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The Historic New Orleans Collection

Runnin’ and Runnin’ in Louisiana: The Underground Railroad

October 15, 2024

First-person accounts of enslaved people who sought freedom enliven this exploration of the Underground Railroad in Louisiana.

A black and white illustration depicts a group of African-American individuals walking with determination. A prominent figure in the foreground, wearing a headscarf and long dress, points forward, leading the group. The artwork is dynamic and expressive.

Learn about the Underground Railroad from primary sources in this interactive presentation. Excerpts from runaway slave ads, oral histories of formerly enslaved people, photographs, and more illustrate the stakes, challenges, and triumphs of freedom seekers.

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Derven Scholars

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First Draft

From Slavery to Sports Stardom

First Draft

Slavery’s “Lost Friends” Continue to Speak. Are We Listening?

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Detail of the back cover from the Elmwood Plantation menu, showing an illustration featuring the columns of the building.

Elmwood Plantation Menu

This stylish menu from a restaurant in a former plantation home belies the site’s dark history of human enslavement.

Portrait of a woman with dark hair, wearing a black dress with a white collar. She is seated, holding a small object in her left hand, against a plain background. Her expression is calm and composed.

Cane River Collection

Over 1,400 legal and financial documents amount to a detailed record of one slice of 19th-century Black Creole life.

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“The Scourged Back”

HNOC acquired an original copy of the infamous image that took Civil War-era America by storm, quickly becoming a tool of the abolitionist cause.

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Virtual exhibitions

Purchased Lives: New Orleans and the Domestic Slave Trade, 1808–1865

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HNOC Family Historian Jari C. Honora sits down for an interview with Fox 8 News about Rose Nicaud.
HNOC in the News

WVUE: On International Coffee Day, HNOC Unveils New Research About Rose Nicaud

October 1, 2025
In a special interview, HNOC Family Historian Jari C. Honora discusses the fascinating life of New Orleans’s famed coffee seller.
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Announcement

HNOC Loan Heads to the Met for Exhibition about Black Fashion

May 6, 2025
“Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” as previewed by the theme of this year’s Met Gala, will feature a livery coat once worn by a young enslaved man.

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