Collection:LPB

Genre: History, Educational

Place Covered: Louisiana, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana

Copyright Holder: Louisiana Educational Television Authority

Date Issued: 1985

Duration: 00:14:28

Subjects: BLACK HISTORY | JAZZ FUNERALS | African American business enterprises | Insurance companies | Burial insurance | LIFE INSURANCE | African American physicians | HEALTH INSURANCE

Contributors:

• Stewart, Genevieve Host
• Misshore, Wydell Interviewee
• Sheeler, Homer Interviewee

This episode of the series "North Star" from 1985 focuses on the unique history of black-owned insurance companies in Louisiana, including: the history of health epidemics in New Orleans; the tradition of jazz funerals; the establishment of black-owned insurance companies offering burial insurance so that people could afford to bury their loved ones; the expansion of the companies into life insurance; a visit to two black-owned insurance companies in New Orleans, the Gertrude Geddes Willis Insurance Company and the Purple Shield Insurance Company; and the history of black doctors, like Dr. Leo Butler, Dr. Ernest Cherrie and Dr. C.C. Haydel, offering health insurance policies to their patients. Host: Genevieve Stewart