Outstanding college athlete and diplomat David Benjamin Bolen, the son of a postal worker, was born in the rural hamlet of Heflin, Louisiana on December 23, 1923. As a small child he discovered his superior running ability during an Easter egg hunt. Homeschooled by his … Read More … Read MoreDavid Benjamin Bolen (1923- )
H. Claude Hudson was an important civil rights and business leader in two different cities: Shreveport, Louisiana, and Los Angeles. Hudson was born in Louisiana in 1886. He studied at Wiley College, in Marshall, Texas, and earned a degree from the dentistry school at Howard … Read More … Read MoreH. Claude Hudson (1886-1989)
It is ironic that the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France was instigated by one of the few successful slave rebellions. Toussaint L’Overture on St. Dominique (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) so bedeviled the French that Napoleon decided to sell the Louisiana Territory to the … Read More … Read MoreLouisiana Purchase and African Americans (1803)
Cleo Fields, politician, lawyer, and United States Representative from Louisiana’s Fourth Congressional District (1993-97), was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on November 22, 1962. At four years old, Fields lost his father, Isidore Fields, a dockworker, in a car crash. His mother, Alice Fields, supported … Read More … Read MoreCleo Fields (1962- )
Bernette Joshua Johnson is a retired Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. She is the first African American woman to serve on the Louisiana Supreme Court and the second female to hold the position of Chief Justice. Born in Lemannville, Louisiana on June 17, … Read More … Read MoreJustice Bernette Joshua Johnson
Reconstruction began in Federally-occupied Louisiana in the midst of the Civil War. In 1863 African American men in New Orleans called for the right to vote in the new loyal government being organized under Union Army protection. However when President Lincoln announced his new reconstruction … Read More … Read More(1864) Arnold Bertonneau, “Every Man Should Stand Equal Before the Law”
Southern University, Baton Rouge,the largest historically black university in Louisiana, was chartered in 1880 in New Orleans, Louisiana as a state supported institution for the education of black Louisianans. It was founded in response to the efforts of African American political leaders such as former … Read More … Read MoreSouthern University [Baton Rouge] (1880- )
Cedric Richmond is the U.S. Representative for Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes much of New Orleans. Richmond, a Democrat, won the post after more than a decade of service in the Louisiana House of Representatives. Born September 13, 1973, his mother was a public … Read More … Read MoreCedric Levon Richmond (1973- )
Henry Adams was a Louisiana leader who advocated the emigration of southern freed blacks to Liberia after emancipation. Born a slave in Newton County, Georgia on March 16, 1843, Henry Adams was originally born as Henry Houston but changed his name at the age of … Read More … Read MoreHenry Adams [Louisiana] (1843-?)
Oscar James Dunn was Louisiana’s first black lieutenant governor, serving from 1868 to 1871, and one of three who held that post in the state during the Reconstruction era. Dunn was born enslaved in New Orleans in 1826 to Maria Dunn who was also enslaved … Read More … Read MoreOscar J. Dunn (ca. 1825-1871)
