Louis Armstrong was a son of poverty from Black Storyville, known as Backatown. Famous for his vocal improvisations and his amazing trumpet skills, Armstrong also starred in 35 movies as well as the Broadway musical, “Hello Dolly.” Credit: J’Brionne Helaire/Verite
Mahalia Jackson was born in New Orleans and became a world famous gospel singer. She would go on to sing for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. before his speeches. In 1963 during the March on Washington, she sang “I’ve Been Buked and I’ve Been Scorned.” She also sang the gospel hymn, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” at King’s funeral in 1968. Credit: J’Brionne Helaire/Verite
St. Augustine Church was built in 1842 by the residents of Tremé. It was the first Catholic church in the nation that allowed Black people to buy pews in the front. St. Augustine Parish is the oldest Catholic parish in Louisiana. Credit: J’Brionne Helaire/Verite
Sidney Bechet played the clarinet and saxophone. He was one of the first jazz improvisationalists. Bechet is known for incorporating a jazz-swing vibe into his music. Credit: J’Brionne Helaire/Verite
On Sundays, Africans gathered in Congo Square, an open market for enslaved and free people of color, for dancing and drumming. The statue represents groups dancing in chains. Credit: J’Brionne Helaire/Verite
This is a shrine dedicated to the many unknown enslaved who died in Faubourg Tremé. Credit: J’Brionne Helaire/Verite
A group of African-American men, women, and children in front of Walter’s Place Sea Food Yat-Mein in 1955. There were signs advertising 7UP, Dixie 45 beer, Regal beer, Falstaff beer, and Fatima cigarettes. Credit: The Historic New Orleans. Gift of the Diana Helis Henry Art Fund of The Helis Foundation and Neelon Crawford. acc. no. 2013.0021.23
Charles Joseph “Buddy Bolden” was a cornetist who is credited with creating jazz. He was known for his improvisational skills and played his horn by ear instead of reading music.
Credit: J’Brionne Helaire/Verite
Black masking Indians came out of Tremé. This statue is of Big Chief Allison “Tootie” Montana. He was known for his elaborately beautiful Indian suits for Carnival and transforming the Black masking Indian culture to pageantry instead of combat. He was Big Chief of the Yellow Pocahontas until he died in 2005. Credit: J’Brionne Helaire/Verite Credit: J'Brionne Helaire/Verite
Six men posing in front of a bar and restaurant at a corner on Treme Street in 1978. The banner above says “Restaurant Treme Lounge” and also includes the names of the following social clubs; Scene Boosters, Dirty Dozen, Treme Sports, Calender Girls, Money Wasters and 6th Ward High Steppers. A sign in the door reads “Free Red Beans and Rice Labor Day.” Credit: Jules Cahn Collection at The Historic New Orleans Collection, acc. no. 2007.78.8.16
Several men carry a casket out of the Blandin Funeral Home. Olympia Brass Band Grand Marshal “Fats” Houston stands in front of the casket as a crowd surrounds the place. Credit: Jules Cahn Collection at The Historic New Orleans Collection, acc. no. 2000.78.1.974
The tradition of brass bands in New Orleans started after the Civil War when the military bands inspired the creation of civilian bands within the city. The bands performed, and continue to perfom, at numerous occasions, including funeral processions. Credit: J’Brionne Helaire
Staff posing outside of the Treme Market in 1949. Credit: The Charles L. Franck Studio Collection at The Historic New Orleans Collection, acc. no. 1979.325.3989
A view of the Treme Market with streetcar tracks taken between 1880 and 1910. Credit: The Historic New Orleans Collection, acc.no. 1970.15.69
Tremé is one of the oldest predominantly Black neighborhoods in America. Founded in 1763, it was the only area in New Orleans where free people of color could legally buy property.
Tremé originally was a plantation owned by the Morand family. In the late 18th century it was bought by Claude Tremé, a French hatmaker and his wife Julie Moreau, a free woman of color. The couple divided the land to sell to free people of color, according to Denise Augustine, a tour guide who grew up in Tremé. The neighborhood nurtured many of the musicians who pioneered and sustained jazz along with tradesmen, craftsmen, and entrepreneurs.
The HBO series “Tremé,” which aired for four seasons, celebrated the rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, capturing some of the music, culture and character of the neighborhood.
But the Tremé of yesterday is no longer.
Urban renewal projects, including the building of Interstate I-10 in the 1960s and the creation of Armstrong Park, named after famed jazz musician Louis Armstrong, displaced hundreds of families. Further development and gentrification also affected the culture of the neighborhood. Fewer than half of the original families are still residing in Tremé.
Sabrina Mays, who is from the 7th Ward, is working to help preserve the historic legacy of Tremé. As a 17-year-old, she helped fight to save Armstrong Park.
“I don’t see Black kids out here anymore … there are no Black children in Tremé,” says Mays. “And so I say we need to be able to archive our stories so that when people talk about Tremé, there are authentic stories.”
To help preserve the Tremé culture, Mays conducts story circles where the remaining families with a long history in the neighborhood are urged to talk about the Tremé they were raised in.
“In all the interviews that I’ve done, as children, they remember the smells and the sounds of Tremé — people cooking and how they could go to anybody’s house and get something to eat and how the doors were left open. But they [remember] mainly about the rhythm, the spirit of Tremé.”
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Photo gallery: Scenes from Tremé
by J’Brionne Helaire, Verite News New Orleans March 2, 2023
J’Brionne Helaire is a senior mass communication major at Dillard University. She is the editor-in-chief of Dillard University’s newspaper, The Courtbouillon. Helaire has interned for The Times-Picayune,...
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