A New Orleans museum showcases Black Mardi Gras history

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The Backstreet Cultural Museum in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans highlights the history of Black Mardi Gras culture.
The Backstreet Cultural Museum in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans highlights the history of Black Mardi Gras culture. Photo Credit: WanderWomxn Travels

While Mardi Gras in New Orleans is known worldwide for its debaucherous celebrations -- lavish parades, bead throwing, to-go drinks and a raucous scene on Bourbon Street -- the city's Black communities created a rich Carnival culture of their own during segregation that lives on in the Crescent City today.

Those traditions are on display once again at the Backstreet Cultural Museum, which recently reopened in a new location on the corner of St. Philip and North Robertson streets in the city's storied Treme neighborhood. 

The building where the museum formerly resided was destroyed by Hurricane Ida last year.

Front and center at the Backstreet Museum are the Carnival Indians, later known as Mardi Gras Indians, which began as a way to pay homage to the indigenous Native communities that welcomed enslaved Africans who escaped their captors in the 1700s and 1800s. Today, the Indians are a ubiquitous sight during Mardi Gras and festival season as well as a staple of New Orleans culture. 

A collection of Mardi Gras Indian suits from various tribes on display.
A collection of Mardi Gras Indian suits from various tribes on display. Photo Credit: WanderWomxn Travels

The vibrantly colored and intricately beaded Indian costumes from various tribes are on display around the perimeter of the museum. They're decorated with footlong feathers, rhinestones and cowrie shells, along with hand-sewn, beaded designs depicting scenes of warriors or sacred symbols and are unveiled early in the morning on Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday. New suits are created every year.

Amid these awe-inspiring works of art, the exhibits orient visitors to various aspects of Black New Orleans culture that are on display during Mardi Gras but are essential to local communities throughout the year.

For example, one wall focuses on social aid and pleasure clubs and their foundational role in Black communities: It is these groups that, among other things, organize and participate in the "second lines" that the city is famous for. And one such group, the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, sponsors one of the most popular and longest-running parades in the city on Mardi Gras.

An exhibit honoring Sylvester "Hawk" Francis, the museum's founder who passed away in 2020.
An exhibit honoring Sylvester "Hawk" Francis, the museum's founder who passed away in 2020. Photo Credit: WanderWomxn Travels

The legacy of the museum's founder, Sylvester "Hawk" Francis, is ever present through pieces of the suits he wore while masking with the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi tribe and archival footage of him in parades and at the city's Jazz Fest. His daughter, Dominique Francis Dilling, is carrying on the torch for her father, who died in 2020, as she now serves as the museum's executive director.

Visitors can scroll tablets that offer information on jazz funerals and second lines and also learn about the cross-cultural traditions of St. Joseph's Day between the Sicilian immigrant and Black communities. In one corner of the museum, a documentary plays with rare footage about the activism of Mardi Gras Indian chiefs.

Decades' worth of photos, magazine covers and newspaper clippings decorate the walls, highlighting pioneers, culture bearers and local legends. 

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Photo Credit: Courtesy New Orleans & Co.

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    Other sections of the Backstreet Museum pay homage to the Skull and Bones Gang, who wake up the Treme neighborhood every Mardi Gras morning at sunrise banging drums, chanting and dancing; and the Baby Dolls, who in 1912 were the first women's masking group to take part in Mardi Gras at a time when women weren't allowed to participate. 

    The museum welcomes individuals and groups to explore on their own but also offers hourlong tours for up to 25 guests. It's recommended to reserve those tours in advance.

    The Backstreet Cultural Museum is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $20; locals, seniors and veterans are admitted for $15, and the price is $10 for children 12 and under. 

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