Multi-Cultural Attractions

The Pleasant Reed Interpretive Center (pictured above) is part of the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art and is a reconstruction of the original house built by Pleasant Reed in the late 19th century destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  A visit to the Pleasant Reed Interpretive Center provides a rare opportunity to see how an African American born into slavery persevered in spite of daunting circumstances.  Pleasant Reed was not the only individual born a slave who later built his family a house with funds earned in the post-Civil War economy; but his home is one of the few that that can be identified with a particular African American builder and homeowner. Authentic items that were used by the Reed family in the late 19th and early 20th century can be seen throughout the house.

Also on display in the Pleasant Reed Interpretive Center is the exhibition, The Native Guard: A Photographic History of Ship Island's African American Regiment, with photographs from the collection of C. P. ("Kitty") Weaver of Massachusetts found in the diary of Colonel Nathan W. Daniels.  The exhibition records the history of the 2nd Regiment of Louisiana Native Guards that served for the Union at Ship Island in the Mississippi Sound during the Civil War. Passages from the poetry of Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey were inspired by the history of the Native Guards.

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