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.READ MOREThe Great Famine: Ireland's Agony 1845–1852 by Ciarán Ó MurchadhaRot: An Imperial History of the Irish Famine by Padraic X. ScanlanThe Irish in New Orleans, 1800–1860 by Earl F. NiehausThe Irish in New Orleans by Laura D. KelleyThe Irish in the South, 1815–1877 by David T. Gleesonhttps://64parishes.org/entry/irish-in-new-orleansSOUNDS:French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

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.READ MOREThe Irish in New Orleans, 1800–1860 by Earl F. NiehausThe Irish in New Orleans by Laura D. KelleyThe Irish in the South, 1815–1877 by David T. Gleeson“Trading Spaces: Commerce, Ethnicity, and Early Irish NewOrleans” by Kristin Condotta Leehttps://64parishes.org/entry/irish-in-new-orleanshttps://64parishes.org/entry/oliver-pollockhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrvAfYdQZSc SOUNDS:French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

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.READ MORE:Autobiographical Sketches and Recollections, during athirty-five years' residence in New Orleans by Theodore ClappThe 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.LangridgeEncyclopedia 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 WulfSOUNDS:French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

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 EvansCongo Square in New Orleans by Jerah Johnson“A Window on Slave Culture: Dances at Congo Square in New Orleans, 1800-1862” by Gary A. DonaldsonThe World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned SubletteCity of a Million Dreams: New Orleans at 300 by Jason BerryThe 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 WidmerSinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War by Dena J. Epsteinhttps://antigravitymagazine.com/feature/sacred-ground/https://chrisdier.com/2015/03/10/raquette-the-lost-sport-of-new-orleans/SOUNDS:French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri --https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

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 EvansCongo Square in New Orleans by Jerah Johnson“A Window on Slave Culture: Dances at Congo Square in New Orleans, 1800-1862” by Gary A. DonaldsonThe World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned SubletteCity of a Million Dreams: New Orleans at 300 by Jason BerryThe 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 WidmerSinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War by Dena J. Epsteinhttps://antigravitymagazine.com/feature/sacred-ground/SOUNDS:French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri --https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0