OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE” ~ ALFRED LAWLESS

Recently, I read about A Petition. The Petition read, “Change Our School Name back to Alfred Lawless High School.” You see, when Hurricane Katrina devastated the lower 9th Ward Black Community in New Orleans, Louisiana. It also destroyed The Alfred Lawless High School. The High School was named for Rev. Alfred Lawless . The Alfred Lawless High School was founded in the lower ninth ward as a public school( Alfred Lawless High School has graduated lawyers, educators, entrepreneurs, nurses, and politicians ).   So who was Alfred Lawless, you might ask? Well, he was born on July 26,1872 in Thibodaux, Louisiana. He attended Straight University in New Orleans and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1900, and a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1902. In 1903, the American Missionary Association sent Alfred Lawless to “Oscar, Louisiana” to replace Laforest A Planving[ the Negro principal and founder of Pointe Coupe Industrial High School ].After his arrival at the High School in Oscar,Louisiana, Mr. Lawless was shot at and advised to get out of town. He went back to New Orleans, Louisiana . In 1904, he founded the Beecher Memorial Congregational Church. In 1914, he became the principal of Fisk Colored School.  Additionally, Rev. Alfred Lawless became the Superintendent of Negro Congregational Churches in the South in 1917{ Alfred Lawless High School and the Lawless Memorial Chapel on Dillard University's campus were named in his honor }. While writing this article, I got to thinking about the some of the buildings in our Black Communities that were once here, but are now gone and forgotten. Like Mt Nebo School that was on Jackson St in Monroe,the Booker T Washington School that use to be in Booker T on Powell Ave, Johnson Cleaners that was on Swayze St near Carroll High School, and The Negro Knights of Pythias Lodge building that was located near the city graveyard in Monroe.How many can you remember???