Featured photo by Chelsa King of Crowned ShreveportBlackRestaurants.com is a new website produced by the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau, in collaboration with Loving This Life Jada, that aims to serve as a one-stop-shop for anyone seeking information on Black-owned food businesses in Shreveport-Bossier. The site launched on Tuesday, July …
From April 22 to May 22, 2019, Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser will host a series of meetings in cities across Louisiana to help identify locations for the new Louisiana Civil Rights Trail. According to a press release from the Louisiana Office of Tourism, this trail “will help tell the overarching …
As far as epitaphs go, the words that are etched into Elder Utah Smith’s new grave marker in Shreveport are about as cool as they come: “Electric Guitar Evangelist.” At 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018, a group of music and history enthusiasts will gather at Carver Memorial Cemetery …
***UPDATE: The Art & Soul Experience planned for Saturday, May 19 has been canceled.*** Have you ever been on a guided tour that so exceeded your expectations that you couldn’t stop talking about it for weeks? I have, and it was right here in Shreveport-Bossier – at the Southern University …
Looking for a unique way to celebrate Black History Month 2018 in Shreveport? Southern University Museum of Art at Shreveport (SUMAS) will host the Art and Soul of Shreveport Experience Tour at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10. The experience includes a guided tour of the museum lead by educator …
If you care about the local food traditions of Shreveport-Bossier and Northwest Louisiana, I would like to personally ask a favor: Please pay a visit to Eddie’s Restaurant sometime in the near future. The historic eatery, which was established in 1978 at 1956 Hollywood Avenue in Shreveport, has been challenged …
Organizers of the 31st annual Let the Good Times Roll Festival have announced details of the event, which will take place, June 16-18, 2017 in downtown Shreveport’s Festival Plaza. As always, the festival’s live music line-up includes a diverse mix of music styles and some truly surprising selections. You can see …
The “Night at the Museum” dinner that Chef Monique Armand of Sassi Cafè will serve at Southern University Museum of Art on Wednesday, March 15 may be the most ambitious of any 318 Restaurant Week event to date. The dinner, a Women’s History Month-themed event, will salute black women who have …
Shreveport-based pastor, disc jockey and singer Eddie Giles is the subject of a fantastic new CD compiling Giles’ recordings from 1967 to 1969. The CD, entitled Eddy Giles: Southern Soul Brother, was recently released by Ace Records in London and may be purchased online via Amazon.com. The music itself is …
Last Spring, I spent a month or so looking into the origins of Shreveport-style stuffed shrimp, a unique style of stuffed shrimp made popular by the historic Freeman & Harris Café (which, at one point, was the oldest black-owned restaurant in America) and, later, Pete Harris Café. That story, “Secrets in …
For Shreveporters, Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter (1888-1949) represents an iconic music figure from our own backyard. Growing up in nearby Mooringsport, the bright red lights of St. Paul’s Bottoms neighborhood (renamed Ledbetter Heights in 1982) attracted Leadbelly to Shreveport where he honed his guitar skills. His time spent in the Bottoms …
Photo: Rev. Utah Smith, circa 1948. Source: Shreveport Sun (Shreveport, LA), June 26, 1948; Black Ethnic Archives, Southern University at Shreveport. The scene of a minister conducting faith healing ceremonies under a tent in Shreveport’s Allendale-Lakeside neighborhood during the 1940s evokes a striking mental image. Perhaps even more so when …
The Krewe of Harambee Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Mardi Gras Parade, which rolls through downtown Shreveport each year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (this year’s event will begin at 1 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 19, 2015) is always one of my most-anticipated Carnival season events. Bursting at the …
Adrian Miller, who describes himself as “a curious guy with an appetite,” has held quite a few distinguished titles. A graduate of Stanford University and Georgetown Law, Miller practiced law in Colorado before becoming a special assistant to President Bill Clinton and Deputy Director of the President’s Initiative for One …
Now through Jan. 31, 2014, visitors to the campus of Southern University at Shreveport can explore one of the most unique history lessons I’ve ever seen, an exhibit of photographs entitled “Have Faith…Yours Truly: Celebrating Pearrie’s House of Style.” The exhibit consists of about 30 photographs of regional and national …
For more than four decades, the New Arts Cultural Society has served the community through enriching performances by the critically-acclaimed New Dimensions Choral Society. And through the years, this choral group, founded by veteran musician and director Bobby Wiggins, has performed many concerts and commissioned works, including Roger Dickerson’s “A Requiem …
