Throughout the 1840’s and 1850’s, the French Creoles wanted separate French language schools, while the Jewish and Catholic immigrants wanted to challenge the use of Protestant prayers throughout public schools. In 1860, the 11,000 free blacks, in addition to the 14,000 slaves, in New Orleans were barred from attending the public schools throughout the city. In 1862, New Orleans surrendered to the Union troops and soon after the city was incorporating racial integration into their public school system.
 

From 1862-1864, new schools were created for freed slaves. However by 1874, there were 19 mixed race public schools throughout New Orleans. It is important to not that the aforementioned integration did not happen so seamlessly. Private schools were created by white parents who refused to send their children to school with black children. Furthermore, white supremacist groups relentlessly fought integration and it led to mob violence that further pinned whites and blacks against each other. By 1877, the Union troops left Louisiana and the school system regressed and became resegregated. From then until 1910, the population in white schools significantly increased while the population in black schools flatlined. Moreover, black students were not permitted to move onto high school, therefore their education ended much earlier. By 1940, however, black enrollment nearly quadrupled due to the opening of McDonogh #35 in 1917, the first black high school in New Orleans.
 

Fast forwarding to a post Brown v. Board of Education era, the New Orleans public school system experienced white flight to private schools. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, even upper class black families left the New Orleans public school system because school conditions gradually worsened due to financial mismanagement and lack of upkeep. Fewer schools were built after 1950 than before, test scores were the second lowest in the state, and more families kept leaving the school system. By 2004, the public school population was 94% black. After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, 65,000 students and 7,500 school employees were displaced because only 16 of 128 school buildings were left intact. Currently, the New Orleans public school system is still struggling to receive sufficient funding, leadership, and general support.
 

Since Jazz was born in the city of New Orleans, the history of the New Orleans Public school system has inspired us to see if/how Jazz Education has affected social inequalities throughout all education systems across America. For more in-depth information regarding the history of public schools in New Orleans, visit http://www.coweninstitute.com/our-work/applied-research/education-archive/new-orleans-public-school-history/.