HLS 19RS-2545 ORIGINAL
2019 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 193
BY REPRESENTATIVE DUPLESSIS
COMMENDATIONS: Commends the students, faculty, and staff of the Martinez
Kindergarten School in New Orleans on the occasion of its eighty-five-year reunion
1 A RESOLUTION
2To commend the historic Martinez Kindergarten School on the celebration of its eighty-five-
3 year reunion.
4 WHEREAS, prior to founding the Martinez Nursery School in 1934, Mildred
5Bernard Martinez had been forced to resign as a teacher with the New Orleans Public School
6system after marrying Maurice Martinez, Sr.; at the time, it was illegal for African American
7teachers to get married while employed by the system; and
8 WHEREAS, the original site of the Martinez Nursery School was at 5315 LaSalle
9Street, and it was moved to its North Roman address in 1940; by the 1950s, the name was
10changed to "Martinez Kindergarten School"; providing education to three-, four-, and five-
11year-olds, it is said to be the first early education center for children of color in the state; and
12 WHEREAS, throughout the years, many African American professionals supported
13the school; among them, Dr. Walter Young, one of very few African American dentists in
14New Orleans at the time, provided dental care to Martinez students at no cost; C.C. Haydel,
15Sr., a prominent African American physician, provided the students with free inoculations
16and medical care that they were denied at doctors' offices due to laws requiring or permitting
17segregation according to race; and
18 WHEREAS, the school has been closed since it flooded in Hurricane Katrina, but
19many community members have the goal of reestablishing the site of the Martinez School;
20and
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HR NO. 193
1 WHEREAS, Numa, Maurice and Mildred Martinez's son, a lifetime Seventh Ward
2resident, owns the property and is currently working on creating community-building
3programs and revitalizing the site; and
4 WHEREAS, there are aspirations for the site to house an entrepreneurial and
5business management support center, a computer lab and technology training center, and a
6music education center; there are also efforts being made for the school to be added to the
7National Register of Historic Places; and
8 WHEREAS, thousands of children throughout the New Orleans area received their
9early education from the school and often credit the high academic standards set by Mildred
10Martinez with starting them on the road to academic success; two notable alumni are serving
11as co-chairs of the eighty-five-year class reunion, the Honorable Austin Badon and the
12Honorable Ann D. Duplessis, both former members of the Legislature of Louisiana; and
13 WHEREAS, the significance of the Martinez Kindergarten School will forever
14remain in the hearts and minds of all who attended, taught, and worked at the institution, and
15it is fitting to extend to them best wishes for a joyous reunion.
16 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
17Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend the historic Martinez Kindergarten School
18on the celebration of its eighty-five-year reunion; does hereby recognize and record for
19posterity the positive impact Maurice and Mildred Martinez made in the academic paths of
20countless children in the New Orleans area; and does hereby wish every measure of success
21for all those contributing to the revitalization of the school, for it is a treasure of the Seventh
22Ward, and should be treated as such.
23 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
24Numa J. Martinez.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 193 Original 2019 Regular Session Duplessis
Commends the Martinez Kindergarten School of New Orleans on the celebration of its 85-
year reunion.
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