Black med students hope slave plantation photo inspires kids

Posted: Dec 21, 2019 / 10:39 AM CST / Updated: Dec 21, 2019 / 10:41 AM CST

This photo provided by Brian Washington shows 15 African-American medical students from Tulane University in New Orleans standing in front of a former slave plantation in Louisiana called the Whitney Plantation. “We are our ancestors’ wildest dreams,” student Russell Ledet wrote in a tweet sharing a photograph of the moment. “In the background, an original slave quarter. In the foreground, original descendants of slaves and medical students.” The post and others featuring the photo spread quickly on social media this week, grabbing headlines in news outlets across the country and drawing thousands of messages of support. (Brian Washington via AP)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Medical students in a powerful photo taken in front of a slave cabin on a plantation in southern Louisiana, say they hope the photo of the 15 African American students in white lab coats will inspire minority children to become doctors as well.

Russell Joseph Ledet had the idea to take the photo after visiting the Whitney Plantation over the summer with his daughter.

Another student in the photo, Sydney Labat, said it made her both grateful and sad, thinking about “the conditions that my ancestors lived and worked in.”

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