L'Union (newspaper)

Last updated
L'Union
"A Political, Literary, and Progressive Journal"
(motto)
L'Union Newspaper Inaugural Edition.pdf
Inaugural Edition of L'Union
(27 September 1862)
Founder(s)Louis Charles Roudanez
Jean Baptiste Roudanez
Paul Trévigne
EditorFrank F. Barclay
FoundedSeptember 27, 1862 (1862-09-27)
LanguageFrench
English
Ceased publicationJuly 19, 1864 (1864-07-19)
CityNew Orleans, Louisiana, United States
ReadershipFree people of color in the New Orleans area

L'Union was the first African-American newspaper in the Southern United States. [lower-alpha 1] The newspaper was based in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was published from 1862 to 1864. Articles in L'Union were written in the French language, with the newspaper's primary readership being free people of color in the New Orleans area, especially in the faubourgs Marigny and Tremé. [2]

Contents

History

New Orleans was captured by Union forces early in the American Civil War because of the city's importance as a seaport at the time. [3] In the immediate antebellum period in New Orleans, free people of color had experienced increasing racial oppression. [4] Following the fall of New Orleans to Union forces early in the American Civil War, they felt they needed voice. [5] For this reason, a group of prominent men of the middle-class African American creole community in New Orleans founded L'Union in 1862. These included brothers Louis Charles Roudanez and Jean Baptiste Roudanez, and also Paul Trévigne. [2]

Initially, L'Union was published as a bi-weekly, two page, five column publication in the French language. It appeared on Wednesdays and Sundays. [1] [6] :32–38 The newspaper was published for most of its existence from the New Orleans French Quarter at an office located at 21 Conti Street which was re-numbered much later as 527 Conti Street. [2]

As it came into existence, L'Union was organized with a board of directors selected from the local Creole community and re-elected every six months. Board members included Oscar Dunn who later became the first African-American to be governor of a U.S. state, and Francis E. Dumas, who was an officer in the Union Army, among other board members. [6] :32–38

L'Union reported on progress of the American Civil War and on the impact of slavery. It editorialized for the full enfranchisement of African-Americans as citizens of the United States. [1] Its first edition stated: "We inaugurate today a new era in the history of the South" (English translation). [6]

The newspaper often based its positions on basic principles of the Constitution of the United States or the Declaration of Independence. The inaugural edition of L'Union included a French translation of the United States Constitution. [7]

Because of on-going intimidation against the Creole publishers of L'Union, the publishers appointed Frank F. Barclay to the position of "Éditeur-Imprimeur" (English: "Publisher-Printer") for L'Union late in 1862. Barclay was a white journalist who had previously published other French language newspapers in New Orleans. However, the publishers continued to receive threats, especially because of their stance against the Confederate States of America during the time of the American Civil War. [1] In particular, these included threats of violence against Paul Trévigne and threats to burn the building from which L'Union was published. [8]

First page of the August 1, 1863, English language version of L'Union, containing an example of a literary piece with a political message The Union 08011863.pdf
First page of the August 1, 1863, English language version of L'Union, containing an example of a literary piece with a political message

L'Union endured financial difficulties from the start, due to inadequate advertising revenue and the fact that its readership was limited by its publication in the French language. On-going threats of violence against the newspaper and its publishers compounded the financial problems. As a result, L'Union was sold to Louis Dutuit in the Fall of 1862. The new ownership expanded the scope of the newspaper, made it triweekly rather than bi-weekly, and increased advertising. [9] [1]

Starting in July 1863, L'Union was simultaneously published in English under the title Union. However, the English language version was not a replica of the French version but was abbreviated, with narrower scope and fewer advertisements. [6] :32–38 The English language version also was published less frequently than the French language version. [1]

L'Union published literature, an example being poetry by Louisiana Creole author Adolphe Duhart. The literary pieces often had political messages and were consistent with the newspaper's motto "A Political, Literary, and Progressive Journal". [7] [10]

Liquidation

Despite its expanded scope, the financial difficulties of L'Union continued. These were due to a feeling among the local African-American community that the paper best served the Creole population rather than the larger African-American community, and so in that respect did not adequately serve the newspaper's reason for existence. Additionally, the Union Army discontinued its subsidies to the newspaper for publishing public notices. [1] [6] :32–38

Roudanez regained ownership of the newspaper, buying out the other owners of L'Union. He then launched publication of The New Orleans Tribune , using many of the same facilities as L'Union but published with broader readership, rendering it more effective in its objectives. Paul Trévigne remained affiliated with the new publication. The publication office initially remained at the Conti Street location of L'Union. [8] [6] :32–38

See also

Notes

  1. Another source, the Library of Congress, states that the L'Union newspaper was the first documented French language African-American newspaper in the American South. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cajuns</span> Ethnic group of Louisiana

The Cajuns, also known as Louisiana Acadians, are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zydeco</span> Music genre developed in Louisiana, U.S.

Zydeco is a music genre that was created in rural Southwest Louisiana by Afro-Americans of Creole heritage. It blends blues and rhythm and blues with music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles such as la la and juré, using the French accordion and a creole washboard instrument called the frottoir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Washington Cable</span> American novelist

George Washington Cable was an American novelist notable for the realism of his portrayals of Creole life in his native New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been called "the most important southern artist working in the late 19th century", as well as "the first modern Southern writer." In his treatment of racism, mixed-race families and miscegenation, his fiction has been thought to anticipate that of William Faulkner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Creole people</span> Ethnic group of Louisiana, USA

Louisiana Creoles are a Louisiana French ethnic group descended from the inhabitants of colonial Louisiana before it became a part of the United States during the period of both French and Spanish rule. They share cultural ties such as the traditional use of the French, Spanish, and Creole languages and predominant practice of Catholicism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">André Cailloux</span> American soldier (1825–1863)

André Cailloux was an African American army captain, one of the first black officers of any North American military unit. He was also one of the first black soldiers to die in combat during the American Civil War. He was killed during the unsuccessful first attack on the Confederate fortifications during the Siege of Port Hudson. Accounts of his heroism were widely reported in the press, and became a rallying cry for the recruitment of African Americans into the Union Army.

The Institute Catholique, also known as L'Institut Catholique des orphelins indigents and the Couvent School, was a Catholic school founded in New Orleans in 1840. It mainly served the non-orphan children of free people of color, who paid a modest tuition, and was founded with funds from Marie Couvent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henriette DeLille</span>

Henriette Díaz DeLille, SSF was a Louisiana Creole of color and Catholic religious sister from New Orleans. She founded the Sisters of the Holy Family in 1836 and served as their first Mother Superior. The sisters are the second-oldest surviving congregation of African-American religious.

The history of the area that is now the U.S. state of Louisiana, can be traced back thousands of years to when it was occupied by indigenous peoples. The first indications of permanent settlement, ushering in the Archaic period, appear about 5,500 years ago. The area that is now Louisiana formed part of the Eastern Agricultural Complex. The Marksville culture emerged about 2,000 years ago out of the earlier Tchefuncte culture. It is considered ancestral to the Natchez and Taensa peoples. Around the year 800 CE, the Mississippian culture emerged from the Woodland period. The emergence of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex coincides with the adoption of maize agriculture and chiefdom-level complex social organization beginning in circa 1200 CE. The Mississippian culture mostly disappeared around the 16th century, with the exception of some Natchez communities that maintained Mississippian cultural practices into the 1700s.

The Creoles of color are a historic ethnic group of Louisiana Creoles that developed in the former French and Spanish colonies of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Northwestern Florida, in what is now the United States. French colonists in Louisiana first used the term "Creole" to refer to people born in the colony, rather than in Europe, thus drawing a distinction between Old-World Europeans and Africans from their descendants born in the New World. Today, many of these Creoles of color have assimilated into Black culture, while some chose to remain a separate yet inclusive subsection of the African American ethnic group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Ball (American author)</span> American history writer and journalist (born 1958)

Edward Ball is an American author who has written multiple works on topics such as history and biography. He is best known for works that explore the complex past of his family, whose members were major rice planters and slaveholders in South Carolina for nearly 300 years. One of his more well known works is based around an African-American family, descended from one member of this family and an enslaved woman, whose members became successful artists and musicians in the Jazz Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Louisiana</span>

Louisiana is a South Central U.S. state, with a 2020 U.S. census resident population of 4,657,757, and apportioned population of 4,661,468. Much of the state's population is concentrated in southern Louisiana in the Greater New Orleans, Florida Parishes, and Acadiana regions, with the remainder in North and Central Louisiana's major metropolitan areas. The center of population of Louisiana is located in Pointe Coupee Parish, in the city of New Roads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The New Orleans Tribune</span> African American newspaper in New Orleans founded in 1864

The New Orleans Tribune was a newspaper serving the African-American community of New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the first Black daily newspaper in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1st Louisiana Native Guard (Confederate)</span> Military unit

The 1st Louisiana Native Guard was a Confederate Louisianan militia that consisted of Creoles of color. Formed in 1861 in New Orleans, Louisiana, it was disbanded on April 25, 1862. Some of the unit's members joined the Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard, which later became the 73rd Regiment Infantry of the United States Colored Troops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Charles Roudanez</span> American journalist

Louis Charles Roudanez (1823-1890) was an American physician and newspaper publisher. He cofounded L'Union (1862-1864), one of the first Black newspapers in the US South and the first bilingual (French-English) newspaper run by African Americans in the United States. After it folded, he cofounded La Tribune de la Nouvelle-Orleans (1864-1870), the nation's first daily Black newspaper, which was also bilingual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African Americans in Louisiana</span> Ethnic group in Louisiana

African Americans in Louisiana or Black Louisianians are residents of the U.S. state of Louisiana who are of African ancestry; those native to the state since colonial times descend from the many African slaves working on indigo and sugarcane plantations under French colonial rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodolphe Desdunes</span> American poet

Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes was a Louisiana Creole civil rights activist, poet, historian, journalist, and customs officer primarily active in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Reverend Thomas W. Conway was assistant commissioner of the Freedmen Bureau in Alabama and Louisiana during the Reconstruction era that followed the American Civil War. Freedmen's Bureau activities in Louisiana began on June 13, 1865 when the Bureau's commissioner, Oliver O. Howard, appointed Chaplain Thomas W. Conway as the state's assistant commissioner. He published a report for that year, The Freedmen of Louisiana: Final Report of the Bureau of Free Labor, Department of the Gulf, to Major General Canby, Commanding (1865). Another seven assistant commissioners would later hold this office.

Paul Trévigne 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 Tribune (1864-1870), the first black daily newspaper in the country.

Alabama Creoles are a Louisiana French group native to the region around Mobile, Alabama. They are the descendants of colonial French and Spanish settlers who arrived in Mobile in the 18th century. They are sometimes known as Cajans or Cajuns although they are distinct from the Cajuns of southern Louisiana, and most do not trace their roots to the French settlers of Acadia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "About L'Union". chroniclingamerica.loc.gov. Library of Congress. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Roudané, Mark. "L'Union". 64parishes.org. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  3. "New Orleans in the Civil War". battlefields.org. American Battlefield Trust. 7 September 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  4. Wills, Matthew (20 February 2019). "The Free People of Color of Pre-Civil War New Orleans". daily.jstor.org. ITHAKA. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  5. Gourdet, Camille Kempf, "The New Orleans Free People of Color and the Process of Americanization,1803-1896" (2005). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1539626484. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-wf20-pk69
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Melancon, Kristi Richard, "An African American discourse community in Black & White: the New OrleansTribune" (2011). LSU Doctoral Dissertations.
  7. 1 2 Haddow, Eli A. "The Civil War brought the rise of a new Black activism in New Orleans". hnoc.org. The Historic New Orleans Collection. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  8. 1 2 Rouzan, Laura V. "Dr. Louis Charles Roudanez: Publisher of America's First Black Daily Newspaper." South Atlantic Review, vol. 73, no. 2, 2008, pp. 54–58. Accessed 28 Nov. 2023.
  9. Reckdahl, Katy (June 16, 2018). "'It's Hallowed Ground': New Plaque Honors Pioneering Black-Owned Newspapers in New Orleans". The New Orleans Times-Picayune. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  10. Kress, Dana. "Creole Literature". 64parishes.org. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved 18 November 2023.