Although he had a limited formal education, he served as a librarian at Dillard University upon the conclusion of the FWP, and later as a writer-in-residence and special lecturer at Louisiana State University in New Orleans (now the University of New Orleans). He was appointed to that unlikely post in 1972 after the late Dr. Joseph Logsdon recognized Christian’s many contributions to the field of Louisiana history. However, Christian’s manuscript was never published, although he continuously revised it with that intention until his untimely death in 1976.

The edition presented in the digital library is the definitive transcript, edited by UNO librarian and Louisiana historian Florence Jumonville, Ph.D. Interestingly, through her pre-editing research of journal citations and the manuscripts many revisions, Dr. Jumonville uncovered the original name of the document. Over the years, as cultural norms and language usage changed, the manuscript had come to be known as “A Black History of Louisiana.” The original title has now been restored and the contents meticulously compiled as an annotated transcript, with original typos, chapters, and paginations preserved.
Christian’s extensive collection is one of the most popular in the Louisiana and Special Collection Departments holdings. Future additions to the digital library will include some of his nearly twelve-hundred poems, as well as lectures and other research materials pertaining to the African-American experience in Louisiana.

Trivia quizzes will return shortly.

Please bear with us while the Earl K. Long Library undergoes necessary renovations. The collection may be reached by entering the library through the south entrance, taking the stairs to the 2nd floor, and then proceeding to the main elevators or stairwell as normal.

Disabled persons or others requiring assistance in reaching the 4th floor should contact the circulation desk at: 504-280-6355. You may also call the Louisiana and Special Collections Department at: 504-280-6544.

The summer semester starts on June 2nd, 2010, after which we shall return to our normal hours:

Trivia quizzes are on hold for the summer, but will return in the fall.  In the meantime, please feel free to take one of our past quizzes.

However, we have expanded our hours despite these difficulties.  The Louisiana and Special Collections Department is now open:

We’re still coming up with exciting new trivia quizzes for you, but we will be putting up a new quiz every two weeks instead of every week.  This week’s quiz is a brief return to the Mardi Gras Season.

You can also take the “New Orleans Saints: The Early Years, Part I” quiz from last week.

Our intersession hours for the holiday season until the beginning of Spring semester will be:

The Louisiana and Special Collections Department, in addition to the rest of the library, will be closed from December 24th through January 3rd, 2010.  Normal hours will resume on January 11th, 2010.

New quizzes will now be posted every Wednesday, instead of every Tuesday.

Keep those suggestions coming!

Major changes include closing two hours earlier Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and the termination of weekend hours.

The Louisiana Collection Reading Room will still be open until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays.

Regular Hours of Operation

Test your knowledge about New Orleans literary figures such as Tennessee Williams or Truman Capote, or learn new and interesting facts about the Historic French Quarter and Hurricanes.

Every week we will select 5 trivia questions related to the history, culture, and political or literary figures of Louisiana and New Orleans.  Be sure to check back every Tuesday for more trivia!

Click here to launch our very first Louisiana and New Orleans Trivia Quiz in a new window.

Next week’s topic: Tennessee Williams.