2.1: Congo Plains

What this episode covers

Congo Square is often described as the “birthplace of jazz.” But its history goes far deeper—as a place where, every Sunday, the enslaved of New Orleans would practice traditional African music and dance.In this first episode of a trilogy, we examine Congo Square’s origins, its persistence across French and Spanish New Orleans, and how early American officials sought to regulate it.LEARN MORE:Congo Square: African Roots in New Orleans by Freddi Williams EvansCongo Square in New Orleans by Jerah Johnson“A Window on Slave Culture: Dances at Congo Square in NewOrleans, 1800-1862” by Gary A. DonaldsonThe World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver toCongo Square by Ned SubletteCity of a Million Dreams: New Orleans at 300 by JasonBerryThe Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans byLawrence N. Powell“African Cultural Memory in New Orleans Music” byJason 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 Musicin Nineteenth-Century New Orleans” by Ted WidmerSOUNDS:French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri --https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

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