François Lacroix (1806–1876) was a wealthy

Creole of color The Creoles of color are a historic ethnic group of Creole people that developed in the former French and Spanish colonies of Louisiana (especially in the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, and Northwestern Florida i.e. Pensacola, Flori ...

, tailor, fabric merchant, and prominent landowner in New Orleans, Louisiana. His son Victor Lacroix was killed in the infamous

New Orleans massacre of 1866 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 t ...

when Republicans gathered and paraded for a constitutional convention at the Mechanics Institute in New Orleans and were attacked by Democrats including armed police and firemen. He supported his son's widow, a white woman named Sarah Brown, as well as their two children.

Life

Francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

and Catholic, Lacroix was born free in Cuba, as was his brother Julien. Their parents, a white Frenchman and a free '' mulâtresse'', fled there from

Saint Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the islan ...

following the

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...

. Along with fellow tailor and Creole Etienne Cordeviolle, Lacroix founded the tailoring shop known as "Cordeviolle & Lacroix" located off of Canal Street. As an extremely successful businessman, he acquired a large real estate portfolio as well as several slaves over the course of his life. He likewise supported a number of philanthropies, including La Société de la Sainte Famille and the Institut Catholique des orphelins indigents, of which he served for a time as president. Deeply affected by his son's death, Lacroix was a participant in séances to try and communicate with him. An exhibit about his life was put on at a New Orleans Public Library.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacroix, François 1806 births 1876 deaths People from New Orleans African-American businesspeople Businesspeople from New Orleans Louisiana Creole people 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American philanthropists African-American Catholics