The Mississippi River and Delta

[amicus]

The Mississippi; River and Delta.

For millions upon millions of years the Mississippi River drainage traveled down the center of this continent, carrying millions of tons of sediment to the Gulf of Mexico.

That build up of nutrients and organic material built not only the wetlands, the delta area, but created huge beds of petroleum far into the Gulf.

Simply a way of life for the native Americans and then an obstacle to cross as the western expansion of the original thirteen colonies expanded and settled.

Then with industry, an artery of commerce as trade and exchange grew in industrial America.

Flooding along the course of the mighty mississip brought about small and the large attempts to contain the river and protect the flood plains as people settled along the river banks and used the valuable land and the ready transportation.

The City of New Orleans was founded, if memory from a program serves, in about the year 1718. The original settlement was on high ground and not subject to flooding, at least not in a detrimental way.

New Orleans developed into an important port facility through time and with the discovery of petroleum, in Pennsylvania, a new industry was created.

Because of the near proximity of sources of petroleum, refineries were located near New Orleans to process the product and then transport it throughout the nation.

There has been great controversy and political disagreement over the entire levee system as flood control by the US government and the Army Corps of Engineers. Quite the same with the levee situation that involves New Orleans as the city expanded beyond the high ground considered buildable.

Again, political influence, which also spilled over into bridge building across Lake Pontchartrain, determined the future of the area, The name Huey Long still reverberates with many.

Over the years, New Orleans developed as both a tourist destination and as a major seaport handling agricultural exports from the nation’s midsection and importing goods from all over the world.

How and why New Orleans became nearly 70 percent populated by African Americans is a subject of interest.

Why the poverty level of that city is so very high, is also a matter of interest.

Early speculation was that New Orleans would not be rebuilt following the Katrina disaster, but President Bush’s address on television, from New Orleans, dispelled that theory.

Just a thumb nail sketch for those who might be curious and if you want to learn more, I am sure you can search for whatever information you wish.

Amicus…

 

[Stella_Omega]

Look up "Superfund sites" and "PCB poisoning" while you're at it.
And check, for yourself, who decided to cut off funding to rebuild the levees.and I don't hear the oil companies offering to drop their profit margin just a little bit during this time, do you? Nope, me and you, we're going to pay for their lowered production costs.

It's easier for poverty-stricken peoples to survive in a temperate climate, just one factor in the makeup of the city. They don't freeze to death the way they do in Chicago, for instance.
As for the African-American makeup of the city... That is common in areas that were hubs of the slave trade... haven't you ever noticed that?

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Look up "Superfund sites" and "PCB poisoning" while you're at it.
And check, for yourself, who decided to cut off funding to rebuild the levees.and I don't hear the oil companies offering to drop their profit margin just a little bit during this time, do you? Nope, me and you, we're going to pay for their lowered production costs.

It's easier for poverty-stricken peoples to survive in a temperate climate, just one factor in the makeup of the city. They don't freeze to death the way they do in Chicago, for instance.
As for the African-American makeup of the city... That is common in areas that were hubs of the slave trade... haven't you ever noticed that?

Right. Louisiana had a high slave population relative to the south before emancipation. It's estimated that 50% or the population of Louisiana around the time of the civil war was black. Once the slaves were freed and could no longer be afforded to work at the large plantations up the river, they would naturally move toward the city of New Orleans to find work at the port. New Orleans has also always been an agricultural hub.

 

[cloudy]

Right. Louisiana had a high slave population relative to the south before emancipation. It's estimated that 50% or the population of Louisiana around the time of the civil war was black. Once the slaves were freed and could no longer be afforded to work at the large plantations up the river, they would naturally move toward the city of New Orleans to find work at the port. New Orleans has also always been an agricultural hub.

There was also a large sub-culture in and around New Orleans that didn't exist anywhere else: the Octaroon/Quadroon balls. It's one of the things that is so unique about the history of New Orleans. For a free woman of color, one of those balls was her opportunity to meet a patron, and have herself set for life as the mistress of a wealthy plantation owner. (not that that's the kind of life that I aspire to, mind you, but during those times, there were many, many situations that were worse)

Another factor in the high percentage of minorities is that it is a port city, and as such, had a highly mobile population. There were always new people coming and people leaving, so for a runaway slave, it was a good hiding spot, not to mention the huge diversity of people that have lived there since it became a city. Part of my family is Creole, or Spanish/French, and they've become synonymous with New Orleans.

If a runaway slave needed to hide out for a bit, there were always the Cajuns in the swamp that could hide them. If you aren't born and bred to the bayous, it's almost certain death to enter them without a guide.

Even the pirate Jean Lafitte considered New Orleans home. There's a bar down at the botton of Bourbon Street (if it's still there ) that was, at one time, a blacksmith shop that he operated as one of his alternate identities. It leans a little, and looks like it will fall down any minute, but it's still standing. The bayous offered a pirate a multitude of hiding places.

The history of that one small part of the country is unlike any other area.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

One reason for the higher concentration of African Americans is that New Orleans has always been very cosmopolitan for the old south. Most of the population, less the coon asses, are of mixed ancestory. French, Spanish, English, Irish, native American, Black, etc. The city had it's own heierarchy of social staus, but people could move between them easier. There just wasn't the emphasis placed on race that was common in other cities in the south pre emancipation.

A lot of the freedoms had to do with the word creole, which was never formally defined and could be applied variously to mixed race peoples, any native born american, cajuns, etc. Creole's of color was also used to denote blacks born in america. They could own land, get a formal education, etc. etc. As such they formed a kind of entrepernurial class.

They lost a lot of their freedoms after emancipation ironically, being grouped with all freed blacks. Still, they had a strong community and large numbers remained in their native state and city, even under jim crow rather than move north.

 

[amicus]

Thank you, interesting glimpses into a people and a past that few are aware of and it reads better than a history book.

amicus