Did you know that Louisiana is home to the famous Po’Boy or that there is such a thing as an annual Po’Boy Festival? It stands to reason, being that the state has a festival nearly every day, week, or weekend about something. But among the many things the Pelican State can lay claim to, the iconic sandwich is one of them.
How The Po’boy Got Its Name And Became An American Classic
The po’ boy originated in the late 1920s during a streetcar strike. The term “po’ boy” literally comes from the name “poor boy,” representing the working-class individuals that whom the sandwich was made.
The po’boy’s origins trace back to the 1929 streetcar strike, when Bennie and Clovis Martin, former conductors turned restaurant owners, handed out free sandwiches to the “poor boys” on strike. In the 1910s, the brothers left their hometown of Raceland, Louisiana, and moved to New Orleans to work as streetcar conductors. By 1922, they had shifted gears and opened Martin Brothers’ Coffee Stand and Restaurant, serving French loaf sandwiches filled with a variety of ingredients.
The name “po’boy” didn’t emerge until 1929, during a massive four-month strike by the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America, Division No. 194. With over a thousand union streetcar workers left without pay, the Martin brothers decided to support them by offering free meals. In a letter to a local newspaper, they pledged to feed any union member in need…