A vital piece of Black music history set for rebirth in the South

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USA TODAY: A vital piece of Black music history set for rebirth in the South

Thursday, September 23

Curtis Doucette, Jr. looks up at part of the ceiling in the music room that had fallen in at the historic hotel and nightclub The Dew Drop Inn on LaSalle Street in Central City. Photographed on Friday, July 23, 2021 in New Orleans, LA.

A vital piece of Black music history set for rebirth in the South

Why venues matter, civil rights and hurricane recovery for schools

Welcome to The American South!

If you're new here, thank you for subscribing and becoming a part of our community where we focus on producing revelatory journalism about the South.

This week, we're taking a closer look at the impact of natural disasters on students and families in Louisiana, as schools face prolonged closures due to Hurricane Ida. One education expert said in the aftermath of disasters schools often play an important role in providing resources and a sense of stability in communities.

We also step back in time. In one story about museum curation, we discuss why it's important to see a remembrance of Black history. In another piece about music venues, we discuss why it's important to see a rebirth of Black history.

Also, are you ready for fall?! I'm enjoying the sudden breeze in the air and can't wait to see the leaves change to bright hues.

Thank you for reading. Take good care!

Ashley Hopkinson (Editor, The American South)

P.S. 10 best places to see fall colors!

What's the South talking about?

•	ALABAMA : UAB looks to improve rural health care with $5 million agreement
•	SOUTH CAROLINA : Courts will make it easier to remove Confederate monuments
•	TENNESSEE : Parents sue school district in state over mask mandate

Between Ida and COVID, Louisiana schools face challenging road to reopen

William and Earline Duplantis sit Wednesday amid the remnants of their home along Bayou Grand Caillou in Dulac, three days after Hurricane Ida decimated the area.

Kezia Setyawan/Houma Courier-Thibodaux Daily Comet

When Hurricane Ida hit a few weeks into the school year, it displaced about 300,000 students in Louisiana, according to state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley. While that figure has narrowed to about 105,000 after some power restoration, many students have still not been able to return to class.

Students in some of the most affected areas of southeast Louisiana may not be able to return to class until at least mid-October, according to school officials. These areas include parts of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes that remain without power. In the interim, families are facing the dual difficulty of rebuilding their communities while navigating school closures.

Read the full story here

Preserving Black history in New Orleans

Curtis Doucette, Jr. is bringing back to the life the historic hotel and nightclub the Dew Drop Inn on LaSalle Street in Central City. Photographed on Friday, July 23, 2021 in New Orleans, LA.

Michael DeMocker

Excerpt

Curtis Doucette Jr. unlocked the front door of a long-vacant building in New Orleans' Central City neighborhood. Covered in plywood and a crumbling brick veneer, it looked like so many other buildings in this area far from the French Quarter and the genteel mansions of St. Charles Avenue. Only a fading sign outside lets you know this was once the Dew Drop Inn.

Inside, Doucette walked past a reception desk and into hotel rooms that appeared not to have been touched since Hurricane Katrina filled them with three feet of water in 2005. The hotel was once listed in the Green Book, the guide for Black travelers in segregated America. Doucette plans to turn these rooms into a boutique hotel that will open in summer 2022.

"I've been doing real estate development for a long time," said Doucette, who built his career creating affordable housing around New Orleans. "And I'm steadily falling in love with this building in a way that I never have."

Read the full story here

'Un(re)solved' exhibit focuses on civil rights-era killings

Pamela D.C. Junior, director of the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson, searches for a specific cold case selection at the PBS Frontline's traveling augmented-reality exhibit, "Un(re)solved" in the museum's special exhibit room, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. The exhibit was opened on Saturday, Aug. 28, to align with the commemoration of the death of Emmett Till, a Chicago teenager who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955. The multi-media platform examines the federal government's efforts to investigate more than 150 civil rights era cold cases on the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.

Rogelio V. Solis, AP

An interactive exhibit in Mississippi prompts visitors to speak aloud the names of people who were killed in acts of racist violence in the United States during the civil rights era — incantations in a darkened room to honor some 150 men, women and children whose lives were cut short.

The names appear on lighted glass panels, backed by images of trees. Next to each name is a code that visitors can scan with their cellphones.

The traveling exhibit, "Un(re)solved," was created by @pbs Frontline with artist, filmmaker and technologist Tamara Shogaolu. It is on display until Oct. 24 at the Two Mississippi Museums in downtown Jackson.

Read the full story here

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