Thomy Lafon was a Creole

Louisiana Creole people

Louisiana Creole people refers to those who are descended from the colonial settlers in Louisiana, especially those of French and Spanish descent. The term was first used during colonial times by the settlers to refer to those who were born in the colony, as opposed to those born in the Old World...

 business man, philanthropist and human rights activist in New Orleans, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, USA. He was born poor, but was a free person of color. He started out selling cakes to workers, opened a small store, was a school teacher for a time and became successful at money lending and real estate investment. He was an opponent of slavery

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

 and supported racial integration in schools. Lafon is mostly known for his large donations to the American Anti-Slavery Society

American Anti-Slavery Society

The American Anti-Slavery Society was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass was a key leader of this society and often spoke at its meetings. William Wells Brown was another freed slave who often spoke at meetings. By 1838, the society had...

, the Underground Railroad

Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...

, the Catholic School for Indigent Orphans, the Louisiana Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans and other charities for both blacks and whites. In his will he also gave funds to local charities and the Charity Hospital, Lafon Old Folks Home, Dillard University

Dillard University

Dillard University is a private, historically black liberal arts college in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 incorporating earlier institutions that went back to 1869, it is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church....

 and the Sisters of the Holy Family

Sisters of the Holy Family-Louisiana

The Sisters of the Holy Family based in New Orleans, Louisiana, were founded in 1837 as the Sisters of the Presentation by Henriette DeLille. In 1842, the order changed its name to the Sisters of the Holy Family.-External links:*...

, an order of African-American nuns. The Thomy Lafon school was called "the best Negro schoolhouse in Louisiana", but was burned down by a white mob during the New Orleans Race Riot of 1900. Lafon also supported Tribune

New Orleans Tribune

The New Orleans Tribune is a newspaper serving the African American community of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It was founded in 1985, and has the same name as an earlier newspaper established around 1864....

, the first black-owned newspaper in the south after the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. He never married and died on December 22, 1893.