When Gwen Smith’s co-worker didn’t arrive for work before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005, Smith was forced to stay on the clock. By the time she left, it was too late to leave town and she was forced to ride out the storm with her sister, Crystal. The two women were in town for nearly a week and remember those days vividly.
Gwen Smith was the youngest African-American on the board of the Alliance for Good Government and Crystal was Vice President of Civic Affairs for the same organization. They call Central City home. This interview was recorded at StoryCorps’ mobile studio in New Orleans.
