Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

Aristide Dejoie was the father of seven children and grandfather of fourteen. The family resided
at 4807 Magazine Street and attended St. Luke P. E. church. Paul, his elder son, was the first
African-American to pass the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners. Another son Constant
C. Dejoie took over Unity Insurance after Paul’s 1921 death. Paul Dejoie’s wife Ella also went into
business, serving as treasurer of Unity Insurance in New Orleans as well as of its Chicago offshoot.
Ella Dejoie also founded Broadmoor Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Company. In 1925, C. C.
Dejoie and a partner founded the Louisiana Weekly newspaper, still publishing today and an enduring
voice of the African-American community. 3
Above: Aristide Dejoie.
COURTESY OF RENETTE DEJOIE HALL AND THE
LOUISIANA WEEKLY.
Below: Warren Easton.
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, EARL K. LONG LIBRARY,
UNIVETSITY OF NEW ORLEANS.
1 John N. Ingham and Lynne B. Feldman, African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary (Westport,
Conn.:Greenwood Press, 1994), 174-178.
2 After Dejoie’s death, Walter L. Cohen {q.v.) succeeded him as President of the local Negro Business League.
3 For more information see also Jara Honora, The Dejoies of New Orleans Part 2, in CreoleGen, an online history, August
20, 2015 and Ryan Whirty’s essay in The Times-Picayune, May 3, 2017.
W ARREN
E ASTON
(1848-1910)
Warren Easton shaped the early twentieth century New Orleans Public School system. That
Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of its infrastructure in 2005 cannot obscure a century of success.
Easton grasped the halting efforts of the nineteenth century and made them comprehensive. At his
death in 1910 at the age of 61 the national Journal of Education noted that the New Orleans public
schools constituted one of the “notably good school systems of the country. No one has evolved a
more complete and satisfactory system in an old city than did Mr. Easton,” it wrote. At the time of
Easton’s death, enrollment had reached almost 40,000 students and included
numerous special education programs.
Easton and has successor Joseph Marr Gwinn oversaw the erection of the first
major high schools in the city. They also encouraged “cooperative clubs” (PTAs)
of which there were soon fifty-three, all supporting libraries, school-room decorations,
grounds, and athletic equipment. The cooperative clubs also served a
“penny” luncheon for the benefit of needy children. Cooking, sewing, and manual
training classes were extended, and programs for the deaf and disabled were
launched. As a result of Easton’s leadership, the city began directly supporting
the school system. At the state level, the legislature revamped the school board’s
structure, reducing its size to five and mandating attendance in school until the
age of fourteen, sixteen if the student were unemployed. 1
Easton was born in New Orleans, graduating from Louisiana University in
1871. After a short stint teaching in 1873 he was appointed principal. In 1884,
he began a four-year term as State Superintendent of Education. Easton regularly
attended the annual meetings of the National Education Association and
served as president of the Louisiana Education Association, promoting progressive
ideas in education. 2
Easton’s untimely death left citizens with a feeling of considerable loss. A high
school bearing his name was dedicated in 1911. Today it is fitting that Warren Easton High on Canal
Street should be experiencing a wave of improvement inspired by the computer revolution.
1 A. E. Winship, “Looking About”, Journal of Education. May 29, 1913.
2 Journal of Education. October 27, 1910.
NOTABLE NEW ORLEANIANS: A Tricentennial Tribute
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