Photo courtesy of the River Road African American Museum
True Friend's Benevolent Society Hall
Long before modern insurance programs and attorney-assisted wills, individuals relied on one another. As far back as the late 1700s in Louisiana, benevolent societies were providing essential services like economic security, funeral and burial assistance, medical care, community support, and places of free expression to African Americans navigating life in a post-Revolutionary War South.
By the nineteenth century, free people of color had established more than thirty societies in New Orleans alone. Many bought or built meeting halls for community gatherings and musical entertainment. One of which, True Friends Benevolent Association at 711 Lessard Street in Donaldsonville, is now the focus of restoration efforts by the River Road African American Museum (RRAM).
First established at Tezcuco Plantation in Burnside in 1994, the RRAM relocated to Donaldsonville after Tezcuco burned down in 2002. In a handsome building at 406 Charles Street, RAAM’s mission to preserve the history, culture, and contributions of African Americans in rural South Louisiana, continues.
“When we started this museum we were in plantation country wanting to be a part of the tourist industry … telling the story of the Africans who were once enslaved in the River Parishes,” said Darryl Hambrick, Co-Founder and Executive Director of RRAM. “Once the fire happened, I was homeless, and we found our home in Donaldsonville.”
Built in 1886, True Friends Hall served as a civic center, cultural hub, and music venue, that welcomed many of the greats of Southern Soul—performers on the Chitlin’ Circuit—and even Plas Johnson, a native of Donaldsonville and American soul-jazz saxophonist best known for his slinking intro in the theme to the “Pink Panther.”
"It has been over 129 years since the True Friends Benevolent Association's members organized themselves to collectively take care of their families. It was the music and the meetings in TFBA Hall that helped them raise money and get through the hard times,” said Kathe Hambrick, Co-Founder and former Executive Director of the RRAM.
Backed by design plans by architectural firm EskewDumezRipple, the project has received a Martin Luther King Community Project grant, among other funding, and is now underway.
Estimated to be completed no later than 2028, the goal of the True Friends project is to establish an indoor and outdoor venue to again host cultural events, where visitors can also learn about the history of the businesses located on either side—a barber shop that has long been a mainstay of the local African American community, and a beauty salon.
“Hopefully the locals will have an opportunity to perform and carry on the traditions of the music and artistry that was developed and created in those walls” Darryl said.
For the team at RRAM, reviving a cultural touchstone is about more than restoring brick and mortar; it's about carrying on the legacy of stewardship, meeting, and music that once reverberated between the walls, and spilled onto Lessard street.
For updates visit riverroadaam.org.
