Is History significant to place? Then why do we transform place?

We have all heard about New Orleans as a place of Mardi Gras festivities, music culture and soul. There is an association of the place we know through the representation of is many cultural influences. But as we take a closer look, interesting enough we see the historical creation of place through its roots in slavery. Did you know that the “Big Easy,” was known as a place where a slave could be bought and sold? I wasn’t aware of this myself, we know about New Orleans through the social constructions of the more recent times, and a place of culture, food, and entertaining people, but not this historical roots. I find it interesting that the perception of a place can be change, on what we want to make of it. We forget about the suffering of people, the struggle to be free, and the colonization of the French. Why is it that we disassociate past from the present? The history of place plays a significant part in what place becomes today.
As the hub of the slavery trade, once slaves were freed, New Orleans became their home. This accounts for the high population of black Americans in the Southern Gulf Coast. And as easily as we forget the past, a place that we have socially constructed a new identity for benefits of tourism and growth has its symbolism, yet again taken away, this time by Mother Nature.
I think that it’s a little ironic that a place so desperately trying to move away from the portrayal of its historical background is stripped of its festival and tourist image, and reduced to a place of poverty and destruction. We try so hard to socially mold our utopia type places that carry uniqueness and character, yet forget the importance of place with historical significance. I do not condone all the suffering and poverty that was covered by the idea of promoting economic growth through touristy profitable development.
My question to you is; do we forget our histories in the process of socially constructed places that will generate economic success?

Reya