Black Tulane med students take powerful photo at former slave quarters: ‘Resilience is in our DNA’

EDGARD, La. - Medical students at Tulane University made a powerful statement as they posed in front of the former slave quarters at the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana.

“Standing in front of the slave quarters of our ancestors, at the Whitney Plantation, with my medical school classmates. We are truly our ancestors’ wildest dreams,” Sydney Labat tweeted on Dec. 14, along with the image.

The second-year medical student stood alongside her classmates, who wore all-black ensembles accented by white coats that symbolized their status as doctors-in-training.

Her tweet garnered more than 18,000 retweets and 76,000 likes. She also shared more images on Instagram where the students stood strong in a line in front of the former quarters in one and raised their right fists in another.

“This was such a powerful experience, and it honestly brought me to tears,” she said in the Instagram post. “For black people pursuing a career in medicine, keep going. For our entire community, keep striving. Resilience is in our DNA.”

On her Facebook, Labat also discussed putting framed copies of the photo in “100K classrooms nationwide.”

“How do we get this effort started because if we aren’t inspiring these babies that are coming behind us, it’s all just a stunt,” she said.

The 15 African-American doctors-in-training are also members of the Tulane chapter of the Student National Medical Association, an organization that supports black students pursuing a career in the medical field, NPR reported.

This story was reported from Los Angeles.