NEW ORLEANS–A group of Black student doctor at New Orleans Tulane University medical school posed at the Whitney Plantation slavery museum inspired by their ancestors.
A picture is worth a thousand words and a group of black medical students at Tulane University are hoping their pictures speak volumes about how far they’ve come.
Russell Ledet, a medical student at Tulane University, tells CNN he got the idea after a conversation with his eight-year-old daughter about a trip they took to Whitney Plantation in Edgard, Louisiana. The Whitney Plantation slavery museum is the first African-American museum in the world dedicated to American slavery and Chattel slaves.
“Her insight [to the visit] was, “This is not fair. This is not supposed to happen,”‘ Ledet said. “So I had this idea that we need to get the black medical students at Tulane and we need come here. We need to do this for ourselves.”
He decided to pitch the idea of taking a group tour of the plantation to his classmates, along with taking pictures in their white coats, and it turned out better than imagined. Ledet said his peers had “no hesitation,” and they knew it could have an impact. Fifteen of the 65 black medical school students showed up, and he said the most amazing thing was that all of them had a different takeaway.
Ledet’s classmate Sydney Labat shared the photos on Instagram with the caption:
“As physicians in training, we stood on the steps of what was once slave quarters for our ancestors. This was such a powerful experience, and it honestly brought me to tears.
For black people pursing a career in medicine, keep going. For our entire community, keep striving. Resilience is in our DNA.” https://youtu.be/tcUgM-NLuHo
