Marie Laveau, born around 1801, came from a family who reflected New Orleans’ rich, complicated history. Marguerite, her mother, was a formerly enslaved person whose great-grandmother had been born in West Africa. Charles Laveaux, her father, was a multiracial businessman who bought and sold Real Estate and enslaved people.
According to her obituary in the New York Times, she got married to a carpenter of her colour named Jacques Paris. However, he mysteriously disappeared, and she entered a romantic relationship with Captain Christophe Dominique Glapion, a white Louisianan from France.
They had at least seven children and lived together for over 30 years. However, because of the anti-miscegenation laws, they were never married. Marie Laveau’s reputation, however, preceded being a mother and a wife.
She was very popular in the city and often hosted New Orleans’ “lawyers, legislators, planters, and merchants” at her home. Marie Laveau was loved and well respected in the community.
Her reputation also preceded the title of “one of the most wonderful women who ever lived” that The New York Times bestowed on her. She was also a “Voodoo Queen” who supervised ceremonies in New Orleans.
While people of numerous races visited Laveau and attended her ceremonies, many white people didn’t accept Voodoo as a legitimate religion. The white people who witnessed rituals sometimes sensationalised them, and stories spread outside New Orleans that described Voodoo as a dark art.
Despite being a voodoo priestess, Marie Laveau was also a lifelong Roman Catholic. She was baptised, married, attended Mass, and had her children baptised at St. Louis Cathedral. She served as godmother for her nephew and granddaughter and paid for the education of a seven-year-old orphan boy at the Catholic Institution for Indigent Orphans.
When she grew older, Marie gave up leadership of the Voodoo Community and dedicated her time to charitable works. A newspaper article from 1871 describes how she regularly erected altars in the cells of condemned prisoners and comforted and prayed with them before they went to the gallows.
Laveau’s powers reportedly included healing the sick, extending generous gifts to the poor, and overseeing spiritual rites. Despite legends of Marie Laveau’s great wealth, she lived a modest life.
She died in 1881, but the mystery surrounding her continued to grow. She remains the only one able to answer the numerous questions about her but what remains certain is that new Orleans felt her impact.
