Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2007 - (Page 29)

River Flood of 1932 The local gondolas, for instance, “are somewhat different, architecturally, if compared with those of Venice (Italy or California), and many of them are equipped with outboard motors.” Meeting in special session, the Ouachita Parish Police Jury called upon citizens to cooperate with authorities in whatever way necessary. Meanwhile, the Morning World’s editor agonized publicly about the problems frequently associated with refugee camps. “Above all things, it is essential that the establishment of a refugee camp of tents shall be avoided.” Nonetheless, even as the police jury met, the frantic citizens of West Monroe, fleeing the rising Black As the boat began sinking, one child found her mother’s hand, but she lost her father. Mrs. Pate searched for her other child and her husband, but soon floated through the freezing water to a barbed wire fence. She screamed, and Gus Tarver, an African-American, and three of his friends ran to the sound of the terrified voice. Tarver was able to rescue Mrs. Pate, but both her children and husband were drowned. Such racial cooperation was notable, for Monroe was generally regarded as a bastion of white supremecy notorious for its occasional lynchings. But the urgency of the situation transcended racial prejudice. When towns in and Toni bayous, moved south of town and established a makeshift community of tents and abandoned houses south of the Illinois Central railroad tracks. Black and white citizens crowded into the area, living side by side in a way that would have been unthinkable in permanent settlements. Hunger and weather-related illnesses dominated the integrated camp. In a time when hunger was commonplace, however, integration was not. There were also more tragic examples of need trumping racial division. At 7:30 in the evening of February 10, twelve miles northeast of the Monroe city limits, a white man named J.G. Pate, his wife, and their two children, ages four and two, began paddling a small boat on the backwaters of the Ouachita from Sterlington to Fowler to visit Pate’s mother. Violent winds blew freezing water into the boat and blurred Pate’s view. An aerial scene from the eastern bank of the Ouachita River, just south of downtown Monroe. The photographer, or a later archivist, has labeled the streets, including the ones covered by water. The trees and buildings provide an indication of the normal water line for the river. Winter 2007-08/LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES 29 the region sent aid to the city, black workers accompanied whites, and the integrated crews ate sandwiches and coffee together in cramped quarters before manning the sandbag lines for shifts lasting between twelve and fourteen hours. Likewise, relief groups presented the helpless of both races whatever meager supplies they could generate. During December, the Monroe Welfare Association had made 840 contacts, undertaken 155 visits to investigate the legitimacy of relief claims, and distributed 250 food baskets to needy families. During the first week of January those numbers rose sharply. W.L. Workman, head of the Monroe branch of the Salvation Army, also worried about the drain on resources. “Conditions are becoming increasingly serious,” he reported on January 8. Fifty-two families were OUACHITA PARISH DIGITAL ARCHIVE, OUACHITA PARISH PUBLIC LIBRARY, MONROE

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2007

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2007 Contents Friends Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Katrina: Days of Terror, Months of Anguish Paintings by Rolland Golden The Historic New Orleans Collection The Great Ouachita River Flood of 1932 Jazz Notes Louisiana Architecture Louisiana: Where Land Meets Water Louisiana State Museum Through A Lens Sharply: An Interview with Michael Lewis MR-GO: A “miracle” mired in controversy Louisiana Foodways Louisiana Association of Museums New Orleans: An Autopsy Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2007

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