Tag: Garry Blanson

By Garry Blanson Founder of The Colored Industrial and Agricultural School, which would later become known as “Grambling State University” About four years ago, at a personal development conference, a man said, “We don’t have a crime problem in our…

By Garry Blanson Former colored slave who is considered to have led Louisiana’s first civil rights campaign Recently, I signed a petition to recall Governor Jeff Landry. When I got to the location where the signing was being held, they…

By Garry Blanson Well, well, well, when it comes to the ways Black people lose their family land involuntarily, it seems that eminent domain and the forced selling of heir property head the list! While I have included in my…

By Garry Blanson First Negro Police Officer on the Monroe Police Department in the 20th Century While so much “fanfare” was being made over the end of the Louisiana inspection sticker, did anyone else happen to notice that something very…

By Garry Blanson Established for Black People in Monroe, Louisiana Today, when I say the words “Delta Vocational School,” most people generally presume that I’m talking about either the Delta school in West Monroe, Louisiana, or the Delta school on…

By Garry Blanson As I was growing up in Monroe, Louisiana, I can remember my mother, Mrs. Jessie Mae Phenix Blanson, attending and graduating from a local vocational school that used to be located at 700 Rogers Street in Monroe,…

By Garry Blanson As I was going to look up the old nursery rhyme about “St. Ives” — you all still remember that old nursery rhyme — something made me realize that the redistricting currently going on in Louisiana and…