Congo Square

Marie Laveau wanted to prove that she really did have command over the spirits.

Marie would often stage huge public demonstrations in Congo Square, the spiritual gathering place of New Orleans.

During one of these performances, Marie declared that she would use her powers to shield people from the threat of yellow fever.

During the time, the disease was running rampant through the city, and everyone was terrified of catching it.

You know, and it's like, for me, everything's coming from Africa, right? And then there's a lot of African influence in what we have here in New Orleans.

And, you know, that's because in New Orleans we had Congo Square.

Congo Square was the only place in the United States that allowed African people forced to migrate through the horrific practices of slavery, right? New Orleans was the only place that allowed African people to practice their own culture, their own religion, dance, and song.

And all that was kept alive on Sundays in Congo Square.

So in New Orleans, we have a lot of African stuff.

So yes, I'm pulling from all that.

Three that I want to talk about today.

The first is called The World That Made New Orleans, From Spanish Silver to Congo Square, and it's by Ned Sublette.

The second is Bienville's Dilemma, a Historical Geography of New Orleans by Richard Campanella.

Richard's been on the podcast with me several times, and one of them was to talk about this specific book.

The World That Makes New Orleans, the first book by Ned Sublette, he talks in great detail about the colonization of the area.

But the part that really grabs me are his discussions of slavery and music in their role in New Orleans from the very beginning.

And it's a pretty short timeline if you think about the drum circles of the enslaved in Congo Square to jazz to the current music scene in New Orleans.

And I think that, not I think, Ned does a really good job of lacing those together.

I'm going to be heading down to North North North New Orleans over the weekend.

Every time I go to New Orleans, I go down to Congo Square.

I don't know if you know the history of Congo Square.

Congo Square right there in the middle of New Orleans is where the enslaved people on Sundays were allowed to gather.

And while they're there, they sold their goods.

They caught up with family members and they danced and they laughed and they found the little pieces of joy in their terrible conditions and situations.

Uncle George has been imprisoned in the big jail at New Orleans.

He has seen his fellow slaves beaten into insensibility while chained to the whipping post in Congo Square at New Orleans.

He was badly treated while a slave, but he has witnessed even more cruel treatment administered to his fellow slaves.

Among other exciting occurrences remembered by the old Negro man when he recalls early river adventures is one in which a flatboat sunk near New Orleans.

It's named after Louis Armstrong, right? It's an incredibly beautiful place.

Congo Square is there, where the birthplace of jazz happened.

Down the street is the, where rock and roll was born, where Tutti Frutti [laughs] was recorded.

And Tennessee Williams' house is right around the corner, and the National Park Service has a series of buildings in that area which was the national park, the Jazz National Park, and it's building beautiful buildings, five or six of them, in the park, and they are, have never been repaired since Katrina.

New Orleans was the only city in the US where enslaved peoples were allowed to play drums.

And they did it in a place called Congo Square.

And The fact that New Orleans then becomes an internal migration point for slaves from Virginia and North Carolina, you get these African-Americans coming to New Orleans who possibly had more of an Islamic or Northern African tradition, things like swing and the blue notes, et cetera.

So this melting pot is just in a fever.

That's maybe, that's the thing I was thinking about that keyed this for me.

Well, there is the lore about places like Congo Square, for instance, where voodoo priestesses had a certain power.

and a certain authority.

So I would say, yes, I would agree, but I wouldn't be absolute in that because when authorities choose to be harsh and choose to show who really is the authority, they do so.

Uncle George has been imprisoned in the big jail at New Orleans.

He has seen his fellow slaves beaten into insensibility while chained to the whipping post in Congo Square at New Orleans.

He was badly treated while a slave, but he has witnessed even more cruel treatment administered to his fellow slaves.

Among other exciting occurrences remembered by the old Negro man when he recalls early river adventures is one in which a flatboat sunk near New Orleans.