Michael Mizell-Nelson was a historian of the streetcar, exploring the labor history and publicizing the connection of streetcar strikes to the creation of the Po Boy Sandwich, examining streetcar segregation and integration, documenting the women transit operators during World War II, and explaining their rise and demise. His 1995 documentary Streetcar Stories, exploring their cultural history, was aired on over 100 PBS affiliate nationwide.
Both of the featured clips are excerpts from interviews he did for Poppy Tooker's NPR radio show Louisiana Eats. In the first, he discusses the history of the streetcar, including who used the streetcars--with a focus on domestic workers--and the issue of segregation.
In the second he discusses the food history of streetcars including their connection to the creation of the Po Boy, mini markets on the streetcars themselves, the banning of crayfish, and motormen's meals with their families.
Staff photograph of Michael Mizell-Nelson. ~ Source: Image courtesy of the University of New Orleans.
Michael Mizell-Nelson as featured on Louisiana Eats, Poppy Tooker, WWNO, Part 1.
Michael Mizell-Nelson as featured on Louisiana Eats, Poppy Tooker, WWNO, part 2.
Kevin McQueeney, “Streetcar Historian Michael Mizell-Nelson,” New Orleans Historical, accessed April 24, 2019, https://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/885.
An excerpt of Streetcar Stories can be found here: http://www.poboyfest.com/history/video and the film’s website here http://www.streetcarstories.org/. See also his 1996 article in Louisiana Cultural Vistas, "Streetcar Stories: Getting Back on Track" http://www.louisianaculturalvistas.org/streetcar-stories/ And an article in the August 12, 2008 New Yorker, "Black Star," in which he discussed racial segregation on streetcars. http://www.newyorker.com/culture/new-orleans-journal/the-black-star The full version of Poppy Tooker’s Louisiana Eats NPR shows: http://wwno.org/post/peeling-apart-segregated-past (February 2011) and in September 2010 http://wwno.org/post/175th-anniversary-streetcar (September 2010).