New Orleans as Jazz's Birthplace

New Orleans in the early 20^th century consisted of many unique characteristics that allowed it to become the birthplace of jazz music. Jazz is a unique genre that could only stem from the very combination of elements such as the ones New Orleans provided. Congo Square can be credited with the very beginning of jazz. Although very far from the genre itself, it was the first place where black people gathered to preform, and white people would watch. With a white audience the black music, with roots in Africa and especially the Caribbean, influenced them and began the important process of syncretism in New Orleans. Following Congo Square, Minstrel shows also was a large contributing factor in the creation of jazz. By having white people act as black people, and entertain other white people and then black people acting as white people acting as black people, black traditions and music became a part of white people's culture and vice versa.

As a major port city in America, New Orleans had a constant flow of new people of many ethnicities. Originally, the Atlantic Slave Trade ships would dock in New Orleans as one of the main ports to distribute slaves into the country. Even after the bill passed in late 1805 that banned the importing of slaves, the impact lasted. New Orleans became a melting pot of races and different cultures living in close quarters. One of the largest reasons for this combination of cultures is due to the changing in control of the port city from Spanish to French to American. Because of the huge Spanish and French population, Catholicism was the main religion. As slaves would come through the city, to Americanize them the slave owners would try to convert them to Catholicism. This religious conversion brought the two cultures together and soon New Orleans had a huge population of black Catholics singing traditional hymns in a whole new way. Incorporating instruments to their church services in addition to the new way of singing contributed to an overall spread in music interest, particularly outside the traditional classic music. Along with converting black people the Catholicism, the French also influenced the way slaves were treated. In comparison to the rest of the country, New Orleans had a Latin system of slavery in which the slaves were treated as people. Under the Latin system, slaves were thought to have souls and basic human rights such as intermarriage and the right to be freed. With this system, another culture of people emerged who were called Creoles of Color. These people were mixed race but strongly identified with their European ancestors. The Creole people often studied classical European music in an effort to make their connection with those ancestors stronger. Following the 13^th Amendment, the Jim Crow laws forced the Creole people to leave the white orchestra's and identify as black. With the classical music training of the Creoles and the more ragtime and Caribbean music of the black people, the two made jazz. This combination of styles was the biggest factor in the birth of jazz. Living in New Orleans, the people were constantly preforming and music was an aspect of daily life. When classical music met ragtime and dixieland bands, the genre of jazz was truly born. Throughout the next century, jazz changed dramatically. But it's roots are always able to be traced back to New Orleans and the bringing together of many cultures and the music styles of each.