Walking the Tremé

New Orleans' Tremé neighborhood predates the French Quarter's fame but claims an equal share of the city's soul. On this walking tour, you'll hear how Congo Square's Sunday gatherings helped give birth to jazz. You'll also learn how these same streets became a battleground for civil rights.

The tour starts outside Louis Armstrong Park's entrance on Rampart Street, once the dividing line between the French Quarter and back o' town. Inside the park, you'll pass bronze sculptures honoring jazz icons and reach historic Congo Square, where enslaved people gathered on Sundays to trade, dance, and practice African-rooted spiritual traditions. You'll also see the shuttered Municipal Auditorium, a reminder of celebration and loss since Hurricane Katrina.

Beyond the park, you'll walk St. Philip Street past the home of drummer Shannon Powell and the Backstreet Cultural Museum's collection of Mardi Gras Indian costumes. You'll hear how Economy Hall nurtured young Louis Armstrong's earliest jazz improvisations, and how free women of color shaped the neighborhood's distinctive Creole architecture. The tour ends at St. Augustine Catholic Church, site of the 1840s War of the Pews and the Tomb of the Unknown Slave.

On this 75-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

• Hear about Louis Armstrong's unlikely path from a boys' home band to international stardom
• Learn about Mahalia Jackson's gospel legacy and her role in prompting Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech
• See the sculpture honoring Mardi Gras Indian Chief Tootie Montana, who died protesting a parade permit fee
• Pass Tuba Fats Square, named for a beloved tubist who mentored generations of local musicians
• Learn about Henriette Delille, soon to become the first US-born Black Catholic saint
• See the brightly colored Caribbean-style houses reflecting the city's Haitian immigrant heritage
• Hear about Homer Plessy, whose defiance on a segregated train shaped US civil rights law for decades

By the time you reach the Tomb of the Unknown Slave, you'll understand how Tremé's drumbeats, resistance, and faith built the soul of New Orleans.

Trumpet: Emirdemirel - Improvisation on Dorian Scale Trumpet