Considered one of the earliest epidemiological studies, W.E.B. DuBois publishes The Philadelphia Negro (1899), followed by The Health and Physique of the Negro American (1906). Debois’s field research and statistical data debunk more than a century of pseudo-scientific theories of racial inferiority, Black and White differences in mortality and morbidity, and lay the foundation of racial/ethnic health-disparities research. >weblink

The largest sawrmill in the world is built 70 miles west of New Orleans, at the edge of Louisiana and Mississippi, along the Bogue Lusa Creek, a tributary of the Pearl River. An enteriprise of two brothers, Frank Henry Goodyear and Charles W. Goodyear of Buffalo, New York, rumor of the largest lumber mill and jobs, brings waves of immigrants– Russian, Polish, Sacilian, and formally enslaved and next generation Blacks to the Great Southern Lumber Company. 

Meyer Berenson (“Berenson assigned at Ellis Island based on a somewhat similar family name) immigrates to the United States as a teenager, makes his way to New Orleans, and finally, Bogalusa, drawn by rumor of the sawmill and work. Meyer initially works in a hardware store and then starts his own business as a traveling peddler with a wagon and a mule. 

Blood Bogalusa, the Bogalusa Sawmill Killings. in 1919 workers go on strike, triggering the largest labor strife at the Great Southern Lumber Company. Company owners support a white militia group and bring in Black strikebreakers, hoping to prevent union organization and the Black and White labor organizations from merging. increasing racial tension. Events culminates in the Bogalusa sawmill killings, four white union men die while defending Sol Dacus, the head of the black union. It remains a highlight of interracial union support. >Wiki

Gerald S. Berenson is born on September 19th in his family’s home on Columbia Road in Bogalusa to Meyer Aaron Berenson and Eva Singerman Berenson, Polish immigrants who became local merchants.

Considered one of the earliest epidemiological studies, W.E.B. DuBois publishes The Philadelphia Negro (1899), followed by The Health and Physique of the Negro American (1906). Debois’s field research and statistical data debunk more than a century of pseudo-scientific theories of racial inferiority, Black and White differences in mortality and morbidity, and lay the foundation of racial/ethnic health-disparities research. > weblink

The largest sawrmill in the world is built 70 miles west of New Orleans, at the edge of Louisiana and Mississippi, along the Bogue Lusa Creek, a tributary of the Pearl River. An enteriprise of two brothers, Frank Henry Goodyear and Charles W. Goodyear of Buffalo, New York, rumor of the largest lumber mill and jobs, brings waves of immigrants– Russian, Polish, Sacilian, and formally enslaved and next generation Blacks to the Great Southern Lumber Company. Bogalusa (incorporated 1914) is built as a company town on a virgin pine forest to house the workers, supervisors, and basic facilities to support its rural operation. In time, Bogalusa will become the fourth largest city in Louisiana; women from New Orleans will make their way to Columbia Street, Bogalusa’s shopping district, to find the latest in haute corture; the sawmill will shutdown having wiped out the virgin forest just as the depression ends, and become a papermill, that will change hands a few times, but remain major employer, thru WW2, the Korean War, a bloody and storied Civil Rights era as Selma, Newark, or Watts; integration; white flight; and the home of The Bogalusa Heart Study, the longes and largest epidemiological study of cardiovascular risk in a biracial town.

Meyer Berenson (“Berenson assigned at Ellis Island based on a somewhat similar family name) immigrates to the United States as a teenager, makes his way to New Orleans, and finally, Bogalusa, drawn by rumor of the sawmill and work. Meyer initially works in a hardware store and then starts his own business as a traveling peddler with a wagon and a mule. With his savings, Meyer opens “Berensons”, a clothing store on Columbia Street, and opens The State Theatre, a movie theater, across the street from Berensons. Berensons and The State thrive after the Great Depression; Meyer subsequently owns and operates two additional theaters and a golf course. Eva (1898 – 1997) moves from Poland to New Orleans at the age of five; Meyer and Eva married in 1914, one of the first Jewish families to settle in the community.

Blood Bogalusa, the Bogalusa Sawmill Killings. in 1919 workers go on strike, triggering the largest labor strife at the Great Southern Lumber Company. Company owners support a white militia group and bring in Black strikebreakers, hoping to prevent union organization and the Black and White labor organizations from merging. increasing racial tension. Events culminates in the Bogalusa sawmill killings, four white union men die while defending Sol Dacus, the head of the black union. It remains a highlight of interracial union support. >Wiki

Gerald S. Berenson is born on September 19th in his family’s home on Columbia Road in Bogalusa to Meyer Aaron Berenson and Eva Singerman Berenson, Polish immigrants who became local merchants.

Considered one of the earliest epidemiological studies, W.E.B. DuBois publishes The Philadelphia Negro (1899), followed by The Health and Physique of the Negro American (1906). Debois’s field research and statistical data debunk more than a century of pseudo-scientific theories of racial inferiority, Black and White differences in mortality and morbidity, and lay the foundation of racial/ethnic health-disparities research. > weblink

The largest sawrmill in the world is built 70 miles west of New Orleans, at the edge of Louisiana and Mississippi, along the Bogue Lusa Creek, a tributary of the Pearl River. An enteriprise of two brothers, Frank Henry Goodyear and Charles W. Goodyear of Buffalo, New York, rumor of the largest lumber mill and jobs, brings waves of immigrants– Russian, Polish, Sacilian, and formally enslaved and next generation Blacks to the Great Southern Lumber Company. Bogalusa (incorporated 1914) is built as a company town on a virgin pine forest to house the workers, supervisors, and basic facilities to support its rural operation. In time, Bogalusa will become the fourth largest city in Louisiana; women from New Orleans will make their way to Columbia Street, Bogalusa’s shopping district, to find the latest in haute corture; the sawmill will shutdown having wiped out the virgin forest just as the depression ends, and become a papermill, that will change hands a few times, but remain major employer, thru WW2, the Korean War, a bloody and storied Civil Rights era as Selma, Newark, or Watts; integration; white flight; and the home of The Bogalusa Heart Study, the longes and largest epidemiological study of cardiovascular risk in a biracial town.

Meyer Berenson (“Berenson assigned at Ellis Island based on a somewhat similar family name) immigrates to the United States as a teenager, makes his way to New Orleans, and finally, Bogalusa, drawn by rumor of the sawmill and work. Meyer initially works in a hardware store and then starts his own business as a traveling peddler with a wagon and a mule. With his savings, Meyer opens “Berensons”, a clothing store on Columbia Street, and opens The State Theatre, a movie theater, across the street from Berensons. Berensons and The State thrive after the Great Depression; Meyer subsequently owns and operates two additional theaters and a golf course. Eva (1898 – 1997) moves from Poland to New Orleans at the age of five; Meyer and Eva married in 1914, one of the first Jewish families to settle in the community.

Blood Bogalusa, the Bogalusa Sawmill Killings. in 1919 workers go on strike, triggering the largest labor strife at the Great Southern Lumber Company. Company owners support a white militia group and bring in Black strikebreakers, hoping to prevent union organization and the Black and White labor organizations from merging. increasing racial tension. Events culminates in the Bogalusa sawmill killings, four white union men die while defending Sol Dacus, the head of the black union. It remains a highlight of interracial union support. > Wiki

Gerald S. Berenson is born on September 19th in his family’s home on Columbia Road in Bogalusa to Meyer Aaron Berenson and Eva Singerman Berenson, Polish immigrants who became local merchants.