Spectacular Wickedness

Sex, Race, and Memory in Storyville, New Orleans

Nonfiction, History
Cover of the book Spectacular Wickedness by Emily Epstein Landau, LSU Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Emily Epstein Landau ISBN: 9780807150160
Publisher: LSU Press Publication: January 14, 2013
Imprint: LSU Press Language: English
Author: Emily Epstein Landau
ISBN: 9780807150160
Publisher: LSU Press
Publication: January 14, 2013
Imprint: LSU Press
Language: English

From 1897 to 1917 the red-light district of Storyville commercialized and even thrived on New Orleans's longstanding reputation for sin and sexual excess. This notorious neighborhood, located just outside of the French Quarter, hosted a diverse cast of characters who reflected the cultural milieu and complex social structure of turn-of-the-century New Orleans, a city infamous for both prostitution and interracial intimacy. In particular, Lulu White -- a mixed-race prostitute and madam -- created an image of herself and marketed it profitably to sell sex with light-skinned women to white men of means. In Spectacular Wickedness, Emily Epstein Landau examines the social history of this famed district within the cultural context of developing racial, sexual, and gender ideologies and practices.
Storyville's founding was envisioned as a reform measure, an effort by the city's business elite to curb and contain prostitution -- namely, to segregate it. In 1890, the Louisiana legislature passed the Separate Car Act, which, when challenged by New Orleans's Creoles of color, led to the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896, constitutionally sanctioning the enactment of "separate but equal" laws. The concurrent partitioning of both prostitutes and blacks worked only to reinforce Storyville's libidinous license and turned sex across the color line into a more lucrative commodity.
By looking at prostitution through the lens of patriarchy and demonstrating how gendered racial ideologies proved crucial to the remaking of southern society in the aftermath of the Civil War, Landau reveals how Storyville's salacious and eccentric subculture played a significant role in the way New Orleans constructed itself during the New South era.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

From 1897 to 1917 the red-light district of Storyville commercialized and even thrived on New Orleans's longstanding reputation for sin and sexual excess. This notorious neighborhood, located just outside of the French Quarter, hosted a diverse cast of characters who reflected the cultural milieu and complex social structure of turn-of-the-century New Orleans, a city infamous for both prostitution and interracial intimacy. In particular, Lulu White -- a mixed-race prostitute and madam -- created an image of herself and marketed it profitably to sell sex with light-skinned women to white men of means. In Spectacular Wickedness, Emily Epstein Landau examines the social history of this famed district within the cultural context of developing racial, sexual, and gender ideologies and practices.
Storyville's founding was envisioned as a reform measure, an effort by the city's business elite to curb and contain prostitution -- namely, to segregate it. In 1890, the Louisiana legislature passed the Separate Car Act, which, when challenged by New Orleans's Creoles of color, led to the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896, constitutionally sanctioning the enactment of "separate but equal" laws. The concurrent partitioning of both prostitutes and blacks worked only to reinforce Storyville's libidinous license and turned sex across the color line into a more lucrative commodity.
By looking at prostitution through the lens of patriarchy and demonstrating how gendered racial ideologies proved crucial to the remaking of southern society in the aftermath of the Civil War, Landau reveals how Storyville's salacious and eccentric subculture played a significant role in the way New Orleans constructed itself during the New South era.

More books from LSU Press

Cover of the book River Road Rambler by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book Selected Letters of Robert Penn Warren by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book Scottsboro by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book The Papers of Jefferson Davis by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book Voodoo and Power by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book Guest of a Sinner by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book Faithful Vision by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book Values in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book Race, Labor, and Civil Rights by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book Portrait of the Artist as a White Pig by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book Selected Stories from the Southern Review by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book The Door That Always Opens by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book Slavery and American Economic Development by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book The Emancipation Proclamation by Emily Epstein Landau
Cover of the book Shakespeare, Midlife, and Generativity by Emily Epstein Landau
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy