This is Lulu White [Lulu Hendley] she was the most sucessfull Black female Pimp of all time, procuress and entrepreneur in New Orleans, Louisiana during the Storyville period.
An eccentric figure, she was noted for her love of jewelry, her many failed business ventures, and her criminal record that extended in New Orleans as far back as 1880. That criminal record is special in the fact the she was the only and first woman to ever receive a pardon by a US President! That's right, she had the best poo-nanny for sale in the nation! And her presence was in such high demand even the President had to set her free.
The exact dates of White's birth and death are not known. She was born on a farm near Selma, Alabama, but claimed to be an immigrant from the West Indies. Publicity from about 1906 claimed that she was 31 years old. She was of mixed race, and enjoyed, for a time, an affluence rare for those of African American descent. Jazz historian Al Rose sought documentation of her death, and believed that she died at the residence of former Madam Willie Piazza in 1931.
In 1906, she ran into financial difficulties that left her destitute, and moved to California. She commuted back and forth between California and Louisiana several times over the course of her career and kept a high profile until the demise of Storyville. A teller at the National Bank of New Orleans reported that, in 1941, White made a withdrawal. Otherwise, no information about her post-Storyville life remains. Until forcible closure in 1917, White ran a sumptuous brothel known as Mahogany Hall, located at 235 Basin Street. It was known as an 'Octoroon Parlor' meaning that all of the girls working there were light-skinned African Americans of mixed racial descent. The four-story house reportedly cost $40,000 to build (about $1 million in 2008 dollars).
According to publicity of the time, Mahogany Hall, housed forty women. The official brochure for the house also stated that it had five parlors (one of which was a 'Mirrored Parlor') and fifteen bedrooms, each with its own adjoining bathroom. Famous Storyville photographer E. J. Bellocq's surviving photographs of the house attest to its abundance of elegant furnishings, huge chandeliers and potted ferns. The building housed several expensive oil paintings, Tiffany stained glass windows and other works of art. Filmoe Slim or Pimpin Ken never had 400 toes on the street at the same time before. She goes down as the greatest Pimp of All-Time, hands down!
Author: Christopher Gonzales
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