The U.S. experienced one of the largest mass migrations in recent history as hundreds of thousands of people left the Gulf Coast before and after Hurricane Katrina struck on August 29, 2005. This exodus was the first migration which distributed New Orleanians across the United States. This was followed by two distinct migration flows into the city in the weeks and months after the city was reopened. Displaced New Orleanians returned to the city in proportion to the damage their homes and neighborhoods suffered. Consequently, the city became more affluent, whiter and older. In addition, an unknown number of people arrived in the city to clean up and rebuild. Many of these new arrivals were foreign-born, mostly Latino migrants, drawn by the promise of high wages and plentiful work. The concentrated period of depopulation and repopulation of New Orleans and the concurrent racial, ethnic, and class-based shifts in the social terrain are the focus of the conference.