Red Emma’s

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Central American and Mexican immigrants arrived in New Orleans to help clean up and rebuild. When federal relief services overlooked the needs of immigrant-led construction and cleanup crews as part of post-Katrina mass feeding strategies, street food stands and taco trucks stepped in to ensure food security for these workers. Many of these food vendors settled in the city over the next decade, opening restaurants and other businesses. Yet, in a city experiencing whitewashed redevelopment, new immigrants were frequently pitted against Black poor and working-class New Orleanians for access to housing and other resources.

During Fouts's five years as a volunteer with the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice, she came to know and interview the day laborers, food workers, culture producers, and community organizers whose stories shape this book. Her work reveals how, after the storm, immigrant communities have culturally and politically reshaped New Orleans and its suburbs. Fouts also highlights how immigrants forged multiracial solidarities to foster inclusive change at the local level.

Sarah Fouts is an assistant professor in the Department of American Studies and co-director of the Orser Center for Public Humanities at UMBC.

Anneke Dunbar-Gronke’s practice focuses on government and regulatory litigation matters. Prior to joining the firm, Mx. Dunbar-Gronke clerked for the Honorable Robert L. Wilkins of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the Honorable Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia. They were also a Skadden Fellow at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, where they litigated federal fair housing claims in Florida and Louisiana and led advocacy efforts to address housing insecurity and displacement in Baltimore, Maryland.