"Progress of A Kind"

In his article "The Strange Case of The Princess and the Frog: Passing and the Elision of Race," Ajay Gehlawat argues that Disney's choice of a New Orleans setting further complicates the lack of race in the film. Since I am no expert on issues of race relations in Louisiana, I decided to delve further into this topic. After the end of the Civil War, Louisiana played a key role in sustaining segregation and racial prejudices as a whole. On April 13, 1873, between sixty-two and one hundred fifty-three freedmen were killed by a group of white Democrats that hoped to overpower the freedmen and state militia that were holding the Grant Parish courthouse. Approximately half of these men were killed after they had surrendered. On August 25, 1874, a Republican African-American man named Thomas Floyd was killed by white men. These six men then went on to arrest multiple white Republicans and twenty African-American men, convinced that they were planning some sort of rebellion. Armed white men came from surrounding areas to the city of Coushatta within days to help squash this supposed 'rebellion.' All six white officeholders and at least four of the African American men were killed. Then on September 14, 1874, a paramilitary group known as the White League attacked and took over the Louisiana statehouse in New Orleans after the Reconstruction government blocked a delivery of their weapons. President Grant sent in federal troops to disband the insurgents, and sixteen white men and eleven African-Americans were killed in the process. For decades to come, African Americans were disenfranchised and discriminated against despite their representing the majority of the population in places such as New Orleans. It was in this environment that Disney chose to place their first black princess. Although jazz and voodoo make New Orleans the perfect location for an animated movie that needs to involve dark magic of some sort, it is unclear why Disney chose the time period of the 1920s if it was not going to address the racial issues that were prevalent in New Orleans during this time. 

Works Cited:

• https://lcrm.lib.unc.edu/blog/index.php/2012/08/25/on-this-day-the-coushatta-massacre/
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-colfax/
• http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/battle-liberty-place-occurs
• http://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/145#.UoAYmpTk-Do
• "The Strange Case of The Princess and the Frog: Passing and the Elision of Race" by Ajay Gehlawat