Zulus’ history and traditions on full display again this Mardi Gras Season

2nd March 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer

The history of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club and its annual Mardi Gras parade stretches back more than a century – it was founded in 1909, in fact, when a group of local men named themselves the Tramps after seeing a musical comedy show at the equally famous Pythian Theater – and it’s a history filled with almost as many challenges surmounted as there’s been parties, and parades, rolled.

Over the years, the krewe has faced systemic racism, protests against its parade traditions, the death of many of the club’s leading luminaries, drops in membership numbers, and devastating hurricanes, all of which have threatened the club’s future and jeopardized the impact it has had on Crescent City culture and heritage.

And every challenge has been met with a sturdy amalgam of pride, passion and dedication to preserving everything unique, colorful and influential about Zulu and its Mardi Gras festivities. Zulu’s prestigious status has been permanently enshrined in local lore, much like the lyrics of one of the city’s most beloved sons, Professor Longhair, in an immortal 1959 recording: “When I get to New Orleans, I want to see the Zulu King.”

Now, as the club prepares to step off for its yearly Fat Tuesday parade, which is scheduled for 8 a.m. on Mardi Gras day (March 1), Zulu continues to thrive and grow in stature and influence. And while the overall history and renown of the club is decades and decades long, its long-time historian, Clarence Becknell said it was several developments a few decades ago that really kicked the club into high gear with the club presidency of Roy Glapion, who set out in the late 1970s to grow Zulu’s profile in the city and surrounding areas.

Until that time, Becknell said, the club was still hindered, quite unfairly, by a community perception that was distorted by racism and ignorance of Zulu’s true traditions and mission.

“The image people had of Zulu wasn’t presentable to them,” he said of the public’s sometimes bigoted derision. “But they never took the time to look at our history.”

It was Glapion who rehabbed the public’s image and misunderstanding of the storied organization, Becknell added.

“That’s when he went on a mission to change the perception,” Becknell said. “He wanted to make it more respected in the community.”

Glapion revised the club’s constitution in order to straighten up Zulu’s finances, and in 1983 he established the position of club historian, a role filled by Becknell, who has worked to uncover the club’s full history and present it to the public in all its richness and complexity.

Becknell said he decided to go to local schools to teach younger generations about the club’s history, Becknell’s knowledge of which has greatly expanded over nearly 40 years. When he began the educational outreach, he himself had to overcome the then-hidden history.

“I told the kids as much as I knew,” Becknell, “which at the time was limited.”

Glapion and Zulu then embarked on a further outreach project by establishing an annual display of the club’s historical artifacts, primarily the elaborate costumes and masks that adorn Zulu members at their various Mardi Gras events, including the coronation ball and the parade.

However, Becknell said, the club had difficulty finding a home for the ambitious display. Zulu leaders approached places like the Main Library downtown and the businesses along Canal Street, but every option turned Zulu down.

“Nobody wanted us,” Becknell said. “That’s the sad part about it. We had the door slammed in our face too many times.”

After the club exhausted the possibilities in New Orleans, Zulu members looked west toward Jefferson Parish, where the club had lots of members in Metairie, Kenner and other neighborhoods.

Using some connections he made as a colonel in the Army National Guard, Becknell got in touch with the managing director at Lakeside Mall. Zulu members conferenced with the mall director and made their pitch, asking the mall to host the display. They were successful.

“We sat down with them and talked about our idea, and [mall executives] said, ‘Let’s do it,’” Becknell said.

And once the display went up at Lakeside, it was an immediate hit. Becknell said that since it went up nearly a quarter-century ago, hundreds of interested residents, shoppers and parade-goers have come to check some authentic Zulu history

He said that the club and the mall “never got any backlash to the Metairie display.” In fact, quite the contrary, Becknell said, noting that the increased foot traffic at the mall benefitted the stores and businesses located at the mall and helped add to the local economy.

“People got excited when they saw Zulu,” he said, “and they came back [to see the display]. It’s been there ever since.”

This year’s Zulu display has been at Lakeside Mall.

Becknell said the annual display has significantly raised the club’s profile in the community, as well as educating folks about the real history of the club. The next step Glapion, who passed away in 1999, and the leaders put in motion was establishing the now-thriving Lundi Gras Festival, which attracts throngs of crowds every year at Woldenberg Park on the riverfront in the French Quarter.

The Lundi Gras Festival takes place on the Monday right before the day of Mardi Gras and features live music from a full slate of local bands and musicians on three stages. In addition, more than 20 food vendors dish up savory, varied New Orleans cuisine, from po’ boys to jambalaya to seafood bisque to alligator sausage.

Displays and performances of Zulu costumes and characters also take place – such as a Zulu witch doctor practicing their magic – and club memorabilia and arts and crafts are on view during the festival, which also includes a massive second line of brass bands.

The festivities are capped off by the traditional arrival of King and Queen Zulu by river Monday evening, a tradition that has undergone many modifications and adjustments over the decades but remains one of New Orleans’ annual social highlights, not just for Mardi Gras but for the city’s overall cultural identity.

Becknell said the genesis of the Lundi Gras Festival came in 1993, when club members identified Woldenberg Park as a then-untapped resource for Mardi Gras events and celebrations.

Longtime Zulu board member and vice president George Rainey – who in 2019 was tabbed the oldest King Zulu at age 87 before passing away the following year – met with Karen Noles of the Audubon Institute, which operates the Aquarium of the Americas adjacent to the park.

From that seed meeting evolved the Lundi Gras Festival, which attracts thousands of revelers each year, with an emphasis on creating a fun, festive atmosphere for families.

Becknell said the festival has been a boon to both Zulu and the local economy. The club, which sells festival sponsorships to numerous local businesses and organizations, has benefitted from the influx of funding from the event, and the fest has further burnished the club’s reputation in the public’s eye, especially with the event’s family-oriented focus and informational and educational displays.

“It was made a family event for all day on the riverfront,” he said.

Meanwhile, Becknell said, the many businesses in the French Quarter, including shops and restaurants, have also had their bottom lines boosted, much like the display at Lakeside Mall has. This year’s festival is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Woldenberg Park and is free. King and Queen Zulu arrive at 5 p.m.

“The biggest thing has been the impact economically and financially,” Becknell said. “All the businesses have made money.”

One particular aspect of Zulu tradition that has evolved over the years in connection with the Lundi Gras Festival is the specifics of the arrival of the Zulu King and Queen. The tradition dates back to 1917, when Zulu created the arrival as a way to lampoon the long-standing tradition of the then-whites-only Krewe of Rex, which had traditionally capped off Carnival with the arrival via private yacht of King Rex at Canal Street the day before Mardi Gras.

At the time, Zulu, which had been formed by working-class Black men in the 1910s as a result of the racially exclusionary policies and memberships of Rex and other white krewes, employed the arrival of its own King, first by skiff on the canal, then by tugboat.

Becknell said that the original rivalry with Rex later softened, leading to cooperation between the two krewes on scheduling the two arrivals. That process reached fruition with the start of the Lundi Gras Festival and the current method of the Zulu royalty’s arrival on the evening of Lundi Gras by U.S. Coast Guard cutter.

This year, the arrival will be presided over by the 2022 Zulu King, Randolph M. Davis, and the 2022 Zulu Queen, Crystal Monique Guillemet, who are ready to keep the tradition alive.

The 55-year old Davis, a native New Orleanian who has lived in the Lower Ninth Ward for most of his life, graduated from Alfred Lawless Sr. High School in New Orleans, then earned both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s at Grambling Uni-versity, where he also was a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

Davis, who earned the nickname Rudy, then began a career in health care that has spanned nearly four decades, including a stint as the youngest African-American hospital administrator in northern Louisiana. He is currently a Care Manager with Monogram Health Personalized Kidney Services located in Nashville, Tenn., where he continues to use his lifelong passion for helping others and educating people about improving their well being and quality of life.

Being crowned King Zulu has fulfilled a lifelong dream for Davis. He attended his first Zulu parade with his grandfather, when Davis was struck by the beauty and pageantry of the event.

Davis has served on several committees while a Zulu member, and has also been a krewe co-captain and as Witch doctor himself.

Outside of his career and Zulu membership, Davis is an active member of St. Joseph Baptist Church, the Oscar J. Dunn Lodge No. 85 of Prince Hall Masons and Platta Shriner Temple No. 15. Davis has two children, Rudy and JaMariea Davis, and a grandson, Rhyan Davis.

Like Davis, Guillemet is a native New Orleanian, growing up in the historic Gentilly neighborhood, attending St. Francis Cabrini Elementary School and graduating in 1992 from Xavier University Preparatory High School, better known as ‘The Prep.”

She attended the University of New Orleans, where she earned her bachelor’s of science degree. After working for a decade as a home health administrator, Guillemet earned a master’s in business administration in health administration from the University of Phoenix.

She then began a career at the Tulane University School of Medicine in its graduate medical education department, currently serving as the marketing and communication director for medicine administration.

Guillemet’s involvement with the Zulu organization is long and storied. As a youth she served as a page for 1982 King Zulu Charles Givens, then as a princess with the Young Men of Illinois Club. She then served as a Duchess for the Duke and Duchess krewe and rode in support of her Duke, who was named Zulu Big Shot.

Guillemet has three children – Jonathan, Nijel and McKenzie Williams; a grandson, Zharrah Gabrielle Williams; and brother, Kenneth Joseph Guillemet. She said she is humbled by being named Queen Zulu and is grateful to be honored with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club is now well into its second century, and the festivities surrounding the krewe’s legendary Mardi Gras pageantry – including the Coronation Ball, the mall display, the Lundi Gras Festival and parade, all on top of its community programs and charitable ventures – remain vital and beneficial for the community.

While many facets of Zulu have changed and grown – from the method and time of the arrival of King and Queen, the creation of the Zulu Ensemble choir, and the development of the club’s famed and beloved Golden Nuggets, the painted coconuts bequeathed to parade goers by parading club members – the core of what Zulu is all about has remained steadfast.

A club that, at its origins, was an organization for Black laborers to gain strength and camaraderie in the face of racism and segregation has metamorphosed into a club with diverse members from all kinds of backgrounds and walks of life. Becknell said that the development as a club of professional men dedicated to brotherhood and community involvement has led the gradual reappraisal of Zulu by the public at large.

“After looking at the history, customs and traditions,” he said, “it became more accepted because of how it was presented differently. People didn’t know that it’s now made up of professional Black men.”

With the addition of ventures like the mall display and the Lundi Gras Festival and the strengthening of the group’s financial status, Zulu has further enhanced the public’s view of the club, Becknell said.

When Zulu first formed, many of the city’s white leaders and purveyors of segregation looked down their noses at what they thought was merely a group of working-class ragamuffins.

“They really didn’t think Zulu would survive,” Becknell said.

Today, he said, Zulu has taken its place at the forefront of New Orleans culture, economy, society and heritage.

This article originally published in the February 28, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.