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Today in New Orleans History |
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December 3
 
 
 
 
 
The National World War II Museum re-opened post-Katrina on December 3, 2005.
Born in the Bywater on April 20, 1895, jazzman Emile Joseph Christian was the younger brother of Frank
Christian, also jazz musician. Emile wrote "Meet Me At the Green Goose", "Satanic Blues", and "Mardi
Gras Parade". In 1918 he went to New York City to replace Eddie Edwards in the Original Dixieland Jass Band. In
the 1950s he moved back to New Orleans, where he played with the bands of Leon Prima, Santo Pecora, Sharkey Bonano, as well
as in his own band. In 1957 he toured with the Louis Prima Band. He died in New Orleans on December 3, 1973
at the age of 78. Jazz bass player William Manuel "Bill" Johnson, born on August 10, 1872, is considered
the father of the "slap" style of string bass playing. Johnson claimed to
have started "slapping" the strings of his bass (a more vigorous technique than the classical pizzicato) after he
accidentally broke his bow on the road with his band in northern Louisiana in the early 1910s. Other New Orleans string bass
players picked up this style, and spread it across the country with the spread of New Orleans Jazz. Johnson was founder
and manager of the first jazz band to leave New Orleans and tour widely in the 1910s, The Original Creole
Orchestra. In Chicago in the early 1920s he assembled King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, considered perhaps the
best of the early ensemble style jazz bands. He taught younger Chicago musicians (including Milt Hinton) his "slap"
style of string bass playing. He made many fine recordings in Chicago in the late 1920s. Johnson continued to play with various
jazz bands and orchestras into the early 1950s, sometimes working under other names. He was also involved in the import/export
business along the USA-Mexico border. Johnson's brother Ollie "Dink" Johnson
was also a noted musician and his sister Anita Gonzales was common-law wife or perhaps married to Ferdinand "Jelly Roll"
Morton during his stays in California. Bill Johnson died in New Braunfels, Texas on December 3, 1972, at
the age of 100. A Streetcar Named Desire opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947. Roy E. Glapion, Jr. was born on December 3, 1935 in New Orleans, La. He was
educated in Catholic schools in New Orleans and obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Xavier University in 1958. He
received a Master's degree in education from Southern University in 1977. He served for 24 years in the Orleans Parish Public
School System as a teacher and coach, the majority of his time spent at Carter G. Woodson and Joseph S. Clark schools. He
then served for 12 years as Coordinator of Athletics for Orleans Parish Schools and later became the system's Athletic Director.
Glapion joined the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club in 1972 and soon became the club's finance chairman. By 1976, he was
elected club president, a position he would hold until 1988. Under his leadership, the Zulu Organization obtained a permanent
address at 732 North Broad St. and expanded their community service, fund raising, and social outings. In 1994, he was elected
to the New Orleans City Council as Representative for District "D". While on the city council, he continued to
be active on community issues and championed the causes of small and minority businesses. He served on several council committees
including the budget, utilities, and telecommunications committees. At the beginning of 1998, he was diagnosed with colon
cancer. While fighting the disease, he was elected King Zulu 2000, but lost his battle with cancer before he could reign.
He died on December 28, 1999 and the Zulu organization honored him by allowing his reign to be posthumous,
the King's float rolling empty in his memory on Mardi Gras 2000. (From the New Orleans Public Library)
Born in New Orleans on December 3, 1891, Lawrence "Larry" William Gilbert broke
into baseball as a left-handed pitcher, Gilbert first became famous as a member of the 1914 "Miracle" Boston Braves.
His major league career lasted only two seasons (the Braves' breakthrough 1914 campaign and 1915). He is better known
as a minor league manager in the Southern Association, where he led teams for 25 seasons, including the New Orleans Pelicans
from 1923–31 and 1933–38 and the Nashville Vols from 1939-48. He took 1932 off from his dugout duties to serve
as president of the Pelicans, then was a part-owner of the Vols from 1939 through 1955. His managing career was bracketed
by pennants. His New Orleans club posted 89 wins and a .610 winning percentage in 1923, and his final club, in Nashville,
won 95 games but lost the 1948 playoff championship. Gilbert won eight Southern Association championships during his quarter-century
in the league, including six consecutive titles (1939–44) with the Vols. His clubs twice won 101 games (1926 with New
Orleans and 1940 with Nashville). Gilbert's career record as a minor league skipper was 2,128 wins and 1,627 defeats (.567).
He died in New Orleans on February 17, 1965 at age 73. He was the father of Charlie Gilbert, a National League
outfielder from 1940–43 and in 1946-47, and Tookie Gilbert, a minor league slugger with the Vols who had two trials
with the New York Giants in the early 1950s. The Dominican Sisters opened St. John the Baptist School for Girls on December 3, 1860, with a recorded attendance of 200. The Senate nemed Jefferson Davis chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs on December 3, 1849, during the first session of the 31st United States Congress. On December 3, 1844, by city ordinance, the Council established a Lyceum and Library for the scholars of the municipality's public schools. That ordinance also provided that the Board of Directors of the schools would also serve as the Board of Directors of the Lyceum and Library.
At a December 3, 1797 meeting of the Cabild, the Royal Ensign Almonaster refused the two thousand Pesos offered at the previous meeting, stating that the Cabildo owes the Royal Treasury eight thousand Pesos (for levees). He requested that three thousand Pesos be delivered to the Royal Treasury, and offered to advance from his own funds, the shortage of the amount owed to the Royal Treasury. The Commissioners agreed to this and thanked the Royal Ensign for his unselfishness.
A New Orleans lady,
born in 1813 to a wealthy Frenchman and a quadroon free woman of color, who rejected the social norms of her times is now
the first U.S. native-born African American religious leader whose cause for canonization was officially opened by the
Catholic Church. Six years later, at the urging of Jeanne Marie Aliquot (an early supporter of St. Augustine Church)
and the counseling of Pere Etienne Rousselon (vica-general of the diocese), Delille and Gaudin knelt publicly at the
altar of St. Augustine Church on November 21, 1842 and pledged to live in community to work for orphan
girls, the uneducated, the poor, the sick and the elderly among the free people of color, thus founding the Congregation
of the Sisters of the Holy Family -- the second-oldest African-American congregation of religious women. In
1843, catechism classes were conducted for adults and children on St. Augustine's property at Bayou Road (now Governor Nicholls).
Delille and Gaudin were later joined by Josephine Charles; the first three novices, Delille, Gaudin and Charles, are considered
the founders of the congregation. Although the primary work of the sisters was in the area of education, during her tenure
as head of the order, Delille made it possible for the order to build a home for the sick, aged, and poor Black residents
of the city. The photo
above was taken by Sister Doris Goudeaux in 2008 of the three founding members' tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 2.
In summing up Henreitte Delille's life and mission, Sylvia Thibodeaux, a modern Sister of the Holy Family, told the
Los Angeles Times, "She was the servant of slaves. You can't get more committed than that. |
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During prohibition, North Carolina native Charlie Cantrell was running rum in Plaquemine. He was also a master of the
"Shake Up" which involved mixing grain alcohol with flavorings to create concoctions tasting like gin, whiskey,
rum, and other liquors. "Sometimes it wasn't too good, but it could get you drunk", said Cantrell. Benson
Harrison "Pat" O'Brien was a customer who bootlegged liquor back home to Birmingham. They became friends.
Charlie ran the business. Pat handled the customers. They were perfect partners in this endeavor. During World War II,
Cantrell worked in a defense shipyard where he met George Oechsner, who would become the General Manager, taking Cantrell's
place and becoming part owner in 1947. In 1979 Oechsner's son George "Sonny" Jr. took over the role. It was
Sonny's idea to begin franchising and Pat O'Brien's bars sprouted up in 
Henriette Delille's birth was the results of a placage, an extralegal "common law" system which became
institutionalized in our city during the Colonial Era. The arrangements included contracts or negotiations between white
men and free women of color which stipulated the financial and/or housing arrangements for woman, the settlement of property,
and, many times, paternal recognition of any children the union produced. The woman's mother usually negotiated the terms
of the agreements, including the financial payment to the parent. To our modern sensibilities, such arrangements
seem arcahaic but they were acceptable in their day and provided mixed-race women with social prestige and financial security.
Henriette Delille passed away on November 16, 1862 at the age of 50. It is thought that her
death was a result of tuberculosis. Her funeral was held at St. Augustine church. She is buried in St. Louis Cemetery
No. 2. 
