Wednesday, May 4th, 2022
On Wednesday morning we woke up and had breakfast and made some lunch at the University of Holy Cross. We then travelled to City Park where we ate beignets and explored the sculpture garden.
Our main stop of the day was Studio Be, which is an art gallery. Studio Be was established by Be Mike, a New Orleans artist, and focuses on the generation Black American activists who became known during Obama’s time in office, the resurgence of interest and activism related to law enforcement violence, and the emergence of the self-care movement. There were a variety of art mediums from sculptures to paintings to videos. One piece of art that stood out to me was a upside down police car on the bottom and on top were two living room chairs. According to the artist the art was created out of the question about what would society look like if we had more mental health and community resources.
For dinner we went to Wednesday at the Square and ate dinner, walked around, and listened to live music. It was a good way to start our time in New Orleans.
-Brooke Niemer
Thursday, May 5th, 2022
Today’s day was rather interesting. Our first task of the day was going through the French Quarter and studying the historical slave market through a self-led tour and visualizing the past presence of slave history. After that we had lunch at Congo Square, a celebratory ground where people who were enslaved used to meet and sing.
In the afternoon, we visited Leona Tate, an extremely inspiring woman that led us into a path that explained her journey of desegregation. Her organization is a rather inspiring reminder of the importance of respecting all people and communities.
-Prarthna Chona