Sylvester Francis got tired of paying $35 for his own photograph. In 1979, he paraded with the Gentlemen of Leisure Social Aid and Pleasure Club. A photographer snapped him in his finery and charged $35 for a print. Francis paid, then bought a Super 8mm camera and a still camera, figuring he’d shoot his own photos next time.
Francis dropped out of the club but kept the cameras. He started documenting jazz funerals, second-line parades, Mardi Gras Indians, Baby Dolls, Skull and Bone gangs. He shot everything happening in the backstreets when museum curators showed zero interest in these traditions. His tenacity earned him the nickname The Hawk.
In 1988, Francis started displaying photographs and Mardi Gras Indian memorabilia in his two-car garage in Treme. Chief Victor Harris of the Mandingo Warriors donated costumes. Social aid and pleasure club members donated parade umbrellas. Joan Brown Rhodes from Rhodes Funeral Home started bringing tour groups. When the Blandin funeral parlor closed, Rhodes suggested Francis move the collection into that building. The Backstreet Cultural Museum opened there in 1999…