NOLA Pasts

At the mouth of the Mississippi, New Orleans occupies a liminal space geographically, bringing the Caribbean into contact with the vast interior of North America. This location made the Crescent City a cultural crossroads where Afro-Caribbean traditions blended with French and Spanish colonial legacies and westward-moving Anglo-American southern society.

This exhibit considers the ways this unique milieu has shaped New Orleanians' experiences of the nation's larger political and economic forces, and explores the roots of the city's distinctive food, music, and performance culture.