Latest News USA Today: Black Medical Students In White Coats Pose In Front Of Louisiana Slave House To Honor Their Ancestors
A group of black medical students have remembered their ancestors and honored them by posing in front of slave quarters at a Louisiana plantation on Saturday.
Sydney Labat and Russell Joseph Ledet alongside thirteen other Tulane University medical students, got a lit of love on Twitter after they shared a photo showing them standing in front of a house on the Whitney Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana.
Labat told Good Morning America that they wore shorter jackets in the picture to signify they were students. She also added that they would get longer white coats when they graduated.
Standing in front of the slave quarters of our ancestors, at The Whitney Plantation, with my medical school classmates. We are truly our ancestors’ wildest dreams ✨✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/d8E1g2Ojbm
— Syd✨ (@_botttt) December 14, 2019
We are our ancestors’ wildest dreams.✨
In the background, an original slave quarter.
In the foreground, original descendants of slaves and medical students. #whatatimetobealive #yeahwecandoboth pic.twitter.com/INOUMmc1cx
— Russell Joseph Ledet, Ph.D. (@theguywithyes) December 14, 2019
According to the 24-year-old, part of what is helping her get through medical school is her “ancestors’ resilience.”
“I think I speak for myself and my classmates that it was an extremely humbling experience, to say the least. We would not be here without the strength and determination of those enslaved and their strength to live and to press on. It was incredibly unifying.”
“We all have our own stories, but we can all relate and feel the power in this space. Hopefully, that resonated when other people saw it,” she added.
Second-year student at Tulane, Ledet, said they wanted to illustrate the history behind their presence as medical students at the university.
In a follow-up interview with CNN, Ledet explained that he was inspired to take the photo because of a previous trip to the same plantation with his 8-year-old daughter who was horrified by the history.
“Her insight [to the visit] was, ‘This is not fair. This is not supposed to happen.’ So I had this idea that we need to get the Black medical students at Tulane and we need to come here. We need to do this for ourselves,” Ledet said.
Another student told ABC that they felt “empowered to be with my classmates in the photo.”
Meanwhile, in an Instagram post, Labat stated that standing on the steps of the slave quarters was a moving experience for her peers. She then explained that all of the students hoped the picture gained popularity because of how inspiring it was for future generations. Labat told CNN:
“We hope that we will make a lifelong impact…and let [students] know: Yes, you can be smart. Yes, you can be successful … and you can also do that while being unapologetically black and proud of where you come from and proud of where you are going.”
“You just get a feeling, and you think this is going to be impactful and this is going to mean something. It’s not about going viral or the attention… it’s about being inspirational.”
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