Rodolphe Desdunes, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Rodolphe Desdunes

Date of Birth: 15-Nov-1849

Place of Birth: New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Date of Death: 14-Aug-1928

Profession: poet, historian

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes (November 15, 1849 – August 14, 1928) was a civil rights activist, poet, historian, journalist, and customs officer primarily active in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Later in life he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where his son Daniel had settled.
In Louisiana he served as a militiaman during the Reconstruction era and was involved in the Battle of Liberty Place.
Later, he was a member of L'Union Louisianais 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 Case, Plessy vs Ferguson (1896).
It rejected their challenge, ruling that "separate but equal" accommodations in public facilities were constitutional.
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 Creole community, the people of color.