Royal, Ebony, 2006

File — Reading Room Computer: 1, File: SKR-JR-SR06

Staff Only

From the Series:

The current online list is only a small sample of the complete inventory. Additional inventory work is underway. For questions, please contact archivist Christian Kelleher at cdkelleh@central.uh.edu.

Oral history interviews describe the experiences and reflections of survivors displaced to Houston by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Interview summaries/logs are available for research use, and interview recordings may be accessed on-site in the University of Houston Libraries Special Collections Reading Room. Please contact the library for more information.

Dates

2006

Creator

Reiss, Johna (Interviewer, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is not yet processed. Contact the curator to request access.

Extent

From the Collection: 6 linear feet

Additional Description

Summary

Ebony Royal [ER], age 32, is a Katrina survivor from Gretna, Louisiana. Her interview begins with some brief details from her early life and goes on to describe how she became an entrepreneur at a young age. Ebony gives a description of how she and her business partner/ close friend had previously planned a business trip to Las Vegas [for the Girlfriend’z Boutique business] that happened to be the weekend of the evacuation for Hurricane Katrina. Ebony and Rochelle rerouted their business trip to leave from Atlanta instead of New Orleans because the airport was closed, while her parents and her five year old son evacuated to Opelousas, Louisiana. Not being able to return to their New Orleans homes after Hurricane Katrina and their business trip, ER and Rochelle went to Houston to re-establish their lives and business. Being separated from her son for about a month before she saw him again, ER had to strive to rebuild her Girlfriend’z Boutique business in Houston, and take the loss of the boutiques she had in New Orleans due to the looting and the storm.