Congo Square
On Sunday Afternoons, slaves became the entertainment and were given the floor to sing and dance. At the beginning of 1817, slave masters permitted their slaves to showcase their skills and entertain other slave masters within this open space. During these times, government-regulated ring shouts would take place as slaves from different plantations and owners could unite and practice their faith as one. Though the enslaved and free people of color held other rituals and celebrations as well. They would gather for meetings, open markets, and the African dance and drumming celebrations that played a substantial role in the development of jazz.
With such a diverse geographical area, the history of the music and people is rich. Throughout the nineteenth century, the city absorbed musical and cultural benefits of three cultures: a Gulf/Caribbean Créolité that tied New Orleans to Cuba, Haiti, and Central America (evident in the compositions of Louis Moreau Gottschalk and imported Mexican Danzas and Cuban danzón published locally); the North American vernacular that flowed down from the heartland via the Mississippi River (including “alligator horse” ballads, minstrelsy, work songs, and, later, the blues); and the trans-Atlantic connections that brought the most fashionable European popular music (such as that of first-run ballets and opera).
