Day 5

Day 5

New Orleans is rich with history, like many other cities in the south; however, it has many aspects that make it different from others.  New Orleans has an extremely diverse set of cultures that many other cities do not have.  So many different people were in New Orleans such as the French, enslaved Africans, Americans, and others.  These different groups originally had their own unique traditions and cultures.  Once these groups began to mix, it created entirely new groups that fused different cultures together.  While this often led to groups that were discriminated against it caused groups to form distinct cultures among themselves.  This variety and diversity can still be seen throughout New Orleans today.  This is evident from the variety of food to the different styles of music.  As you walk down Bourbon Street it was exciting to see the many types of people all mingling in one place.  It makes the city so different from a city such as Atlanta where it is not as diverse.  In cities like Atlanta and Birmingham there is not as much of a variety of cultures.  It is mainly divided between blacks and whites.  There are, of course, other races, but not in the majority.  You can notice a difference in New Orleans, because you can feel and see the history in the diversity and way of life that is not as obvious in other southern cities.  Another thing that I found interesting is something that I learned about slaves in New Orleans. I was told on a tour that slaves could go free through legal ways.   They could actually buy their way out of slavery.  I had not heard anywhere else we traveled that a slave could have the opportunity to make themselves free. I found it very interesting and it made New Orleans stand out.