New Orleans' population growth is expected to reach a pre-Katrina level by 2020. The city was founded in 1718 by the French Mississippi Company and was populated by the Chitimacha tribe at that time. In 1763, New Orleans was ceded to the Spanish Empire and became a key port of entry for smuggling aid during the American Revolutionary War.
The city is divided into neighborhoods. According to a 1974 study by Curtis & Davis, there are eighty distinct neighborhoods in the city. The Lower Garden District is located between the Garden District and the downtown business district. The Faubourg Marigny neighborhood lies across Esplanade Avenue, downriver from the French Quarter.
During the Hurricane Katrina, much of the city was flooded, and many Black residents were displaced. The Lower Ninth Ward was one of these areas. Black residents had been living in the Lower Ninth Ward since the 1940s and, at the time of the 2005 floods, 59% of the houses were owned by black residents. During the disaster, black activists created the People's Hurricane Relief Fund, a non-profit organization that advocated for the rights of returnees. It also served as a watchdog for alleged relief efforts by national organizations.
While white residents returned rapidly, black residents were returning more slowly. The percentage of whites who returned to New Orleans after Katrina rose to about one-third and fewer than half of the black residents did. While both groups experienced a period of displacement, the risk of returning to New Orleans differed greatly between the racial and socioeconomic classes.