Media Archive
The Midlo Center promotes new research about the city’s history and culture by supporting the creation of oral histories, interviews, and panel discussions with notable New Orleanians and historians. Our recorded oral history collections, interviews, and panels are available to the public via the Midlo Center's YouTube channel and the links below.
Oral History Collections
The 1978 Election of Ernest ‘Dutch’ Morial, New Orleans’s First Black Mayor
A collection of oral histories with key political figures and policymakers involved in the election of Ernest “Dutch” Morial.
Oral history interviews with New Orleans Labor leaders conducted by Judge Roland Belsome.
Retrospective Conversations about African-American Leadership in late 20th Century New Orleans
An oral history project interviewing major Black political leaders in the post-Dutch Morial Era, highlighting the contribution of African American political leaders to modern New Orleans.
Interviews and Panel Discussions
Black New Orleans: A Panel Discussion of Blassingame’s Classic
Historians discuss “Black New Orleans," John Blassingame's classic text and new directions on the city's early African American history at Ashé Powerhouse Theater in 2017.
Sold South: Tracing an Enslaved Community From Maryland to Louisiana
Historians and descendants discuss the legacy of the 1838 sale of 272 enslaved people by the Jesuit leaders of Georgetown University to plantations in Louisiana at The Historic New Orleans Collection.
Musicians, artists, and educators talk about their lives in New Orleans music during French Quarter Fest 2012.
Lectures
Slavery in the Suburbs: Enslaved Lives & Urban Development in New Orleans, 1788-1852
Midlo Visiting Scholar Greg A. Beaman shares his research restoring the identity of the enslaved men and women whose labor built New Orleans and exploring how public officials and private individuals profited doubly through investments in real estate and human property.
The Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Lecture Series
Thirteen lectures on the Louisiana Purchase, held in fall 2002 at LSU New Orleans, cover a wide range of topics, debunk old myths, and fill in gaps in local historical knowledge.