Many thanks to all of the authors whose scholarship has contributed to a deeper understanding of the importance of the New Orleans Tribune and its founder, Dr. Louis Charles Roudanez. (Click here to return to the list of articles)

Mark Roudané: Retired Public School Teacher, Author, Historian. Mr. Roudané was born in New Orleans and currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota. Descending from the enslaved, free persons of color, and whites, he embraces his African, French, Haitian, and Louisianan ancestry. Mr. Roudané’s recent release, The New Orleans Tribune, An Introduction to America’s First Black Daily Newspaper, has sold over 800 copies. His articles have appeared in the South Atlantic Review and the Journal of the Louisiana Creole Research Association. Mr. Roudané was featured as the keynote speaker at last summer’s 150^th Anniversary of the Tribune, and recently presented lectures on Tribune history at Savannah State University. He is the great, great grandson of Dr. Louis Charles Roudanez. Read more about Mr. Roudané here.

Matthew Charles Roudané: Matthew Charles Roudané is Regents’ Professor of English at Georgia State University.  He has published over a dozen books on various aspects of American Drama.  The recipient of three Fulbright awards, Roudané has lectured widely both here and abroad, and has taught at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain and the University of Toulouse, France.  He has served on a number of editorial and advisory boards for such journals as PMLA and Estudios Ingleses de la Universidad Complutense.

Caryn Cossé Bell: Visiting Professor at the Ethel & Herman L. Midlo Center in New Orleans Studies at the University of New Orleans and Professor Emerita of History at the University of Massachusetts. Her award-winning book, Revolution, Romanticism, and the Afro-Creole Protest Tradition in Louisiana, 1718-1868 (1997), was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.  She was the Research Director for the award-winning PBS documentary Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans. She is editor of Rappelez-Vous Concitoyens! La poesie de Pierre-Aristide Desdunes (2010).

Dr. Raphael Cassimere, Jr.: Retired Professor of History, University of New Orleans. Dr. Raphael Cassimere, Jr. is a native of New Orleans, and a product of its public schools. He received his Bachelor and Master degrees in history from the University of New Orleans, and the Ph.D. degree from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Cassimere was a full-time member of the history department of the University of New Orleans from 1971-2007, and retired with the rank of Seraphia D. Leyda University Teaching Professor. He has been actively involved with the NAACP since 1960 and held numerous offices in the organization. Dr. Cassimere has also served on a number of governmental boards and commissions, including Chairman of the Vieux Carré Commission for three terms, as well as a founding member of the Louisiana Black Culture Commission. He is married to Inez Hale Cassimere. They have one son and a daughter, and one granddaughter.

Nathalie Dessens: Nathalie Dessens is a Professor of American history and civilization at the University of Toulouse-Le Mirail (France). For many years, she conducted research on ideology in the antebellum American South, on the myth of the Old South in literature and popular culture, and on the history of the slave societies of the Americas. In the past decade, she has refocused her research on nineteenth-century New Orleans. She has written about 50 articles and book chapters and edited several journal issues published in Europe, in the Caribbean, and in the United Sates. She has also authored, among others, Myths of the Plantation Society: Slavery in the American South and the West Indies (University Press of Florida, 2003), From Saint-Domingue to New Orleans: Migration and Influences (University Press of Florida, 2007), and Creole City: A Chronicle of Early American New Orleans (University Press of Florida, 2015). After editing French Colonial History for three years, and serving as Vice-President of the French Colonial Historical Society for two years, she is the current President of the Society.

Jari C. Honora: Author, Historian, Public Speaker, and Genealogist. Jari C. Honora is a New Orleans native with roots dating back more than two centuries along Bayou LaFourche and the German Arcadian Coast. He is a member of the Louisiana Public History Forum, Jefferson Historical Society, Louisiana Historical Society, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Mr. Honora served as vice president of the Youth Genealogists Association and as program committee chair for the Louisiana Creole Research Association. He received the Federation of Genealogical Societies Youth Award in 2007. He has presented on a wide variety of subject including the nineteenth century colored Creole newspapers, the African American community at Camp Parapet Louisiana, the use of Sacramental Records, and the role of the Catholic Church within the colored Creole community. He serves as an officer in a variety of other organizations. He is the National Historian for the Knights of Peter Claver and is writing a history of the organization.

Dr. Catherine Jouve: Doctor of Medicine. Dr. Jouve is the great granddaughter of Dr. Louis Charles Roudanez. She resides in Paris, France. With hope for racial democracy lost, Dr. Roudanez brought his wife Célie Saulay, his daughters and youngest son to the safety Paris in 1879. Catherine’s grandfather, Joseph Benjamin Clement Roudanez, was born in New Orleans in 1875, the youngest child of Louis Charles Roudanez. France is home to dozens of Roudanez descendants.

Laura V. Rouzan: Laura V. Rouzan has taught college level communications courses for over 35 years.  She served as Associate Professor of Mass Communication and as Interim Dean of the College of Professional Studies at Dillard University in New Orleans.  Dr. Rouzan’s current research concerns the political and artistic contributions of Afro-Creoles in New Orleans, and black newspaper editors of the nineteenth century.  

Barbara Trévigne: L.C.S.W., B.C.D., Author, Historian, and Genealogist. Barbara received her Masters’ degree in Social Sciences from the Tulane University School of Social Work. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Private Practice, a Licensed Tour Guide for the city of New Orleans, as well as a visual artist, playwright, storyteller, actor, cultural historian, published author, and recognized independent researcher and scholar. Barbara is featured in a number of film documentaries, television stories, and talk shows, including National Public Radio. She has received widespread recognition for her artistic, humanitarian, and preservation efforts. Barbara is the paternal second great niece of L’Union and Tribune editor, Paul Trévigne.

Leon A. Waters: Chairperson of Louisiana Museum of African American History, Manager of Hidden History LLC-a publishing, touring and research company. A native New Orleanian who finished Xavier University in Business Administration. Publisher of On To New Orleans: Louisiana’s Heroic 1811 Slave Revolt. This 300 page book is the story of the largest slave revolt in the United States that happened here in St. John the Baptist Parish, St. Charles Parish, and Orleans Parish. He has been active for a long time in the struggle for complete liberation for the African American nation and the social emancipation of the working class. He is married to Aleta Cornin Waters. They have three children, nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

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