The New Orleans African American Museum (NOAAM) celebrated its annual holiday event, Sips & Spirits, on Thursday, December 12, 2024, at the Lamplit Historical Gardens. As a way to acknowledge and recognize lifetime achievements, NOAAM presented the Treme Heroes: long-standing members of the African American Museum New Orleans Community who have positively supported the preservation of history and culture in Treme. Each individual has spent decades contributing time, money, and resources to preserving the rich history of this neighborhood and continues to be a linchpin in America’s Oldest black neighborhood in the country.
The 2024 hoorees were Jerome “Big Duck” Smith, a stalwart of the local and national Civil Rights movement; Beverly Stanton McKenna, publisher of The New Orleans Tribune and co-founder of McKenna Museums; third generarton owner of the Rhodes family-owned businesses and avid supporter of New Orleans culutre and art, D. Joan Rhodes; preservationist and founder of the Historic Faubourg Treme Association, Adolph F. Bynum, Sr.; Civil Rights activist, community leader and founding member of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Doratha ‘Dodie’ Smith-Simmons; and businessman and community leader, Henry L. Coaxum, Jr. NOAMM’s board chair, Edgar “Dook” Chase IV, NOAMM’s executive director Gia Hamilton, and state Sen. Royce Duplessis presenting each honoree a beautiful glass trophy as the emcee D.C. Paul shared highlights of the honorees’ accomplishments and contributions to the community.
NOAAM also acknowledged the 2023 recipients of the Treme Heroes award, which inlcuded historian and business owner, Alvin Jackson; historian Leon Waters; retired educator and former director of the YWCA of Greater New Orleans, Gail Glapion; educator and visual and performance artist, Cherice Harrison-Nelson; historian and author, James B. Borders; and writer and Louisiana’s 2005 Poet Laureate Brenda Marie Osbey.