America's First Elected Black Mayor: Pierre "Caliste" Landry

Pierre C. Landry

Donated by the family of Pierre Landry

Pierre “Caliste” Landry was born on the plantation of Dr. F. Prevost on April 19, 1841. Prior to 1866, Pierre Caliste Landry, was known simply as “Caliste”. His mother was an enslaved woman named Marcelite, his father named Rosemond Landry. Caliste's life during his antebellum childhood was not typical of the enslaved experience. He was reared by two free people of color, Pierre Bouissiac and his wife Zaides where he was allowed to attend school for the free children of color. In May of 1854, at the age of thirteen, he was sold at auction for $1,665.00 to the highest bidder. Landry recalls in his manuscript, that one of his first instructors in the Roman Catholic faith was Father Arnuad, a free man of color. In 1862, Landry converted to become a Methodist Episcopal. He writes about a meeting with a group of fellow slaves from Baltimore who were members of the Shape Street Methodist Episcopal Church. Landry and this group worshiped together until 1865 while living on the Houmas Plantation.

Family

Landry’s first wife, Amanda Grigsy, died in 1883. She was enslaved as a child at the Monroe Plantation (also a part of the Bringier holdings). Landry’s second wife was Florence Simpkins. He fathered fourteen living children.

All of his children were college educated, including a son born in Donaldsonville, known by many as Lord Beaconsfield Landry or Dr. L.B. Landry.

Pierre C. Landry owned a small store and was reported to be the first freed man to build, and own his home in Donaldsonville. His home and church remain a part of the historic district of Donaldsonville.

Pierre C. Landry's Home Donaldsonville, Louisiana

c. 2014

River Road African American Museum

Political Career

From 1868 to the end of his political career in 1880, he controlled local politics. He was often criticized for his alliance with conservative Democrats, who were former plantation owners and Confederates. He was, however, considered a peacemaker because of his religious convictions. It is believed that Landry’s political “policy of cooperation” led to his success in the 1868 election for mayor of Donaldsonville.

His political career sometimes led to rumors of scandal. He survived political threats from both sides. One incident was reported in the New York Times in November of 1870, Riot in Louisiana: A Mob of Negroes Reported in Possession of Donaldsonville---Prominent Citizens Killed and the Town Set on Fire--Intense Excitement at New Orleans. It was reported in other newspapers of the time, that the mob of Blacks swarmed the town to kill Pierre Landry. Two other politicians were killed during this incident that happened on the river road leading into the town. Landry is actually credited with bringing peace to the situation. Accounts of the incident report that the mob was as small as 500 and as many as 2,000. It is also speculated that the incident involved the disappearance of ballot boxes. There is no doubt that Reconstruction was a “revolutionary era”. In James Wilson's thesis, he states that the 1870 incident was the only serious election troubles to occur in Ascension Parish during Reconstruction.

Governor P. B. S. Pinchback and Mayor Pierre C. Landry were campaigning together

in Donaldsonville.

Weekly Louisianan

October 24, 1874

Landry was named to the State Senate in 1874 and served as a member of the Constitutional Convention. As an elected official, he took full advantage of every opportunity to draft legislation and sponsor bills related to property rights and public education. Landry was the chief arbitrator for the State’s labor disputes. He became the State’s leading spokesman on the Exodus Movement. In May of 1879, an estimated crowd of nearly 2,000 gathered in Lafayette Square in New Orleans. Landry felt that fixed and low wages were the obstacles that prevented lacks from purchasing land, and the lack of avenues for Blacks to obtain positions other than menial laborers. Landry also expressed his concern about the lack of public schools for Blacks in rural areas. The third concern was about the violence and oppression inflicted upon his people; and the fourth concern expressed lack of protection provided by the State and Federal authorities. Landry’s resolutions passed unanimously and Black suffrage was protected; migration to Kansas came to an end. Landry’s success soared until 1884 when he decided to trade in “politics for the pulpit”.

Landry was a State Senator and member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. He also served as President of the School Board, a member of the Ascension Parish Police Jury, Justice of the Peace, the Postmaster and the town Tax Collector.

Methodist Minister

St. Peter's Methodist Church
Donaldsonville, Louisiana

Landry's first vote of confidence came on December 25, 1865 when he was elected the Station Preacher at the Mississippi Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His next political success came by Resolution on January 1, 1867, when Landry was declared the leader of his people by a unanimous vote of Blacks attending a celebration commemorating the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. By the of 1867, laws were passed by Congress requiring former Confederate states to include Black male suffrage in the new state constitutions.

Landry later established nine other churches in Ascension and surrounding parishes.

New Orleans University & Gilbert Academy

One of his most important victories were the legislative bills he introduced to establish New Orleans University. Landry was a founding member of the Board of Trustees for New Orleans University. New Orleans University became Dillard and had one of the country’s only medical schools for Blacks. Landry was also the principal of Gilbert Academy in Baldwin, Louisiana. This was a nationally recognized school, which had its beginnings in 1865, as an agricultural and industrial institution for newly freed Blacks.

"I never knew my grandfather, but music, education, and religion was an important part of our upbringing. I know it was because of my grandfather's legacy."

Elise Dunn Cain

Pierre C. Landry's granddaughter

The Landry Memoirs:

Landry wrote his own autobiography. “I have labored to better the condition of my race by making it possible for us to live in peace.” The manuscript was completed the summer of his death in 1921. It was never published.

Bust of Pierre "Caliste" Landry
Dr. E. Jack Jordan (1925-1999)
c.1998
Bronze
Donated by Dr. E. Jack Jordan & family

“I believe that intelligence and culture should be respected. This has been the rule of my life, not only in the management of the affairs of the State, but also in the church. Perhaps, I was considered corrupt because I affiliated with the best class of Southern white men who composed the wealth, culture, and intelligence of this State. If so, then I have nothing to regret for having labored with such people so as to the betterment of my race, by making it possible to live together in peace.”

--Pierre C. Landry

Pierre Caliste Landry was a well-known and respected leader in the rural communities along the river. His life, however, was shroud in controversy as are many involved in Louisiana politics. He was criticized by some for his “policy of cooperation” and despised by many because of his courage and demands for equal rights for his people.

Pierre Caliste Landry Death Certificate
Donated by Margrete White

Pierre "Caliste" Landry's permanent exhibit is on view at the River Road African American Museum in Donaldsonville, Louisiana.

The River Road African American Museum would like to thank the following individuals and institutions for their support of this exhibit:

Elise Dunn Cain

Tulane University Amistad Research Center &

The Landry Dunn Family Papers
James Wilson
Dr. E. Jack Jordan

Dr. Charles Vincent