Louis Armstrong was born in the slums of New Orleans in 1901. He would quickly grow up to be considered the most preeminent musical genius, not only in his lifetime but long after. Armstrong had a remarkable influence on the music world of his time; the new style that he introduced, and the genius there within, transformed the musical world. Armstrong stunned the world by coming out of an unlikely background, and single handedly changed the world of music.

On August 4, 1901, Willie and Mary Ann Armstrong (or "Mayann" as everyone called her) bore a child in a terrible place to have a child. The neighborhood in which young Louis was born was a run down New Orleans slum. The shacks and dingy apartments that lined the dirty streets were all that community had to live in. The houses were often call "shotgun" houses, derived from the idea that you...