Part 1 of a 2 Part Series
“Those who cannot remember(or don’t know) the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana Once upon a time, in Louisiana, “Before Black Students were allowed to attend Neville High School or Wossman High School, in Monroe, Louisiana, ” and way, way before public schools with Black Students were allowed to join “The Louisiana High School Athletic Association” ; a Negro Organization was established whereby Negro Youth in Louisiana Public Schools could compete against one another in Athletics. The name of this Negro Organization was,”The Louisiana Interscholastic Athletic and Literary Organization,” also known as “L.I.A.L.O.” While some reports say that L.I.A.L.O. actually began a few years before the “WHITE ONLY” Organization known as The LHSAA, “Google and Wikipedia reports that L.I.A.L.O. was formed in 1935 at Peabody High School, in Alexandria, Louisiana.”
Also, they listed a professor at Southern University by the name of William H. Gray as being the head of the organization. Initially, the competitions held were only for athletic games, but within a few years, the Negro Organization began sponsoring Academic competition too! Some of the Academic competitions included Speech, Woodworking, Bookkeeping, Mathematics, and Music. Interestingly, the competitions advanced all the way to the state level. Sadly, in 1970, due to desegregation in the Louisiana Public School Systems, L.I.A.L.O. was merged in with The former “WHITE ONLY,” LHSAA Organization. In closing, I would like to ask everyone “to examine and compare the practices that the LHSAA Organization did back in the 1960s to the practices that they are doing today.”
By the way, has everyone heard about these “TWO NEW LHSAA RULES” that was passed during their meeting earlier this year, in 2025? The first new rule that I am referring to says that if a member high school of LHSAA “SUES” The LHSAA, the High school “FORFEITS” the Right to play in ANY of the “PLAYOFF GAMES,” irregardless of their regular season record! The other New Rule states that a member high school “CAN ONLY FILE THEIR LAWSUIT AT A PRE-DETERMINED COURT SELECTED BY THE LHSAA!” If you are paying close enough attention, you can’t help but see that the current LHSAA officials are using practices that are similar to the ones used back in the 1960s. All I can say is,”Similar Script, Different Cast!”
