Louisiana

Med Students Send Message With Plantation Photo: We Are Our Ancestors' Wildest Dreams

More than a dozen medical students from Tulane University posed at the former slave quarters in the hopes of inspiring others

Students from Tulane University's medical school stand in front of former slave quarters at the Whitney Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana, Dec. 14, 2019.
Courtesy Doyin Johnson

Russell Ledet and more than a dozen of his black medical school classmates from Tulane University took a trip to the Whitney Plantation in Edgard, Louisiana, on Saturday with the hope that others would be inspired by photos they took during their visit.

“Just thinking about being a black doctor in America. I think more people should see this,” Ledet, 33, told NBC News.

Ledet's classmate, 24-year-old Sydney Labat, shared a photo of the 15 students in their white coats outside the slave quarters on Twitter. The post has since gone viral, garnering more than 17,000 retweets and more than 74,000 likes.

“Seeing that many black students in training in one photo was striking. In a place that was dedicated to our ancestors and their struggles,” Labat said. “We knew this photo was going to make people stop ... and really think. I can say for myself, I definitely got emotional throughout this experience.”

Read the full story on NBCNews.com

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