Little-known 1922 rule bans jazz in New Orleans schools
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The school board in the city where jazz took root is preparing to undo a little-known 1922 rule that bans jazz music and dancing in public schools.
Officials tell The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate that the policy has racist origins, as its creators sought at the time to distance New Orleans schoolchildren from the African Americans who created the genre. The rule has been ignored for decades. Jazz is taught in some schools and marching bands accompanied by dance teams are a fixture of Carnival season parades.
“In this instance and in this instance only we’re glad that the policy was ignored by our students, by our schools,” board member Katherine Baudouin said. “Our schools played a major role in the development of jazz.”
The board discussed the policy at a committee meeting Tuesday and planned to vote Thursday on reversing it.
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