in thinking about moving on the the rebuilding, it is important to get to the roots of the social stratification that resulted in an entire black population "left behind." After hearing endless referencesto the 9th ward and various neighborhoods, I found this site which gives a history of the city and its various neighborhoods. Here’s a bit about the 7th ward, the home of the free black, and then prosperous Creole population, and how it was destroyed by the building of I-10.
Seventh Ward Neighborhood Snapshot: "In the late 1960s, the 7th Ward�s prosperous business district along Claiborne Avenue was deemed dispensable by the city, so it was destroyed to make way for the new I-10 interstate loop. The rows of quadruple live oak trees were cleared from the neutral ground and the interstate cut the neighborhood in half. This, of course, severely diminished the desirability of the properties on either side of the interstate.
Suddenly an area that had been prosperous became quite undesirable. Homeowners moved, and finding their homes neither saleable nor rentable, eventually abandoned them. The irony of destroying this thriving business district in order to facilitate access to the suburbs is not lost on residents."


The Lower Ninth
“The Lower Ninth Ward consists of two distinct neighborhoods, Holy Cross and this neighborhood, the Lower Ninth Ward, called by some, The Lower 9. The neighborhood is rich with small businesses, barber and beauty shops, corner stores, eateries, day care centers, as well as public schools and some say, far too many churches. It has a resilient history of survival and activism.”

Originally a cypress swamp, the area was the lower portion of plantations that stretched from the river to the lake. Poor African Americans and immigrant laborers from Ireland, Germany and Italy desperate for homes but unable to afford housing in other areas of the city risked flooding and disease to move here. In the 1870s, several African American benevolent associations and mutual-aid societies organized to assist scores of struggling freedmen (formerly-enslaved Africans) in the area.

Although legislation was passed in 1899 for drainage and pumping systems, it was not until between 1910 and 1920 that the city installed adequate drainage systems, including the Jourdan, Tupelo and Florida Avenue Canals, in preparation for construction of the Industrial Canal. The Industrial Canal, built to connect the Mississippi River to Lake Ponchartrain, was completed in 1923, and further isolated the neighborhood from the city proper.

The lack of sewerage, continual drainage and water distribution problems did not deter desperate immigrant and African American workers from moving to the Lower Ninth Ward in search of a place to live and employment in nearby industries. The area continued to maintain a rural feel and the Lower Ninth Ward's reputation for neighborliness actually attracted some New Orleanians from other crowded city neighborhoods