Rodolphe Desdunes

Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes
Born	(1849-11-15)November 15, 1849 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Died	August 14, 1928 (aged 78) Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Alma mater	Straight University
Occupation(s)	Customs Officer, Journalist, Historian
Political party	Republican
Spouses	Mathilde Cheval Denebourg Clementine Walker

Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes (French pronunciation: [ʁɔdɔlf lysjɛ̃ dedyn]; November 15, 1849 – August 14, 1928) was a Louisiana Creole civil rights activist, poet, historian, journalist, and customs officer primarily active in New Orleans, Louisiana.

In Louisiana he served as a militiaman during the Reconstruction era and was involved in the Battle of Liberty Place. Later, he was a member of L'Union Louisianaise and wrote for the weekly of the same name. He also wrote for the daily paper, the Crusader, and taught at the Couvent School in New Orleans.

In 1890, he was among the founders of the Comité des Citoyens, which fought the 1890 Separate Car Act through legal challenges, leading to the US Supreme Court Case, Plessy vs Ferguson (1896). He also wrote an important French-language history of Creoles in America called Nos Hommes et Notre Histoire, the first such book written in French by a member of the Louisiana Creoles of Color.

Later in life he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where his son Daniel had settled.