Ida Belle Joshua
Hurricane Betsy Survivors Oral History Project
Nilima Mwendo conducted these interviews in 2003 with residents of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward who survived Hurricane Betsy when it made landfall on September 9, 1965. Interviews focus on the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood from the 1930s and 40s, when the area was only partially developed and rural, to the early 2000s. Interviewees discuss their experiences during the hurricane, the evacuation of the neighborhood, disaster relief from the state and federal government and Red Cross, and the hardships they and other residents encountered in the months and years they spent rebuilding their homes and lives after they returned to the neighborhood. Interviewees describe the neighborhood before Betsy and discuss changes in the community after the storm. Several interviewees also discuss social activism and advocacy for the neighborhood in the 1960s and 70s.
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Transcriber: Heather Sellers
Auditor: Osahon Abbe
Editor: Erin Hess
Ida Belle Joshua is a native of New Orleans, La., and survivor of Hurricane Betsy. She moved to the Ninth Ward in 1949 with her husband, Isaac Joshua Sr. They have three children. Before Hurricane Betsy, she worked as a hair dresser. After the storm, she attended the University of New Orleans, Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University), and Tulane University and worked as a teacher's aide, social worker, and adjunct professor at Xavier University. She is a former president of the Lower Ninth Ward Neighborhood Council and Area Beautification Committee and has been an advocate for improvement of the Ninth Ward community. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, she temporarily relocated to Lafayette, La. She intended to return to her home and had begun having it repaired before it was demolished. She and several other residents sued the city of New Orleans and achieved their goal of preventing the city from demolishing homes without proper notification and hearings for homeowners.
Scope and Content Note
Ida Belle Joshua tells of arriving in the Ninth Ward neighborhood in 1949 and watching it develop as a community. She described the community as African Americans working in civil service positions with dreams and hopes for the future. Joshua provides details of Hurricane Betsy's devastation, rescue efforts, federal assistance, and community activism. She gives her opinion on what should have been done differently following Hurricane Betsy and discusses the recent deterioration of the community because of the lack of activism and community effort.
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