A student-led collaborative public history project exploring how the University of New Orleans remembers its founding, integration, and early institutional identity.
About the Project
This project explores how race, power, and identity shape the history and memory of the University of New Orleans.
Founded in 1958 as Louisiana State University at New Orleans (LSUNO), the University of New Orleans developed during the Jim Crow era and the persistence of white supremacy in public schools, including universities. Questions of integration, belonging, and identity unfolded alongside the university’s earliest efforts to define itself and establish its place within higher education.
As the institution grew, so did the narratives, references, and representations through which it expressed its identity. They reflected broader social and political conditions, as well as choices about which histories were emphasized, which values were projected, and how the university imagined itself in relation to the city and region around it. Examining institutional identity alongside the realities of integration helps reveal how power and history worked together in the university’s early years.
This project brings community perspectives into conversation with that history to consider how institutional identity is formed and re-formed over time. By revisiting the university’s past at a moment of renewed transition, the project invites reflection on how histories are constructed, how meaning changes when memory is shared, and how different voices contribute to understanding who the institution has been and who it is becoming.
How This Project Works
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Archival Research
Exploring campus archives, media coverage, and institutional records to see how UNO’s early history was preserved, framed, and remembered.
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Community Narratives
Listening to students, staff, and alumni share their own memories and experiences of UNO, especially the stories that usually go untold.
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Collaborative Public History
Making sense of the past together by inviting community members to interpret, question, and reshape how UNO’s history is understood and shared.
Get involved
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Share your experiences, memories, or perspectives in a one-on-one, conversational interview. Interviews last about 60–90 minutes, are conducted in person or via secure video conferencing, and are audio-recorded only with your consent. Interview participants receive a $50 gift card as a thank-you. Participation is voluntary, and you may skip any question or stop at any time.
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Take part in an optional small-group discussion where participants reflect together on themes emerging from interviews and historical materials. These sessions focus on shared interpretation and last about 90 minutes. Light refreshments are provided. Participation is always optional, and you may choose how much you wish to share.
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Stay connected by following the project as it unfolds. Updates may include reflections from the research process, upcoming opportunities to participate, and information about public-facing materials created through the project. You can follow along without any obligation to participate.
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Have a memory, question, or thought you’d like to share? Visitors are welcome to leave comments or brief reflections related to UNO’s history or their experiences on campus. Comments are moderated and may help shape future questions or themes explored in the project.