The Great Hall: Perseverance Society Hall and the Beginnings of Jazz, Part 2

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Part 2: The Builders

Benevolence societies were staples of urban culture across the United States. New immigrants were encouraged to register at organizations which would help them find housing, employment, and serve as lenders and insurers. Known as benevolent societies or mutual aid associations, an element of these organizations still exists in the United States, most prominently in the Chinese community which proliferated new Chinese immigrants across the country while also teaching many skills needed to gain employment immediately (many became chefs and worked at or were leased restaurants across the country). However, the unique history of New Orleans allowed benevolent societies founded by and for Creoles, or Free People of Color, the oldest of which eventually built the hall standing at 1644 North Villere Street.

Dates for the official founding of the Perseverance Benevolent and Mutual Aid Association (PBMAA) vary depending on the definition of "founding." The association was re-incorporated in 1892, but the facade of the hall states the organization formed in 1853. However, evidence dates the society forming seventy years earlier in 1783 which would make the PBMAA the oldest benevolent society in New Orleans history, placing it within the time period of Spanish Colonial rule.

Without Spanish law, it is likely that the PBMAA wouldn't have been founded. Though much attention is paid to French colonial rule, the governance of Spain had a greater impact on the city of New Orleans due to Spain's laws regarding slavery. The French Code Noir is considered to be a significant element in the creation of the Creole class, populated with mixed-race citizens who were highly educated. However, under Spanish rule the Creole population was allowed to grow and flourish. From 1724 to 1764, the French Code Noir was enshrined in law. Unlike their British and Dutch counterparts, the French implemented restrictions on the behaviors of slave owners. Owners could not separate families, ban slave marriage, nor engage in excessive punishments, though the law did include barbaric punishments for escaping slaves and slaves who struck their masters could be executed. However, the Code Noir did state that children who were fathered by owners were free as well as their mothers and slaves could be freed by the approval of the Superior Council or by the death of the owner. Though the Code Noir required slaves to be given Sundays off, slaves were still limited to gather on their plantations. The French Code Noir was heavily influenced by Roman Catholic customs regarding slavery.

When France sold Louisiana to Spain in 1764, Spain replaced the Code Noir with Spanish governing law. Still a Catholic Country, Spain's laws included many of the same elements of the French Code Noir such as banning the separation of families and the required Sunday off. Spain, however, had more avenues to procure a slave's freedom. Not only could a slave owner free their slaves at will, a slave could now petition a court for freedom due to poor treatment. Slaves could also gather with slaves from other plantations on Sundays. Most significantly, Spain allowed slaves to purchase their freedom through the process of "manumission." Influenced by Spain's history of Roman rule, manumission allowed a slave to buy their own freedom even over the objection of the owner. With this new law, slaves began to create markets on their days off in order to sell clothing, food, and play music in hopes of getting enough money to buy their freedom. When the governance of Louisiana was eventually given to the United States, these markets, which were spread across the city of New Orleans, would be legislated to the back of the City in hopes that moving the markets away from the ports would discourage the slaves from gathering. Beginning in 1817, the Sunday slave markets would be relegated to Places Publique. The law spectacularly backfired as the weekly events at Place Publique (locally renamed Congo Square) would become a signature attraction for New Orleans. Though the Spanish were considerably more lenient in their laws regarding slavery, the multiple avenues toward freedom allowed the practice to become further engrained in the city.

Though Free People of Color still had restrictions on voting and marriage, they were given many rights upon being freed, including the ability to own and operate a business. Creoles, as they became called, could also lend money, own property, educate their children, and attend social events. Though the United States didn't have a version of the Code Noir, many of the members of the state and city legislatures in New Orleans were French descendants and continued to institute the French Code, though the city would eventually pass laws in line with the rest of the South by the outbreak of the Civil War. the PBMAA was the first of its kind; a benevolent society founded by and for Creoles. Mainly craftsmen, the society quickly gained prevalence in New Orleans, even leading the first Mardi Gras Krewe in New Orleans.

Originally called La Societé de la Perseverance, the PBMAA was one of hundreds of benevolent societies that became indispensable when the Freedmen's Bureau was ended in 1872. In the absence of the Bureau, benevolent societies shouldered new responsibilities including lending and educational expenses. Organizations hired in house doctors who would treat their members for a low flat rate and pharmacists who would give a discount for members. Like modern-day health insurance, members had differing tiers of coverage, which mainly dealt with the number of doctor's visits. Members were also punished with fines or banished from the organization if they were found in violation of the organization's guidelines, including not being at home when a doctor arrived. Even with these rules and regulations, it was not uncommon for the organizations to pay fellow members' dues if they were behind in payments. Not only were members insured against unemployment, poor health, and death, the benevolent societies became political organizations, often raising money to pay for legal battles. The most famous legal battle was Plessy v. Ferguson, where the benevolent society not only paid legal fees but also helped strategize the years-long legal battle.

Members were also privy to a tight-knit community. In times of sickness, members would offer to clean each other's homes or provide food or take care of each other's children. Though their members were excluded from white society after the Civil War, the benevolent societies continued to have parties, balls, and, most importantly, parades complete with brass bands. By 1881, the societies were parading every day, a tradition that continues. When Mardi Gras became segregated, benevolent societies would parade in black neighborhoods on Mardi Gras Day, the most famous of which is the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, creating a tradition of their own. By the turn of the century, it was estimated that 80% of New Orleanians were members of a benevolent society and were well-respected financial institutions, as reported by the Lousianan in 1881:

It is a notorious fact that the financial systems of many of these organizations are better, and more honestly conducted than many of the banking and state institutions. Their solvency for years and their ability to meet their legal demands are sufficient evidence to bear out these statements. The manner in which the sick are cared for, and the respectable internments are given to their dead, are acts not only worthy of note, but of special pride to the city.

The PBMAA, not unlike other societies at the time, was set on creating a gathering place where they could conduct membership meetings, have parties, and own as collateral. Built twenty-seven years after incorporating in 1853, the PBMAA placed the hall in the middle of the 7th Ward, a historically Creole neighborhood. This single-story shotgun house became the center of the PBMAA's activities; a three-bay wooden frame was built on top of a brick foundation. Despite choosing a design that mirrored the houses in the neighborhood (single story shotgun houses continue to be in demand in New Orleans), the interior was distinct from any building nearby. Through the windows, the neighbors would have seen a great open floor from wall to wall with a small but prominent stage against the back wall, a rarity in dance halls. Victorian Era wainscotting lined the interior in dark mahogany. In addition to the massive hall, a service entrance was included. Renovations were done in 1927. A camelback addition was built to accommodate the administrative needs of the PBMAA. Much like the rare use of a musicians' mezzanine, the camelback was built with side stairwells and a center spiral staircase that led to a second-story landing and two small rooms. The front of the building was extended to the sidewalk and a parapet facade was added. The PBMAA painted the following on the facade:

Perseverance B.M.A.A., Organized Nov. 13, 1853, Reincorporated July 21, 1892, Under Admin. A. Harris 1921.

From 1880 to 1913, the Hall was the center of neighborhood activity. However, the PBMAA was constantly having financial troubles. One year after building the hall, the PBMAA sued its treasurer for $215 that went unaccounted. Unpaid taxes allowed the City of New Orleans to sell the property to James Lewis, Jr. for $23.75. Though Lewis eventually sold the property back to the PBMAA in 1923, he did so for $200. For the first time in the Hall's history, the PBMAA procured a loan in 1927, likely to pay for the new facade and the camelback addition. Though the additions were completed, membership had rapidly declined after the PBMAA burdened itself with a $6,300 mortgage from the Service Building and Homestead Association. Modern insurance companies had come to prominence and communities no longer looked to the benevolent societies for help. By 1932, the PBMAA was selling its property to the Homestead association. Eight years after taking out a mortgage for $6,300, the hall and its contents were bought by Cecile Cagnolatti for a mere $1,400. Though Cagnolatti would allow the PBMAA to continue to use the hall for its functions, the association was in dire straits. The organization met less frequently and, though their facade continued to state their ownership, 1644 North Villere street was known as a printing shop which was run out of the former service entrance. In 1949, the hall was sold by the Cagnolatti family to the Holy Aid and Comfort Spiritual Church of Eternal Life without mention of the PBMAA. Led by Mother Conrad, the Church painted the facade blank. Unlike other New Orleans society halls, the Church resisted renovating Perseverance Society Hall, making it the only wholly original hall left in New Orleans. But that resistance came with a price. By 2002, large portions of the building were unusable due to deterioration. The musicians' mezzanine couldn't be accessed from its stairs, and plaster had fallen from multiple areas of the wall and ceiling. The costly camelback addition was poorly built and put much pressure on the atrium, leading the Church to ask for grants to repair or dismantle the addition before it collapsed. Despite owning the building for over fifty years, the Church didn't have the funds to repair any of the deterioration. After Hurricane Katrina, the camelback became a hazard and needed to be removed. It was the only major work done to the property since 1927.

Currently, the hall stands in tatters, standing only by the guidance of a nearby tree. Its current owners are begging for grants to renovate the building to its functional self, if not its former glory, but Hurricane Ida left many counting down the days until the historic building simply collapsed. The PBMAA is long gone. The once powerful community organization was quietly dismantled through decades of fiscal mismanagement, from non-payment of taxes to taking out a mortgage to make costly additions while membership was dwindling.

Despite its untimely downfall, the PBMAA was among the most important cultural institutions in New Orleans. The benevolent and social aid societies that continue to exist in the city are focused on community activism and educational outreach. By filling the void left by the Freedmen's Bureau, the benevolent societies helped create a thriving black middle class during a time of segregation and assisted in funding legal challenges to the racial laws in Louisiana in the first civil rights movement after the Civil War.

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