"Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes" (November 15,1849-August 14,1928)

Was a prominent editor,author,and civil rights activist from New Orleans Louisiana.He is best known for his work in Plessy v.Ferguson,the most important civil rights case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 19th Century,and a book he authored about the history and culture of Creoles in Louisiana.


Rodolphe was born in New Orleans.His daddy was a Haitian exile,and his mama was Cuban.Rodolphe came from a family that owned a tobacco plantation and manufactured cigars.He was a law student at Straight University in the early 1870s.He also worked for the United States Customs House in New Orleans first as a messenger from 1879-1885,and as a clerk from 1891-1894,and again 1899-1912.Rodolphe grew up and experience younghood in New Orleans at a time when public facilities and public schools were integrated.


The political environment in Louisiana,began to change in the 1880s.The State Legislature of Louisiana began enacting laws that segregated African American and whites in public spaces.


In 1889 he became editor of the crusader,a weekly African American newspaper printed in French and Creole community leaders to challenge the encroaching segregationist laws.He and the publisher Louis A.Martinet,called for equal rights and urged legal action against segregation.
Through the Crusader,he and Louis helped develop a new national civil rights group,the the American Citizens Equal Rights Association (ACERA).A delegation of ACERA addressed the Louisiana Legislature in 1889 but with no effect.Within weeks,most African American members dropped out due to white intimidation and the Legislature passed Act 111 of 1890 ("The Separate Car Act"),which segregated railroad passenger cars for the time.


Rodolphe and Louis formed a second committee,Comite des Citoyens ("Citizens Committee"),to fight the new segregation law.They enlisted the support of a wealthy Creole Aristide,Mary,who would prove critical in funding the upcoming legal battle against segregation.


Rodolphe son,Daniel,challenged the law in February 1892.He was arrested,but was acquitted since his train travel was interstate.Four months later another Creole,Homer Plessy,challenged the law by traveling within Louisiana.The case appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled against Homer in 1896.That case set the legal precedent which allowed the establishment of " separate but  equal" facilities across the United States.


Rodolphe never again became involved in legal or political activity against segregation.In 1911 he wrote Our People and our History:Fifty Creole Portraits,which was first published in French in 1911.The book recorded the lives of prominent Creole in New Orleans.


He also returned to his job at the New Orleans Customs House.While supervising the weighting of cargo on a ship in 1911,granite dust blew in his eyes leaving him mostly blind.He retired in 1912.Rodolphe spent the 17 years of his life in various stages of blindless.He died from cancer of the larynx,at the home of his son,Daniel,in Omaha,Nebraska