A keeper of New Orleans Black culture dies at 73

New Orleans is mourning the death of Sylvester Francis, the 73-year-old founder and curator of a small but highly respected museum

NEW ORLEANS — Sylvester Francis, the founder of the small but highly respected Backstreet Cultural museum that features an array of exhibits from various aspects of African American culture in New Orleans neighborhoods, died Tuesday at age 73.

Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes, a musician and a museum board member, said Francis, nicknamed “Hawk,” died Tuesday morning after suffering from appendicitis and other ailments. Barnes was organizing a musical tribute to Francis on Tuesday evening outside the museum in New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood.

“We can thank ‘Hawk’ for maintaining the photographs, the costumes, the films, the memorabilia, and the artifacts of New Orleans street culture, right in the heart of his beloved Treme neighborhood,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said in a statement. “Our thoughts go out to his…