Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood
by Writers Room Member Fatima Shaik
“Shaik’s rendition of her hometown is lyrical and mysterious and always captivating.” — The New York Times
“Journalist and novelist Shaik blows the dust off the ancient records of an African American society, revealing a forgotten past.” — Kirkus, starred review
About Fatima Shaik
Photo by Sophia Little
Fatima Shaik was born in the historic Seventh Ward of New Orleans and bred on the oral histories told by her Creole family and neighbors. But only after she read the records of the Economie—3,000 pages of handwritten French stored in her family’s home—did she realize this community’s impact. The members of the Société d’Economie et d’Assistance Mutuelle comprised the most influential and prosperous Black community in the South before the Civil War. She spent two decades reading the journals and documenting events with real estate records, legal cases, old monographs, and articles.
She discovered that the men of this society participated in the Battle of New Orleans, Civil War and Reconstruction governments. They held grand meetings for Black suffrage in French and English, and filed suits against banks, restaurants, and theaters for equal treatment. Their balls and parties became famous for introducing jazz—including a performer named Louis Armstrong. Fatima followed one of the members of the society from his parents’ immigration from Haiti to New Orleans at the beginning of the 19th century to his descendants in the 1930s.
Economy Hall, her seventh book and first non-fiction, has been lauded by The New York Times as “lyrical and mysterious and always captivating.” The book has received a Kirkus star and was recommended as one of “4 New Books to Read” for Black history month (February 2021). Library Journal said Economy Hall was one of the “Titles to Watch in 2021.” The book was also featured in the American History Review and The Reading Life with Susan Larson.
Fatima’s previous six books were fiction and have received a Kirkus star, ALA Pick of the Lists, Best Books of 1999 (Holiday) and more. She was a scholar in residence at New York University and writer in residence for the Africana Studies Program of the New Orleans Public Schools. Fatima has appeared at the World Voices Festival, Brooklyn Book Festival, Louisiana Book Festival, Miami Book Fair, Louisiana Historical Association Conference, National Council of Social Studies’ annual conference, and Tennessee Williams Festival.
A former tenured Assistant Professor at Saint Peter’s University and daily journalist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and McGraw-Hill World News, Fatima is an ex-officio trustee of PEN America and former board member of The Writers Room in NYC. She has been a member of The Writers Room for more than 25 years.
She is married to the painter James Little, who she met in New York City.
Writers Room Executive Director Donna Brodie recently interviewed Fatima Shaik
DB: How did you get this factual material to flow “like a novel” as critics have said?
FS: I first had to assemble the facts, which took years--not just reading the journals but putting their authors into the historical context of national and local events. First, I made timelines of events, music, people, and the place. I saw where they intersected. I did this as separate lists, then on a graph. I found that they had natural climaxes just before the Civil War and again with the rise of white supremacy. Then, I went into the material with the mind of a novelist, creating scenes and using all five senses, as possible.
DB: Did you translate the documents yourself? How hard was it to read 19th Century handwriting in another language?
FS: The handwriting was the most difficult part. I heard Louisiana French from my mother and grandparents, and learned it in school. So I had a basic knowledge--enough to know that an important event was taking place on the page. I asked scholars to help me interpret the French and Spanish documents. After a while, I could translate pretty well myself (for example, Boguille's poetry because I "knew" him).
DB: Your book reads with so much surety regarding the history and personalities of 100 years ago.
FS: I read 3,000 pages of the Economy Society's journals, minutes of their meetings! I got a sense of the men themselves. Some were tough guys: One who smacked a fellow member on the street due to a personal disagreement was called "boisterous and chivalrous" by his victim. After an apology, they hugged. Other members were poets who composed spontaneous quatrains or sang to the members after their annual banquets. Others gave long lectures on morality or race--and provided me an entry to the history of their circumstances.
DB: Fatima, I can’t tell you what a privilege it has been to watch this labor of art, love and life come to completion. I remember the day 20 years ago that you walked into my office with the original documents and how we marveled at their sheer beauty as physical objects. You knew that day that you were on to something big. What role would you say The Writers Room had in helping you make this unique and significant contribution to the American story?
FS: The Writers Room was critical to my completion of this book. Once I had gathered all of the material from archives in New Orleans and research libraries in New York and other cities, The Writers Room provided drawers and a locker to put the files in one location. My desk was always near to my documents I wrote in the company of other authors. Donna, remember the number of times that you listened to my editorial obstacles or small achievements and gave me support? Coffee and a refrigerator were just the right distance away. Sometimes I worked almost until dawn because the Room was so quiet and safe. The nighttime view from the Room's windows with the lit Empire State Building in the distance was a constant reminder that I had already succeeded. I was a working writer, the reason I came to New York.
Connect with Fatima at the social links below: