Natural disasters are complicated phenomena that are, in fact, not simply "natural" but rather often also social in their origins and consequences. Their effects, in this regard, reflect economic and social histories that have left behind social inequities and planetary change. In my high school social studies classes, as one illustration, we take the case of hurricanes and examine the multitude of scientific and social sources that underline their destructive power. We then employ Hurricane Katrina as a vehicle for concretely exploring some of these processes, including race and inequality, and the short- and long-term effects of hurricanes on human-built landscapes.
This is part two of this series and is focused on understanding background information about Hurricane Katrina, examining the physical and social vulnerabilities of New Orleans, and interrogating the impact of the storm.
Students engage with recent data on housing restoration, flooding, population change, and migration to understand how the hurricane had different impacts on different parts of the New Orleans population based on race and class. Students further examine the lived experience of survivors of the storm. Through this exploration, students are challenged to link different pieces of evidence and data to draw broader conclusions about the hurricane and its impact.
Part one enabled students to master some of the background information on hurricanes and how they matter. Part three further explores the unequal recovery that ensued after Hurricane Katrina with an emphasis on racism, discrimination, and gentrification.
Prior Homework Assignment
Before class, students complete a homework reading that provides background information on the historical development of New Orleans and how this history shaped Hurricane Katrina's impact, including its disproportionate effects on Black residents.
The text is titled The Geography of Social Vulnerability: Race, Class, and Catastrophe and is authored by Susan Cutter as part of the Understanding Katrina series of articles.
Students must respond to the prompt:
How did the historical development of New Orleans create both physical and social vulnerabilities?
Students will return to the reading in class.
Introduction to Hurricane Katrina - 15 minutes
Students share any prior knowledge that they have about the hurricane. We then watch this day by day video of the events around Hurricane Katrina from National Geographic. Students may examine the impact of the storm visually through these photographs from Huffington Post.
Hurricane Katrina and Physical Vulnerability - 20 minutes
Students share insights on the physical vulnerability of New Orleans from their homework text. They then expand on this knowledge through two videos from National Geographic and PBS that explore how nature once protected the city and how that protective barrier diminished over time and how the city has sought to prevent another Katrina. A worksheet has been prepared with questions that accompany the videos.
Impact of Hurricane Katrina - 20 minutes
Students collect information on the impact of the hurricane through examining ESRI story-maps on the Smithsonian website created on the tenth anniversary of the storm. This worksheet has been created for students to take notes on various issues (e.g. migration patterns, flooding/damage extent, population change, home restoration) raised by the story maps.
Students are encouraged to hypothesize about some of the topics and connect it with information from the homework text on the social vulnerability of New Orleans. Why are the migration patterns to other states the way they are? Why have homes been restored at different rates in different districts of New Orleans? Why were some districts more impacted than others and why were African Americans displaced at greater rates than whites?
Students should be encouraged to compare/contrast the impact of New Orleans with other phenomena that they're aware of and explain similarities and differences.
Lived Experiences of Hurricane Katrina - 20 minutes
Students examine the story of poet Shelton Alexander who survived Hurricane Katrina at the Superdome and documented his experience at the evacuation center.
Homework
For homework before the next lesson, students are assigned two readings that explore the notion of the hurricane being an income and race-blind phenomenon. This is done through a look at the Black resident experience after Katrina and the use of the disaster to end public housing in the city. Students should complete this accompanying worksheet.
The two articles are found in the New York Times and The Nation: Why New Orleans’s Black Residents Are Still Underwater After Katrina and Who Killed Public Housing in New Orleans?