I.

Louisville Flood
i. Who/what/when/where/why
i. Displaced Louisville locals
ii. Lining up for food and medicine
iii. Louisville Kentucky, 1937
iv. 1937 flood worst in history in that area, 70% of Louisville was submerged
and 175,000 were forced to flee. $3.3 billion in damage (adjusted for
inflation)
ii. Segregation/Irony
i. World’s highest standard of living was depicted from the perspective of
the average middle-class white family
ii. While the picture shows a happy white family being shown as the ideal,
all of the people in the line for aid are African American. Implying white
people were able to flee the area entirely or were given separate (and
likely better) aid
iii. Depression
i. Due to this occurring in the depression areas that were wiped out, such
as the two neighborhoods’ shipping port and the point were unlikely to be
rebuilt for some time. Reparations would take a long time. Because jobs
were hard to come by in the depression and white people were prioritized
for hiring the majority of African Americans didn’t have the resources to
leave their decimated town
iv. How does our current situation relate to the situation in the image
i. This image reminds me of the current state of government aid. Areas
needing help are only given aid during their media spotlight. For example,
Flint, Michigan still needs help. It’s been years and their water is still
unpotable.
v. Talking point
i. What do you first think of when you relate the image to current events?

https://www.weather.gov/lmk/flood_37

The Louisville Flood of '37 - LIFE