Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes (November 15, 1849 – August 14, 1928) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

civil rights activist, poet, historian, journalist, and customs officer primarily active in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Battle of Liberty Place The Battle of Liberty Place, or Battle of Canal Street, was an attempted insurrection and coup d'etat by the Crescent City White League against the Reconstruction Era Louisiana Republican state government on September 14, 1874, in New Orle ...

. Later, he was a member of L'Union Louisianaise and wrote for the weekly of the same name. He also wrote for the daily paper, the ''Crusader,'' and taught at the Couvent School in New Orleans. In 1890, he was among the founders of the Comité des Citoyens, which fought the 1890 Separate Car Act through legal challenges, leading to the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

Case, '' Plessy vs Ferguson'' (1896). He also wrote an important French-language history of Creoles in America called '' Nos Hommes et Notre Histoire'', the first such book written in French by a member of the Louisiana Creoles of Color. Later in life he moved to

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...

, where his son

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

had settled.

Life

Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes was born November 15, 1849 as one of at least five children of Pierre Jérémie Desdunes and Henriette Angélique (Sonty) Gaillard; siblings were Pierre Aristide, Joseph, Elmore, and Sarazin. Their father, Pierre, lived in New Orleans at least as early as 1840 and was probably born in the city. The Desdunes family were Saint Dominican Creole refugees who fled from

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to ref ...

(now Haiti) during the 1791

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt began on 22 ...

,Vernhettes, Dan and Hanley, Peter
"The Desdunes Family"
''The Jazz Archivist'', Tulane University, XXVII, 2014, pages 25-45. Accessed February 3, 2016. at which time they gained asylum in New Orleans. Rodolphe's education was likely provided by family and family friends

Armand Lanusse Armand Lanusse (c.1810–March 16, 1868) was a Creoles of color, Creole of color, educator, poet, and writer from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the editor of ''Les Cenelles'' (1845), a collection of poems by fellow Creoles of color in New Orleans ...

and

Joanni Questy ''Aerial'' is the eighth album by English singer-songwriter and musician Kate Bush. It was released as a double album in 2005, twelve years after her 1993 album '' The Red Shoes''. Overview ''Aerial'' was Bush's first double album, was release ...

, as well as at the Couvent School.Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates. ''Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience'', Oxford University Press, 2005 Rodolphe's brother Pierre Aristide also became involved in civil rights as an adult. By profession, he was a poet, a cigar maker, a carpenter, and owner of a tobacco plantation. He fought in the American Civil War. He served on the board of directors of the Couvent School, which had been created by Marie Couvent in 1848. In 1873 Aristide married Louise Mathilde Denebourg. Rodolphe married Mathilde Cheval, and they lived for some time with her mother, also named Mathilde. Before 1880, they had children

(born in about 1873), Agnes (about 1873), Louise (about 1874), Coritza (born in 1876), and Wendelle (born winter 1876-1877). The Chevals may have descended from early Cheval settlers of the

Tremé Tremé ( ) is a neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana. "Tremé" is often rendered as Treme, and the neighborhood is sometimes called by its more formal French name, Faubourg Tremé; it is listed in the New Orleans City Planning Districts as Tre ...

district, Pierre and Léandre. In 1879, Rodolphe started a relationship with Clementine Walker, born in 1860 and a daughter of John and Ophelia Walker. Rodolphe and Clementine had at least four children, Mary Celine (March 25, 1879), John Alexander (1881), Louise (1889), and Oscar Alphonse (1892). Clementine died on September 23, 1893. Mary Celine later became known as Mamie Desdunes and was a blues pianist. Clementine lived near

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a ge ...

's godmother, and Jérémie and Henriette Desdunes were neighbors of Morton's mother. From this proximity, Morton learned the song he recorded as "Mamie's Blues" or "2:19 Blues" and attributed it to Mamie, singing, "Can’t give a dollar, give a lousy dime,/ I wanna feed that hungry man of mine." Other associates of Mamie included performer

Bunk Johnson Willie Gary "Bunk" Johnson (December 27, 1879 – July 7, 1949) was an American prominent jazz trumpeter in New Orleans. Johnson gave the year of his birth as 1879, although there is speculation that he may have been younger by as much as a dec ...

and promoters Hattie Rogers and Lulu White. Mamie married George Degay in 1898, and died of tuberculosis on December 4, 1911. Oscar was also a musician. After his nephew Clarence's death in 1933, Oscar played with his band, the Joyland Revellers. Rodolphe had three other daughters, possibly by Clementine, named Edna, Lucille, and Jeanne (born about 1893). Harpers1874LouisianaOutrage

Militia

In the early 1870s during Reconstruction, Desdunes was a member of the

New Orleans Police Department The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) has primary responsibility for law enforcement in New Orleans, Louisiana. The department's jurisdiction covers all of Orleans Parish, while the city is divided into eight police districts. The NOPD has ...

. In 1874, under the command of former Confederate General and then adjutant general of the Louisiana Militia

James Longstreet James Longstreet (January 8, 1821January 2, 1904) was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War and the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse". He served under Lee as a corps c ...

, Desdunes was among the injured in the

, fought between the pro-Republican city, state, and federal forces, and a pro-Democratic, largely ex-Confederate group called the

White League The White League, also known as the White Man's League, was a white paramilitary terrorism, terrorist organization started in the Southern United States in 1874 to intimidate freedmen into not voting and prevent Republican Party (United States), ...

. His experience was important to him. He remained a strong supporter of the rights and honors due to the black veterans of the

United States Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

Political and civil service

Desdunes began to attend law courses at Straight University in the early 1870s. He graduated with a Bachelors of Law from Straight University in the spring of 1882. Desdunes was appointed in 1879 as secretary of the parish vice committee upon the resignation of Charles A. Baquie., was an active member of the Odd Fellows, and translated rituals of his lodge, ''La Creole,'' into French. Also, he was a member of Lodge Amité Sincere No. 27. In 1891 he was elected secretary of the Republican state central committee in Louisiana. He was a frequent contributor to Republican politics. In 1892, he was a speaker in a Louisiana Republican organizational rally, calling on blacks to support more moderate candidates with strong Louisiana ties. In 1897, Desdunes's activity included the support of Louisiana State Senator

Henry Demas Henry Demas (1848–1900) was an enslaved African American who became a constable, state legislator, civil rights activist, and organizer of Southern University in Louisiana during the Reconstruction era. Early life Demas was born into slavery ...

, denouncing lynching, calling for more schools, opposing the

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments f ...

, and denouncing the constitutional convention, which he felt sought to deprive black suffrage. He was a member of the Republican Committee until 1900. General Badger

From 1870 to 1885, Desdunes worked for the

U.S. Customs Service The United States Customs Service was the very first federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted c ...

in New Orleans as a messenger and as a clerk. He also worked at the Customs office from 1891 to 1896, and from 1899 to 1912. In 1880, Desdunes was appointed assistant cashier of the New Orleans Customhouse by Collector

Algernon Sidney Badger Algernon may refer to: * Algernon (name), a given name (includes a list of people and characters with the name) * Algernon Township, Custer County, Nebraska See also * Treaty of Algeron, an agreement signed by the United Federation of Planets a ...

. In 1891 Desdunes was appointed chief clerk of the sub treasury in New Orleans. In 1908, as a part of his Customs department duties, Desdunes was supervising the weighing of cargo on a ship when granite dust blew into his eyes, blinding him. He retired the following year and moved to

to live with his son, Daniel, who was a musician and activist there.

Civil rights activism

In the 1870s, Desdunes became involved in the pro-black rights Young Men's Progressive Association. As part of the

Compromise of 1877 The Compromise of 1877, also known as the Wormley Agreement or the Bargain of 1877, was an unwritten deal, informally arranged among members of the United States Congress, to settle the intensely disputed 1876 presidential election between Ruth ...

, most of the federal troops were withdrawn from the South, enabling white supremacists to work more freely to suppress black rights. In 1878, the association, with Desdunes an officer and

Thomas J. Boswell Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas th ...

as president, were active in condemning lynchings: dozens of blacks had been killed in Louisiana in the 1870s. They noted the murders of Daniel Hill and Herman Bell of Ouachita Parish, Commodore Smallwood, Charles Carrol, John Higgins, and Washington Hill of Concordia Parish, Charles Bethel, Robert Williams, Munday Hill, James Stafford, Louis Postlewait, and William Henry of Tensas Parish. In 1884, Rodolphe and his brother, Aristide, as well as

Paul Trévigne Paul Trévigne (1825 – September 1, 1908) was an American newspaperman and civil rights activist in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was editor of two black-owned newspapers, '' L'Union'' from 1862 until it closed in 1864, and then the '' New Orleans ...

, Arthur Estèves, and Louis André Martinet, as a part of a group called L'Union Louisiannais, reopened the Couvent School. Both Desdunes brothers served on the board of directors and Rodolphe also taught.Bell, Caryn Cossé, ''Rappelez-vous concitoyens': The Poetry of Pierre-Aristide Desdunes, Civil War Soldier, Romantic Literary Artist, and Civil Rights Activist'', University of Massachusetts Lowell In 1887, a French-language weekly paper was produced in New Orleans under the same name (''L'Union Louisiannais'') with

Eugene Lucy Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the s ...

(president), Homer Plessy (Vice President), Rodolphe Desdunes (recording secretary and solicitor), Pierre Chevalier (treasurer), and O. Bart (solicitor). In 1889, Martinet formed the Republican newspaper, the ''Crusader'', and Desdunes was a frequent contributor. Publishing in both French and English, the ''Crusader'' took up the civil rights cause. Desdunes was a part of the American Citizens' Equal Rights Association of Louisiana in 1890, protesting to the state assembly against legislation that imposed second-class status on blacks. He also wrote for other papers in Louisiana, such as the ''Business Herald'' in

Donaldsonville Donaldsonville (historically french: Lafourche-des-Chitimachas) is a city in, and the parish seat of Ascension Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located along the River Road of the west bank of the Mississippi River, it is a part of the Ba ...

in 1904.

Comité des Citoyens

Desdunes was incensed by the 1890 Separate Car Act, writing in an 1891 letter to the editor in the ''Crusader'', "Among the many schemes devised by the Southern statesman to divide the races, none is so audacious and so insulting as the one which provides separate cars for black and white people on the railroads running through the state. It is like a slap in the face of every member of the black race, whether he has the full measure or only one-eighth of that blood." Aristide, Rodolphe and Daniel Desdunes, Louis Martinet, Eugene Luscy, Paul Bonseigneur, L. J. Joubert, P. B. S. Pinchback,

Caesar Antoine Caesar Carpentier Antoine (1836–1921) was a soldier, businessman, editor, and politician in Louisiana. He served as a state senator for Caddo Parish from 1868 until 1872 when he was elected the third of three African American Republicans to se ...

, Homer Plessy and others formed the Comité des Citoyens to organize black civil rights efforts. Rodolphe enlisted his eldest son, Daniel, to violate the act to allow for its challenge in the courts. On February 24, 1892, Daniel boarded a train bound for Mobile, Alabama. While stopped at the corner of Elysian Fields and Claiborne in New Orleans, Daniel was arrested. However, Judge John Howard Ferguson ruled that the Separate Car Act could not be enforced for interstate travel because the constitution only granted the federal government the authority to regulate inter-state travel and commerce. The Comité then challenged the law again, this time focusing on intrastate travel and Plessy volunteered to break the law. Luscy, Bonseignure, Rodolphe Desdunes, Joubert, and Martinet secured Plessy's release on bail that same day. When the case, '' Plessy vs. Ferguson'', finally reached the U. S. Supreme Court in 1896, it was found that Plessy's rights had not been violated, Desdunes writing, "our defeat sanctioned the odious principle of the segregation of the races." ''Comité des Citoyens'' activists Albion Tourgee and James C. Walker defended in both cases. About that time the Comité and the ''Crusader'' both disbanded.

Historian and poet

Desdunes was very interested in the history and art of Creoles in Louisiana. From July through October 1895, Desdunes published translated excerpts from Joseph Saint-Rémy’s five volume work, ''Pétion et Haïti'', for the ''New Orleans Crusader''. Just before losing his sight, Desdunes finished a book about the contribution of Creoles to Louisiana history, ''Nos Hommes et Notre Histoire'', which was published in Quebec in 1911. In the book, Desdunes uses personal reminiscences and scholarly biography to explore the lives of remarkable men in letters, fine arts, music, war, peace, and teaching. The story starts with the role of free black soldiers under General

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame a ...

in the

Battle of New Orleans The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Fren ...

in the War of 1812 and continues to explore the contribution of creoles to Louisiana and to the United States. It contrasts this with the hatred, contempt, and injustice that were faced by the men described and all blacks faced. In this way, Desdunes' work follows the example of ''La Campagne De 1814-15'' by Hippolyte Castra, a commonality that Desdunes points out by including Castra and Castra's activities in his book. The introduction of the original edition was written by Louis Martin. In Omaha, he continued to work on his poetry, submitting his work to various outlets. He also became close to others in the Omaha black community, particularly Father

John Albert Williams John Albert Williams (February 28, 1866 – February 4, 1933) was a minister, journalist, and political activist in Omaha, Nebraska. He was born to an escaped slave and spoke from the pulpit and the newspapers on issues of civil rights, equality ...

, who praised Desdunes as "Omaha's Blind Negro Poet" in the ''Omaha World-Herald''. His poems in the Herald included praise for black soldiers serving in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, "To the French High Commission (Hommage de la population de couleur.)", and a tribute to Nebraska entitled "Aksarben, Eloge", both of which appeared in 1917.

o Headline O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...

''Omaha World-Herald'' (Omaha, Nebraska) Saturday, October 6, 1917 Page: 4

Death

He lived in his own house in Omaha with his wife, and died on August 14, 1928 of

cancer of the larynx Laryngeal cancers are mostly squamous-cell carcinomas, reflecting their origin from the epithelium of the larynx. Cancer can develop in any part of the larynx. The prognosis is affected by the location of the tumour. For the purposes of stagin ...

. His remains were sent to New Orleans and he was interred in a family tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 2.