May 8, 2026
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The New Orleans Public Library and Junior League of New Orleans partner to provide monthly period supply kits for free.
McDonogh 35 Alum Uses Library Archives to Discover Untold Stories of the Legendary School
Marie Simoneaux
Marie is the media and communications coordinator for the New Orleans Public Library.
Wanda Romain is a native New Orleanian, veteran educator, and a proud McDonogh 35 alumnus. In 2015, Romain started researching a piece of trivia for the alumni association, which snowballed into an almost 10-year deep dive into the history of the legendary school.
Most of Romain’s research was done in the New Orleans Public Library’s City Archives & Special Collections, including combing through every single issue of the Louisiana Weekly, the city’s first African American newspaper. Still in print today, the newspaper first started circulating in 1925. The Library has upwards of 4,000 issues of Louisiana Weekly on microfiche.
“I wanted to tell the whole story of the school, not just the official historic record,” Romain said.
The question that sparked her journey was whether Johnny Wright – the second Black Major League Baseball player in history – was a McDonogh 35 graduate.
“Another member of the Alumni Association suggested I look through old Louisiana Weekly issues, which is how I found myself at the Library,” Romain recalled.
“I was able to find reports that Johnny Wright did attend McDonough 35 in the 1930s, but I also discovered something about myself. Something deepened in me as I was reading the history of my city through real-time accounts. It was fascinating, and I just couldn’t get enough.”
After finding the answer she came for, Romain kept coming back to the Library.
“As I was reading through these Louisiana Weekly archives, I’d keep coming across things about 35 that would have never made it into the school’s official history, because I’m sure it would have seemed so mundane at the time,” Romain said. “But looking at it in 2015, I was hooked – it wasn’t mundane at all.”
Romain’s long-term goal is to publish two books, one about the general history of the school and another about McDonogh 35’s football team. In the meantime, she hopes to shine a light on the school’s more obscure history through presentations and workshops, including an upcoming program at Norman Mayer Library on July 20.
As a special education teacher at McDonogh 35, Romain often used tidbits she found combing the Louisiana Weekly, including one of her favorites about a man named Robert Clark.
“There was a night school at 35 for what they called ‘working adults,’ which, keep in mind, meant something very different back in the day. According to the school board at the time, a working adult was someone who was at least 14 years old,” Romain said. “I found a report from 1930s about a 54-year-old man who earned his diploma from the night school. I find that incredibly inspiring. He grew up during reconstruction and spent his whole life working, trying to survive, and that there was a public institution available to him to get his education in a way that worked for him? I think that’s pretty amazing, it’s one of the reasons I’m such a proud alumnus.”
In addition to contextualizing their school’s significance, Romain sees her work as an important reminder to the city as a whole.
“From 1917 until 1942, McDonogh 35 was the only public high school for Black students in New Orleans. That means for 25 years, every educated African American in New Orleans was touched by this school,” Romain said. “To so many people and to so many families, 35 is not just a school. It’s history, and it was life changing. I don’t want people to forget that.”
Romain said she couldn’t imagine tackling this project without the Library and the Archives, who also recently published an interactive map exploring the history of McDonough public schools in New Orleans.
“There’s no way I could have done 99 percent of this research without the Library. Most of my research came from these historic newspapers, which the Library has all on microfilm, and the staff were endlessly helpful, too,” she said. “Aside from the Louisiana Weekly issues, they have a collection of yearbooks, including one from 1931. I was on the yearbook committee when I was a student at 35, so looking through those is really special.”
Prior to starting her research, Romain said she always loved libraries and grew up going to the Nora Navra and Norman Mayer locations.
“The Library was always like a second home to me, and over the past 10 years or so, the Archives have become home, too,” she said. “I’m so excited to present all my work at Norman Mayer Library, it’s like a full circle moment for me. It’s very special.”
The program starts at 1pm and will also be broadcast over Zoom. Learn more here.
May 4, 2026
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Since 1957, the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library have been standing up for the Library’s mission through sponsorship, fundraising, and advocacy work.
May 1, 2026
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May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and to celebrate, we’re taking a look through our City Archives & Special Collections to honor the history and heritage of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the New Orleans area.