The World that made New Orleans by Ned Sublette 2009 320pg

Why jazz originated  New Orleans

This book tells us the history of the Mississippi delta which is very different from that of the rest of the USA.  When the French occupied New Orleans they could not get French settlers  to live there so brought African slaves.  They allowed slaves to buy their own freedom so you developed a society of free blacks. Where Catholic men had illegitimate children by slaves the Church recognized them as Catholic and they were born free and in most cases recognized by their fathers.  This was seen particularly under the 30 years that New Orleans was ruled by the Spanish.  Blacks were allowed to dance and play drums plus the Spanish always had military bands for ceremonies.  The tradition of the music funeral only comes from NO  no other place in the States has it. The important thing about NO is that African music and dance was preserved there and then spread northward to become , jazz and rock as we know it today. This vibrant culture there resulted in the first opera house in north America was opened there in 1796
The term Dixie originated here as the local bank issued Ten $ bill and one side was in French with the word Dix, Dixie later referred to all the Confederate States south of the Mason Dixie line.

Part of the French Revolution that in not mentioned in the history books, is the slave revolt on the French Dominican which became Haiti, 1791 to 1804  This colony Haiti had brought so much sugar and wealth to France that once she lost it there was no longer a purpose in keeping Louisiana and France knew she couldn't defend it.  The Americans were thinking of occupying Louisiana in any case and were able to purchase it from Napoleon instead of going to war in 1803, for $15 million in gold.

Virginia had been a big producer of agricultural goods but the soil was no longer very productive. By 1808 the importation of slaves from Africa was stopped and so Virginia became a breeding place for slaves that were in short supply in the sugar growing Louisiana. Many slaves were brothers or children of usually Protestant slave owners and states that stood against abolition wanted to protect this privilege of concubinage.

Under the Spanish, Havana was the centre of trade and ships would assemble there to take conveys of gold and silver back to Spain. Pirates and privateers would attack these ships.  Also pirates would capture Spanish slave ships and sell their contraband in NO.
In Florida, escaping slaves took refuge in Semoline Indians villages and integrated into their communities till the US authorities went in and rounded them up and moved them to reserves in other states.
Haiti was the first independent country in the Americas and the USA recognized it hoping to repatriate ex slaves there, the same it true for Liberia in Africa.
In 1917 the Federal Government ordered the closing of saloons causing Jazz to move northward to New York ,Chicago and Detroit,