Her ‘ancestors’ wildest dreams’: Bay native in viral photo wants more black doctors in US
Sydney Labat and her fellow Tulane University medical students are more than just viral photos.
The 24-year-old Bay St. Louis native has spent much of her time since graduating high school addressing the lack of black women in America’s medical field. In late 2019, she and 14 of her classmates took a series of photos in front of a plantation’s slave quarters declaring they were “our ancestors’ wildest dreams.”
The posts received widespread attention on social media, and national outlets covered the students. The group formed a new business, The 15 White Coats, to further their mission.
The goal: use the attention and newfound fame to send a positive message and help increase the number of doctors of color across the nation.
‘You can be unapologetically black’
Labat grew up near Old Town Bay St. Louis surrounded by her large family. She and brother Steven were some of the only children on their end of the street. Her mother is a disability and education specialist who works with children and adults. Her father was an entrepreneur and ran a dry cleaning service when Labat was a young girl.
From a very early age, her parents taught her to value herself, Labat said.
“My parents raised me to know that you are black. You always will be black,” she said. “You can be unapologetically black and you can also be very intelligent. You can be academically excellent … and to not let anybody tell you any different.”
She said she didn’t process the racial differences and tensions present on the Coast as a young girl despite being one of the only black children in her class at Bay Catholic Elementary, now Holy Trinity Catholic School.
But that changed when she was 16. It happened while attending a parade in Pass Christian.
Labat said she might have been standing too close to a float for a police officer’s liking. She felt the hand of a white officer pressing on her shoulder, telling her to walk. She started to move but stopped because she didn’t want to bump into a small child.
The officer turned to Labat and told her she’d be removed from the parade if she didn’t follow instructions. A group of rowdy white teenagers she saw at the event weren’t treated the same, she said.
“He never touched them. He never got in their face. He didn’t yell at them,” Labat said. “I remember being on the verge of tears because I didn’t understand what the difference between myself and them was … that was a really striking moment that I carried with me for a long time.”
‘Blessing in disguise’
Labat spent her high school years playing basketball and tennis at Pass Christian as she learned more about the world around her. She had dreams of going to law school, becoming multi-lingual and working as a diplomat.
“The thing that set her apart, more so than anyone else, was just how dedicated and committed she was to anything she did,” said Morgan Kennedy, Labat’s former junior varsity basketball coach at Pass Christian. “She put the same type of effort into everything she did. ...It was always just very impressive.”
Her interest in medicine came from a moment of personal misfortune. Labat tore her ACL two days before Christmas during her junior year at Pass High. She couldn’t play basketball or tennis. She said she thought her life was over.
“I was really upset,” Labat said. “The previous year, I had gone pretty far in the state (tennis) tournament, and I just knew I was just going to win it all that year. It kind of got taken from me.”
The injury turned out to be a “blessing in disguise,” she said. While recovering, Labat started asking the doctors a lot of questions about her injury and her progress.
She changed her course after the injury, setting her sights on Xavier University of Louisiana for her undergraduate degree and Tulane for medical school. While at Xavier, Labat learned more about medicine and black culture.
While she was taking African American studies courses, Labat said she got a wake-up call when Baton Rouge police shot and killed Alton Sterling in 2016. No federal or state charges were filed against the officers.
Labat’s college courses and the shooting helped her realize she needed to pay more attention to social justice issues, she said.
She achieved her dream of attending Tulane’s medical school. Coming from a historically black college to Tulane was a “very different experience,” she said. She became more aware of the lack of black doctors around the nation. She got involved with groups that support minority medical students and took part in community service work.
Her past experiences and early time at Tulane culminated in those now-famous, viral pictures, Labat said.
The photos
In late 2019, Labat was approached by classmate Russell Ledet to wear all black, along with their white medical coats, on a tour of Whitney Plantation. The plantation in Edgard, Louisiana, is unlike most others. It focuses on slavery and the lives of enslaved people.
After their tour, Ledet, Labat and 13 other black Tulane medical students posed for pictures in front of the plantation’s slave quarters. There are four poses, including one where the students raised a solitary fist in a “Black Power” salute.
The goal was to show people the roots of black history in America, where they are now, and how far there is left to go. The group expected the image to have an effect, but they didn’t expect to go viral and receive media coverage from national outlets like CNN, Labat said.
“When we were taking them, we were like, ‘This is going to be so impactful, and I wish I would have seen this as a kid.’ … That would have been game-changing,” she said. “How can you be what you can’t see? Just to have someone look up and be like, ‘Hey, they look like me.’ That means the world.”
In the months that followed, Labat and the others formed The 15 White Coats. The group sells prints of their viral photos to raise money, and donations are also accepted. Labat serves as the group’s vice president and manager.
The money made by the group is used to fund scholarships for students of color applying to medical school and getting framed and signed copies of their photos into classrooms across the nation to inspire future physicians. The 15 White Coats hopes to achieve nonprofit status by the end of 2020.
The group’s website went live in mid-January. Since then, they’ve raised enough money to put photos in 1,000 classrooms. The goal is to have the pictures in 100,000 classes.
Labat is still working towards becoming a doctor. She said she is interested in surgery but hasn’t decided on a sub-specialty yet. She’s still exploring her options, but she wants to remain in the South. It could include plans to return to the Mississippi Coast.
“In my opinion, there’s a strong need for not only women but black women in these fields, and I’m excited to push forward,” she said. “I’m wherever God takes me. ...If not to practice medicine, I’ll be back because there’s nothing like a sunrise off the beach in Bay St. Louis.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2020 at 5:00 AM.