Providing recreational and educational programs for young people was a mission for Morris Francis Xavier Jeff Sr.
He became head of the “Colored Division” of the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD) in 1947. “Under his leadership, NORD built a reputation as one of the nation’s best recreational districts,” the Morris Jeff Community School states.
Born in Morgan City in 1914, Jeff moved to New Orleans as a boy and graduated from McDonogh No. 35 High School. In 1936, he graduated from Xavier University and started his teaching career in Lake Charles.
He returned to New Orleans in 1944 to work in the recreation department of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration. At the same time, he returned to McDonogh 35 as a physical education teacher and to Xavier as the athletic director. He also earned a master’s degree from the University of Michigan.
“In these positions, Jeff began a long career facilitating recreational opportunities for the city’s most disadvantaged students,” according to the City Council Street Renaming Commission. “In this work, Jeff saw how sorely lacking the city’s children were in regular recreational and physical education opportunities.”
Jeff increased those opportunities by joining forces with Johnny Brechtel, Lester Lautenschlaeger and Gernon Brown. They proposed creating a city agency to oversee recreation programs. In 1946, NORD was born.
Through Jeff’s work, Black children, denied access due to Jim Crow laws, were able to participate in such programs as dance, teen camping and sports. He also created programs for public schools.
Jeff retired from NORD in 1986 and died in 1993. As a testament to his contributions, several entities – a school, a park and an auditorium – bear his name.
“Today, tens of thousands of New Orleanians… depend on NORD for recreation, fitness and educational opportunities,” the renaming commission wrote. “NORD’s successes and programs exist in no small part because of the work of Morris F.X. Jeff Sr.”
For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.