Thomy Lafon, born in New Orleans in 1810, earned enough money to become the wealthiest Black man in America. However, being a philanthropist was his true legacy.
“Lafon’s early life was spent in poverty, but somehow he acquired enough education to become a school teacher,” Black Then states. “His wealth resulted from shrewd investments and his frugal lifestyle.”
Starting as a merchant, Lafon became wealthy as a real estate broker. According to Black Past, he earned an estimated $250,000 by 1870.
“Despite his wealth, Lafon lived in a modest house at 242 Ursulines St.,” Black Past states. Eventually, he “accumulated nearly half a million dollars – a great sum in his day.”
Lafon did a better job of giving his money away.
According to the African American Registry, Lafon donated to the American Anti-Slavery Society, the Underground Railroad, the Catholic Institute for the Care of Orphans, the Louisiana Asylum, New Orleans University, Southern University, Straight University, the Shakespeare Alms Home, the Societe des Jeunes Amis and the Little Sisters of the Poor.
“Lafon was also active in politics during the Civil War,” Black Past states. “He helped found the Friends of Universal Suffrage, an interracial organization committed to securing the vote for African American males.”
Lafon also founded the Lafon Orphan Boys’ Asylum and the Home for Aged Colored Men and Women. A newspaper described him as a “wealthy old colored man who gave with love and affection several major gifts and numerous minor ones to care for the poor of all races.”
Immediately after Lafon died on Dec. 22, 1893, “the Louisiana State Legislature voted to honor him in a memorial despite the racial discrimination that was so virulent at the time,” the Registry states. “He was the first Black person to be honored by any Union State.”
For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.
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