The Rich History of Louisiana

Image originally obtained from: GettyImages.com by Digital Vision
Photo manipulation: Leon Jang

Louisiana is one of the states with a rich cultural background. Seeing that I have only lived here two years I cannot possibly experience all that rich and deep Louisiana culture. So here I will present the Louisiana that I have come to know and love. Louisiana is a state with plenty of history; it could be argued that it has just as much culture and history as the United States of America itself. One can even see its French heritage when one goes to the French Quarter down in New Orleans. Being the only state divided by parishes this shows how Louisiana keeps its French roots. Parish itself means a “local church” and early on during the Spanish and French occupation of Louisiana had divided up the state into parishes (Wikipedia).

Louisiana is home to many cultures like the Cajun and the Creole. African Americas are the second largest population in Louisiana. In the early 90’s, jazz developed in African American communities in the south. Early jazz has its roots in New Orleans and took off mainly in the 20s to 60s (Wikipedia).

It wouldn’t be a fair description of Louisiana if I had not mentioned Mardi Gras. One of the biggest events of the year in Louisiana which draws hundreds of thousands of tourists to primarily, New Orleans. The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are purple, green and gold, which signify justice, faith, and power respectively. These colors hold a great significance in the culture of Louisiana and can be seen in much more than just the great event that is Mardi Gras. You even see it in the main universities in the state, Louisiana State University and Tulane. According to some old wives tales and stories floating around the internet these colors were picked based on the left over material from Mardi Gras.

The picture I selected was photo manipulated by me and the original photo was from GettyImages.com by Digital Vision. I used this picture of this saxophone illustrate Jazz’s roots in Louisiana. The grungy stale background was done deliberately to show the rich yet very old history those Louisiana posses. The slight green tinge and the purple and gold lines illustrate Mardi Gras’ importance to the citizens of Louisiana. Seeing that I go to Louisiana State University it is natural to see that I put more emphasis on purple and gold :-) .