While there are a lot of stories about public housing in New York City and Chicago, those from the US south are much less common. This one comes from New Orleans and it honours 75 Black women — residents who worked to make the public housing projects where they lived into homes and communities.
Initiatives included after school programs for children, employment training for youth and programs for the elderly. The organizers fought unfair evictions and poor housing conditions. They also linked with community agencies to reduce domestic violence and substance use.
New Orleans got into the public housing business early, completing four projects during World War II. At its peak, there were 10,000 units. The buildings were segregated and most of the residents were Black people who had been living in housing that was demolished in the name of slum clearance and/or to make way for freeways.
These women’s organizing in public housing was much less visible than freedom marches and demonstrations in public venues, which garnered lots of media and police attention. But as the story relates, it was very important for improving the lives of people who lived in New Orleans Public Housing and the broader community. Read more about the organizers here: Black Women in Public Housing: A Movement Without Marches
This story is one of 60 posters featured in Paper Monuments, a project that publicized historic figures and initiatives that are not widely known. The posters were displayed along streets in New Orleans. The poster exhibition coincided with a campaign to dismantle a statue of Robert E. Lee, who led the Confederate forces during the Civil War.
Paper Monuments tells stories researched and compiled by city residents who do not normally participate in public consultations and civic life. Paper Monuments offer(ed) alternative views of who and what could be memorialized. All of the posters are available here
