In the 1870s, Charles Darwin was the theme of a downright deranged Mardi Gras parade

May 10, 2012

One of the coolest sites on the internet is Tulane University’s Louisiana Research Collection of Mardi Gras costume and float designs. Here, thousands upon thousands of pieces of concept art detail parade pageantry dating back to the mid-1800s.

In the Tulane collection, you can find ridiculously meticulous artwork of century-old parade floats showcasing battles from Norse and Japanese mythology. But perhaps the weirdest parade theme ever to grace New Orleans was the post-Civil War tribute to Charles Darwin that doubled as a protest against Reconstruction. If the costume designs are to be believed, this particular parade was unmitigated nightmare fuel.

In 1873, Mardi Gras revelers from the Mistick Krewe of Comus — unversed in this newfangled evolutionary theory and angry at the Northern interlopers — dressed up as the “missing links” between animals, plants, and humans. Therefore, you had frightening human-grape and human-corn hybrids running around and fauna bearing the faces of Ulysses S. Grant, other hated politicians, and Darwin himself.

Tulane University Research Collection