Brothels, Depravity, and Abandoned Women: Illegal Sex in Antebellum New Orleans

Image Plates

John McDonogh, the “eminent philanthropist” who endowed public education in New Orleans in the antebellum era. The thirty public schools built in the New Orleans area through the McDonogh Fund were valued at $992,000 in 1896. Courtesy Special Collections, Tulane University Library Drawing satirizing John McDonough, who rented property to a number of brothels. McDonough lived on the west bank of the Mississippi River at McDonoghville. When he had to contract business on the east bank, he was so cheap that he had one of his slaves row him across the river rather than spend a picayune to take the ferry. Courtesy The Historic New Orleans Collection The beautiful Tivoli Gardens, managed by John Vorygrumbler, who repeatedly sexually molested his nine-year-old stepdaughter. Courtesy The Historic New Orleans Collection :“The Carondelet Canal Separating the Crust from the Crumb of Old New Orleans.” Public women are shown on one side of the canal calling and gesturing suggestively to “respectable” people on the other bank. Courtesy The Historic New Orleans Collection “A Peaceful Evening on Gallatin Street,” an ironic reference to the often chaotic, rowdy atmosphere on the street known for its prostitutes. Courtesy The Historic New Orleans Collection “Invasion of the Scarlet Sisterhood,” a depiction of some public women plying their trade in New Orleans. Courtesy The Historic New Orleans Collection John Randolph Grymes, the flamboyant defense attorney for Abraham Parker in State v. Parker (1851). Courtesy The Historic New Orleans Collection One of the two horse-drawn paddy wagons that took public women from the recorder’s courts to the workhouse, or parish prison. The wagons were called the Red Maria and the Black Maria. Courtesy The Historic New Orleans Collection Gerard Stith, who served for many years as the recorder of the First District in New Orleans. He also served one term as mayor of the city just before the Civil War. Courtesy The Historic New Orleans Collection Gerard Stith, who served for many years as the recorder of the First District in New Orleans. He also served one term as mayor of the city just before the Civil War. Courtesy The Historic New Orleans Collection ...