Daniel F. Desdunes (c. 1870 – April 24, 1929) was a civil rights activist and musician in New Orleans and Omaha, Nebraska.
In 1892 he volunteered to board a train car designated for whites in violation of the Louisiana 1890 Separate Car Act. This would be a test case to enable the New Orleans Comité des Citoyens to challenge the law in the courts. The train he boarded was an interstate train, and the court found that the law did not apply to such cases, which were bound by federal law and regulation. Shortly thereafter, another member of the Comité des Citoyens, Homer Plessy, was selected to board an intrastate train. He was arrested for refusing to leave the white car, and what became known as Plessy vs Ferguson (1896) was litigated to the US Supreme Court.
In the meantime, Desdunes became a musician, directing bands, orchestras, and minstrel shows and playing many instruments, including the cornet, the violin, the baritone horn, and the trombone. He was known for many styles, including minstrel, ragtime, jazz, gospel,"Concert by Colored Choir Delights Large Audience", Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska), June 1, 1922, Page: 2 classical, and marching. He performed under the direction of P. G. Lowery in P. T. Wright's Nashville Students and under Harry Prampin in Lash E. Gideon's Grand Afro American Mastodon Minstrels and Gideon's Big Minstrel Carnival.
In 1904 Desdunes moved to Omaha, which had become a destination for African Americans from the South during the Great Migration to northern cities. There his band became a fixture in civic life, and he also led the Boys Town Band at Father Flanagan's Boys Town. He was described as the "father of negro musicians of Omaha" in Harrison J. Pinkett's 1937 manuscript, "An Historical Sketch of the Omaha Negro."H.J. Pinkett, "An Historical Sketch of the Omaha Negro" (1937). - parts of this text are available appended to WPA interview by Fred Dixon of Arthur Goodlett https://www.loc.gov/resource/wpalh1.16041210/
Early life
Daniel Desdunes was descended from a family of people of color free before the Civil War. He was born in about 1870 (perhaps 1873Vernhettes, Dan and Hanley, Peter. "The Desdunes Family". The Jazz Archivist, Tulane University, XXVII, 2014, pages 25-45. Accessed February 3, 2016 at http://jazz.tulane.edu/sites/default/files/jazz/docs/jazz_archivist/Jazz_Archivist_vol27_2014.pdf) to Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes and Mathilde (Cheval). His siblings were Agnes (about 1873), Louise (about 1874), Coritza (born in 1876), and Wendelle (born winter 1876-1877). Rodolphe was a customs agent, civil rights activist, journalist, historian, and poet.
In 1879, Rodolphe started a relationship with Clementine Walker, born in 1860 and daughter of John and Ophelia Walker. Rodolphe and Clementine had at least four children together: Mary Celine (in 1879), John Alexander (1881), Louise (1889), and Oscar (1892). Clementine died September 23, 1893. Mary Celine later became known as Mamie Desdunes and was a blues pianist. Clementine lived near Jelly Roll Morton's godmother and Jérémie and Henriette Desdunes were neighbors of Morton's mother. From this proximity, Morton learned the song he later recorded as "Mamie's Blues" or "2:19 Blues" and attributed to Mamie, singing, "Can’t give a dollar, give a lousy dime,/ I wanna feed that hungry man of mine."
Other associates of Mamie included performer Bunk Johnson and promoters Hattie Rogers and Lulu White. Mamie was born March 25, 1879, married George Degay in 1898, and died of tuberculosis on December 4, 1911. Oscar was also a musician and played with his nephew Clarence's (son of Daniel) band, the Joyland Revellers, after Clarence's death in 1933. Rodolphe had three other daughters, possibly by Clementine, named Edna, Lucille, and Jeanne (born about 1893).
Daniel F. Desdunes attended public schools in New Orleans and went to Straight University, a historically black college. After college he worked as a house painter and music teacher.
Personal life In 1895, Desdunes married Victoria Oliver. They had a son, Clarence, on February 17, 1896, and Victoria died shortly afterward. Desdunes married a second time to Madia Dodd. Desdunes lived in New Orleans for most of the 1890s, although he called Chicago home for part of 1899.The Stage. Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), June 3, 1899, Volume: 12 Issue: 22 Page: 5 In 1904 he moved to Omaha, where he lived the rest of his life.
Madia died March 3, 1930, while visiting her sister, Geneva Mabry in Brooklyn, NY."Death Comes Suddenly to Mrs. Dan Desdunes." Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska), March 3, 1930, Page: 1 Her funeral was at St. Philip's Episcopal in Omaha and her burial was at Forest Lawn."Mrs. Dan Desdunes". Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska), March 7, 1930, Page: 23
Comité des Citoyens
In 1890, the Separate Car Act was passed by the Louisiana State Legislature, segregating public transportation. Aristide, Rodolphe and Daniel Desdunes, Louis Martinet, Eugene Luscy, Paul Bonseigneur, L. J. Joubert, P. B. S. Pinchback, Caesar Antoine, Homer Plessy and other leaders who had been free men of color before the Civil War formed the Comité des Citoyens to organize black civil rights efforts. Rodolphe enlisted Dan, his eldest son, to violate the act in order to challenge it in court.
On February 24, 1892, Daniel boarded a train bound for Mobile, Alabama. While stopped at the corner of Elysian Fields and Claiborne in New Orleans, Daniel was arrested. However, Judge John Howard Ferguson ruled that the Separate Car Act could not be enforced for interstate travel because the constitution only granted authority only to the federal government to regulate inter-state travel and commerce. The Comité challenged the law again, with a case of intrastate travel. Plessy volunteered to break the law. When the case, Plessy vs. Ferguson, finally reached the U. S. Supreme Court in 1896, the court ruled that it was legitimate for a state to establish "separate but equal" facilities, and Plessy's rights had not been violated. Albion Tourgee and James C. Walker were the lead defense counsel team in both cases. About that time the Comité and the Crusader both disbanded.
Early career In the early 1890s, Desdunes was performing regularly with cornetist Sylvester Coustaut. Desdunes played violin and baritone horn for the band he co-led, known as the Coustaut-Desdunes Band. Also in the band were violinist O'Neill Levasseur and George Filhe. The band focused on quadrilles and schottishes. Later in the decade, Desdunes joined the fraternal organization the Société des Jeunes Amis, with Philip Nickerson, the son of Professor William Nickerson; and also the Onward Brass Band. He also performed with traveling minstrel shows as early as 1894.
In the late 1890s Desdunes was performing with P. G. Lowery in the P. T. Wright-led Nashville Students. By the spring of 1897, Desdunes was the leader of the orchestra within the group, while Lowery led the band."The Stage." The Freeman Post Office. Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), November 19, 1898, Volume: 11 Issue: 47 Page: 5 Harry Gilliam was the stage manager, and in January 1898, the six soloists were: J. A. Stewart (tuba), M. McQuitty (baritone), E. O. Green (slide trombone), Desdunes (alto), L. E. Gideon (cornet), and Lowery (cornet). The rest of the band were F. C. Richardson (clarionet), Harry Gilliam (1st alto), Ed McGruder (2nd trombone), A. P. Harris (bass drum), Gorden and C. Collins (snare drum).The Stage. Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), January 22, 1898, Volume: 11 Issue: 5 Page: 5
In autumn 1898, cornetist Harry Prampin replaced Lowery as the head of the band, and Prampin's wife, Laura, joined as a trap drummer. Also, Desdunes occasionally played second trombone in the band under Prampin, while his orchestra's repertoire included overtures from the operas Raymond and Lucrezia Borgia. Other significant musicians joined the band over the following few years, including cornetist Frank Clermont, M. F. Watts and Cecil Smith Watts.The Stage. Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), Saturday, September 3, 1898, Volume: 11 Issue: 36 Page: 5
The Nashville singers toured nationally, from Maine to California, and Desdunes' role included a noted arrangement of music to go with the work of group comedians Harris and S. H. Dudley. He also performed as first alto in 1898, with many of the same performers, in a group called Fred W. Simpson's Oliver Scott Refined Negro Minstrals, with Harry Prampin (director and soloist), Lash Gideon (solo cornet), George Bryant (first cornet), Ed Rouseve (clarionet), M. T. Watts (second alto), Edward O Green (trombone soloist), Tom Myers (second trombone), M. M. McQuitty (baritone soloist), John Stewart (tuba soloist), S. H. Dudley (snare drum), and A. P. Harris (bass drum).The Stage -Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), October 1, 1898, Volume: 11 Issue: 40 Page: 5
Extending beyond band and orchestra duties, in March 1899 Desdunes joined with Skinner Harris to form a comedy show which performed under the Nashville Students umbrella. Designed played the role of straight man in the duo.Gideons Minstrel Carnival Direction of Rusco & Holland. Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana). Saturday, December 29, 1900. Volume: XIII Issue: 52 Page: 18 Another member of the Nashville Students, L. E. (Lash) Gideon, formed another minstrel show, L. E. Gideon's Grand Afro American Mastodon Minstrels. Desdunes led the orchestra, and Harry Prampin and James H. Wilson led two bands within the collective.The Stage. Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), Saturday, September 9, 1899, Volume: 12 Issue: 34 Page: 5 In the fall of 1899, Gideon's troupe began touring with the Nashville Students, and soon the groups merged under the name, Gideon's Big Minstrel Carnival. Desdunes musicianship received high honors and his training was highly spoken of. His band masters were listed in the African-American Newspaper the Indianapolis Freeman in December 1900, "commencing with Prof. Henderson Smith; second with Prof. P. G. Lowery, then with Prof. Harry Prampin, and last, but not least, with now Prof. S. E. Dodd". He continued touring with the Nashville Students and Gideons Big Minstrel Carnival through 1901.[No Headline] Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), Saturday, April 20, 1901, Volume: XIV Issue: 16 Page: 5 During this time, he also performed with Ernest Hogan,[No Headline]. Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska), Saturday, May 5, 1906, Page: 4 Ralph Nicholas, and Alcibiade Jeanjacque.Gushee, Lawrence. Pioneers of Jazz: The Story of the Creole Band. Oxford University Press, Apr 13, 2005