Modern Times
Building Antebellum New Orleans: Free People of Color and Their Influence
October 17, 2021 | 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM CST
**Doors at 2:00, Lecture at 2:30
In Person and Online!
Tickets
Free with Pre-Order of the Book!
$50 Non-NCHM Members
$45 NCHM Member
Without Book Pre-Order
$10 General Admission
$5 Student
Free for NCHM Members
Tara Dudley joins our Modern Times lecture series with an exploration of New Orleans, both its antebellum architectural history and the legacy of that history in the years following the end of the United States Civil War. The lecture will be followed by a book signing for Dr. Dudley’s book: Building Antebellum New Orleans: Free People of Color and Their Influence
This lecture will take place in person and online! For those attending online be sure to let us know how you would like to have your book inscribed! You can arrange to pick up your book during museum hours following the lecture, or for an additional $5 we can have your book shipped right to you!
To ensure the safety of our guests, speakers, and staff at the in person event, we request that all participate in safe social distancing and wear a mask at all times while inside the museum. Sanitation stations will be available to all guests.
~~~
Review of Building Antebellum New Orleans: Free People of Color and Their Influence
“Here, finally, is a book-length scholarly work wholly devoted to the role of free people of color in the building of New Orleans. Unlike countless other sources which passingly allude to this community’s architectural contributions, Tara Dudley’s research gives them names, lives, skill sets, accomplishments, and social and cultural context, focusing on members of the Dolliole and Soulié families. This important book will be of interest to scholars and general readers interested in architecture, urbanism, vernacular building, New Orleans and Louisiana history, Creole culture, and African American topics.”
Richard Campanella, Tulane University, author of The West Bank of Greater New Orleans: A Historical Geography
About the Speaker
Tara Dudley is a Lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research examines the contributions of African American builders and architects to the American built environment, focusing on the antebellum and Reconstruction eras in Austin and Texas and the architectural activities of New Orleans’ gens de couleur libres (free people of color). She was the recipient of the Carter Manny Award from the Graham Foundation for best writing in a dissertation and has served as a senior architectural historian for HHM & Associates, Inc. in Austin, Texas. She has been involved in various aspects of historic preservation, historical research, and writing and consults on projects across the nation. She is the author of Building Antebellum New Orleans: Free People of Color and Their Influence (University of Texas Press, 2021) and a forthcoming biography on African American architect John Saunders Chase. A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, who now calls the Austin area home, Dr. Dudley obtained her doctorate in Architectural History and master’s degree in Historic Preservation from UT-Austin and holds a bachelor’s degree in Art History from Princeton University.
