Louisiana's Story: The Square Where Jazz Was Born

Louisiana is famous for Mardi Gras — a giant parade with purple, green, and gold everywhere! But those three colors aren't random: purple means justice, green means faith, and gold means power. Every color at Mardi Gras means something. Let's make a mask and learn the secret meanings!

Hands OnAbout 25 minutesScreen-freeParent help expected

Materials and setup

paper
crayons
pencil
scissors (pre-k, with parent help)
glue (pre-k)

How this changes by age

Pre-K (ages 3–4)

Difficulty 1 of 3

Steps

Look at pictures of Mardi Gras masks together. Ask: 'What colors do you see? What do you think they mean?'
Reveal the answer: 'Purple = justice (fairness), green = faith (believing in things), gold = power. Every Mardi Gras decoration uses these three colors — and they've meant the same thing since 1872!'
Cut out a simple eye mask shape from paper (parent helps) and let your child decorate it using ONLY purple, green, and gold.
Put on the mask and march around the room together like a parade.
Ask: 'If YOU got to pick three colors for your own parade, what would they mean?'

Learning objectives

Wonder at the idea that colors carry meaning — they're not just decoration
Notice that Louisiana's Mardi Gras colors have had the same meaning since 1872
Ask: what colors mean something in your own life or family?

Kindergarten (ages 5–6)

In New Orleans, there was one special place where something amazing happened. It was called Congo Square. Under French and Spanish colonial law, enslaved Africans were allowed to gather there on Sundays, and they played African music — drums, singing, dancing — keeping their musical traditions alive across generations. Historians say those gatherings at Congo Square are one of the most important roots of jazz, blues, and much of American popular music. The rhythms first kept alive in that square eventually traveled all over the world. Draw Congo Square and the music that grew from it!

Difficulty 2 of 3

Steps

Talk about it: 'Imagine you loved music and had only a few hours each week to play it. What would you play? How hard would you practice?'
Look at pictures of Congo Square in New Orleans — a public square near the French Quarter.
Draw Congo Square: a big open space in a city, surrounded by buildings. In the center, draw people playing drums, singing, and dancing.
Draw musical notes floating UP from Congo Square and spreading outward like waves across the whole country.
Write or dictate: 'The music played in Congo Square became _____.'

Learning objectives

Know that Congo Square in New Orleans was a gathering place where African music traditions were kept alive
Retell how those gatherings became the foundation for jazz and American popular music
Begin to understand that music and culture can travel far from where they start

Early elementary (ages 6–8)

New Orleans's Congo Square is one of the most important places in the history of American music. Under French and Spanish colonial law, enslaved Africans were permitted to gather there on Sundays — and for decades they kept African musical traditions alive through drumming, dance, and song. Over many generations, those rhythmic traditions mixed with blues, ragtime, and European harmony across New Orleans and helped give birth to jazz in the early 1900s. Create a 'source map' showing the musical traditions that fed into jazz — and trace how jazz spread from New Orleans to the world.

Difficulty 2 of 3

Steps

In the center of your paper, draw Congo Square and write: 'NEW ORLEANS — A Root of Jazz.'
Draw four arrows flowing INTO the center, each labeled with a musical tradition and a brief description: (1) African Rhythms — complex drumming patterns kept alive through generations; (2) Blues from the Delta — emotional guitar and vocal music from Mississippi; (3) Ragtime Piano — syncopated rhythms from the 1890s; (4) European Harmony — French and Spanish classical music traditions in New Orleans.
For each arrow, write one sentence about that tradition.
Draw arrows going OUT from Congo Square, spreading north and east: 'The Great Migration (1910-1940) carried jazz musicians to Chicago, Harlem, and eventually Paris.'
Write a 'Did You Know?' box: 'Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1901, just blocks from Congo Square. He became the most famous jazz musician in history. Next time you hear ANY American popular music — hip-hop, country, rock, pop — you are hearing Congo Square's descendants.'
Write one sentence: 'Jazz matters to American history because _____.'

Learning objectives

Identify Congo Square as one of the most important roots of jazz and explain its historical significance
Name and describe four musical traditions that merged to create jazz
Trace jazz's spread from New Orleans to Chicago, New York, and the world via the Great Migration
Write an evidence-based sentence about why jazz is culturally significant

Upper elementary (ages 8–10)

In 1803, President Jefferson bought 828,000 square miles from Napoleon for $15 million — roughly 3 cents per acre — and doubled the size of the United States overnight. He called it the greatest real estate deal in history. But wait: Napoleon didn't own the people already living there. Free Black Creoles in New Orleans had property rights and legal protections under French and Spanish law that the United States refused to recognize. Native nations had lived there for thousands of years without being consulted. Was the Louisiana Purchase a great achievement — or was it, at its core, something else entirely?

Difficulty 3 of 3

Steps

Research the Louisiana Purchase: what exactly was bought, from whom, for how much, and why did Napoleon sell? (Hint: he had just lost Haiti — research that connection.)
Calculate: $15 million for 828,000 square miles. How much per acre? How much per square mile? (About 3 cents per acre.) Discuss: is 'purchase' the right word for buying land that other people — who weren't consulted — were living on?
Research free Black Creoles in New Orleans: under French and Spanish law, they had specific property, inheritance, and legal rights. Write two specific rights that U.S. law did not recognize after 1803. What happened to those people?
Research the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804): people in Haiti overthrew French colonial rule and created the first Black republic in the Western Hemisphere. This caused Napoleon to abandon his American ambitions — and made him willing to sell Louisiana. Write: how does the Haitian Revolution connect to the Louisiana Purchase?
Write a compare-and-contrast paragraph (5-7 sentences): analyze the Louisiana Purchase from Jefferson's perspective AND from the perspective of free Black Creoles in New Orleans. Who gained? Who lost? Was it possible for both to be true at once?
Connection: The Louisiana Purchase territory included all or parts of 15 modern U.S. states. Find three states that were formed from it. How different would the U.S. look without this deal?
New Orleans became America's busiest port in the early 1800s because goods floated down the Mississippi by flatboat. Pretend you ship 500 barrels of flour from Ohio; each barrel cost you $3 and sells for $7 in New Orleans. Subtract $400 for the flatboat and crew. What's your profit, and would you walk home or buy a steamboat ticket back?
Louisiana shrimp boat builders shape shallow hulls with curved ribs and a winch for the nets. Draw a shrimp boat from the side, label the hull, mast, boom, and net, and explain why a wide flat bottom helps in bayou water. Sketch one improvement to protect the catch from spoiling.

Learning objectives

Explain the Louisiana Purchase — terms, map, and Napoleon's reasons — including the Haitian Revolution's role
Calculate the purchase price per acre and evaluate whether 'purchase' is the accurate word
Identify specific rights free Black Creoles lost after 1803 and analyze what that reveals
Write a compare-and-contrast paragraph analyzing the transaction from two contradictory perspectives simultaneously
Connect the Louisiana Purchase to the geography of 15 modern states

Safety and evidence note

Read the full activity before beginning. An adult should supervise tools, heat, food, outdoor work, movement, and experiments as appropriate. Completion records that the activity was done; the child’s explanation, work sample, photo, or demonstration is stronger evidence of learning than a completion check alone.

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