Thomy Lafon (December 28, 1810– December 23, 1893) was a Creole of color teacher, businessman, and philanthropist in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Biography

He was born free on December 28, 1810, to a

mixed-race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-eth ...

, francophone family. His mother, Modeste Foucher, was a mistress of

Barthelemy Lafon Barthélemy Lafon (1769–1820) was a notable Creole architect, engineer, city planner, and surveyor in New Orleans, Louisiana. He appears to have had a double life, as a respectable architect, engineer, and citizen; but also as a privateer, smug ...

, though Thomy's father was Pierre Larande. He started out selling cakes to workers, opened a small store, was a school teacher for a time, and became successful at money lending and real estate investment. He was an opponent of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and supported racial integration in schools. He is mostly known for his large donations to the Institute Catholique, the Louisiana Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans, and other charities for both

blacks Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in ...

and

whites White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...

. In his will, he left funds to local charities and to the

Charity Hospital Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

, Lafon Old Folks Home,

Straight University Straight University, after 1915 Straight College, was a historically black college that operated between 1868 and 1934 in New Orleans, Louisiana. After struggling with financial difficulties, it was merged with New Orleans University to form ...

, and the Sisters of the Holy Family, an order of

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 ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

s founded in New Orleans. Lafon also supported the ''Tribune'', the first black-owned newspaper in the South after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. The Thomy Lafon school was called "the best Negro schoolhouse in Louisiana," but it was burned down by a white mob during the New Orleans Race Riot of 1900. Lafon never married, and died on December 22, 1893. He is interred at the Saint Louis Cemetery No. 3.Creolegen
/ref> 100 2107

References

External links

*
Thomy Lafon in the ''Dictionary of Louisiana Biography''
of the

Louisiana Historical Association The Louisiana Historical Association is an organization established in 1889 in Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20 ...

– Scroll down to find Lafon. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lafon, Thomy 1810 births 1893 deaths African-American businesspeople Businesspeople from New Orleans Louisiana Creole people 19th-century American philanthropists 19th-century American businesspeople African-American Catholics