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Freedom in Congo Square

Author : Carole Boston Weatherford

Publisher : Simon and Schuster

Page : 40 pages

File Size : 12,46 MB

Release : 2017-01-17

Category : Juvenile Nonfiction

ISBN : 1499804792

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Book Description

Chosen as a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2016, this poetic, nonfiction story about a little-known piece of African American history captures a human's capacity to find hope and joy in difficult circumstances and demonstrates how New Orleans' Congo Square was truly freedom's heart. Mondays, there were hogs to slop, mules to train, and logs to chop. Slavery was no ways fair. Six more days to Congo Square. As slaves relentlessly toiled in an unjust system in 19th century Louisiana, they all counted down the days until Sunday, when at least for half a day they were briefly able to congregate in Congo Square in New Orleans. Here they were free to set up an open market, sing, dance, and play music. They were free to forget their cares, their struggles, and their oppression. This story chronicles slaves' duties each day, from chopping logs on Mondays to baking bread on Wednesdays to plucking hens on Saturday, and builds to the freedom of Sundays and the special experience of an afternoon spent in Congo Square. This book will have a forward from Freddi Williams Evans (freddievans.com), a historian and Congo Square expert, as well as a glossary of terms with pronunciations and definitions. AWARDS: A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2016 A School Library Journal Best Book of 2016: Nonfiction Starred reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and The Horn Book Magazine



Congo Square

Author : Freddi Williams Evans

Publisher : University of Louisiana

Page : 0 pages

File Size : 39,44 MB

Release : 2011

Category : African American dance

ISBN : 9781935754039

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Book Description

Comprehensive study of one of the New World's most sacred sites of African American memory and community.



Congo Square in New Orleans

Author : Jerah Johnson

Publisher : Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.

Page : 64 pages

File Size : 13,9 MB

Release : 2011-01-31

Category : History

ISBN : 9781879714069

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Book Description

A detailed history of a New Orleans landmark. Congo Square is an iconic location in New Orleans culture, filled with the echoes of jazz and the footsteps of modern dance. Brimming with the rich history of the city, this auspicious landmark traces its origins back to the 1740s. A popular gathering place for African-Americans, the square hosted public markets, musical events, and even the Congo Circus throughout its history. Johnson's detailed analysis of the development of the landmark places the deep-set culture of both the African-American community and the roots of New Orleans music firmly in the heart of Congo Square.



From the Kingdom of Kongo to Congo Square

Author : Jeroen Dewulf

Publisher : University of Louisiana

Page : 268 pages

File Size : 11,52 MB

Release : 2017

Category : History

ISBN :

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Book Description

"This book presents a provocatively new interpretation of one of New Orleans's most enigmatic traditions--the Mardi Gras Indians. By interpreting the tradition in an Atlantic context, Dewulf traces the 'black Indians' back to the ancient Kingdom of Kongo and its war dance known as sangamento. He shows that good warriors in the Kongo kingdom were per definition also good dancers, masters of a technique of dodging, spinning, and leaping that was crucial in local warfare. Enslaved Kongolese brought the rhythm, dancing moves, and feathered headwear of sangamentos to the Americas in performances that came to be known as 'Kongo dances.' By comparing Kongo dances on the African island of Saao Tomae with those in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Louisiana, Dewulf demonstrates that the dances in New Orleans's Congo Square were part of a much broader Kongolese performance tradition. He links that to Afro-Catholic mutual-aid societies that honored their elected community leaders or 'kings' with Kongo dances. While the public rituals of these brotherhoods originally thrived in the context of Catholic procession culture around Epiphany and Corpus Christi, they transitioned to carnival as a result of growing orthodoxy within the Church. Dewulf's groundbreaking research suggests a much greater impact of Kongolese traditions and of popular Catholicism on the development of African American cultural heritage and identity. His conclusions force us to radically rethink the traditional narrative on the Mardi Gras Indians, the kings of Zulu, and the origins of black participation in Mardi Gras celebrations"--Provided by publisher.



The World That Made New Orleans

Author : Ned Sublette

Publisher : Chicago Review Press

Page : 369 pages

File Size : 33,46 MB

Release : 2008-01-01

Category : History

ISBN : 1569765138

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Book Description

STRONGNamed one of the Top 10 Books of 2008 by The Times-Picayune. STRONGWinner of the 2009 Humanities Book of the Year award from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.STRONG STRONGAwarded the New Orleans Gulf South Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award for 2008. New Orleans is the most elusive of American cities. The product of the centuries-long struggle among three mighty empires--France, Spain, and England--and among their respective American colonies and enslaved African peoples, it has always seemed like a foreign port to most Americans, baffled as they are by its complex cultural inheritance. The World That Made New Orleans offers a new perspective on this insufficiently understood city by telling the remarkable story of New Orleans's first century--a tale of imperial war, religious conflict, the search for treasure, the spread of slavery, the Cuban connection, the cruel aristocracy of sugar, and the very different revolutions that created the United States and Haiti. It demonstrates that New Orleans already had its own distinct personality at the time of Louisiana's statehood in 1812. By then, important roots of American music were firmly planted in its urban swamp--especially in the dances at Congo Square, where enslaved Africans and African Americans appeared en masse on Sundays to, as an 1819 visitor to the city put it, &“rock the city.&” This book is a logical continuation of Ned Sublette's previous volume, Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo, which was highly praised for its synthesis of musical, cultural, and political history. Just as that book has become a standard resource on Cuba, so too will The World That Made New Orleans long remain essential for understanding the beautiful and tragic story of this most American of cities.



Come Sunday

Author : Freddi Williams Evans

Publisher : University of Louisiana

Page : 0 pages

File Size : 16,63 MB

Release : 2017

Category : Juvenile Nonfiction

ISBN : 9781946160102

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Book Description

Come Sunday: A Young Reader's History of Congo Square provides an engaging account of Congo Square and the African presence in New Orleans through culturally relevant content paired with over 130 images and primary documents. These sources provide close-up views of life during the time of the Antebellum Sunday gatherings in Congo Square. Readers are able to analyze, compare, think critically, and discuss content, which develops a deeper understanding of history and how it impacts the world today. Book jacket.



Ancestors of Congo Square

Author : William A. Fagaly

Publisher : Scala Books

Page : 0 pages

File Size : 26,9 MB

Release : 2011

Category : Art

ISBN : 9781857596984

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Book Description

First comprehensive book on the extraordinary collection of African Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art, considered one of the best in the United States.



The Chicken Salad Club

Author : Marsha Diane Arnold

Publisher : Dial

Page : 40 pages

File Size : 30,45 MB

Release : 1998

Category : Juvenile Fiction

ISBN :

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Book Description

Nathaniel's great-grandfather, who is 100 years old, loves to tell stories from his past but seeks someone to join him with a new batch of stories.



Dancing in the Streets

Author : Judy Cooper

Publisher :

Page : 0 pages

File Size : 42,88 MB

Release : 2021

Category : African American fraternal organizations

ISBN : 9780917860829

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Book Description

"Explores the history, social ties, fashion, dance, and music of second lines, participatory parades put on by New Orleans's network of social aid and pleasure clubs. "Dancing in the Streets" brings together historical photographs with the work of ten contemporary second line photographers, profiles all clubs active today, and explores the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tradition"--



The Life and Legend of Bras-Coupé

Author : Bryan Wagner

Publisher : LSU Press

Page : 0 pages

File Size : 30,27 MB

Release : 2019-03-04

Category : Social Science

ISBN : 0807170259

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Book Description

Although few recognize the name of Bras-Coupé today, Bryan Wagner’s riveting history The Life and Legend of Bras-Coupé illustrates why the saga of this notorious escaped slave should be a touchstone among scholars and students of the African diaspora. After losing an arm in a pitched battle with the New Orleans police in the 1830s, Bras-Coupé hid for several years in a swamp near the city. During this time, law enforcement widely publicized their manhunt for him through newspapers, wanted posters, and other media. Messages from the mayor’s office promoted a violent image of Bras-Coupé, casting him as the primary reason police needed the right to use deadly force in the course of their duties. After a former friend betrayed and killed the bandit in July 1837, local officials displayed Bras-Coupé’s corpse in the Place d’Armes, where they ordered slaves to bear witness. The Bras-Coupé legend grew after his death and took on fantastic dimensions. Storytellers gave him superpowers. His skin, it was alleged, could not be punctured by bullets. His gaze could turn men to stone. Folklorists have transcribed many such examples of the tradition, and writers, including George Washington Cable and Robert Penn Warren, have adapted it into novels. Over time, new details appeared in the mythology and the legend transformed. Some said that he was an African prince before he was kidnapped and brought to Louisiana; others, that he was the most famous performer at Congo Square, playing an indispensable role in the preservation of African music and dance. Sidney Bechet, one of the city’s most celebrated composers and reed players, even suggested it was Bras-Coupé who invented jazz. Including fugitive slave advertisements, arrest records, and journalism from the 1830s, this critical edition collects the most important primary materials related to Bras-Coupé’s story. Wagner’s timely and deft examination of this unique historical figure reveals how a single man’s life, shaped by the horrors of slavery and the cultural mélange of Louisiana, can evolve into legend.