What do you think?
Rate this book
Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood
It is impossible to imagine New Orleans, and by extension American history, without the vibrant and singular Creole culture. In the face of an oppressive white society, members of the Société d'Economie et d'Assistance Mutuelle built a community and held it together through the era of slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow terrorism. Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood follows Ludger Boguille, his family, and friends through landmark events--from the Haitian Revolution to the birth of jazz--that shaped New Orleans and the United States.
The story begins with the author's father rescuing a century's worth of handwritten journals, in French, from a trash hauler's pickup truck. From the journals' pages emerged one of the most important multiethnic, intellectual communities in the US South: educators, world-traveling merchants, soldiers, tradesmen, and poets. Although Louisiana law classified them as men of color, Negroes, and Blacks, the Economie brothers rejected racism and colorism to fight for suffrage and education rights for all.
A descendant of the Economie's community, author Fatima Shaik has constructed a meticulously detailed nonfiction narrative that reads like an epic novel.
The story begins with the author's father rescuing a century's worth of handwritten journals, in French, from a trash hauler's pickup truck. From the journals' pages emerged one of the most important multiethnic, intellectual communities in the US South: educators, world-traveling merchants, soldiers, tradesmen, and poets. Although Louisiana law classified them as men of color, Negroes, and Blacks, the Economie brothers rejected racism and colorism to fight for suffrage and education rights for all.
A descendant of the Economie's community, author Fatima Shaik has constructed a meticulously detailed nonfiction narrative that reads like an epic novel.
544 pages, Hardcover
First published February 5, 2021
6 people are currently reading
494 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 29, 2021
This is a truly remarkable book, one that has come to us partly through luck.
The author, Fatima Shaik, a native of New Orleans and author of a number of books of fiction, came across the story after her father noticed that a load of ancient ledgers had been put in a dumpster. He brought the old books home where they were stored in a closet.
In time, Shaik recognized the treasure trove that had fallen into her lap, and spent decades researching her find, using sources such as histories, newspaper accounts, photographs and interviews. The result is this story of a little-known but highly significant group: New Orleans' well-to-do, highly-educated, French-speaking free men of color.
The ledgers—written in flowing, graceful French—were detailed records of the meetings of Economy Hall, a New Orleans men’s social club and mutual support organization begun in the 19th century and continuing through the 20th.
In Shaik's story -- not only meticulously researched, but also highly readable—we become acquainted with these men, and their concerns. With them we grieve over dying club members, organize to help an impoverished family, exclaim over the dresses worn to elegant balls held in the Hall.
Primarily, however, we understand the men's determination to live as respectable and self-respecting citizens in a not-always-hospitable land.
One obvious observation: this story powerfully contradicts the totalizing narrative created by white supremacists about people of color —particularly in the years following the Civil War.
Throughout, Shaik’s intimate knowledge of and love for New Orleans shines through. This story is not always happy. But, as it seems to me, it is always beautiful.
The author, Fatima Shaik, a native of New Orleans and author of a number of books of fiction, came across the story after her father noticed that a load of ancient ledgers had been put in a dumpster. He brought the old books home where they were stored in a closet.
In time, Shaik recognized the treasure trove that had fallen into her lap, and spent decades researching her find, using sources such as histories, newspaper accounts, photographs and interviews. The result is this story of a little-known but highly significant group: New Orleans' well-to-do, highly-educated, French-speaking free men of color.
The ledgers—written in flowing, graceful French—were detailed records of the meetings of Economy Hall, a New Orleans men’s social club and mutual support organization begun in the 19th century and continuing through the 20th.
In Shaik's story -- not only meticulously researched, but also highly readable—we become acquainted with these men, and their concerns. With them we grieve over dying club members, organize to help an impoverished family, exclaim over the dresses worn to elegant balls held in the Hall.
Primarily, however, we understand the men's determination to live as respectable and self-respecting citizens in a not-always-hospitable land.
One obvious observation: this story powerfully contradicts the totalizing narrative created by white supremacists about people of color —particularly in the years following the Civil War.
Throughout, Shaik’s intimate knowledge of and love for New Orleans shines through. This story is not always happy. But, as it seems to me, it is always beautiful.
June 8, 2021
It's important to keep records, it's important to preserve records, and it's important to study those records & draw attention to what they contain! This book has an amazing story: the author's father kept a stash of the ledgers with meeting minutes of the Société d’Economie et d’Assistance Mutuelle, a society of free men of color in New Orleans dating back to the 1830s. Shaik eventually went through those journals to tell the society's story, which includes numerous important people from the pre-Civil War era, through Reconstruction and to the disheartening Jim Crow era that followed, introducing people to a little-known history. This is significant in itself, and it's also an entertaining read.
This is kind of a stealth biography of Ludger Boguille, a poet and the society's long-time secretary, whose detailed notes provide much of the information. He's treated as the representative man of his time, and we learn more about him than anyone else in the group, in a novelistic way, with a lot of speculation about his thoughts and feelings. That caught me a little off-guard, and I'm not always a fan of that in my historical reading, but since part of the book's existence is to shine a light on a bygone era, from a new perspective, once I realized it had that novelistic element, I chilled out. Sometimes I'm more comfortable with the boundaries of fiction and non-fiction, but innovation is also good, and I don't want to get uptight about it!
I have some other books on my to-read pile about Reconstruction, and this is an interesting addition, since it really paints a picture of life for the free people of color over time, which makes you feel their losses. If you like New Orleans, are interested in Black history, and/or the early days of jazz, it's recommended!
This is kind of a stealth biography of Ludger Boguille, a poet and the society's long-time secretary, whose detailed notes provide much of the information. He's treated as the representative man of his time, and we learn more about him than anyone else in the group, in a novelistic way, with a lot of speculation about his thoughts and feelings. That caught me a little off-guard, and I'm not always a fan of that in my historical reading, but since part of the book's existence is to shine a light on a bygone era, from a new perspective, once I realized it had that novelistic element, I chilled out. Sometimes I'm more comfortable with the boundaries of fiction and non-fiction, but innovation is also good, and I don't want to get uptight about it!
I have some other books on my to-read pile about Reconstruction, and this is an interesting addition, since it really paints a picture of life for the free people of color over time, which makes you feel their losses. If you like New Orleans, are interested in Black history, and/or the early days of jazz, it's recommended!
January 31, 2023
I wrote it and I like it. It's on Audible too!
July 29, 2021
This fascinating book is a history of an institution that most 21st century Americans have never heard.
Fatima Shaik, novelist, journalist, and native of New Orleans, created it from rediscovered journals, minutes of meetings, and other documents--materials her own father saved from destruction and passed on to her.
Economy Hall was built by an organization, a benevolent society, of free black men in New Orleans, many of them of Haitian descent, so the language of most of the documents is French. It is the story of men striving to uplift each other and their families and other people by creating a place for dignity and equality. They eventually build a splendid hall/community center for their activities and to rent to other organizations of the community of color.
The long time secretary of the organization, Ludger Bouguille, and his family, are central to Shaik's story. He was a teacher of generations of New Orleans children of color, and his meticulous minutes of meetings give great insight into the thinking and joys and sorrows of the brotherhood.
Many of the original members fought in the Battle of New Orleans and helped create the American state of Louisiana. They were professionals and highly regarded crafts people. You had to go through an application process to join, and there were solemn secret ceremonies and elaborate celebrations. The book is a broad exploration of the nineteenth century world of literate, free, gens de couleur.
The Civil War marks a turning point for this community as for many others. Many of the men fought for the North (New Orleans came back under Union rule early on), and the following years of Reconstruction gave great opportunities for these professional men to be involved in city, state, and even national politics and leadership. They supported, with considerable success, racial equality--until the disastrous return to white supremacist rule through much of the South in the late 1870's. After the resurgence of the white ruling class, along with its associated voter suppression and Jim Crow laws, the story becomes grim and familiar: riots and lynching, and the gradual pulling back of the men of Economy Hall from their activism for racial equality. Economy Hall becomes more and more a sort of apolitical community center.
The final chapter relates its importance as an incubator for New Orleans jazz community, which gives a definite uplift to the history, but cannot–can never–hide the horrors of the violence of white supremacy and the roll-back of political freedom at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.
Fatima Shaik, novelist, journalist, and native of New Orleans, created it from rediscovered journals, minutes of meetings, and other documents--materials her own father saved from destruction and passed on to her.
Economy Hall was built by an organization, a benevolent society, of free black men in New Orleans, many of them of Haitian descent, so the language of most of the documents is French. It is the story of men striving to uplift each other and their families and other people by creating a place for dignity and equality. They eventually build a splendid hall/community center for their activities and to rent to other organizations of the community of color.
The long time secretary of the organization, Ludger Bouguille, and his family, are central to Shaik's story. He was a teacher of generations of New Orleans children of color, and his meticulous minutes of meetings give great insight into the thinking and joys and sorrows of the brotherhood.
Many of the original members fought in the Battle of New Orleans and helped create the American state of Louisiana. They were professionals and highly regarded crafts people. You had to go through an application process to join, and there were solemn secret ceremonies and elaborate celebrations. The book is a broad exploration of the nineteenth century world of literate, free, gens de couleur.
The Civil War marks a turning point for this community as for many others. Many of the men fought for the North (New Orleans came back under Union rule early on), and the following years of Reconstruction gave great opportunities for these professional men to be involved in city, state, and even national politics and leadership. They supported, with considerable success, racial equality--until the disastrous return to white supremacist rule through much of the South in the late 1870's. After the resurgence of the white ruling class, along with its associated voter suppression and Jim Crow laws, the story becomes grim and familiar: riots and lynching, and the gradual pulling back of the men of Economy Hall from their activism for racial equality. Economy Hall becomes more and more a sort of apolitical community center.
The final chapter relates its importance as an incubator for New Orleans jazz community, which gives a definite uplift to the history, but cannot–can never–hide the horrors of the violence of white supremacy and the roll-back of political freedom at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.
July 30, 2021
Economy Hall is the little known history of the first Free Black Brotherhood, meticulously recorded by Ludger Boguille throughout NOLA's extraordinary course of landmark events from the Haitian Revolution to the birth of jazz.
The vibrant Creole culture of New Orleans, despite white oppression founded the Societe d'Economie et Assitance Mutuelle and built a community that held together through the era of slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow segregation.
This is the story of these proud free Black men.
The vibrant Creole culture of New Orleans, despite white oppression founded the Societe d'Economie et Assitance Mutuelle and built a community that held together through the era of slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow segregation.
This is the story of these proud free Black men.
July 20, 2024
WOW! This book sheds a whole new light on the history of not just slaves, but also free people of color in pre- and post-civil war New Orleans. And to think, 100 years’ worth of revealing history would have been lost had the meticulous and detailed minutes of this organization not been rescued from the dumpster by the author’s father. If you have any interest in 19th century NOLA, you must read this!
September 26, 2023
Excellent book. Well researched and detailed investigation into a part of US history - pre and post civil war lives of members of the African Diaspora in New Orleans - that is rarely discussed or mentioned or taught yet survived because the author's father salvaged records and the author's interviews with their descendants.
November 7, 2021
3.5 stars. An important contribution to Black history, particularly of Black history in the deep south. Shaik is also a fiction writer and that comes through in the writing here. Accessible, fascinating, and the personal connections she has to this history is evident throughout.
November 4, 2024
Very thoroughly researched local history book about Economy Hall in New Orleans. It has too much speculation for my liking, i.e. "he would have done this" or "he would have seen that." I don't like that in a work of history rather than fiction. Still, an important work.
Read
December 16, 2021Notable Books #100
Read
December 3, 2022DNF
January 6, 2023
Amazing historical research and writing. Brings a whole period and unnoticed people of color to life.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews