We explore why Congo Square existed for so long, how it retained an African character, and how its memory survived beyond New Orleans. We also talk about Louisiana Creole and some surprising aspects of this near-extinct language.

LEARN MORE:

Congo Square: African Roots in New Orleans by Freddi Williams Evans

Congo Square in New Orleans by Jerah Johnson

“A Window on Slave Culture: Dances at Congo Square in New Orleans, 1800-1862” by Gary A. Donaldson

The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette

City of a Million Dreams: New Orleans at 300 by Jason Berry

The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell

“African Cultural Memory in New Orleans Music” by Jason Berry

“Deep Skin: Reconstructing Congo Square” by Joseph R. Roach

“New Orleans Music as a Circulatory System” by Matt Sakakeeny

“The Invention of a Memory: Congo Square and African Music in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans” by Ted Widmer

Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War by Dena J. Epstein

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French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri --https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0