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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