via Wikimedia
Next time you visit New Orleans, skip over the French Quarter and head north to Faubourg Tremé - the country’s oldest Black neighborhood and the birthplace of jazz.
Tremé is home to St. Augustine Catholic Church, the oldest Black Catholic parish in the nation, and Congo Square, the musical heart of the city that preserved African cultural traditions.
Tremé goes back to the 18th and 19th century, when free and enslaved Black people, even refugees who fled Haiti after its revolution, owned homes and land - so much so that by 1841, Black people owned 80% of the land in Tremé.
In 1862, Paul Trévigne started the first Black daily newspaper in the United States, The Tribune, written in French and English.
Trévigne and his staff used The Tribune to fight for equality, even urging Black people to vote, resulting in a majority Black legislative body and the most progressive constitution in the nation.
When white supremacists resegregated the South after Reconstruction, Trevigne fought back against a Louisiana desegregation law, organizing the incident that led to Plessy vs. Ferguson…
… which ended in the Supreme Court ruling public segregation to be legal.
Through the years, Tremé has undergone a ton of changes, but it still reminds us of our rich and varied history of thriving and fighting - so check it out!