By unanimous vote of the New Orleans City Council on Thursday evening, a four and a half mile boulevard in Lakeview named in honor of Confederate General Robert E. Lee will be renamed after the late rhythm-and-blues icon Allen Toussaint. The renaming is part of an ongoing effort to rid New Orleans’ streetscape of place names memorializing Confederate leaders and white supremacists.
Two other streets will also be renamed. Slidell Street in Algiers, named after John Slidell, the Confederacy’s ambassador to France who also served as a representative and senator from Louisiana, will be rechristened Red Allen Way in honor of Henry James “Red” Allen. An Algiers native, Allen became a renowned jazz trumpeter known for his style of incorporating the musical innovations of Louis Armstrong in the swing era. McShane Place, a block-long street connecting Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue in the Seventh Ward, named after Andrew J. McShane, a staunch segregationist mayor of New Orleans from 1920–1925, will bear the name of Joseph Guillaume. In 1867, Guillaume took command of a mule-drawn streetcar to protest segregation on public transit in postbellum New Orleans. Guillaume’s act of defiance took place near the street to be named in his honor.
“In a city where we have so much to celebrate, and many incredible residents to honor, I feel—and I know many people feel—that symbols of hate should not be celebrated,” said council member Jared Brossett, who sponsored the Toussaint name change. “Allen Toussaint, of course, is a native of New Orleans and a world-renowned musician, and I believe he is incredibly deserving of this honor.”
Raised in a shotgun house in the working-class neighborhood of Gert Town, Toussaint purchased a home on Robert E. Lee Street in Lakeview and lived there for the last decade of his life. He died in 2015 at age 77 in Madrid, Spain, while on tour. An influential figure in New Orleans R&B scene from the 1950s to the early decades of the 21st century, Toussaint’s compositions included “Whipped Cream,” “Java,” “Mother-in-Law,” “Working in the Coal Mine,” “Yes We Can Can,” “Play Something Sweet” and “Southern Nights.” In 2021, the Louisiana legislature voted to add “Southern Nights” as an additional state song in honor of its composer.
New names for the three streets will go into effect on Feb. 1. Previously renamed places in New Orleans include Caffin Avenue which is now Fats Domino Avenue and Marsalis Harmony Park, formerly known as Palmer Park at the intersection of Claiborne and Carrollton avenues. Charles Caffin was a former slave owner of the Lombard plantation in what is now the Lower Ninth Ward. Rev. Benjamin Palmer was a prominent Confederate and vocal defender of slavery.
