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[David Morris]

>From: Doug Millison
>
>FrodeauxB at aol.com wrote:
> >Sorry this is late, but according to the AP, on 18 Oct 1767 the 
>Mason-Dixon
> >Line was accepted as the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania. 
>Today in
> >1803 the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase. Best deal the U.S. 
>ever
> >made.
>
>Best for which people might be the Pynchonian question. We see in M&D that
>moving west and claiming more land doesn't seem to do much good for the
>native Americans, nor does this empire building do much for the black
>slaves.
>
Very good question.  Blacks were much better off in Louisiana before US 
rule.  Under French rule black slaves could much more easily earn their 
freedom.  "Creole" culture has long roots here, where free men of color, 
though not "equal," gained a high degree of respectability, and whose wealth 
often expanded throgh generations.  "Creole" here is a very slippery term, 
where racial (and other ethnicity: Italian, Spanish, French) mixing was not 
uncommon.  Even those not freed in New Orleans were allowed to continue 
their own forms of worship in Congo Square, on the outskirts of the French 
Quarter, which accounts for the strong musical tradition here (birthplace of 
Jazz), as well as the continued presence of "VooDoo."

There is also a large population here of back/native american mix here.  One 
notable dynasty of such a mix is that of the Neville Brothers clan.

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