Eleven UW-Platteville students visited New Orleans during Spring Break (March 14-18) as part of a one-credit Political Science field trip course focusing on the central theme of Jazz & Politics: Exploring NOLA through Music. The students visited historic sites such as New Orleans’ famous Jazz Museum, the French Quarter, Treme, and Frenchman Street. They participated in an interactive jam session at the Treme Petit Jazz Museum & the Historic Treme Collection hosted by historian and museum curator, Al Jackson. The session explored the origins of jazz to a significant confluence of world events, including the transatlantic slave trade and the rise of Congo Square.
The field trip also featured a live jazz cruise on the Mississippi, which highlighted key New Orleans landmarks and the history of the region’s industrial development over time. Lastly, the New Orleans mayor’s office hosted an informational session focused on the significance of jazz preservation to New Orleans’ culture and economy. Much like jazz, the speakers employed a more improvisational approach to the presentation, with key speakers addressing various points about the crucial preservation of NOLA culture, specifically jazz, for the city and for New Orleanians. The speakers included the director of research and the deputy director of cultural exchanges from the mayor’s office. The renowned New Orleans drummer Joe Lastie and music producer Damon Batiste also participated on the panel.
Overall, students found the trip meaningful and were excited to visit the birthplace of jazz, the Congo Square, in the Louis Armstrong Park. The field trip was co-led by Drs. Frank King (Ethnic Studies) and Shan J. Sappleton (Political Science). Each year, the Political Science program offers students a study-away trip to a major American city. The course allows students to expand their learning beyond the traditional classroom and provides opportunities to apply course material to real-world experiences.