Program Details

New Orleans: City of Mystery and Intrigue

Instructor
Taylor Hagood
FPL12064

Course Description

New Orleans was conceived in corruption as part of the "Mississippi Bubble," formed to help the Duke of Orleans pay off gambling debts. From such a beginning, the city has lifted corruption and vice to an art form as lovely as the fern-strewn scrolled balconies that embellish the French Quarter. One of the most unique cities in the United States, New Orleans' complicated racial structure brought into existence its own peculiar legal system, the Code Noire, while people of German, as well as French and Spanish descent, helped develop a rich culture which eventually led to the development of Creole cuisine and Dixieland jazz. The home of such famous people as Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Edgar Degas, and many others, it has played a major cultural role while also being an important seaport, especially in the 19th century. Hurricane Katrina tragically brought it back into the public eye in 2005. This lecture will focus on this colorful city, including less-known, as well as famous, stories about its history and its people.

About the Instructor

  • Taylor Hagood is Professor of American Literature at Florida Atlantic University and author of the biography/true crime _Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Music Legend_ and _Faulkner, Writer of Disability_, winner of the C. Hugh Holman Award for Best Book in Southern Studies. Professor Hagood lectures on a range of topics and performs live music at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Boca Raton and Jupiter.

    Learning Professorship of Arts and Letters, 2014-15