Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans laws that prevailed legally until 1954's Brown v. Board of Education decision. Through the 1950s and '60s, Tremé was the epicenter of civil rights struggles in New Orleans, but when many of its wealthier residents moved away, abandoning the neighborhood for the prestige of the French Quarter and other areas, inner city urban decay set in and Tremé faded into the background, referred to only as the Sixth Ward, stereotyped as just another arena of poverty, crime and drugs, with its rich history and contributions obscured. However, in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city of New Orleans, exposing racial
Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans area hospitals that were flooded or damaged. Reports from the Methodist Hospital indicated that people were dying of dehydration and exhaustion while the staff worked unendingly in horrendous conditions. The first floor of the hospital flooded and the dead were stacked in a second floor operating room. Patients requiring ventilators were kept alive with hand-powered resuscitation bags. Among the many hospitals shut down by damage related to the hurricane was the public hospital serving New Orleans, Charity Hospital, which was also the only trauma center serving that region. The destruction of the hospital's structure has forced the continued closure as