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What was Louis Armstrong’s childhood like?

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Born in 1901, jazz legend Louis Armstrong grew up in dire poverty in New Orleans. As a child, he worked odd jobs and sang in a boys’ quartet. In 1913 he was sent to the Colored Waif’s Home for Boys as a juvenile delinquent after being arrested for shooting a gun (containing blanks) while celebrating New Year’s Eve. There he learned to play the cornet in a band, and music quickly became his passion.