New Roads, Louisiana - Notable People

Notable People

From 1949 until his death in 1981, New Roads was the home of Emmitt Douglas, who served as president of the Louisiana NAACP from 1966-1981.

Julien de Lallande Poydras, a merchant, planter, poet, statesman, banker, and philanthropist helped to establish the state's first public schools in Pointe Coupee Parish in the early 19th century. He likewise endowed a trust fund to provide impoverished brides with dowries in Pointe Coupee and West Baton Rouge Parishes. Visitors will find his grave on the grounds of the old Poydras School on Main Street in New Roads, now a museum and cultural center established by the Pointe Coupee Historical Society.

James Ryder Randall, an English professor who wrote the poem "Maryland, My Maryland" in April 1861, at nearby Poydras College on False River. The poem was later put to music. The site is still known as Randall Oak, though the school was destroyed by fire in 1881. The poem is now Maryland's official state song.

Lieutenant General John Archer LeJeune of the United States Marines.

Ernest J. Gaines, African fiction writer, writer-in-residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette;

U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Marie Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs, known as Lindy Boggs;

Former New Orleans Mayor DeLesseps Story Morrison and his half-brother Jacob Haight Morrison were born in New Roads.