Victor Lacroix

Victor Lacroix (died 1866) was a Creole of color from New Orleans who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and died in the New Orleans massacre of 1866. He was the son of wealthy property owner, tailor, and Creole of color François Lacroix.

Poems of tribute were published in the New Orleans Tribune including one with a stanza noting Lacroix.[1] After his death a séance was held and the medium reported that Lacroix sought a continued push for civil rights.[2]

Four years before his death, Lacroix married Sarah Brown, a white woman, in a religious ceremony at St. Alphonse Church. Civil law prohibited such a marriage until 1868, two years after his death. In a contestation of Lacroix's will, Brown gave testimony that she did not realize her husband was a man of color until after they were wed. Ultimately, a filing deadline was missed and her case was denied.[3] She and her two young children with Lacroix were provided for by her father-in-law, François.[4]

References

  1. ^ Kaplan-Levenson, Laine. "An Absolute Massacre: The 1866 Riot At The Mechanics' Institute". Retrieved 2018-02-25.
  2. ^ Clark, Emily Suzanne (26 August 2016). A Luminous Brotherhood: Afro-Creole Spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans. UNC Press Books. ISBN 9781469628790 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Court, Louisiana Supreme; Manning, Thomas Courtland (25 February 1884). "Unreported Cases Heard and Determined by the Supreme Court of Louisiana, from January 8, 1877, to April, 1880: Digested, Reported, and Condensed". Nixon-Jones Printing Company – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Thompson, Shirley Elizabeth (2009). Exiles at Home: The Struggle to Become American in Creole New Orleans. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674023512.