Third People’s Planning Forum at VOTE

Enslaved people labored and resisted on at least 14 plantations on the land we know as City Park today. How should this fact shape the park of the future? 

On June 21, Grow Dat hosted our third People’s Planning Forum for City Park at VOTE. Before the event, participants were invited to learn more about the history of enslavement and resistance on City Park land. Check out the resource list if you’re interested

As guests arrived, they responded to the prompts What do you love about City park? What would you change? You can see their responses here. 

Grow Dat youth welcomed everyone and introduced our first speaker. Ronald Marshall of VOTE introduced us to VOTE’s work, grounding us in the relevance of the history of enslavement and resistance as we grapple with mass incarceration in the present.

Next, Rev. Kalie Ann Dutra, who’s master’s thesis in history at University of New Orleans focused specifically on the history of plantations and resistance in City Park, shared maps and historical documents. She concluded with the narrative of Kenel, an enslaved woman who escaped a plantation on the land we know as City Park, and navigated all the way to Mobile alone. 

Jonshell Johnson of Grow Dat concluded the speaking portion of the evening, sharing her personal experience and story regarding agricultural work as a Black woman, and explaining how Grow Dat’s work addresses this history.  Jonshell invited participants to keep learnings from our speakers in mind as small groups considered the theme for the evening: Enslaved people labored and resisted on at least 14 plantations on the land we know as City Park today. How should this fact shape the park of the future? 

We gathered in diverse groups to spend about 45 minutes in discussion before sharing out on the mic in the whole group.  

We’ve distilled the conversations and written material from the evening into some key findings. You can read a transcript of the group share out here. 

If you’re interested in the history of City Park, be sure to join one of our History of the Land tours; you can see dates and register on our events page.