The American Dream Denied: The New Orleans Residents of Gordon Plaza Seek Relocation
“I’d like to see the day,” Councilman Victor Schiro said, looking over the rubbish, “when this is a beautiful subdivision.” – excerpted from “Councilmen, Gentilly Leaders Survey Dump,” Times-Picayune,1955.
Gordon Plaza is a housing development built in the late 1970s on top of the former Agriculture Street Landfill, which served the city of New Orleans for over forty years. The landfill, named “Dante’s Inferno” in the 1940s by the Desire neighborhood residents due to the numerous underground fires that burned for decades, was closed in 1958 by local politicians in response to complaints of fly and rodent infestations. Led by Councilman Victor Schiro, who would eventually become mayor, those same politicians envisioned turning the site into a “beautiful subdivision” to provide affordable housing to the city’s low-income residents. These efforts included new federal programs to help residents purchase their first homes. Over the next two decades, the plan was realized through a series of federally financed city programs and the Gordon Plaza residential development in the Upper Ninth Ward was built. However, within just a few short years of completion, residents began to experience clear signs of toxic exposure, including children attending the new Moton Elementary School.
This exhibition was organized by the Critical Visualization and Media Lab (CVML), led by Tulane sociology and environmental studies professor of practice Christopher Oliver, and in collaboration with New Orleans’ Residents of Gordon Plaza– Shannon Rainey, Lydwina Hurst, Jesse Perkins, Sam Egana, Marilyn Amar, Lionel Youngblood, Sheena Dedmond–as well as representatives from the New Orleans People’s Assembly. The show explores the lived experiences of local communities impacted by pollution, and its concomitant effects on health and environment. Equal parts art show, social history, and critical visualization project, The American Dream Denied presents, in a myriad of ways, a chronological and visually engaging look at the residents’ current argument for a fully funded relocation with an emphasis on the role of women in activism, the effect on day-to-day living, and the frustrations of the “promised” American Dream.
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Collaborators
Coordinator, Critical Visualization and Media Lab (CVML):
Christopher Oliver (Ph.D., Sociology, Michigan State University)
Professor of Practice, Department of Sociology and Environmental Studies Program
Jill H. and Avram A. Glazer Professor of Social Entrepreneurship and Carnegie Corporation of New York Professor of Social Entrepreneurship III, Phillis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking
Faculty Fellow, Mellon Graduate Program in Community Engaged Scholarship
Faculty, Urban Studies and City, Culture, and Community Program
William L. Duren ’26 Professor, 2018-2019
Team Members, Critical Visualization and Media Lab (CVML):
Natalie Blaustone-Dye (B.F.A., Art and Art History, Southern Oregon University). Doctoral candidate in Urban Studies, City, Culture, and Community Program, Tulane University.
Gabriella Burns (B.S.P.H, Public Health and B.A., Environmental Studies, Tulane University). CMVL contractor and Independent researcher.
Delaney Connor. Undergraduate major in Public Health and minoring in Sociology and Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, Tulane University.
Megan Faust (B.A., English and Psychology, University of Tennessee). Doctoral candidate in Urban Studies, City, Culture, and Community Program, Tulane University.
Katherine Herman. Undergraduate major in Environmental Studies, Tulane University.
Terry Hixson. (B.A., Environmental Studies, Tulane University). Independent researcher.
James Irwin. Undergraduate major in Environmental Studies, Tulane University.
Nathan Jessee (B.A., English and Philosophy, University of New Mexico | M.A., Urban Studies, University of New Orleans). Instructor, Environmental Studies Program, Tulane University and doctoral candidate, Department of Anthropology, Temple University
Zachary Kanzler. Undergraduate major in Environmental Studies and Communications, Tulane University
Emma Naomi Maxwell. Community Organizer. Undergraduate major in Environmental Biology and minoring in Japanese and Marine Biology, Tulane University
Sara Thiessen (B.A., Environmental Studies and Political Economy, Tulane University). Independent researcher.
Dustin Robertson (B.A., Spanish and French, Franklin College and M.P.H., Public Health, Aix-Marseille University). Doctoral candidate in Urban Studies, City, Culture, and Community Program, Tulane University
Emily Szklarski (B.S., Psychology, Loyola University New Orleans). MPH candidate, School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, Tulane University. Community Organizer, New Orleans Peoples Assembly,
Sarper Tutuncuoglu. Undergraduate major in Finance and Marketing and coordinate major in Computer Science, Tulane University.
Flora Whitehead. Undergraduate major in Environmental Studies, Tulane University.
Other Collaborators:
Brandon “Waffle” Bordelon. CVML contractor.
Jacob Borenstein (B.S. M.S. Neuroscience, Tulane University). Former graduate researcher and CVML support team.
Hannah Cohen (B.A., Anthropology and Environmental Studies, Tulane University).
Masters student, Anthropology, Tulane University. CVML contractor and independent researcher.
Justin Dye. Third Coast Studios.
Jenn Miller Scarnato (PhD candidate, City, Culture, and Community (Social Work) Graduate Program, Tulane University), Adjunct Professor, School of Social Work, Tulane University
Wilma Subra. Environmental scientist, President of Subra Company, and Technical Advisor to Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN).
Additional Partners:
New Orleans’ Residents of Gordon Plaza – Shannon Rainey, Lydwina Hurst, Jesse Perkins, Sam Egana, Marilyn Amar, Lionel Youngblood, Sheena Dedmond
New Orleans Peoples Assembly.
Featured Artists in the Exhibit:
Hannah Chalew, a New Orleans based artist who works across the disciplines of sculpture, drawing and social practice.
AnnieLaurie Erickson, a lens-based artist and photographer who has been based in New Orleans since 2012.
Kate Orff, founder and principal of SCAPE, a landscape architecture and urban design studio in New York and New Orleans, whose work focuses on retooling the practice of landscape architecture relative to the uncertainty of climate change.
Jonathan Traviesa, an artist and photographer based in New Orleans since 1997.
Tshombe Tshanti, an independent filmmaker and documentarian based in New Orleans.
LaVonna Varnado-Brown, a socially-engaged multidisciplinary artist, teacher and community organizer.