Page 49 - From the Outhouse 4 -21

CHAPTER 1

THE SHOTGUN HOUSE

A

shotgun house typically has one room leading into the next without hallways. This style of house is particularly well suited
for hot climates because one can open the front and back doors to allow a breeze to flow through the entire house. The

front porch on shotgun houses supported interconnections between people and provided shade during outdoor visits. The
porch also gave neighbors a strong, but strange sense of community. Strange in that people often said that shotgun houses are so

named because a bullet could be fired through the front door and it would go right out the back door without ever hitting a wall.

Evidence suggests that the name "shotgun" is actually a distortion of the word "shogun," which means God's house in West Africa.

Shotgun architecture is now recognized as an African-American contribution to American architectural styles!

Evolution of the Shotgun House

Research indicates that this architectural style came to New Orleans from West Africa by way of Haiti. In Haiti, enslaved Africans
took the architectural form common to their homeland and, using local materials, built narrow buildings with gabled entrances,

stucco walls, thatched roofs, and shuttered windows so they could enjoy the only privacy allowed to them. They also wrote African

motifs on the exterior framing of their homes.

When Africans in Haiti revolted in 1791, many European plantation owners fled to New Orleans, taking with them enslaved Africans

still under their control. Many other free people of color migrated to New Orleans as well. This had a profound effect on the