Advertise on podcast: 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 MORE 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 SOUNDS: 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 MORE 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 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 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 SOUNDS: 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 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/ 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 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/ SOUNDS: 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/ SOUNDS: 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 SOUNDS: 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 SOUNDS: 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 SOUNDS: French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

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

After victory, New Orleans exhales... then throws its biggest party yet. We meet some fun characters as the British evacuate the field. Andrew Jackson is (symbolically) crowned Roman emperor. 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 "The Battle of New Orleans Reconsidered: Andrew Jackson and Martial Law" by Matthew Warshauer

An invading British army is obliterated by an unlikely coalition: American frontiersmen, French speakers, free men of color, pirates and a hundred kinds more. New Orleans is saved. 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 Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf by William C. Davis The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette "Jean Lafitte, the Baratarians, and the Battle of New Orleans: A Reappraisal" by Robert C. Vogel "Always 'En Garde': The Effects of Slave Insurrection upon the Louisiana Mentality, 1811-1815" by Junius P. Rodriguez "William Claiborne and New Orleans's Battalion of Color, 1803-1815: Race and the Limits of Federal Power in the Early Republic" by James E. Wainwright "The Battle of New Orleans Reconsidered: Andrew Jackson and Martial Law" by Matthew Warshauer "British Command Decisions Relative to the Battle of New Orleans" by John K. Mahon

The Americans build a wall to defend New Orleans. The British army pays for it. Donate to help the victims and families of the New Year's tragedy on Bourbon Street. https://www.gnof.org/new-orleans-new-years-day-tragedy-fund-2/ https://www.unitedwaysela.org/UnitedforNOLA 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 Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf by William C. Davis The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette "British Command Decisions Relative to the Battle of New Orleans" by John K. Mahon

Gabriel Villeré escapes the British invaders. Jackson attacks them immediately. As a thick fog rolls in below New Orleans, both sides manage feats of strength. READ 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 Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf by William C. Davis The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette "British Command Decisions Relative to the Battle of New Orleans" by John K. Mahon https://villerefamily.com/the-battle-of-new-orleans/

The British take the bad route to New Orleans. It is very cold. READ 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 Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf by William C. Davis The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette "British Command Decisions Relative to the Battle of New Orleans" by John K. Mahon SOUNDS: spring field NL 01 200529_0183.wav by klankbeeld -- https://freesound.org/s/539262/ -- License: Attribution 4.0