Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club

History Of the Louisiana purchase

In 1908, John L. Metoyer and members of a New York mutual aid society called “The Tramps”, attended a vaudevillian comedy show called There Never Was and Never Will Be a King Like Me. The musical comedy performed by the “Smart Set” at the Pythian Temple Theater on the corner of Gravier and Saratoga in New Orleans, included a skit where the characters wore grass skirts and dressed in blackface. Metoyer became inspired by the skit and reorganized his marching troupe from baggy-pant-wearing tramps to a new group called the “Zulus”. In 1909, Metoyer and the first Zulu king, William Story, wore a lard-can crown and carried a banana stalk as a scepter. Six years later in 1915, the first decorated platform was constructed unicorn with dry goods boxes on a spring wagon. The King’s float was decorated with tree moss and palmetto leaves.

In 1916, Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club became incorporated where the organization’s bylaws were established as well as its social mission and dedication to benevolence and goodwill.
In 1933, the Lady Zulu Auxiliary was formed by the wives of Zulu members, and in 1948, Edwina Robertson became the first Queen of Zulu, making the club the first to feature a queen in a parade.
In the 1960s, membership dwindled as a result of social pressures from civil rights activists. The protesters advertised in the local black community's newspaper The Louisiana Weekly stating:

The krewe, with the support of the Mayor and Chief-of-Police, refused to fall from pressures and continued to parade, but gave up blackfacing, wearing grass skirts and kept the identity of the king secret. Due to continued pressures, by 1965, there were only 15 Zulu members remaining. The membership of local civil rights leaders Ernest J. Wright and Morris F.X. Jeff Sr. into Zulu eventually lifted tensions and membership started to increase and the krewe resumed their old traditions, including blackface.

In 1973, Roy E."Glap” Glapion Jr., Zulu president from 1973–1988, started recruiting professionals, educators, and prominent businessmen from all ethnic backgrounds to fill its membership – making Zulu the first parading organization to racially integrate.

Zulu Coconut

The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club is well known to parade-goers for throwing coconuts, to the crowd. In the early 1900s, other parading organizations threw fancy handmade glass necklaces that were expensive. The working men of Zulu could not afford such expensive throws but still wanted to give a special prize to lucky parade-goers. The men decided to purchase coconuts from the French Market because they were different and inexpensive. Painted and adorned coconuts became popular with the club starting in the late 1940s. In 1987, the organization was unable to renew its insurance coverage and lawsuits stemming from coconut-related injuries forced a halt to the long-standing tradition of throwing coconuts. In 1988 Governor Edwin W. Edwards signed Louisiana State Bill #SB188, the “Coconut Bill”, into law, removing liability from injuries resulting from coconuts and enabling the tradition to resume.

King of Zulu

List of Past Kings of Zulu

Queen of Zulu

in 1948, Edwina Robertson became the first Queen of Zulu, making the club the first to feature a queen in a parade. It is a tradition for the club to make a show of meeting the Zulu queen at the airport, but most years' Zulu queens live in New Orleans and therefore have to travel elsewhere so that they can make the flight into the airport for the ceremony.