[7] St. Bernard Parish is also home to the earliest Filipino community in the United States, Saint Malo, Louisiana.

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln mentioned St. Bernard Parish in the Emancipation Proclamation as an area not in rebellion against the Union during the Civil War.

The St. Bernard Parish massacre occurred during the Reconstruction era, days before the Presidential election of 1868.

As black men gained the right to vote, white Democrats of the parish feared losing their majority.

Armed groups mobilized to violently silence these recently emancipated voters to win the election in favor of Democrat Horatio Seymour over Republican Ulysses S. Grant.

A Seymour victory meant the end of Reconstruction over the South and the return of Louisiana to home rule.

The eye of Katrina passed over the eastern portion of the parish, pushing a 25-foot (7.6 m) storm surge into the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ("MRGO").

For more than two months after the storm, much of the parish remained without proper services, including electricity, water, and sewage.

In the parking lot of a destroyed off-track betting parlor, EC built the Made with Love Cafe and Grill, a free kitchen and community center serving 1500 meals per day.

Made with Love, housed in a geodesic dome, also offered food and clothing distribution, and emotionally supportive volunteers.

Upon leaving, EC has offered logistical support for the founding of a new long-term Community Center of St Bernard.

Project, a collective of volunteer relief workers, founded itself in January 2006 in the empty shell of the Corinne Missionary Baptist Church in Violet, LA, providing the tools for rebuilding and community empowerment.

Since June 2006, Camp Hope, located in Arabi, has been housing volunteers' assisting residents of St. Bernard Parish in their recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

With the landfall of Hurricane Ida on August 29, 2021, St. Bernard Parish experienced heavy flooding.

St. Bernard Parish President, Guy McInnis, stated he did not plan to issue a formal evacuation order.

In 2020, the racial and ethnic composition was 52.93% non-Hispanic white, 25.98% Black or African American, 0.49% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.22% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 4.63% two or more races, and 13.73% Hispanic and Latino American of any race,[22] reflecting the trend of diversification in the U.S.[24] Of the population, 90.7% spoke English at home, 5.5% Spanish, 1.6% other Indo-European languages, 1.6% Asian and Pacific Islander languages, and 0.7% other languages in 2019.

[27] Additionally Delgado Community College states that its Sidney Collier Campus in East New Orleans is in proximity to St. Bernard Parish.

While St. Bernard is served mainly by New Orleans media sources, such as a local section of The Times-Picayune, the Parish does have multiple newspapers.