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Reviews
Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans (2008)
Moving and beautiful film
This was a wonderfully engaging and well-researched film. Faubourg Treme was home to the largest community of Free Black People in the Deep South and the birthplace of jazz. The filmmakers did a fabulous job of uncovering the lost history of this unique American city. It explains how blacks were treated different in this town when the Spanish and then the French owned Louisiana until it was sold by Napoleon to the United States. Slaves and Free People of Color were influenced by the French and Haitian revolutions and it helped fuel the civil rights movement of the 1800s. Yes, New Orleans was different then the rest of the South. Blacks could go to school, sue their masters for back wages, own slaves themselves. Like the poet said. None of the history books talk about New Orleans. African American history has been simplified. "Black people were slaves. Period. Then came civil war. Period. Then came the freedom. Period." This film explains that it was much more than that. The spirit and perseverance of the people of New Orleans comes through every frame of the film. The music and dancing scenes are especially beautiful as is the way the filmmakers treat their interview subjects. Some of it is heartbreaking. What a struggle these poor people have had before and after Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the fight for during the second civil rights movement to desegregate the schools (again!) and then the devastating blow by the flood after Katrina . Great drama and entertaining, but also highly recommended for anyone interested in American history, Black History, the roots of jazz, civil rights, sociology and so much more.