Episode #118- Who Was the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans? (Part I)
Our Fake History
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The History of the Free Women of Color in Louisiana
By the time Louisiana became an American state, the free people of color had become an industrious part of New Orleans society. One way they gained both wealth and influence was through a complex arrangement known as plusage. Free women of color were required by law to wear a head wrap known as a tinnyon in public to mark them as not white. The group was entirely shut out of political power in what was a white run slave state. Marie LaVoe is usually described as wearing a colorful tinnyon with seven points, seven being a significant number in Louisiana voodoo.
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