Voices Rising: Stories from the Katrina Narrative Project

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast and nearly toppled the historic city of New Orleans. As the storm cleared, residents watched water and chaos overtake their city, while political and legal systems proved unprepared and insufficient. The University of New Orleans served as a base for rescue and sustained tremendous damage to its Lakefront campus, but, in October 2005, the university reopened online and asked students to submit interviews and accounts of citizens' experiences during Hurricane Katrina. Hundreds of manuscripts, interviews, and transcripts were collected from students and other residents who were willing to share their personal stories of the disaster. UNO compiled all of the submissions and created The Katrina Narrative Project, which is currently housed at the University of New Orleans Library. Voices Rising is a sampling of this greater collection. Transcending the images and headlines portrayed in the media, these are the true accounts of trauma and survival told by the people who endured them.