Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes

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, Desdunes served as a militiaman during the Reconstruction era and fought 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, Desdunes 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.