Summary: Movement IV [Chapter I: Sojourner – Chapter V: Photo Op]

Six years after the hurricane, in 2011, Sarah Broom lost a serious relationship just a quickly as she had lost her father and her home. She made the decision to return to New Orleans to research her family history and the events in this memoir.

Ivory Mae lived with her sister in Lolo’s old house. She kept some items rescued from the Yellow House, including family records. She and Sarah reminisced.

With plans to stay in New Orleans for a year, Sarah rented an apartment in the busiest section of the French Quarter. She could observe everything from her balcony. Her apartment included a separate room that was once slave quarters. Her mom and brothers helped her move in. She felt a connection to the city but recognized its pleasures were built at “the expense of its native black people.” Crime had spread even here. Sarah wanted to research the city to really see it.

Carl still lived in New Orleans East in little more than a shack. Crime was high, and electric lighting was so poor that wildlife populated the area. When Sarah stopped at the cemetery, she could not find Alvin’s grave. The cemetery had no groundskeeper after Katrina, and no one answered the phone line when she called.

Ivory Mae visited Sarah’s apartment frequently, and the two enjoyed exploring the city. Ivory Mae was struck by the clean streets and what she describes as “a whole different set of rules” than their part of town, where “they don’t give a damn about the streets.” Her application for compensation for the house was mired in lost paperwork. Some people received a paltry sum far short of what it would cost to rebuild, and others were swindled by dishonest contractors. Sarah laments “the historical past” and “the mythology of New Orleans,” both of which belied the city’s dysfunction and the cost its residents paid for it. She felt pressure not to “tell on” her city and considered who was allowed to tell this story.

Analysis: Movement IV [Chapter I: Sojourner – Chapter V: Photo Op]

Sarah’s time in the French Quarter serves to highlight the contrast between New Orleans East and the downtown. Built on high ground by the original settlers, the French Quarter was not flooded. While people have fled New Orleans East and those who remain struggle in the ruins of their neighborhoods, tourists continue to flock to the French Quarter with its clean streets, nice hotels, and fancy apartments like Broom’s. It is a different world than New Orleans East. Ivory Mae’s observation that the world of the French Quarter operated by “a whole different set of rules” is insightful. The French Quarter embodies the mythology of New Orleans and celebrates its history. As readers will learn in later chapters, no written history of New Orleans East exists, and what Broom reveals of it is “a powerful indictment of societal indifference,” according to Lesley Williams of Booklist.