Nowhere does the power of New Orleans culture resound more eloquently than at the corner of Rampart and St. Ann streets.

There you’ll find the entrance to both Louis Armstrong Park and Congo Square—the modern human, embodiment of the Crescent City’s contribution to world music and culture, side by side with the ancient, terrestrial one. With his trumpet playing, singing, and acting Armstrong became one of the most recognizable artists of the 20th century. Congo Square, where Africans played African music, danced African dances, and cooked African food throughout much of the American slavery period, was the incubator for African-American music and Afro-Creole cuisine. In retrospect, it seems only natural that this piece of land be chosen as the place where New Orleans would remember its most important son. But the journey from Congo Square to Armstrong Park encompasses many twists of fate, name changes, and heartbreaks. And it is a story that is still unfolding.