HNOC in the News

Beyond Bourbon Street Podcast Explores “The Trail They Blazed”

September 10, 2025

Exhibition curator Eric Seiferth joined host Mark Bologna to discuss HNOC’s newest exhibition about the Civil Rights Movement in New Orleans.

Visitors explore "The Trail They Blazed" exhibition at HNOC.

A man visits HNOC’s The Trail They Blazed exhibition. Photo by Melissa Carrier, HNOC

“In 2016 and 2017 we started recording oral histories of people who were active in New Orleans in the Civil Rights Movement. We recorded 50 hours in 30 interviews, and that became the base for our storytelling in The Trail They Blazed. . . . We incorporated a way for visitors to hear the voices of the activists sharing their experiences. Their words drive the storytelling.”

Eric Seiferth, exhibition curator

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Enjoy more episodes of the Beyond Bourbon Street podcast that explore past HNOC exhibitions, publications, programs, and more.

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Related Exhibitions

Exhibitions

The Trail They Blazed

June 6, 2025 to June 7, 2026

Leaders of the local Civil Rights Movement tell their stories of resistance and persistence.

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Black and white photo of people in line for voting registration outside a building. Two men are seated near a Voting Applications sign, and several individuals are standing in line, some wearing hats and summer clothing.

Related Collection Highlights

A sepia-toned vintage photograph of a man with curly dark hair and a mustache. He is dressed in a 19th-century suit with a double-breasted coat and bow tie. The image has an old, slightly worn appearance.

Dr. Louis Charles Roudanez Papers

A rare collection of manuscript essays and family correspondence offers a thrilling look at one of the most influential people in the early struggle for African American civil rights in Louisiana.

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American Black Directory

A post-segregation sibling to the Green Book, this directory compiled information on Black-owned businesses across the country.

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Related Virtual Exhibitions

A group of people walking on a street, several wearing Vote 3 Dutch Morial shirts. Some are smiling and waving. Trees and houses are in the background. The mood appears lively and supportive.

Women's Rights

“Yet She Is Advancing”: New Orleans Women and the Right to Vote, 1878–1970

The story of women’s suffrage, leading up to and beyond the passage of the 19th Amendment

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Four women stand behind a table set with a tablecloth, glassware, and a candle holder. Three of them wear light-colored dresses with floral corsages, and one wears a dark dress with a white collar. They are smiling and posed for a photograph.

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Voices of Progress: Twenty Women Who Changed New Orleans

Portraits of women who fought for equality, justice, and charity

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Related News

HNOC in the News

WVUE-TV: HNOC Debuts “The Trail They Blazed” Exhibition

June 4, 2025

Curator Eric Seiferth explains how HNOC’s new exhibition showcases New Orleans’s important role in the local and national Civil Rights Movement.

HNOC senior curator Eric Seiferth discusses the Dryades Street boycotts of 1960 in a segment by WVUE Fox 8 New Orleans.

HNOC in the News

WVUE: HNOC Curator Discusses the Dryades Street Boycott of 1960

May 26, 2026

Eric Seiferth joined WVUE Fox 8 New Orleans to discuss a key moment of the Civil Rights Movement in New Orleans, as told in HNOC’s “The Trail They Blazed” exhibition.