Willie Calhoun knows how to live with water. His home, cradled between the Mississippi River and a patchwork of canals, is split by the surging, ever-present current. But it wasn’t always that way in the Ninth Ward. Before the largest canal known as the Industrial Canal was built, the stretch of land between the river […]
Hurricane Katrina
As the nation marks the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Capital B has catalogued the enduring legacy and ongoing impact of the storm on Black communities across the Gulf Coast. Through in-depth reporting, essays, and powerful stories, we examined how the notions of resilience, recovery, and remembrance continue to shape lives twenty years after the disaster.
Posted inExtreme Weather, Partner Content, Uncategorized
What Was Lost: Neighborhood Sounds After Hurricane Katrina
As part of Capital B’s coverage of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina later this month, we’re proud to present “What Was Lost,” a series of reflections by Louisianans who survived the storm, produced by our collaborators at Verite News. When I snuck into New Orleans after Katrina, the city was absent of sound. Not […]
Posted inExtreme Weather, Partner Content
Her Mother Died Just Before Katrina. In the Storm’s Wake, Grief Had No Room.
As part of Capital B’s coverage of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina later this month, we’re proud to present “What Was Lost,” a series of reflections by Louisianans who survived the storm, produced by our collaborators at Verite News. The death of her mother — a heart attack, sudden — took Selarstean Mitchell by […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Mental Health, Partner Content
What Was Lost: Stories From Hurricane Katrina
As part of Capital B’s coverage of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina later this month, we’re proud to present “What Was Lost,” a series of reflections by Louisianans who survived the storm, produced by our collaborators at Verite News. NEW ORLEANS — Growing up, holidays were a lot of fun because we had really huge family […]
Posted inCulture, Environmental Justice
This Photographer Preserved Life in New Orleans Before Katrina — With a Polaroid Camera
This is the fifth story in our series chronicling the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. All photos by Polo Silk unless noted. NEW ORLEANS — There weren’t always a pair of security guards standing outside of Big Man’s Lounge in Uptown New Orleans. As a teenager in the early 1980s, Selwhyn Sthaddeus “Polo Silk” Terrell […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Mental Health, Partner Content
What Was Lost: Stories From Hurricane Katrina
As part of Capital B’s coverage of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina later this month, we’re proud to present “What Was Lost,” a series of reflections by Louisianans who survived the storm, produced by our collaborators at Verite News. New Orleans — Ten years before Katrina, my wife, Phyllis, and I were house shopping. […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Housing, Mental Health
20 Years After Katrina, Louisiana Residents Are Most Vulnerable to ‘Die of Despair’
This is the fourth story in our series chronicling the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Trigger warning: This article contains descriptions of suicide, gun violence, and child deaths that may be distressing to some readers. As the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approached in 2015, Michelle McCullum, a 25-year-old mother of two, drove her children, […]
Posted inBlack Migration, Culture, Extreme Weather, History
Hurricane Katrina Displaced a Generation — and Led to a Renaissance in Houston
HOUSTON — On a recent Sunday afternoon, tears welled in Sharon Becnel’s eyes as she heard her now 34-year-old daughter reminisce about the scrapbook she lost to Hurricane Katrina. Inside the pages were Ronisha Johnson’s childhood dreams of becoming an actress and winning a big case as a lawyer. She had only packed for a […]
Posted inBlack Businesses, Money
In New Orleans, Essence Fest Is a Celebration — but Not Always for Black Locals
This is the second story in our series chronicling the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. On the first night of Essence Fest, Paper Machine, an artist space in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, came alive with creativity and community. Inside a sunlit room, Lauryn Hinton gathered neighbors around long tables scattered with scissors, glossy magazines, […]
Posted inEducation, Environmental Justice, Extreme Weather
Natural Disasters Are Driving a School Crisis. Black Children Are Hit the Hardest
Adrinda Kelly watched from New York as Hurricane Katrina swallowed her hometown of New Orleans in 2005. Floodwaters rose, neighborhoods disappeared underwater, and she felt a familiar ache deepen. Her family was safe, but devastation quickly compounded a painful realization: Black children were portrayed as disposable, and New Orleans’ education system was almost completely privatized. […]