27 May 2025
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
Washington, D.C.’s National Museum of African American History and Culture recently announced the acquisition of a journal written by renowned New Orleans civil rights activist Oretha Castle Haley.
Museum acquisition processes are very lengthy, said Blair Dottin-Haley, the grandson of Oretha Castle Haley. In this case, the process began in May 2023. The journal had been in the possession of Dottin-Haley’s uncle and was one of the only things belonging to Castle Haley that survived the flooding from Hurricane Katrina.
The handwritten journal contains Castle Haley’s musings on a 1977 trip she took to China to discuss civil rights with the country’s leaders.
“I was most struck by her thoughts on liberation and freedom,” Dottin-Haley said when asked about the content of the journal. “…Having played the role she did in the Civil Rights Movement and finding similarities in the struggles of the (Chinese) people and the desire of the people for liberation.”
Castle Haley began her work as an activist in New Orleans striving for desegregation (then just known as Oretha Castle). She became part of the landmark Lombard v. Louisiana case after being arrested for sitting at the counter of McCrory’s. The U.S. Supreme Court would overturn Castle Haley and her fellow activists’ convictions for criminal mischief.
Her home served as the New Orleans headquarters for the Freedom Riders, housing and feeding hundreds of Freedom Riders who passed through the Crescent City during the summer of 1961.
Castle Haley also helped desegregate public playgrounds in New Orleans and led the campaign for Dorothy Mae Taylor to become the first African-American woman in Louisiana’s state Legislature. She worked as Charity Hospital’s deputy administrator and helped create the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation. She also served as a minority recruitment director for LSU Medical School and founded The Learning Workshop, a preschool and daycare center.
Shortly after Castle Haley’s death from cancer in 1987 at the age of 48, New Orleans renamed eight blocks of Dryades Street in Central City in her honor.
Dottin-Haley expressed pride over everything his grandmother accomplished in her life.
“It’s important to know that in less than 50 years, she did things that still have an impact on the world we live in today,” Dottin-Haley said.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture released a statement to The Louisiana Weekly about the acquisition of Oretha Castle Haley’s journals.
“The National Museum of African American History and Culture is honored to accept this meaningful donation from the family of Oretha Castle Haley, a prominent civil rights activist and a pivotal figure in the desegregation movement in New Orleans,” the statement reads.
The statement continued, “We are deeply grateful to the Castle Haley family for entrusting us with these invaluable historical artifacts. This generous contribution will allow future generations to better understand the courage, resilience, and enduring impact of Oretha Castle Haley’s life and activism. These artifacts will be preserved with great care as part of the museum’s mission to document and share the stories of African Americans whose legacies continue to shape our nation’s history.”
This article originally published in the May 26, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.