Michel Vidal | |
---|---|
Member of the U.S.HouseofRepresentatives from Louisiana's 4th district | |
In office July 18, 1868 –March 3, 1869 | |
Preceded by | Vacant due to Civil War |
Succeeded by | Joseph P. Newsham |
United States Consul to Tripoli | |
In office April 5,1870 –October 12,1876 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Carcassonne,Languedoc,France | October 1,1824
Died | October 20,1895 71) Montreal,Canada | (aged
Political party | Republican |
Education | University (France) |
Profession | Diplomat,Newspaper Editor,Politician |
Michel Vidal (October 1,1824 - October 20,1895) was a U.S. Representative from Louisiana.
Born in the city of Carcassonne,Languedoc,France,Vidal completed university-level studies in France before emigrating to the Republic of Texas. Soon after Texas became annexed to the United States,Vidal moved to the French-speaking region of south Louisiana. He engaged in literary and scientific pursuits and served as associate editor of several American and French newspapers for the French-speaking populations of the U.S. and Canada. He also served as an editor of the New York Courrier des États-Unis and the New Orleans Picayune (now the Times-Picayune ). At the close of the Civil War he was appointed by General John T. Sheridan a registrar for the city of New Orleans. In 1867,he moved to Opelousas,Louisiana,where he founded and edited the Saint Landry Progress . He served as delegate to the State constitutional convention of 1867 and 1868 (this convention wrote the "Reconstruction Constitution" which was in turn rescinded after white Democrats again gained control of Louisiana government) after 1876. [1]
Upon readmission of Louisiana to representation in Congress,Vidal was elected,from Louisiana's 4th congressional district (which included Opelousas),as a Republican to the Fortieth United States Congress,(July 18,1868 –March 3,1869),and was effectively in office until 1870. [2] He was appointed a United States commissioner under the convention concluded with Peru in 1868 for the adjustment of claims of citizens of either country. On his leaving Congress,Vidal was appointed by President Ulysses Grant as United States consul at Tripoli,Libya,where he served from April 5,1870,to October 12,1876. He died in Montreal.
David Conner Treen Sr. was an American politician and attorney from Louisiana. A member of the Republican Party,Treen served as U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district from 1973 to 1980 and the 51st governor of Louisiana from 1980 to 1984. Treen was the first Republican elected to either office since Reconstruction.
The New Orleans massacre of 1866 occurred on July 30,when a peaceful demonstration of mostly Black Freedmen was set upon by a mob of white rioters,many of whom had been soldiers of the recently defeated Confederate States of America,leading to a full-scale massacre. The violence erupted outside the Mechanics Institute,site of a reconvened Louisiana Constitutional Convention. According to the official report,a total of 38 were killed and 146 wounded,of whom 34 dead and 119 wounded were Black Freedmen. Unofficial estimates were higher. Gilles Vandal estimated 40 to 50 Black Americans were killed and more than 150 Black Americans wounded. Others have claimed nearly 200 were killed. In addition,three white convention attendees were killed,as was one white protester.
More than 1,500 African American officeholders served during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877) and in the years after Reconstruction before white supremacy,disenfranchisement,and the Democratic Party fully reasserted control in Southern states. Historian Canter Brown Jr. noted that in some states,such as Florida,the highest number of African Americans were elected or appointed to offices after the end of Reconstruction in 1877. The following is a partial list of notable African American officeholders from the end of the Civil War until before 1900. Dates listed are the year that a term states or the range of years served if multiple terms.
John Willis Menard was a federal government employee,poet,newspaper publisher and politician born in Kaskaskia,Illinois to parents who were Louisiana Creoles from New Orleans. After moving to New Orleans,on November 3,1868,Menard was the first black man ever elected to the United States House of Representatives. His opponent contested his election,and opposition to his election prevented him from being seated in Congress.
John Edward Bouligny was an American politician who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing the state of Louisiana. He served one term as a member of the Know Nothing movement's anti-immigrant American Party. During his term,Louisiana seceded from the Union,but Bouligny remained in Washington and refused to resign. He was the only member of Congress from Louisiana to not resign or vacate his seat after the state seceded.
The Supreme Court of Louisiana is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court,composed of seven justices,meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
Jeremiah Haralson was a politician from Alabama who served as a state legislator and was among the first ten African-American United States Congressmen. Born into slavery in Columbus,Georgia,Haralson became self-educated while enslaved in Selma,Alabama. He was a leader among freedmen after the American Civil War.
Charles Edmund Nash was an American politician who served a single two-year term as Republican in the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana.
Joseph Barton Elam,Sr.,was a two-term Democratic U.S. representative for Louisiana's 4th congressional district,whose service corresponded with the administration of U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes.
Benjamin Franklin Flanders was a teacher,politician and planter in New Orleans,Louisiana. In 1867,he was appointed by the military commander as the 21st Governor of Louisiana during Reconstruction,a position which he held for some six months. He was the second and,as of 2024,the last Republican mayor of New Orleans,Louisiana.
Chester Bidwell Darrall was an American Republican Congressman from Louisiana during the latter half of the 19th Century.
Joseph Parkinson Newsham was a 19th-century politician,lawyer,merchant and planter from Louisiana,who served two non-consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Alfred Briggs Irion was a U. S. Representative for Louisiana's 6th congressional district.
Henry Garland Dupré was from 1910 to 1924 a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district,based about New Orleans,Louisiana.
Edmond Ducre Estilette,known as E. D. Estilette,was a politician and lawyer in Opelousas,Louisiana. He served in a number of public positions,most notably speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives at the end of Reconstruction in 1875. Estilette oversaw the creation of one of the most infamous Black Codes of the post-Civil War era,but he was later seen as a moderating force in the turbulent politics of that era.
Monroe Baker was an American politician who served as mayor of St. Martinville,Louisiana,one of the earliest if not the first African-American mayor in the United States.
Robert Poindexter was a state legislator who served in the Louisiana House of Representatives and Louisiana State Senate during the Reconstruction era.
Curtis Pollard was a minister,farmer,store keeper and state legislator who served in the Louisiana State Senate during the Reconstruction era.
Alexander Fortune Riard,was a carpenter,merchant,lawyer and state legislator who served in the Louisiana State Senate from 1876 until 1878.
John B. Esnard was a Reconstruction era politician who served as a delegate at the 1868 Louisiana Constitutional Convention and in the in Louisiana House of Representatives 1868-1870.