. five predominately white schools in Economy Although overcoming disproportionately high poverty rates in the an effort to desegregate Lafayette Gulf Coast region that stem from geographic and occupational Parish schools (Caldas et al. 2002). segregation has been a struggle for African-Americans, their situa- Eckes (2006) study of schooling tion has significantly improved since the Jim Crow era. in the Mississippi Delta examined Ecology African-Americans have been mislabeled as less environmentally parents’ perceptions of defacto concerned than whites because they are not as likely to be activ- segregation consisting of predomi- ists. They are more likely, however, to remain committed to the environment during economic hardships than whites. nately black public schools and all-white private schools. White par- Politics African-American voter registration increased dramatically following the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Although cities such as ents perceive the private schools as New Orleans have had many prominent black politicians, decades offering a higher quality education. of racial tension have made many whites reluctant to vote for black They also said they feared potential public officials. discipline problems, lower academic expectations and a lack of extracur- ricular activities as other reasons for opting out of public education. Black parents, on the other hand, perceived the more affluent whites as abandoning the public schools and continuing to hold on to outdat- ed, racist attitudes (Eckes 2006).

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Authors Nile Patterson, Louisiana State University Mark J. Schafer, LSU AgCenter http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/communications/authors/MSchafer.htm Troy Blanchard, Louisiana State University

Acknowledgements This research was funded in part by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management as part of a larger project studying ethnic groups and enclaves in the Gulf of Mexico region. We would like to acknowledge Harry Luton from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for his feedback and encouragement throughout this project. We would also www.LSUAgCenter.com like to thank Diane Austin, Thomas McGuire, Britny Delp, Margaret Edgar, Lindsey Feldman, Brian Marks, Lauren Penney, Kelly McLain, William B. Richardson, LSU Vice President for Agriculture Justina Whalen, Devon Robbie, Monica Voge, Doug Welch, and Victo- Louisiana State University Agricultural Center ria Phaneuf from the University of Arizona, for providing a database of Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station literature and support. Similarly, we would like to acknowledge Helen Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service Regis, Carolyn Ware, Bethany Rogers, and Annemarie Galeucia of LSU College of Agriculture Louisiana State University, for their comments and feedback. Finally, we would like to thank Huizhen Niu, Louisiana State University, for her Research Report #121 (275) 10/13 assistance with GIS mapping. The LSU AgCenter is a statewide campus of the LSU System and provides equal opportunities in programs and employment. Louisiana State University is an equal opportunity/access university.

20 LSU AgCenter Research Report #121 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the Gulf of Mexico Region: African-Americans