Photo Essay: "Welcome to New Orleans"

The Flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

Photographs by Nikki Bannister, Special to Black College Wire and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine

Posted October 10, 2005

Nikki Bannister, 31, calls herself a "non-traditional student" because she enrolled at Southern University after a tour of duty in the military. She served in the Navy for six and a half years.

Now a college senior, and editor of The Southern Digest, she drove to New Orleans about a week after the floods following Hurricane Katrina.

Her goal: To reach the arena, because of its importance to the annual Bayou Classic competition between Grambling and Southern.

Nikki's travel companion and driver during her foray into New Orleans was Kenya Rounds.  He's also 31 -- an attorney and Southern University alumni whose office is on Canal Street, and his intent was to get to his office to retrieve case files.  Together, with her media badge, and his status as an attorney, they made it into the city through the police checkpoint at the foot of the Greater New Orleans Bridge.

They began picking their way through the city toward the arena, and then, toward his office.  The scenes of ruin and the eerie quiet of the deserted streets left them feeling somber.

Although Nikki considers herself a writer and editor, not a photographer, she knew that she needed to record what she would see in New Orleans and brought a camera. 

In addition to interviewing and aiding many displaced people she encountered, she was able to document her tour in over 100 extraordinary photos.  Details are displayed here; clicking them will open larger, uncropped high-resolution images in a new window.

On the way in, Nikki recalls, she and Kenya had talked about how quickly they hoped the city would recover.  By the time they left, she says, "We knew that it would be years."

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