Congo Square-Louis Armstrong gate, New Orleans LA
Or those remaining at the memorial at the end, the family requests people wear white.
One area we need to spend a little more time throughout the city, but to me especially in the Quarter, is green space. With millions of tourists walking and spending money in that neighborhood, some beautiful AVAILABLE green space is quite overdue. Public landscaping, short paths in the parks, more tiny green spaces would all help make the Quarter seem like the paradise it should be.
The High Line was a kee-razy idea that a few people put together over a period of years, and now is one of the most admired projects in the city among the NYC residents that I know.
I challenge my fellow activists and citizens to come up with ideas about how we make the Quarter a lush garden. Feel free to contact me about the FQ tree inventory project I am still working on if you want to help.
The closed park gates (and city hall’s response in this story) is a perfect example of the bureaucracy misusing the city’s assets rather than encouraging the use and care of them by allowing citizens to feel ownership.
Turns out the space that has been known since the 1800s as Congo Square is actually called Beauregard Square for a Confed general who also has a statue at the entrance of City Park and a house tour in the Quarter. Seems the name change in favor of the general came in 1893 which seems about right, knowing the revisionist history that went on in the South around that time and that it was the year of his death. From the T-P article: “According to widely accepted historical tradition, African-American slaves were allowed to gather on Sunday afternoons in an open field just outside the city, at a spot known by various names including Place Congo. The slaves and free people of color used this space to market goods, to socialize and to sing, make music and dance, maintaining their cultural heritage as well as social cohesion. White New Orleanians and visitors to the city would go there to witness African-American music and dance.”
Congo Square is within Louis Armstrong Park at the “end” of Saint Ann if you are leaving the Quarter. The park’s current condition is deplorable and maybe the name change for this most important history will spark some action for this public space to be a jewel rather than an locked up eyesore. (Can I suggest a tearing down of the fence to begin?)
Author of “Congo Square: African Roots in New Orleans” Freddi Evans is appearing at Octavia Books and I am sure more signings to come to showcase her definitive history. I saw her speak at the TWLF this year and she is a delightful, gentle speaker with a firm grasp of her subject. Do yourself a favor and go hear her speak.
To order book
She will be at Octavia Tuesday at 6 pm.
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French Quarter block by block 
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