Willie V. Piazza just wanted to save her business when she took the city of New Orleans to court in 1917. Known as the “Countess of Storyville,” the madam was adamant about fighting the city’s attempt to move Black women to Black Storyville.
“While her immediate intent was self-serving,” the Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC) states, “her resources and sheer perseverance resulted in one of the few instances of the day in which an African American woman challenged the establishment and won.”
Designated in 1897, Storyville was a segregated red-light district…