New Orleans’ Latin Flavor

Grammy-winning jazz group Los Hombres Calientes

New Orleans imported bananas from Central America to distribute across the US

Latino workers have flocked to the city seeking work in the post-Katrina rebuilding effort

Latin rhythms have always meshed effortlessly into New Orleans’ musical heritage, from the famous Carnival tune “Mardi Gras Mambo” to the present-day CDs of the Grammy-winning jazz group Los Hombres Calientes. Historically, Cuba and New Orleans were located on the same trade routes, and scholars have traced cultural exchanges and mutual musical influences dating back to the early 1800s. There were political ties as well, such as when a military effort to liberate Cuba from Spain was launched from New Orleans.

Although the Spanish once ruled colonial New Orleans, and in spite of the city sharing a body of water, geographical proximity, and a similar tropical spirit with much of Latin America, the Hispanic population of New Orleans didn’t become a significant presence until the mid 1900s. One twentieth century influx came from Cubans fleeing Castro’s ascent to power in 1959. However, the largest Latino population can trace its roots directly back to Honduras, giving New Orleans a larger Honduran population than most cities in that country.

As a port city, New Orleans imported bananas from Central America to distribute across the US, and two New Orleans firms in particular, the Standard Fruit Company and the United Fruit Company, developed close ties with Honduras, owning plantations there and influencing politics. Honduran immigrants began arriving in the Crescent City through these connections. Many worked as dockyard laborers, but upper-class Hondurans also sent their children to study at Catholic schools. No one neighborhood became known as Honduran, and this population, while retaining its identity and family ties, has assimilated well into the city.

Hurricane Katrina, however, is bound to have a lasting impact on the Hispanic character of New Orleans. Latino workers have flocked to the city from elsewhere in America seeking work in the rebuilding effort. The Latino population has surged, and while many workers are just in New Orleans temporarily, others are bound to settle for good. Some estimates say the ethnic group’s numbers will more than double in the next five to ten years. How this most recent wave of immigrants will influence the city’s culture remains to be seen. At least one new sight around town is the taco trucks that set up in parking lots all over the city to feed workers at lunch.

Even before Katrina, the city’s airwaves broadcast Spanish radio stations, and New Orleans boasts several Spanish-language publications. Tulane University has one of the country’s best-regarded Latin American Studies programs, first begun with a 1924 endowment of research materials by the Cuyamel Fruit Company.