KnowLA is a comprehensive, dynamic online reference guide to the history and culture of Louisiana. The encyclopedia is accessible to anyone with a web-enabled device, free of charge.
Mahalia Jackson, a New Orleans native, was one of the most powerful and influential singers in African-American gospel music. Continue »
Jarvis, John Wesley
John Wesley Jarvis was as well-known for his eccentric personality and dress as he was for his talent as a portrait and landscape painter. Continue »
Jazz Funerals and Second Line Parades
New Orleans Jazz Funerals are public burial services for prominent community members; traditionally African American males. After the funeral service, a procession of musicians, funeral directors, family, and friends moves from the site of the funeral to the cemetery while marching to the beat of a brass band. Continue »
Jazz, Traditional New Orleans
Traditional New Orleans jazz is a musical genre with distinctive stylistic features that are tied to festival traditions within a discrete, regional culture. Continue »
Jean-Pierre, Ulrick
Ulrick Jean-Pierre, a New Orleans resident since the early 1990s, creates lush historical paintings of his native Haiti many infused with representations of the centuries-old connections between Haiti and his adopted city. Continue »
Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton was the first important composer and arranger of New Orleans jazz, as well as an agile pianist, a compelling singer, and one of the early jazz world’s most flamboyant characters. Continue »
Jim Crow/Segregation
In the late nineteenth century, the implementation of Jim Crow—or racial segregation—laws institutionalized white supremacy and black inferiority throughout the South. Continue »
Jindal, Bobby
Piyush “Bobby” Jindal is the fifty-fifth governor of Louisiana. Continue »
Paul Emile Johns is credited with the first performance of a Beethoven piano concerto, in New Orleans in 1819. Continue »
Johnson, Bunk
Bunk Johnson was a trumpeter and one of the leaders of the New Orleans jazz revival in the 1930s. Continue »
Johnson, Georgia
Georgia Johnson was a businesswoman and civil rights activist in Alexandria from the 1920s to the 1960s. Continue »
Johnson, Henrietta Windham
Henrietta Windham Johnson was a social campaigner and civil rights activist in Monroe. Continue »
Johnson, Henry
Henry Johnson, the first professional politician elected governor of Louisiana, served from December 1824 until December 1828. Continue »
Johnson, Isaac
Beginning his term just after the passage of the Constitution of 1845, Governor Johnson was determined to uphold its somewhat controversial provisions including the elimination of property qualifications that limited the voting pool, and the creation of a public school system. Continue »
Johnson, Louise Brazzel
Union Parish businesswoman, civic leader, and politician Louise Brazzel Johnson was the first woman elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives from her northern Louisiana district. Continue »
Johnson, Neil L.
Photographer Neil Johnson has built an impressive career as a freelance photojournalist and commercial photographer. Continue »
Johnson, Richard
Richard Johnson is often labeled an “abstract illusionist” New Orleans painter who explores classical landscapes and the figure to create highly expressionistic compositions. Continue »
Frances Benjamin Johnston's seven-decade career as a photographer began in Washington, D.C. during the presidency of Benjamin Harrison, and concluded in New Orleans, months before Dwight Eisenhower's election to the same office. Continue »
