Caesar Antoine

Caesar Carpentier Antoine (born September 1836 in New Orleans , Louisiana , †  September 12, 1921 in Shreveport , Louisiana) was an American politician . Between 1873 and 1877 he was lieutenant governor of the state of Louisiana.

Career

Caesar Antoine attended private schools in New Orleans. He first worked as a hairdresser. Later he worked in the newspaper business. When the civil war broke out , he and his brother became a member of a militia force that was to be placed under the Confederation Army . But this did not happen. After the occupation of the city of New Orleans by troops of the US Army , he joined the army of the Union . He initially achieved the rank of captain. As Antoine himself was of African American descent, he fell victim to an order from the new military commander Nathaniel Prentiss Banks , who wanted only whites as officers. Then Antoine served as a simple soldier in the force. After the war he started working as a newspaper publisher in New Orleans. He also ran a grocery store in Shreveport. He also ran a life insurance company.

Politically, Antoine was a member of the Republican Party . Between 1870 and 1872 he was a member of the Louisiana Senate . In 1872 he was elected lieutenant governor of his state on the side of William P. Kellogg . He held this office between 1873 and 1877. He was Deputy Governor and Chairman of the State Senate. He was the last Republican to serve as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana until 1988. His tenure was overshadowed by political turmoil, which was accompanied by various corruption scandals. Louisiana remained politically unstable until around 1900.

After serving as Lieutenant Governor, Caesar Antoine continued his previous activities. In 1890, he became vice president of the New Orleans Comité des Citoyens , which unsuccessfully fought against the racial discrimination laws of the state of Louisiana. He campaigned for the civil rights of African Americans and against the politics of segregation . These efforts led to the case of Plessy v. Ferguson , who was tried in the United States Supreme Court . The court's verdict, however, was disappointing: it found that racial segregation on railroad trains - and that is what these proceedings were about - was compatible with the United States Constitution . Racial segregation was thus legally legitimized in the southern states for a long time. A rethink only took place after the Second World War .

Caesar Antoine died on September 12, 1921 in Shreveport, where he was also buried.

Web links

• Caesar Antoine in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• The Political Graveyard
• Article about Antoine