The André Cailloux Center and Krewe of Red Beans Announce Reckoning & Remembrance with an Open Call for Mural Artists

The November 14 procession will honor New Orleans' Black Civil War soldiers, traveling along Bayou Road from Beanlandia to the André Cailloux Center. Visual Artists are invited to submit proposals for honorary murals by Aug. 21.

NEW ORLEANS (Aug. 5) - The André Cailloux Center for Performing Arts and Cultural Justice announces its partnership with the Krewe of Red Beans to present Reckoning & Remembrance, a community procession and public history initiative created in coordination with the annual Algiers Ancestors Festival, Arts New Orleans, and the African American Civil War Memorial Museum.

Reckoning & Remembrance is rooted in historical stewardship: preserving the memory of Captain André Cailloux, the Black soldiers of New Orleans' First and Third Louisiana Native Guard, and the people who stood with them in the fight for freedom. It arrives at a moment of renewal along Bayou Road, one of the oldest Black corridors in the country, where new restaurants, coffee shops, and cultural spaces are opening alongside institutions that have anchored the 7th Ward for generations. The procession carries that same spirit: a community gathering its people, honoring its history, and building towards the future. The entire City of New Orleans is invited to join us as we share the stories of our past and build a new future together. 

The free event takes place Saturday, Nov. 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The inaugural Reckoning & Remembrance second line will journey down Bayou Road in honor of Captain Cailloux and his legacy. The procession begins at Beanlandia, located at 3300 Royal St., the Krewe of Red Beans headquarters and former site of the African American Civil War Soldiers Headquarters, and travels along Bayou Road to the André Cailloux Center at 2541 Bayou Road, the former St. Rose de Lima Church, which helped organize Cailloux's 1863 funeral procession.

“For generations, New Orleans has celebrated freedom without fully naming the Black people who fought for it. This procession names them and ensures our young people inherit the full story,” said Lauren Turner Hines, founding envisionist and executive lead of the André Cailloux Center.

Black New Orleanians organized for freedom, fought for it, and died for it. Though they marched through these streets by the hundreds, their role in the Civil War remains largely absent from the history taught in local schools. As the nation prepares to mark 250 years of the United States, Reckoning & Remembrance lifts up the stories that have lived in the shadows of that history, asking whose sacrifices have been named and whose are still waiting to be. This procession brings those stories back into public view.

The inaugural event includes an advance open call for visual artists, powered by Arts New Orleans, accepting proposals for a $46,000 mural commission honoring Black Civil War soldiers of New Orleans. The mural will be painted at Beanlandia from Oct. 5 through Nov. 6 and unveiled in connection with the Nov. 14 procession. Submissions are open now through Aug, 21, at 11:59 p.m CDT. Guidelines, timeline, and the submission form are available here.

“New Orleans has always used procession to tell us who we are. This partnership gives us a chance to tell a history the city should know and bring people together around it,” said Devin De Wulf, founder of the Krewe of Red Beans.

The procession is open to the public. Community members, schools, faith institutions, and cultural organizations are invited to take part. Registration details will be announced through accneworleans.com