Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club | New Orleans, LA

The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club is is one of New Orlean’s most celebrated Mardi Gras parade krewes. Established in the early 1900′s, the Zulu Krewe, initially known as the “Tramps,” developed first as a marching group. According to legend, its members adopted the idea for the group from a popular vaudeville skit from the period, “There Never Was and Will Never Be a King Like Me,” dressing up in grass skirts and wearing blackface, traditions that continue today. Zulu royalty has counted among its kings, Louis Armstrong , who served in 1949 and sport special “float characters of Zululand,” including the Big Shot, the Witch Doctor and the Soulful Warriors.

The organization was designed to provide blacks with a way to socialize during Jim Crow era and segregation, and later, as a verhicle to provide its members with much needed burial insurance in a time when African Americans were unable to buy such policies. As a side benefit, it was also a way for New Orleans’s black residents to participate in the city’s official Mardi Gras celebrations—which until the 1960′s was mostly a “whites only” affair—by holding their own parades and balls and crowning faux royalty. Of all the throws to rain down from the many floats in the parades during carnival, the Zulu coconut or “Golden Nugget” is the most sought after. 2009 is a milestone for Zulu as it marks the krewe’s 100th year of rolling through the New Orleans streets. For more information, please visit the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club’s official website.

Above Photo: Larry Roy, the Minister of Fun for the Krewe of Zulu, at the official opening of the “Tramps to Kings” exhibit.

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