With New Orleans’ annual king cake countdown reaching its final hours, it’s time to visit the “Pioneers of Women’s Carnival” exhibit at the Presbytere.
Open since May, it tells the more than centurylong story of half the local population’s efforts to seize their share of our rites of Carnival.
“It’s really interesting to look at the environments in which these krewes began to be formed,” said Wayne Phillips, Louisiana State Museum curator of costumes and textiles and Carnival collections. “The very first krewe formed by women for women as a membership organization was formed in 1896. This was well over 20 years before women had the right to vote.”…