The great Southern Babylon : sex, race, and respectability in New Orleans, 1865-1920 / Alecia P. Long.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Long, Alecia P., 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Prostitution--Louisiana--New Orleans--History.

Prostitution.

Sex industry--Louisiana--New Orleans--History.

Sex industry.

Sex customs--Louisiana--New Orleans--History.

Sex customs.

Women--Louisiana--New Orleans--Social conditions.

Women.

African Americans--Louisiana--New Orleans--Social conditions.

African Americans.

Miscegenation (Racist theory)--Louisiana--New Orleans--History.

Miscegenation (Racist theory).

Social status--Louisiana--New Orleans--History.

Social status.

History.

Social conditions.

New Orleans (La.)--Race relations.

New Orleans (La.).

New Orleans (La.)--Social life and customs.

New Orleans (La.)--Social conditions.

Louisiana--New Orleans.

Physical Description:

xv, 282 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [2004]

Summary:

With a well-earned reputation for tolerance of both prostitution and miscegenation, New Orleans became known as the Great Southern Babylon in antebellum times. Following the Civil War, a profound alteration in social and economic conditions gradually reshaped the city's sexual culture and erotic commerce. Historian Alecia P. Long traces sex in the Crescent City over fifty years, drawing from Louisiana Supreme Court case testimony to reveal intriguing tales of people both obscure and famous whose relationships and actions exemplify the era.

Long introduces a black woman and white man whose thirty-year romance endured without benefit of legal or social sanction; an immigrant entrepreneur who became the wealthy impresario of lascivious concert saloons; a reform activist who supported quarantining prostitution -- until city leaders established vice district boundaries in his backyard; a young prostitute who prospered as a madam in the notorious Storyville red-light district while leading a double life as a respectable member of New Orleans society; and mixedrace women who used their legendary allure as "octoroons" to make their fortunes. In weaving together these individual experiences, the author uncovers a connection between the geographical segregation of prostitution and the rising tide of racial segregation. She also offers a compelling explanation of how New Orleans's lucrative sex trade drew tourists from the Bible Belt and beyond even as a nationwide trend toward the commercialization of sex emerged.

Alecia Long dispels the romanticized smoke and perfume surrounding Storyville to reveal in the reasons for its rise and fall a fascinating corner of southern history. The Great Southern Babylon illuminates a complex mosaic of race, gender, sexuality, social class, and commerce in turn-of-the-twentieth-century New Orleans.

Contents:

"It's because you are a colored woman" : sex, race, and concubinage after the Civil War

The business of pleasure : concert saloons and sexual commerce in the economic mainstream

"Where the least harm can result" : sex, race, and respectability in a single neighborhood

"Unusual situations and remarkable people" : Mary Deubler, respectability, and the history of Storyville

"As rare as white blackbirds" : Willie Piazza, race, and reform in Storyville.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [233]-268) and index.

ISBN:

0807129321

OCLC:

52902556