How Did New Orleans Influence New African American Culture

New Orleans, also referred to as the Crescent City, started as a large port town that was (and is) very diverse in terms of people and their ethnicity, cultures, foods, and traditions. Being at essentially the foot of the Mississippi River, New Orleans brought many different kinds of people from many different backgrounds. The city was founded by the French in 1718, to this day there is a very large and diverse population. The large migration of those of all different backgrounds mostly started with the Louisiana purchase, though it was not the sole event and there were many different cultures there before the purchase, the event opened the area up for many more possibilities and people. “Throughout the nineteenth century, diverse ethnic and racial groups — French, Spanish, and African, Italian, German, and Irish — found common cause in their

An example of a huge artist of the time was Buddy Bolden. Bolden, his music, and his band specifically gave inspiration to other young African Americans to come to the city and spread their culture and music. As the population grew and ‘creoles’ had more privilege, bands would play in grand halls for people to dance and sing to. Later on, in the early 1900s, the war created a large need for jobs which made it easier for musicians' influence to grow. This caused a widespread acceptance and influence of early jazz to other cities like Kansas City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York later on. “Like democracy itself, the collective improvisation which characterized New Orleans-style jazz required a delicate balance between the individual’s desire for freedom and the community’s need for order and unity. While the collective approach was crucial as a context for musical experimentation in the earliest days, it was individual creativity and charisma, which propelled jazz along the path to the