Larry Freeman and the Jewish Journal

May is Jewish American Heritage Month, an annual recognition and celebration of American Jews' achievements and contributions to the United States of America. Here’s a fun fact for that month. The second largest Jewish newspaper in the state of Louisiana, the Jewish Journal, was once published in ‘old downtown’ Bossier City, a.k.a. “the East Bank.” A warning though – some of this story is absolutely not fun, due to the world news that the Jewish Journal was diligently and urgently relaying outside Nazi-occupied Europe as the events unfolded, the Nazi persecution of Jews.

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Lt. Edward F. Teague: A Brave Pilot with a Brave Family

Decoration Day will be here soon, the last Monday in May. Three years after the Civil War ended, in 1868. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, the head of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans, established Decoration Day as a time to decorate the graves of their war dead with flowers, already a springtime tradition in several communities, both the North and South. Logan chose the date of May 30th because, some say, it was a time flowers would be in bloom all over the country. Over time, the day became Memorial Day, a day to honor all those who died in service to our nation.<... Read Full Blog

A Cultural Exchange: When the Indrani Dance Troupe Came to Bossier City, 1961

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month to celebrate the contributions that generations of AAPIs have made to American history, society, and culture. When the Indrani Dance Troupe of India came to Bossier City in November, 1961, Indrani and her fellow dancers and musicians intended to share Indian dance and culture with the Ark-La-Tex. Instead, the shortened visit put the spotlight of the world on the customs of Northwest Louisiana during the time of “Jim Crow” racial segregation. 

Born in Madras (now known as Chennai) In... Read Full Blog

POW/MIA Bracelets: Wearable Prayers on Behalf of a Vietnam POW

POW/MIA Bracelets: Wearable Prayers on Behalf of a Vietnam POW

Tomorrow, May 2nd, is the National Day of Prayer. Here is the story of an artifact in our collection that, to its honoree, represented a prayer in physical form. This plain yet striking item is a metal Vietnam-era POW/MIA bracelet engraved simply with the name, “William W. Butler” and the date, “11/20/1967.”

This bracelet belonged to Janis Alexander Gauthier of Bossier City. She and her soon-to-be husband, Bobby Gauthier, who had served as a survival skills trainer to pilots headed to Vietnam, each had bracelets. (B... Read Full Blog

Anna P. Tooke Memorial Library Branch: Worth the Wait

Until the past few weeks when the new Bossier Central Complex Library opened in Bossier City, the newest building in the Bossier Parish library system was the Koran community’s Anna P. Tooke Memorial Library, a modern building nestled in the woods close to Lake Bistineau. This lovely building had come a long way from the original Koran community branch library, the system’s southernmost branch, which was a parked, defunct, converted-Ford bookmobile, that provided no seating, toilets, heat or reliable cooling, and was located on an old dumpsite.

 

The parish governme... Read Full Blog

Routine Task for Deputy Turns Tragic at Bossier Parish Plantation

The March, 1954 issue of Louisiana Peace Officer, the journal of the Louisiana Peace Officers Association, contains an article paying tribute to two local men killed in the line of duty. The author of the article writes, “… Louisiana law enforcement has suffered its worst blow in the memory of its oldest officers.” That “worst blow” left the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Department and the Shreveport Police Department each asking, “why?” It also underscored how, for those of the thin blue line, even a routine assignment can turn deadly.

Only a month earlier, on the afternoon of Februar... Read Full Blog

May Day, A Celebration of Spring and Health

Spring has “sprung” here in Bossier Parish. The azaleas and other blossoms, and all the bright greenery to go with the purples and pinks, are looking lovely, and it’s comfortably warm and breezy. This transformation is worth celebrating. With the holiday of May Day, people have done so from ancient to more recent times, across the globe and here in Bossier Parish.

 

May Day began from ancient, pagan Scandinavian and Celtic traditions celebrating the arrival of spring, and both derived from ancient Roman practices. Villagers would go “a-Maying,” picking flowers and s... Read Full Blog

Henry L. Aulds, Jr. Branch Library - The Silver Lining of a Family’s Tragic Loss

The Bossier Parish Library’s South Bossier branch still has a small-town or neighborhood feel, but it has grown tremendously since it opened in the Shady Grove neighborhood in 1971 with 1, 200 square feet of space, with the limited hours of 2-6pm Mon -Friday. The branch opened in October, 1971 on land donated by Bossier City and was named in memory of Henry L. Aulds, Jr., a Bossier Parish Police Juror, whose efforts were instrumental in its existence.

Aulds died suddenly in September, 1970, at the age of 42, suffering a heart attack while on a dove hunting trip. He live... Read Full Blog

Bossier City Once Home to Real-Life Miss Moneypenny

The character of Miss Moneypenny, made famous by author Ian Fleming in his James Bond novels and the accompanying movies, is intelligent, inquisitive, privy to confidential information, and indispensable to Bond and his director of British Secret Service boss “M”. Few may know that Bossier City was once home to a real-life Moneypenny whose deeds and accomplishments were no less impressive than those of her fictional counterpart.

 

Betty Wells Rathmell had a life that brimmed with travel, interesting locales, intrigue, access to people of power and influen... Read Full Blog

Phyllis Kidd’s Words from the Heart

The special recognition of Black history was begun by Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875 – 1950), a Harvard-trained historian whose parents had been enslaved. Dr. Woodson believed black people had a culture and tradition that scholars should investigate and artists should use as inspiration. He challenged all Americans to understand their country by seeing beyond American culture as simply transplanted British culture.

When Carter G. Woodson established Negro History week in February, 1926 (which became Black History Month in 1976), he wanted to provide a yearly theme to help focus the p... Read Full Blog

The Green Book: A Remnant of a Segregated World

 Before the days of the Interstate, Henry Smith, Sr. was driving with his wife and two young children, Henry, Jr. and Cheryl, across country, from their home in Seattle, Washington to his and his wife’s home state of Louisiana. They planned to visit relatives outside of Baton Rouge. They had just crossed into northwestern Louisiana when little Cheryl piped up from the back that she needed to use the restroom. Henry, Sr. looked at the road signs. They were just entering Bossier City, an area with which he was well familiar, having served in the Civilian Conservation Corps on Barksdale A... Read Full Blog

Mysterious Disappearance of Barksdale General and Airmen Still Unsolved

Throughout history there have been many intriguing and mysterious disappearances that remain unsolved such as the Lost Colony of Roanoke, the crew of the Mary Celeste, Amelia Earhart, and the men of Flight 19. One such disappearance has ties to Barksdale Air Force Base, and, although not as well-known as these more famous cases, it nonetheless is still mystifying 73 years after it happened.

In early 1951, the U.S. Air Force’s Strategic Air Command (SAC) established the 7th Air Division and assigned it to England to help counter the growing threat from the Soviet Union. SAC bombers... Read Full Blog

Bossier City Library: From Small Branch to The Central Complex

The Bossier City Library Branch opened on September 21, 1940 in the old Bossier City Hall on Barksdale Boulevard, under librarian Miss Margaret Frances Wiseman, with library experience from Concordia and Morehouse Parishes, and assisted by Myra Wiley of Bossier City. It was among the first three branches of the brand-new, “demonstration” Bossier Parish Library System (along with Plain Dealing and Haughton and Benton Headquarters), meant to give parish voters the opportunities to see the possibilities and value of a library system, initially operated with largely state and federal resources,... Read Full Blog

Still Waters: The Freezing of a River and its Lasting Impact

The waters of the Red River, normally free flowing, came to a halt in December 1983, and 40 years later, this event is still a source of wonder and awe. Few times in local history have cold temperatures made their presence known on such a grand scale or created such a stunning display.

As residents prepared for Christmas in ’83, the weather gave no hint of what was to come. According to author and National Weather Service observer Billy Andrews, conditions were nothing out of the ordinary. “The first ten days of the month were typical of December weather ... ranging fro... Read Full Blog