New Orleans: Modern New Orleans

Modern New Orleans

The first attempts to integrate New Orleans public schools aroused controversy in 1960. Since then blacks have come to comprise the large majority of students and teachers in the school system, as many whites have moved to the suburbs. In 1969 Hurricane Camille swept through the region, resulting in many deaths and much property damage. Since the 1960s the population of the metropolitan area has risen at a rate slightly higher than that at which the population of the city has declined, reflecting the trend toward suburbanization that has left the inner city troubled by poverty.

Attempts have been made at urban revitalization; in the 1970s many new buildings were erected as the city benefited from high oil prices. In the 1980s, however, the economy suffered as oil prices fell and the state's energy industry floundered. In 1983 New Orleans hosted a world's fair, but the attention it attracted and its economic contribution fell far below expectations. Gambling was legalized in 1992, but the introduction of riverboat and casino gambling proved unsuccessful and failed to provide the anticipated impetus to the city's economy.

On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina brought extensive flooding to the city when several levees failed. Much of the city was evacuated before the storm but thousands remained, many of whom were stranded by the water for days; hundreds died. In the aftermath, many residents could not return because their homes had been destroyed and established new lives elsewhere, greatly reducing the city's population. A 2006 survey showed that the population was approximately 40% of what it was estimated to have been before the storm. In the aftermath of the flooding, an improved system of levees and flood walls, flood gates, and pumps was constructed at a cost of $14.5 billion.

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