''The New Orleans Tribune'' was a newspaper serving the

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

community of

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. It was the first Black daily newspaper in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

History

The ''Tribune'' was founded in 1864 by Dr. Louis Charles Roudanez, a free man of color. He had also published ''L'Union'', which had folded earlier that year. The ''Tribune'' was the first Black daily newspaper published in the United States, and the first bilingual one; it was published in French and English. Born in Louisiana, Roudanez had studied in

Paris, France Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

to become a doctor and received additional medical training at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

to become a doctor. In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Roudanez founded two newspapers. He founded ''L'Union'' in 1862, which folded, and the ''Tribune'' in 1864. He published his paper in French and English, as a large part of the New Orleans population, both whites and Creoles of color, was still French speaking. It was the first bilingual and daily, black newspaper in the United States.

Jean-Charles Houzeau Jean-Charles Houzeau de Lehaie (October 7, 1820 – July 12, 1888) was a Belgian astronomer and journalist. A French speaker, he moved to New Orleans after getting in trouble for his politics in Belgium. In the U.S. he continued his journalistic ...

, a Francophone astronomer, author, and abolitionist from Belgium, worked with Roudanez at both his newspapers, beginning in 1864. He wrote an account of these experiences, along with the volcanic politics of the day, ''My Passage at the New Orleans Tribune: A Memoir of the Civil War Era'', which was first published in French in Belgium. During Reconstruction, there was strong competition within the Republican Party in Louisiana. Severe intraparty feuding took place over Republican political candidates for the 1868 gubernatorial election. Some local men of color such as Roudanez, who had achieved education and social standing before the war, were opposed to white "

carpetbaggers In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical term used by Southerners to describe opportunistic Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War, who were perceived to be exploiting the l ...

" (men from the North) running as candidates. The paper lost national Republican Party support and closed in 1870. It was briefly revived after the election of Northern Republican Henry C. Warmoth as governor of the state.

Legacy

*The original site of the ''New Orleans Tribune'', at 527 Conti Street, New Orleans, is commemorated with an historical marker. *Dr. Roudanez's life has been explored in a short documentary ''Hidden History'' (2016). *A publication by the same name was founded in 1985 and is published by McKenna Publishing Co.

References

External links

* for the contemporary newspaper known as the New Orleans Tribune Newspapers published in New Orleans African-American newspapers Newspapers established in 1985 1985 establishments in Louisiana {{Louisiana-newspaper-stub