Lecture at the Jazz Museum

Before Storyville became synonymous with New Orleans’ vice and nightlife, the city experimented with an earlier—and largely forgotten—attempt to regulate prostitution. In 1892, the City Council passed an ordinance seeking to confine brothels to a designated district, require weekly medical examinations for prostitutes, and fund a new Charity Hospital wing for the “detainment and treatment” of women deemed diseased.

The proposal provoked fierce backlash and inspired an unlikely alliance between society women and sex workers, who joined forces to persuade the mayor to veto the measure. Though short-lived, this failed experiment—sometimes referred to as “Harnanville”—helped pave the way for the establishment of Storyville just five years later.