Hurricane Betsy Survivors Oral History Project

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Nilima Mwendo conducted these interviews in 2003 with residents of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward who survived Hurricane Betsy when it made landfall on September 9, 1965. Interviews focus on the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood from the 1930s and 40s, when the area was only partially developed and rural, to the early 2000s. Interviewees discuss their experiences during the hurricane, the evacuation of the neighborhood, disaster relief from the state and federal government and Red Cross, and the hardships they and other residents encountered in the months and years they spent rebuilding their homes and lives after they returned to the neighborhood. Interviewees describe the neighborhood before Betsy and discuss changes in the community after the storm. Several interviewees also discuss social activism and advocacy for the neighborhood in the 1960s and 70s.
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Dolores D. Parker oral history interview
Dolores D. Parker oral history interview
African American neighborhoods--Louisiana--New Orleans
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African American teachers--Louisiana--New Orleans
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African Americans--Louisiana--New Orleans--Social life and customs
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Disaster relief--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Disaster victims--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Evacuation of civilians--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Hurricane Betsy, 1965
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Hurricanes--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Levees--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Public schools--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Parker describes her childhood in various cities in Louisiana, attending her segregated African-American high school in New Orleans in the 1950s, her positions at various schools in New Orleans in the 1960s through 1991, raising four children on her own after she divorced her husband, the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood before and after Hurricane Betsy, her family's experiences during the hurricane, and their rebuilding process.
Dorothy Mackey Prevost oral history interview
Dorothy Mackey Prevost oral history interview
African American neighborhoods--Louisiana--New Orleans
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African Americans--Louisiana--New Orleans--Social life and customs
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African Americans--Segregation--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Disaster relief--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Disaster victims--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Evacuation of civilians--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Hurricane Betsy, 1965
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Hurricanes--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Levees--Louisiana--New Orleans
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United States--Small Business Administration
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Prevost discusses her childhood in the Lower Ninth Ward where the neighbors grew and exchanged food with each other. She talks about the schools she attended and segregated schooling and activities in New Orleans in the 1930s and 1940s. She primarily discusses her experience during Hurricane Betsy and the refurbishing of her home after the storm. She talks about changes in the Ninth Ward after Hurricane Betsy and the decline of the neighborhood in recent years.
Ida Belle Joshua oral history interview
Ida Belle Joshua oral history interview
African American neighborhoods--Louisiana--New Orleans
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African Americans--Louisiana--New Orleans--Social conditions
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Community activists--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Disaster relief--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Disaster victims--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Grants-in-aid--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Hurricane Betsy, 1965
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Hurricanes--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Political participation--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Urban renewal--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Alfred Lawless Elementary School (New Orleans, La.)
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Ida Belle Joshua tells of arriving in the Ninth Ward neighborhood in 1949 and watching it develop as a community. She described the community as African Americans working in civil service positions with dreams and hopes for the future. Joshua provides details of Hurricane Betsy's devastation, rescue efforts, federal assistance, and community activism. She gives her opinion on what should have been done differently following Hurricane Betsy and discusses the recent deterioration of the community because of the lack of activism and community effort.
Lucille D. Duminy oral history interview
Lucille D. Duminy oral history interview
African American neighborhoods--Louisiana--New Orleans
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African Americans--Louisiana--New Orleans--Social life and customs
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Disaster relief--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Disaster victims--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Evacuation of civilians--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Hurricane Betsy, 1965
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Hurricane Camille, 1969
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Hurricanes--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Charity Hospital (New Orleans, La.)
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United States--Small Business Administration
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Duminy discusses her childhood, living in the Ninth Ward in the 1950s and 1960s, her ordeal in surviving Hurricane Betsy, her encounters with relief agencies afterward, Hurricane Camille in 1969, and other hurricanes.
Lucy Boyer Thomas oral history interview
Lucy Boyer Thomas oral history interview
African American neighborhoods--Louisiana--Saint Bernard Parish
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African American neighborhoods--Louisiana--New Orleans
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African Americans--Louisiana--Saint Bernard Parish--Social life and customs
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African Americans--Louisiana--New Orleans--Social life and customs
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Disaster relief--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Disaster victims--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Evacuation of civilians--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Farm life--Louisiana--Saint Bernard Parish
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Hurricane Betsy, 1965
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Hurricanes--Louisiana--New Orleans
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Levees--Louisiana--New Orleans
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University of California, Los Angeles--School of Nursing--Students
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Thomas describes country living as a child, growing up with farm animals, a father who treated with folk remedies, and the daily routines of farm life. She describes a year in Los Angeles studying nursing around 1943, life in the Ninth Ward before Hurricane Betsy, and her experiences during that hurricane. She also discusses the subsequent rebuilding of her house, changes in the Ninth Ward, and suspicions about the deliberate breaking of a levee to flood her neighborhood and save richer parts of the city.
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