First of all, I'm from New Orleans. Born and raised here. 7th Ward is my home. Gentilly for life ya herd meh. Congo Square is located inside of Louis Armstrong park in the 6th Ward Treme area. It's just outside of the rampart bordering the French Quarter. Secondly , Congo Square is Ancestral sacred Ground. You can still here those drums and our people dancing with call and response chants. Still today drumming circles are held here. Concerts and vendoring take place nearly every week. In the past many major concerts were attended to and enjoyed at the Mahalia Jackson auditorium just a few steps away. Congo square represents the bonding of communal cohesion. Just as it was back during the antebellum era , different black people or tribes or ethnic groups gathered in separate areas. They each had their own dances, chants, colors and a particular stlye of dress. On Sundays, we were africans being african inside a system of bondage. Which I contend that these activities were the first steps to form jazz music. Thirdly and lastly, it took for me leaving New Orleans several times to really appreciate its uniqueness. The cultural aspects of African-American here are seen and heard in everything we do. For examples the taste of seasoning in the food; Second line funeral possessions; Gumbo and jambalaya; the infamous accents sounding more Caribana/ west indian than southern; the way we dance and walk during brass band marching; and most of all the music, from Buddy Bolden to Trombone Shorty and the largest pantheon of talented musicians in America. The rhythms here are unlike any other and are the foundations for different genres of music in America. I could name so many others but I'll let you reserch the names, rhythms and places that Congo Square gave birth to , nutured and reared into adulthood. CONGO SQUARE is where we share our cultural roots.