How did jazz develope in the south?

During the slave years, New Orleans was unique in that Africans were allowed to perform music in public. This was done on Sundays in a place called Congo Square and dated back to French rule. As a result, New Orleans very early became a mecca for African-American musicians and their fans. Jazz evolved out of earlier forms of African-American music, especially blues and ragtime, and quickly spread north to Kansas City, St. Louis, and Chicago.

Here are a few websites for you:

http://www.jazzistry.org/timeline.html
http://www.apassion4jazz.net/timeline.ht...
http://www.centralhome.com/ballroomcount...
http://atj.8k.com/atjh1.html
http://www.articlesofnote.com/Article/Ja...
http://www.scaruffi.com/history/jazz.htm...
http://www.marcsiegelmusic.com/id78.htm
http://www.cscc.edu/jazz/history.htm