The Undying "Big Easy"

Hey all you bloggers out there, this assignment is an opportunity to apologize and redeem myself from the trite, lack luster information filled blogs that I have been forcing down everyone’s throats, so lets try something different. When I first heard I was supposed to be writing about New Orleans, vivid images came to mind. Visions of drunken masses stumbling through Bourbon Street, flashing tourists, oversized drinks, and loud jazz music flew through my head. However there is another side to New Orleans, aside from the party atmosphere the city is more than just jazz, drinks, and naked women. It is ripe with rich history, old world architecture, a soul infused by the blood sweat and tears of many people that left there mark such as Paul Travign, Louis Armstrong, and so many other influential artists poets, and writers. New Orleans is the only place where slaves were allowed to buy their freedom. It’s the only place where slaves were aloud to work wherever they chose on the weekends. New Orleans had the first desegregated schools, and the first black daily news.

First founded by the French in 1718, they were drawn by its unique location being surrounded by rivers such as the Mississippi and dense swampland. The French ruled for about 45 years till they ceded to the Spanish who remained in control till 1801, later going back to French rule. Napoleon then sold New Orleans to the Americas during the Louisiana Purchase. The city grew rapidly with many influences including French, Creole, American’s, Spanish, and Africans. The Haitian revolution of 1804 brought in refugees both black and white they also brought their slaves with them.

Geographically New Orleans is mostly below sea level surrounded by water, Pierce F. Lewis, the author of New Orleans (The Making of an Urban Landscape) says, “New Orleans depends much more heavily on income from overseas maritime commerce than any other large port in the eastern United States. New Orleans has very little to fall back on but tourism, which is undependable”.

Though New Orleans may still be considered unique, it is rapidly becoming like any other city in America. Sparked from the white flight of city dwellers, certain parts of the city are rapidly turning into ghettoes. In the Fauburg Treme documentary Irving Travign descendant of Paul Travign says, “they tried to make New Orleans like the rest of the country”. He spoke about waking up at 6:30 in the morning and seeing the street flooded with drugs and hearing automatic weapons go off. Lewis spoke about the I-10 highway butchering North Claiborne Ave.which once was the main street to the biggest African American neighborhood in New Orleans. It broke my heart to see pictures of how it used to be and further more hear the breaking down of Mr. Travigns voice as he referenced to the I-10 as being cold hard concrete slapped down right in the middle of his city.

Personally, when I first saw the devastation wrought by hurricane Katrina, it broke my heart. Seeing the hundreds of disenfranchised citizens swimming for their lives, standing on their roofs, waving for rescue choppers to save them nearly brought me to my knees. I was staring at the television dumbfounded watching the horror unfold. Then the aftermath when the waters receded and the thousands of homeless, starving masses gathered in the superdome who were lined up to get clothed and fed was another tragedy that unfolded on live TV. As Douglas Brinkley, author of The Great Deluge, Bienville the founder of New Orleans had he been able foresee the future he would have definitely moved new Orleans inland to higher ground after the Great Hurricane in 1722. Economic reasons caused Bienville to stay where the island is today. Another way that history could of prepared us for Katrina is by looking at the failed attempts to build dykes and levees in 1803. Had these situations been taken care of a lot of lives would have been saved.

Finally after much contemplating, the idea of New Orleans is not dead it lives in film, memories, rumors and in our hearts. This city will never die, it will live on and rebuild stronger than ever. In short The Big Easy will endure the test of time.