City History: New Orleans

Before the Irish arrive in New Orleans, we explain why they left: religious discrimination, poverty and an apocalyptic potato famine.

In seven years, 1.5 million Irish die from starvation and disease. The British government's response is part malicious, part negligent. Two million Irish decide to go.

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The Great Famine: Ireland's Agony 1845–1852 by Ciarán Ó Murchadha

Rot: An Imperial History of the Irish Famine by Padraic X. Scanlan

The Irish in New Orleans, 1800–1860 by Earl F. Niehaus

The Irish in New Orleans by Laura D. Kelley

The Irish in the South, 1815–1877 by David T. Gleeson

https://64parishes.org/entry/irish-in-new-orleans

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The first Irish arrive in New Orleans. They’re the kind ofpeople who make bad posts on LinkedIn.

We revisit Alejandro O’Reilly, who put down the 1768rebellion, and Oliver Pollock, one of the most famous Irish merchants in the Spanish period.

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The Irish in New Orleans, 1800–1860 by Earl F. Niehaus

The Irish in New Orleans by Laura D. Kelley

The Irish in the South, 1815–1877 by David T. Gleeson

“Trading Spaces: Commerce, Ethnicity, and Early Irish NewOrleans” by Kristin Condotta Lee

https://64parishes.org/entry/irish-in-new-orleans

https://64parishes.org/entry/oliver-pollock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrvAfYdQZSc

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Cholera strikes New Orleans. Ten percent of the city is killed. Reverend Theodore Clapp performs a minister’s duty amidst the horror. We learn about bizarre treatments. Germ theory is not yet a thing.

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Autobiographical Sketches and Recollections, during athirty-five years' residence in New Orleans by Theodore Clapp

The Cholera Years by Charles E. Rosenberg

“Nineteenth Century Public Health in New York and NewOrleans: A Comparison” by John Duffy

“Cargo, ‘Infection,’ and the Logic of Quarantine in theNineteenth Century” by Davis S. Barnes

“Asiatic Cholera in Louisiana, 1832-1873” by Leland A.Langridge

Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Pandemics, and Plagues editedby Joseph P. Byrne

“Outline of the History of Malignant or Asiatic Cholera inNew Orleans, La.” by Joseph Jones

“How Yellow Fever Intensified Racial Inequality in19th-Century New Orleans” by Karin Wulf

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New Orleans becomes hostile to Congo Square. The African dances are banned. The space falls into disrepair, then becomes a whites-only park. Against all odds, it fights for its original identity.

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

https://antigravitymagazine.com/feature/sacred-ground/

https://chrisdier.com/2015/03/10/raquette-the-lost-sport-of-new-orleans/

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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

https://antigravitymagazine.com/feature/sacred-ground/

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

The enslaved of New Orleans make music and dance together at the city's edge. This is the story of Congo Square: the people who gathered there every Sunday—and the African culture they kept alive.

Listen to "Tan Patate-La Tchuite" by Adelaide Van Wey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F8jFIbCD1o

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 NewOrleans, 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

https://antigravitymagazine.com/feature/sacred-ground/

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

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 Evans

Congo Square in New Orleans by Jerah Johnson

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

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

City of a Million Dreams: New Orleans at 300 by JasonBerry

The 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 Widmer

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

In our final battle episode, we dispel a few historical myths, muse on alternate history scenarios, and explore not just what the American victory prevented but created.

(And also discuss the TREATY OF GHENT.)

LEARN MORE:

The Greatest Fury: The Battle of New Orleans and the Rebirth of America by William C. Davis

The British at the Gates: The New Orleans Campaign in the War of 1812 by Robin Reilly

The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and America's First Military Victory by Robert V. Remini

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

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

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

We say farewell to the folks we've gotten to know during the Battle of New Orleans. The pirates Lafitte meet their end. We assess Andrew Jackson.

LEARN MORE:

The Greatest Fury: The Battle of New Orleans and the Rebirth of America by William C. Davis

The British at the Gates: The New Orleans Campaign in the War of 1812 by Robin Reilly

The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf by William C. Davis

The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and America's First Military Victory by Robert V. Remini

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

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

"The Battle of New Orleans Reconsidered: Andrew Jackson and Martial Law" by Matthew Warshauer

"The Patterson and Ross Raid on Barataria, September 1814" by Robert C. Vogel

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The victorious Andrew Jackson reimposes strict martial law on New Orleans. He arrests a senator and a federal judge—but soon faces justice himself. Meanwhile, diseases like typhoid and measles fell hundreds of victorious soldiers.

LEARN MORE:

"The Battle of New Orleans Reconsidered: Andrew Jackson and Martial Law" by Matthew Warshauer

The Greatest Fury: The Battle of New Orleans and the Rebirth of America by William C. Davis

The British at the Gates: The New Orleans Campaign in the War of 1812 by Robin Reilly

The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and America's First Military Victory by Robert V. Remini

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

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