Before Algiers claimed his son as its doctor and high school namesake, Pierre Caliste Landry had already made history as the first Black mayor in the United States.
Landry was born in 1841 on a sugar cane plantation in Ascension Parish. He was the son of enslaved cook Marcelite Prevost and white laborer Roseman Landry. At 13, Landry was sold to Marius St. Colombe Bringier.
“Landry had unique educational and entrepreneurial opportunities that prepared him for financial and political success after his emancipation,” 64 Parishes states. “Landry used his education, confectionary skills and trustworthiness to ingratiate himself with Bringier.”…