IUPUI displaced Black people. Alum’s photography shows what was lost

4 months ago 6

INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — On a muggy Friday night in June, the Moore family sat down for a family dinner.

John Moore Sr., Joyce Moore, Sophie Covington, and Albert Moore passed platters of fried chicken, greens, and mac and cheese across the table. John and Joyce helped fix plates for their grandchildren, 4-year-old Ayani and 8-year-old John. The family ribbed each other, playfully laughing over the meal.

This wasn’t an ordinary dinner, though — it’s an elaborately staged photoshoot in front of Cavanaugh Hall on Indiana University’s Indianapolis’ campus. Zola Lamothe zipped around the table, capturing family moments with her camera.

Lamothe, an IUPUI alumna, and activist, is staging these photoshoots as part of a project to recreate and photograph historic scenes of Black families on IUPUI’s campus, which was once home to a vibrant Black neighborhood anchored by a thriving business district on Indiana Avenue. In the 1960s, Indiana University began buying up many of the homes and businesses in the area, and many Black families were forced out.