History and Culture of New Orleans

1
History and Culture of New Orleans

• Jonathan Wilson
• Patrick McLaughlin

2
The Native Americans

• First settlers of the Bayou
• Convenient because of Mississippi
• Fished in Lake Pontchartrain
• Showed the French the safe parts of the swamps
  and marshes

3
The Cajuns

• Descendants of Acadians
• Originally French Canadians
• Sent to Louisiana by the British during the Great
  Expulsion of 1775
• Cultural Contributions
• Cajun music fiddle, accordion
• Cajun food spicy, hearty, lots of rice
• Language
• Cajun French dialect of Canadian French
• Cajun English English influenced by French

4
The Creoles

• Terminology many uses, but primarily is used to
  distinguish families that had been in Louisiana
  for several generations from new immigrants
• Impact ideals of elitism and blood purity
  created the oldest and richest families in New
  Orleans
• Black Creoles African Americans of mixed race
• Formerly classified as legally separate from
  other blacks
• Helped contribute to the birth of Jazz

5
The Civil War

• Most important port in the south because of
  Mississippi
• Captured by the Union Navy April 16, 1861
• Absence of land battle allowed New Orleans to
  retain structural integrity

6
History of the Land

• New Orleans was founded in 1718
• New Orleans was isolated so therefore had own
  culture from other colonies at that time
• New Orleans was a settlement of the French and
  Spanish
• Napoleon then sold it to the United States as
  part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803

7
The People

• Until the 20th century there were more immigrants
  living in the city then Americans. The largest
  number of immigrants came from Ireland and
  Germany.
• The Germans and Irish were coming in vast numbers
  in the late 1800s making New Orleans the 2nd
  main immigration port of the U.S.A only behind
  New York.

8
The People Cont.

• Since most immigrants were coming from Catholic
  countries it made more diversity in the large
  Protestant population.
• Because of the proximity of the city to the
  Caribbean there is a lot of influence of that
  culture. Many say New Orleans is the poorest city
  in America but in the eyes of it being a
  Caribbean city it is the richest.

9
The Music

• New Orleans is the center of music in the south.
  This is because of all the diversity of cultures
  such as European, Latin America, and African
  American.