One person who most identifies a city is its mayor. There are council members, legislators, judges, sheriffs and police chiefs, but it's the mayor who usually, for better or worse, is in the best position to direct the future. Friday…
When the story of the protests for more civil rights in Louisiana is told there were several key stops along the way including a church in Shreveport, a march to Bogalusa and Dooky Chase restaurant in New Orleans. Organizer Glenda…
Shane Bernard has Louisiana culture in his blood. He also has splashes of Tabasco sauce. Bernard, a historian who has chronicled Cajun culture and the Swamp pop music scene, is also the archivist for Tabasco hot sauce. He, a scholar…
Bob Mann has been in the boiler room with many important Louisiana political figures including Russell Long, J. Bennett Johnson, John Breaux and Katheen Blanco. He has also written about Louisiana politics as a newspaper reporter and as an author…
Clare Chennault led the country he was fighting for in defeating the Japanese in the air war. Surprisingly, that country was China and without his aerial combat skills Japan may have conquered the nation in 1937. Accordingly, the outcome of…
This year marks the 30th anniversary of casino type gambling being legitimized in Louisiana. Pulitzer-winning journalist Tyler Bridges joins Errol Laborde, executive editor of Louisiana Life, along with producer Kelly Massicot to discuss the political history of the games of…
When Jim Brown, a young attorney from Louisiana first met Edwin Edwards, who was in Congress at the time, the two men sat on the steps of the U.S. capitol and talked about Louisiana politics and their ambitions. It was…
It was 1966 and racial tensions, which were always high in Plaquemines Parish, were boiling over—a group of male Black students was fighting against some white males. Gary Duncan, a local who was related to one of the Black students,…
Imagine, you’re the pilot of an ocean freighter working its way up the Mississippi River. There’s something important you should know. Regardless of your destination you should dock the big ship somewhere before you reach the “old bridge” in Baton…
Imagine, walking down the street one night in Opelousas and hearing in the distance music from Ray Charles or maybe James Brown. Only that was no jukebox that you were hearing but Charles and Brown themselves performing live in St.…
A levee’s riverside is called a batture. For a few hearty souls it is also called “home.” Author Macon Fry lives in a camp on a batture at the edge of Orleans Parish. He has been chronicling stories of people…
Louisiana has always had some dry parishes where booze was limited by local law, but the state and especially New Orleans did not take too well to the period from 1920 through 1933, when alcohol sales was curtailed nationwide. Prohibition…
What does it mean when the top 10 movies set in Louisiana are discussed, two of them have the word “Easy” in the title? After much discussion, we have concluded that it is probably only a coincidence because the competition…
For many, the image of Jewish settlements in the United States have been mostly on the East Coast and in major cities. However, there has long been a Jewish population spread across the South and in rural areas. Dating back…
Bre'r Rabbit was a trickster who loved to defy authority and who pulled his stunts throughout the South. He is known for finding seclusion in briar parches but in Louisiana, his spiritual home was Laura Plantation where former slaves told…
Errol LabordeErrol Laborde holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of New Orleans and is the Editor in Chief of Renaissance Publishing. In that capacity he serves as Editor/Associate Publisher of New Orleans Magazine and Editor/ Publisher of Louisiana Life Magazine. Errol is also a producer and a regular panelist on Informed Sources, a weekly news discussion program broadcast on public television station WYES-TV, Channel 12. Errol is a three-time winner of the Alex Waller Award, the highest award given in print journalism by the New Orleans Press Club. Errol’s most recent books are "Krewe: The Early Carnival from Comus to Zulu" and "Marched the Day God," a history of the Rex organization. In his free time he enjoys playing tennis and traveling with his wife Peggy to anywhere they can get away to, but some of his favorite spots are the Caribbean and historic locations around Louisiana. You can reach Errol at (504) 830-7235 or errol@louisianalife.com.