Growing up in New Orleans’ 7th Ward, Fatima Shaik heard stories about her community while sitting at the kitchen table.

One involved her father saving Société d’Economie et d’Assistance Mutuelle (Economic and Mutual Assistance Society) journals from the city dump. The journals contained meeting minutes from 1836 to1935.
“I was 3 or 4 when (the journals) came into the house,” Shaik said during a phone interview. “I remember them being on the porch and I was told not to touch them.”
Shaik began reading the journals – mostly written in French – about 20 years ago. She found information that led to her 2021 book, “Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood.” Shaik, who also writes a monthly books column for Verite News, will discuss how jazz thrived at Economy Hall during a 6 p.m. reception Jan. 30 at the New Orleans Jazz Museum, 400 Esplanade Ave.
An exhibit inspired by Shaik’s book will open Feb. 13.
“By the 1890s, as racial oppression intensified, the Economie evolved from an elite to an inclusive society, and along the way nurtured a new, radical music called jazz,” the Historic New Orleans Collection states. “The music took hold in the society’s celebrations, convocations and public balls. They celebrated defiantly, in spite of their segregated circumstances.”
Founded by free men of color in 1836, the society began to meet in Economy Hall in Treme in 1857. Members, including teachers, undertakers, musicians and veterans, often raised money to help the less fortunate.
“Members tended to be French-speaking and of a certain culture,” Shaik said. Their history “was hidden, erased and forgotten. The fact that they created an institution that lasted so long in one place was important to New Orleans and the world.”
Membership began to wane in the late 1940s. Eventually, Economy Hall was sold. Hurricane Betsy destroyed the building in 1965.
For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the title of the book ‘Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood’ and the year the hall began to be used. The story has been corrected.