A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau

Against the backdrop of 18th- and 19th-century New Orleans, A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau untangles the complex threads of myth and truth surrounding one of the city’s most enduring figures. Marie Laveau was renowned not only for her spiritual power, striking presence, and sharp business sense, but also for her compassion — nursing yellow fever victims, comforting prisoners on death row, and remaining devoted to her Catholic faith.

According to oft-told tales, Laveau was a sorcery-fueled celebrity whose influence reached from enslaved people to the city’s upper-class whites. Legends describe her leading Voudou ceremonies in Congo Square and along Lake Pontchartrain, keeping a giant snake named Zombi, and running an infamous house of assignation. The true story, though less flamboyant than the legend, is no less compelling.

In this deeply researched study, author Carolyn Morrow Long sifts fact from fiction, exploring the unique social, political, and legal context in which Marie Laveau lived. Long traces the intertwined African and European ancestry of the Laveau family across seven generations — from enslaved great-grandparents of pure African descent to great-grandchildren legally classified as white — while examining the evolution of New Orleans Voudou, long overlooked by scholars.

This definitive portrait offers a rich, nuanced understanding of Marie Laveau’s life and material legacy, and is essential reading for anyone interested in New Orleans history, culture, and folklore.