The Storyville Scene: Reimagining New Orleans Sex Workers in Musical Community

Abstract

At the turn of the 20th century the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, legally sanctioned a red-light district known as Storyville. The district’s pioneering musicians, wealthy politicians, and madams became local legends. Historically, discussions of Storyville have separated the stories of its musicians from its sex workers. This thesis utilizes an ethnomusicological and intersectional feminist lens to analyze New Orleans’ music, Storyville’s architecture, Police Bertillon cards, newspapers, census records, magazines, and interviews to argue three main points. First, that this group of sex workers, service industry laborers, and musicians existed as an interdependent music scene. Then, that utilizing imaginative analytical processes can help us overcome archival biases which have previously misrepresented sex workers. Finally, that historians must be brave and have faith in their audiences as they face down an uncertain political future, the kind which mirrors the same turn from progressivism that led to Storyville’s ultimate closure.