Moon Landrieu

At the New Orleans in the 60’s lecture last night I thought the most interesting person they talked about was the 56th mayor of New Orleans Moon Landrieu (father of Mitch and Mary Landrieu). Moon Landrieu grew up here in uptown New Orleans and went to college at Loyola with a baseball scholarship. He too taught accounting at Loyola which makes him all the more admirable. But, what I think makes Landrieu a hero and a pioneer for Civil Rights was his campaigns as mayor to do away with all the segregations laws in city that had been scorned by the Jim Crow Laws. This changed New Orleans forever and the openness to diversity that we experience in New Orleans today was born thanks to Landrieu. Landrieu desegregated a city that had been in the past divided amongst whites and blacks and even before that a port at the center of the slave trade.
Even before he became mayor as a representative Landrieu always voted against segregation in the House. During his mayor campaigns he was one of the first to go for the black vote and 99% of it. I too like how he helped minority –owned business and poor neighborhoods get their footing when before they were neglected by the city hall. Moon Landrieu was truly a big influence on New Orleans in the 60’s and I hope Mary Landrieu follows in his foot steps as a great leader for change.