Michael "Hollywood" Broadway is a seasoned oyster shucker from New Orleans, Louisiana. He began his career by teaching himself how to shuck oysters while working as a busboy at an oyster bar. Over the years, he honed his skills and became a senior master shucker at Acme Oyster House, where he has served for over thirty-three years. Broadway is passionate about passing on his knowledge and expertise in oyster shucking, emphasizing the importance of safety, presentation, and professionalism.

Mrs. Green was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 18, 1935. Her grandfather, Jim Webb, managed her father-in-laws land for 50 years. After his passing, Mrs. Green along with her cousin, Skip Haller, took over the management of the land which spans seven parishes. Upon realizing the devastation facing the land, Mrs. Green began working with CWPPRA to restore the land. She has been a wetlands and coastal restoration advocate since then.

Scope and Content Note: 

Mrs. Lauderman was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 14, 1937. She grew up in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. She attended St. Martin’s Episcopal School in Metarie, Louisiana. She worked as a social worker. She currently encourages students to get more involved in wetlands preservation through the use of oral histories.

Charles Allen, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, has been a lifelong advocate for coastal restoration and protection. Born on July 21, 1973, Allen spent his early years in the Gentilly neighborhood known as Voscoville, behind Dillard University. He later lived in New Orleans East before his father moved the family to the Lower Ninth Ward in 1980, where his father still resides. Allen's advocacy work began in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when he joined the groundswell of voices calling for the closure of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO).

Dolores D. Parker was born in Bayou Goula, La. The daughter of a minister, she grew up moving around the state. She graduated from Clark High School in New Orleans then earned a B.A. degree in elementary education from Dillard. She taught in New Orleans public schools for 32 years and taught reading in an adult education program. She is the mother of four children: Raymond, Raynelle, Raynette, and Raynard. Raymond, who also contributes to this interview, is her oldest child.

Dorothy Mackey Prevost is a New Orleans native and survivor of Hurricane Betsy. She lived in the Lower Ninth Ward her entire life, attended McCarty Elementary School and Booker T. Washington High School, and worked as a seamstress. She married Charles Prevost in 1953 and had two daughters, Tessie and Tory. Tessie was one of the first African-American students to integrate McDonogh 19 School in the 1960s.

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.

Lucille D. Duminy moved into New Orleans' Ninth Ward around 1949. She survived Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and rebuilt her house and life there.

Scope and Content Note
Duminy discusses her childhood, living in the Ninth Ward in the 1950s and 1960s, her ordeal in surviving Hurricane Betsy, her encounters with relief agencies afterward, Hurricane Camille in 1969, and other hurricanes.

Lucy Boyer Thomas was born in 1923, grew up in the Fazendeville village near Chalmette, and attended school in New Orleans through the eleventh grade. She studied nursing at UCLA and worked as a nurse in California and Louisiana. She married Francis Thomas and they had five children. She lived in the Ninth Ward for more than fifty years, surviving Hurricane Betsy. She died in 2004 at age eighty-one.