An Oral History of the New Orleans Ninth Ward by Caroline Gerdes (review)

An Oral History of the New Orleans Ninth Ward is an ethnographic study of a neighborhood as seen through the eyes of some of its oldest residents. As a native of New Orleans, the city that care forgot, I found the stories absolutely fascinating. Although the book covers African American life before and after Hurricane Katrina, the narrators are primarily residents or former residents of the predominantly white Upper Ninth Ward. By the 1920s, the neighborhood's residents included immigrants of German, French, Sicilian, and Irish descent.

The interviews were originally conducted in connection with a grant that Caroline Gerdes received from the National Geographic Society to preserve the Ninth Ward's history. Facts revealed in the stories are bolstered by documentation from the noted ethnographer and geographer Richard Campanella as well as other academic sources.

The beauty of this book is in its capturing rich historical details from the personal lives of the storytellers. Direct quotations from more than fifty interviews are seamlessly woven into the chapters. Topics discussed include holidays, food, the Roman candy man, church life, hurricanes, and music. Accounts range from tales of the world wars and early Mardi Gras celebrations to family recipes brought from Europe. The photographs of each interviewee are remarkable and clear, and they lend a sense of intimacy to the material. In the words of the author, "My sources were a gumbo of people representing nearly every ethnic background found in the Ninth Ward" (p. 27). In the voices of these residents and former residents, values of self-sufficiency and resourcefulness shine through.

Of particular interest to this reviewer were comments about the interviewees' accents. Speaking in what New Orleanians call "the 'Yat' accent—drawn from the elision of the phrase 'Where are you at?'"—residents could be identified by speech patterns that are often associated with Brooklyn, New York (p. 33). The author, whose German American grandmother grew up in this neighborhood, notes that residents sometimes experienced discrimination due to the way they spoke.

Chapter 9 provides a unique history of race relations and includes a moving interview with Leona Tate, who in 1960 was among the first children to integrate New Orleans public schools. Her narrative also puts a haunting scene from my childhood into context. Our family happened to drive through a neighborhood, and we passed a horrific scene—a mob of angry white women yelling outside a school: "Two, four, six, eight; we don't want to integrate!" Until I read this book, I assumed the women were local residents. Gerdes reveals that this may not have been the case.

This oral history provides important documentation of daily life in an often-overlooked section of New Orleans. The stories go beyond the immediate time and place to offer insights into the experiences of first- and second-generation immigrants as they struggle to overcome hardships and lay down roots.