Music, Spice & Soul African American Tour
Day Trip
African Americans made significant contributions to the history and growth of Louisiana's Other Side, and you can see much of that impact when you choose this tour on your visit.
African American notables who hail from Shreveport-Bossier City include celebrity attorney Johnnie Cochran, Miss Louisiana Anita Whitaker and baseball great Albert Belle. Other notables include musicians such as blues man Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, who played the guitar and became known for such songs as "Good Night Irene." A bronze statue of him stands in downtown Shreveport.
Other influential African American musicians may not have hailed from here originally, but they made sure to play here. Famous musicians such as James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Bobbie "Blue" Bland and B.B. King performed at the historic Municipal Auditorium.
Visit historically significant churches, including Antioch Baptist Church, Little Union, Old Galilee, and Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, some of the oldest churches in the area. Each played an integral part in the civil rights movement.
Make sure you stop by the Multicultural Center of the South in the historic Pioneer Building, where friendly and knowledgeable staffers share information with you about the more than 20 different ethnic groups that influence Shreveport-Bossier City's culture.
Key museums showcase African American contributions to the area and beyond. Some of those museums are the Stephens African American Museum, Kuumba Fine Art Gallery and Southern University Museum of Art, which houses some of the state’s finest collections of African and African American artwork.