New Orleans at the end of the 19th century was a vibrant city full of life, tradition, multiculturalism, and a certain flair that can only be found in the ‘Crescent City’. Like most major cities in the 19th century, New Orleans also had an industry of sex workers, and although New Orleans is not unique for having legal prostitution, it was one of if not the most well known places for prostitution in its time.
(Some of the following images are NSFW)
In 1897, under the guidelines of councilman Sidney Story, New Orleans created two red light districts in order to contain and regulate prostitution in the city. The most popular section was Storyville, a several block radius just of the French Quarter between Canal and Basin Street. The second and less well known red light district operated in a small square between Gravier and Perditot and the no longer existing Franklin and Locust.
Although known for being a place where people of different races could mix freely, it was not immune from the Jim Crow laws that swept the south after the Civil War – being the origin of Plessy v. Ferguson that set the standard of “separate but equal.” The larger neighborhood closer to the train station, which attracted more customers was supposed to only have white or light skinned prostitutes, although women of color were allowed to work there as well. The smaller district, further removed from the tourism and commerce, only had black women and was only geared towards black men.
Over the course of its almost twenty year existence, thousands of women moved in and out of these districts, sometimes just for a night but sometimes for a month, a year or more. These women were integral to the economy of the city, a large attraction for the already booming tourist industry. While history may never know their full stories, these women – both the prostitutes and the madams – regardless of color, saw themselves as more than just prostitutes. They did not define themselves by their occupation and worked to rise above the label placed on them by society.
“Storyville was a multiracial and multiethnic district with substantial African American, Euro-American, Caribbean, and Creole populations…”
“It regulates the women so that they may live in one district to themselves instead of being scattered over the city and filling our thoroughfares with street walkers.”
“The city also enforced racial segregation within Storyville, requiring white and black women to occupy separate brothels, and prohibiting black men from patronizing either white women or the more luxurious of the black brothel.”
The census data compiled in 1900 and 1910 shows a variety of women in Storyville. While there is room for error, it deemed any woman who listed their address within the district of Storyville who was not part of a family unit a prostitute. There is also the fact that a number of women did not live in Storyville full time. According to musician Louis Armstrong, who was born there, “lots of prostitutes lived in different sections of the city and would come down to Storyville just like they had a job. There were different shifts for them.”
There was a large amount of Louisiana born women, followed by women from the southeast, the mid-west and northeast, and a number of foreign born women. From 1900 to 1910, the number of foreign born women increased, most notably Irish and Eastern European women. Because many immigrants arrived in the United States with little economic resources and because the cheapest housing was close to Storyville, it is no wonder that many immigrant women began to work in Storyville to earn money. The concept of “foreign born” and “exotic” women was appealing to customers, and high end brothels would advertise their exotic women, regardless of whether or not the women were from abroad or were born in New Orleans.
The racial makeup of Storyville was also diverse. In 1900 black women made up 38% of Storyville, and in 1910 black and “mulatto” women made up 26% of Storyville. Mulatto and other mixed race women were frequently advertised to customers, often commanding a larger price.
In these censuses, there was a range of women aged 12 to 57 years old, with an average of about 24. Because this work was undertaken by women in their 20’s, perhaps it was a way to make money after leaving the home, or to support themselves till marriage. This is supported by the fact that there were few married women living in Storyville, around 1% in 1910. For women who were older, there is evidence that they remained in the sex work industry for a long time, even bringing their daughters and nieces into the trade. How many women brought family into prostitution is not know, and while there are several instances where that is the case it can also be presumed that there were instances where familial ties were used as a selling point regardless of whether or not it was true.
The picture painted of the women who worked as prostitutes in Storyville is one of youth, diversity, and poor economic circumstances. Indeed, the economy is given as the primary motivating factor for women to enter into prostitution. Sometimes it was a way for a fairly consistent source of income, other times it was a one time instance to help in times of economic distress.
While there was a level of tolerance of prostitution, giving it was legalized for a period of time, there was still a fair amount of social stigma associated with the work. While those who created the district were more concerned with economics than “social purity,” that did not stop the amount of stigma surrounding the neighborhood and the women in it. Storyville was created shortly after Plessy v Ferguson because of the precedent established that allowed for legal segregation of peoples. In this case, the city sequestered prostitution to a certain area of the city away from the “respectable” citizens of the Uptown district and into a historically black neighborhood. By forcing prostitutes into a single area, many felt that they were protecting “pure women and innocent girls from contamination.”This separation of prostitutes in public spaces, legally sequestering them into certain spaces, creates a sense of otherness to the women that could be felt in and outside the district. At one point, surrounding businesses filed a complaint stating that the district harmed their businesses by just existing nearby, which points to the general feeling of disdain and dislike of prostitution and legalized districts in the public space.
Being a prostitute in Storyville could mean a number of things at different times throughout the neighborhood’s history. There were several factors that would affect where and when and how women worked, the most prominent of them being race of the women and the customers. Another factor was the location and type of building the women worked in, the madam they worked for if they worked for one, and various other extenuating circumstances.
Race was the strongest division in Storyville. Segregation affected both the women and their customers. Black and white women had to occupy separate brothels. “Octoroons” and “mulattoes,” women of mixed race, had their own separate brothels as well. Patrons were also segregated, and black men were forbidden to patronize white brothels or even the most prestigious black brothels. White men were allowed to go to any brothel of their choosing.
Even though there were a number of black women working in Storyville throughout its duration, little is known about them. There are no photos of black prostitutes, The separate section of Storyville that was uptown of the original was designated for black women and black male patrons only. Both sites were created in 1897, but the uptown section was not legalized until 1917 when the city tried to make the downtown Storyville (known as Storyville Proper) for “‘prostitutes’ of the Caucasian or white race” only. There is almost no information on the women there, the conditions they worked in, or how prostitution operated in this separate district – something that will hopefully be rectified in the future.
The practice of sex across the color line was one of the biggest selling points in Storyville. There were brothels dedicated entirely to women of mixed descent and octoroons (light skinned women of color) were perhaps some of the most popularly advertised women in Storyville. Octoroons had been popular in literature in the antebellum south, an eroticized and tragic figure who was raised to be pure and refined, only for her life to take a tragic turn when she is sold by someone, usually her father. Light skin slaves in literature were generally depicted as slaves used for sexual pleasure, lending to the notion of “white slavery” and, unable to cope with the number of obstacles she continues to face, the octoroon ultimately dies – in one case turning white as she swallows poison. Storyville, in the wake of Plessy v Ferguson, helped revive the notion of New Orleans as a place tolerant of the blurred racial divides, one that accepted miscegenation, but instead of octoroons being sexual slaves they were prostitutes.
While the government was determined to strengthen the racial divide, the mixed race women of Storyville helped blur it by refusing to be either or, and encouraging miscegenation. Although this was not always the case outside of Storyville, for in legal cases women had to choose between being white or black, inside the confines of the district they were able to create their own space as mixed race women, using the erotic images ascribed to their race as selling points for their work.
The “cribs” were small one room shacks with enough space for a bed and perhaps wash stands – the they were not glamorous, but “barebone work sites.” Women would stand in the doorway to attract potential customers. The work shifted between a constant stream of steady customers or a slow day with little to no business. Multiple women would rent out the same crib, rotating day and night shifts. While any woman was allowed to rent out a crib, they were typically black women catering to black men.
The “bordellos” were large mansions that were geared towards high class customers. They were typically lavishly decorated with expensive and fashionable furniture and decorations, and there was always live music being performed, to which many attribute the foundations of jazz music. Women in these establishments paraded in expensive gowns or costumes, and would occasionally perform for the potential customers, either songs or dance. Unlike the cribs, which made around 50 – 75 cents per transaction (around $20 in today’s money), the women at the bordellos made $3 – $5 (around $150 in today’s money). Many of these establishments, like the famous Mahogany Hall and Chateau Lobrano d’Arlington, were owned and operated by women who created special advertising pamphlets called “Blue Books” to advertise their women. Many of the high end establishments claimed their women were exotic and foreign, octoroons, or virginal.
Other forms of work available to women in Storyville was waitressing at saloons, singing at cabarets, cleaning, or offering medical services to the women including delivering babies. Very little is known about these women, and hopefully this lesser known part of the economy will be incorporated into the studies of Storyville.
Despite being in a designated area for legal prostitution, there were numerous potential dangers that came with being a prostitute in Storyville. Not only were these women at risk for being victims of physical and sexual abuse, there was the risk of disease, pregnancy, theft, addiction, and economic abuse. Many of the women working at the cribs had a pimp who would charge them high rates to use the cribs, take a large percentage of their earnings, and force them to eat at certain restaurants. Pimps also beat the women under their charge and faced no repercussions, sometimes even being encouraged by the police. Sometimes men would come destroy furniture and steal objects from the women, other times the violence escalated and the women were physically assaulted or raped. A number of women would be arrested for drunkenness or for being a “public nuisance.” Drug use was rampant in Storyville, with one observer noting that it was easy to “buy all the cocaine, morphine, heroin, and hop you wanted in the section, almost right out in the open…” There was a lot of emotional labor involved in this line of work and one madam described the situation: “A lot crack up and go low down blue, and some even take the deep six. I never knew an always cheerful, golden hearted, always laughing whore…”
Many of the most famous women who worked in Storyville were not the on the ground prostitutes, but the owners of the infamous bordellos. Lulu White, Josie Arlington, Emma Johnson, and Willie Piazza among many others accumulated vasts amounts of wealth operating high end brothels in Storyville. They were not held back by race or gender, and many of them thrived in positions of power.
Lulu White, a mixed race woman, operated Mahogany Hall, a saloon compromised of forty “octoroon” women. She exploited the allure of sex across the racial divide and the murky lines of race in New Orleans to gain prominence and attract customers. She would dress in elaborate gowns, and wear an assortment of expensive diamond jewelry, and operated Mahogany Hall and another establishment in Storyville until it closed down in 1917.
Josie Arlington, whose real name was Mary Duebler, opened her own house in 1888. Her early life was difficult, and she began working as a prostitute at a fairly young age. Josie had an eye for business and eventually began to run her own brothel. Once Storyville was established she moved her business to a house on Basin Street which she named Arlington.
It became the “grandest – certainly it was the gaudiest – bordello in the District.” The women under her control were marketed as “amiable, foreign girls,” and regardless of whether or not it was true, the ploy was immensely successful and Josie eventually earned enough to build a private mansion on Esplanade, an area that housed many of the New Orleans Creole elite, and leave the daily business to someone else while she traveled.
“Countess” Willie Piazza was known for her showmanship and culture in Storyville. Like White, Piazza was mixed-race and operated a mixed race brothel, known for its entertainment and musicians like “Jelly Roll” Morton. When the city tried to segregate Storyville in 1917, making it a whites only district, Piazza was one among many to appeal the law, eventually getting it declared unconstitutional by the court. When the city passed a new version of the law, it had loopholes that allowed Piazza and White to stay in Storyville. Despite being women of color and brothel owners, these women had a significant amount of power in the city in order to petition the government and have laws changed.
It is reasonable to conclude that many of the women, despite society’s best efforts, did not see themselves as prostitutes and immoral women. In fact many actively worked to keep their identities separate from their work for while they did not see anything immoral about prostitution, they knew society did. Prostitution was not a career for many women, and while many women did spend a long time working in Storyville, there are many reported instances of women working there for only brief periods of time to ease a temporary economic burden. In court testimony, Margaret Mclaffen told of how she worked as a seamstress but when her husband became sick she turned to prostitution for a time to support the family. And as noted earlier, many women came to and from the district only to work, keeping it separate from their personal life. Because the average and median age of women in 1900 and 1910 was the mid twenties, it can be assumes that as women aged they left sex work and were replaced by younger girls.
Other women kept their personal and work lives completely separate, even using stage names such as “Crying Emma,” “Big Bull Cora,” “Tenderloin Thelma,” and “Cold Blooded Carrie.” The Storyville blue books would list many of the same women multiple times with different names and descriptions. The famous madam Josie Arlington’s real name was Mary Deubler, and she was able to keep her personal and private life so separate that her niece and closest companion Anna had no idea how Josie had earned her money until Josie confessed in a delirium on her deathbed. In interviews conducted in the 1960s, some former madams and workers told their stories on the condition of anonymity, and the interviewer notes they had no shame or regrets regarding their work, but did not want their identities to be revealed know because of the lives they had made after Storyville closed.
In 1917 the United States entered WWI, and the Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy advocated for the closure of Storyville. They argued that given the proximity to a naval base, it would be dangerous and unhygienic for servicemen to be located so close to an area of “ill-repute.” Although the closing of the district was strongly protested, with the Mayor proclaiming “you can make it illegal, but you can’t make it unpopular,” Storyville was shut down November 14th, 1917.
While the city did successfully segregate women working as prostitutes from the rest of the population, this has hopefully shown that the women working in Storyville were diverse, fluid, and resilient. For many, prostitution was a temporary occupation during times of economic crisis and for others it became a lucrative career. They worked to define their own space within a community of marginalized people, and did not let society define them.
Long, Alecia. The Great Southern Babylon. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Press, 2004.
This book details the history of “vice” in New Orleans after the Civil War, notably the relation of gender, politics, economics, sex, and race in the city. It begins with detailing mixed race concubines right after the civil war and then the “concert saloons” that developed in the late 19th century that served as dance halls, places of leisure, and prostitution. Long’s actual examination of the people in Storyville focuses on two madams, Mary Deubler and Willie Piazza. While both of these women began as sex workers, they eventually accumulated wealth and owned property and managed their brother businesses. She describes the legal and social complications they faced, and how they were able to thrive. What Long does not go into detail about is the prostitutes themselves who would have worked for these two women, only briefly mentioning women here and there to either show seasonal changes in the industry or expand on descriptions from the notorious blue books.
Bellocq, Ernest. Storyville portraits;: Photographs from the New Orleans red-light district, circa 1912. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1970.
A collection of photographs, Bellocq’s collection is of a number of prostitutes who worked in Storyville. There is no details given about them other than what can be inferred from their surroundings like furniture, wall paper, pets, photographs, and clothing. It is noted in the introduction, an interview conducted with a friend of the photographer, that Bellocq was seemingly comfortable with the women given how relaxed they seem. It is notable that a few of them have their faces scratched out, and that no women of color are pictured, despite being an active part of the Storyville narrative. While some images of the women have them clothed or playing with pets, the overwhelming majority of the book consists of nude photographs, which can be interpreted as these women being unable to be separated from their work. And while these are representations of the prostitutes themselves, these photographs are still to an extent interpretive.
Rose, Al. Storyville, New Orleans, being an authentic, illustrated account of the notorious red-light district. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1978.
An illustrated history of Storyville, this is a comprehensive book of the neighborhood. Interspersed amongst the text are photographs of the neighborhood, the houses, the women, and newspaper advertisements. He delves into the geography and the politics of Storyville, as well as several famous “madams” and business men in Storyville. Unlike the book by Long, Rose does go further in depth on the prostitutes themselves, and the lives they lead, and the conditions they faced. Rose draws text directly from the blue book, dissecting advertisements and their meaning. He also discusses Bellocq’s photographs, as well as client recollections of their time in Storyville.
Foster, Craig L. “Tarnished Angels: Prostitution in Storyville, New Orleans, 1900-1910.”Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association 31, no. 4 (1990): 387-97. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4232839.
This is an article that goes further in depth into the lives of the actual prostitutes. While some of the language is questionable, it goes further in depth as to who these women were and a semblance of the lives they led. There is, in comparison to other sources, information on who the women were, where they came from, and an attempt to understand what kind of lives they led. Foster draws primarily from census records and Roses’s history of Storyville.
Neuman, Gerald L. “Anomalous Zones.” Stanford Law Review 48, no. 5 (1996): 1197-234. doi:10.2307/1229384.
This article discusses the concept of anomalous zones in relation to prostitution and red light districts. Anomalous zones are areas where certain rights are suspended, and this phrase is typically used in relation to refugees. Neuman discusses the various aspects of determining anomalous zones and the power structures behind them. He then discusses red light zones in the United States, prostitution, and its complications in the United States. In his discussion of Storyville, Neuman notes how the city tried to regulate the district and impose racial segregation. Neuman is one of the few that mentions the uptown district of Storyville.
Powell, Eric A. “TALES FROM Storyville.” Archaeology 55, no. 6 (2002): 26-31. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41779085.
An archaeological article about Storyville with accompanying images. Powell discusses the origin of Storyville, and the archaeological digs conducted on the former site. What turned up were items one would expect to see like perfume bottles, rogue pots, but what was unexpected was the children’s toys. She also goes into the legend of Storyville as well as how it appeared to be very forward thinking in regards to race during that time. Powell’s article provides insight into aspects of Storyville like the bordellos and the cribs, as well as the legacy it left.
Pamela D. Arceneaux. “Guidebooks to Sin: The Blue Books of Storyville.” Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association 28, no. 4 (1987): 397-405. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4232610.
An article that discusses the “Blue Books” of Storyville. Blue books were pamphlets that advertised the women in Storyville, as well as a number of other goods like cigars and alcohol. Arceneaux discusses the origins of the blue books, who printed them, who was in them, and the language that they used. Only women working in the high end houses were advertised in the books because their employers could afford it while the women who worked in the cribs did not advertise. It never used the words “prostitute” or “whore” but marketed the women as entertainers – and many would be listed multiple times in different editions with different names.
Turley, Alan C. “The Ecological and Social Determinants of the Production of Dixieland Jazz in New Orleans.” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 26, no. 1 (1995): 107-21. doi:10.2307/836968.
An article about the foundations of jazz in New Orleans, and the factors that helped create it. Turley points out the fact that the city was a port city, the influx of immigrants, the poor socioeconomic status of these immigrants, and the frequent interactions of people of different races contributed to the creation of jazz music. What is of note is the discussion of being immigrants and having little money being connected to entering into prostitution, and the efforts of madams to market their brothels with the allure of live music, making their transactions more about the experience.
Gilfoyle, Timothy J. “Archaeologists in the Brothel: “Sin City,” Historical Archaeology and Prostitution.” Historical Archaeology 39, no. 1 (2005): 133-41. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25617241.
An article discussing historic examples of prostitution across the United States and comparing them. New Orleans’s Storyville was one of several legalized prostitution districts, but Gilfoyle points out it was still unique. There were many factors to making Storyville an exception such as the creation of jazz, the “bohemian” subculture that arose, the visual legacy left behind, and its unique multiracial and multiethnic make up which proved much more diverse than other cities.
Landau, Emily Epstein. Spectacular Wickedness : Sex, Race, and Memory in Storyville, New Orleans (1). Baton Rouge, US: LSU Press, 2013. Accessed November 13, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
Landau’s book discusses Storyville, its foundations, its racial composition, how race worked in and out of the district, and a chapter dedicated to Lulu White. Landau’s book is fascinating and draws from a number of accounts including newspapers, jazz musicians, and crime reports, among many others. Landau also offers a thorough discussion of race and the role of Plessy v. Ferguson, the role the octoroon had in the antebellum south and in popular culture, and how the government tried to enforce these rules on the women of Storyville. Of note was the attempt to segregate Storyville by race, and Lulu White’s role in having to fit the racial binary to fight against segregation in the district, and eventually winning. All of these things and more were incorporated into my project.
The Women of Storyville 