W. Mae Kent, Author at

Independent Historian

W. Mae Kent was born in New Jersey and raised in the small town of Cedarville. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science and History from Thomas Edison State College and a Master’s degree in Social Work from Rutgers’s University.

Ms. Kent is a licensed clinical social worker and a psychotherapist.

In 2003 she received an achievement award from the National Political Congress of Black Women for her success as a businesswoman and contributions to her community. She has hosted her own radio talk show and is an accomplished public speaker having conducted numerous workshops on women’s and family issues. Her platform for her latest book is The Laroches: A Titanic Secret.

Titanic: The Untold Story is Mae’s first published book and the second novel she has completed. Mae is still a Jersey girl. She enjoys all kinds of music and dates her husband, Lee. She is hard at work on her third novel which is also based on a little known historical figure.

Titanic’s Black Passenger: Creating Historical Fiction From Historical Fact

In 2009 W. Mae Kent, published Titanic: The Untold Story, the first historical fiction novel on the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic which makes it’s central character, Nathan Badeau Legarde, a black man. The inspiration for her story came from Joseph Phillipe Lemercier Laroche, an … Read MoreTitanic’s Black Passenger: Creating Historical Fiction From Historical Fact

Joseph Phillipe Lemercier Laroche (1889-1912)

Joseph Phillipe Lemercier Laroche, the only passenger of known African ancestry who died on the Titanic, was born on May 26, 1889 in Cap Haiten, Haiti. He was the son of a white French army captain and a Haitian woman who was a descendant of … Read MoreJoseph Phillipe Lemercier Laroche (1889-1912)