I just recently viewed the documentary, “The American Experience: New Orleans.” I found this film to be both very interesting and educational. I have always thought of New Orleans to be something magical, but I never could pinpoint the exact reason why I felt this way. That was until I watched this film, and learned about all of the struggles that this city and its people have had to go through. With these difficult challenges we see a huge sense of the cities pride, diversity, and culture, which really impresses me.
New Orleans is a city surrounded by water, with this being said it is both a wonderful and dangerous place to live. In 1718 New Orleans had been founded as the capitol of French Louisiana, and by 1803 was sold to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The people that lived in New Orleans at this time called themselves Creole’s, which were French speaking Roman Catholics. It was not unheard of to see a diversity of races living together in New Orleans; in fact it was very common. Although there were black slaves living during this time, there were also free people of color who lived side by side with the white people.
The free people of color were definitely the most prosperous black community in the United States, they were able to buy and own their own land, along with run their own businesses. In New Orleans there was a strong culture where everyone was accepted no matter the color of ones skin. That sense of unity shows me how amazing this city really was and is.
Due to the fact that New Orleans was the major international port for the south, it wasn’t long before the English speaking Americans arrived. The Americans wanted to get rid of the local culture, by changing the language, and imposing their ways onto the people of New Orleans. One observer said, “This will be an American town, and everything French will in time disappear.”
The Americans seemed to be the first reason for segregation in New Orleans. It all started decades after their arrival. Instead of living together with the French the Americans settled up river from them in a business area called, The American Center and neighborhoods known as the Garden District. Both the French and the Americans had their own separate businesses, churches, theaters, shipping canals, reservoirs and levees. They both also had their own ruling classes of people, both containing the wealthy whites as the upper class.
Because of the business produced by the ports, New Orleans became home to many immigrants from all over the world. By the middle of the 19th century forty percent of New Orleans population was that of foreign born and because of this there was not a dominant culture, but a wide range of diversity making it both a difficult and an unique place to live.
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