Institute Catholique - Twentieth Century

Twentieth Century

In 1915, that school was destroyed by a hurricane. Lacking funds to rebuild, the Board of the Institute Catholique agreed to terms proposed by Sister Katharine Drexel, founder of Xavier University. She offered to build and operate a new school on the site, under the name St. Louis School of Holy Redeemer parish on the condition that it would be operated by the Sisters of the Holy Ghost. At the same time, a church, the Holy Redeemer Church, was built in the neighborhood, and the school, commonly referred to as Holy Redeemer, operated as an elementary school for the local parish.

During this period, the teachers of the school no longer formed the intellectual center of the Afro-Creole community. In effect, though a school continued to operate at the location, the Institute Catholique, operated and staffed by African-Americans, ceased to exist.

Ernest "Dutch" Morial, the first African-American (Afro-Creole) Mayor of New Orleans, attended Holy Redeemer Elementary School during this period.

In 1965 Hurricane Besty destroyed the Holy Redeemer Church, but the Holy Redeemer Elementary School continued to operate. Graduates of that elementary school included the author Keith Weldon Medley, whose book on the Plessy vs. Ferguson lawsuit was published in 2003.

The school continued in operation until 1993, when it closed due to lack of funds. That same year, the Bishop Perry Middle School for Boys, a free school operated by the Roman Catholic Church's Society of St. Edmund opened on the site. The school served students in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, primarily of African-American heritage. Enrollment ranged from 60 to 200 students.

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