Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche, the Creole man aboard the RMS Titanic, was Haitian.
Picture of Joseph Laroche, his wife and two daughters (SEE BELOW).
Mr. Laroche's occupation was engineer; he was 25 years old and resided in Paris, France.
Joseph Laroche had relatives in Haiti.
Laroche passed away on the RMS Titanic; his body was never recovered.
He traveled with his wife, who was a white woman, and member of aristocracy in Europe.
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(Juliette (wife), Simonne and Louise (daughters).
BRAD'S NOTE: When I first heard there was one black man aboard the
Titanic, my mind gave me a picture of a man that looked like Marcus Garvey
(I'M AWARE THAT MARCUS GARVEY WAS JAMAICAN AND NOT HAITIAN)
in features and skin color, but I was wrong. Joseph Laroche probably looked
like Adam Clayton Powell or a lighter version of Cab Calloway. So, for him being married
to a white woman and being "high-yellow complexion" didn't draw much adverse attention
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Mr Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche
was born in Cap Haitien, Haiti on 26 May 1886. In 1901, at age 15, he left Haiti and travelled to Beauvais, France, where he hoped to join the high school to study engineering.
While visiting nearby Villejuif Joseph met Miss Juliette Lafargue; After Joseph graduated and got his degree, he and Juliette were married in March of 1908. Their daughter Simonne was born 19 February 1909; a second daughter, Louise, was born prematurely on 2 July 1910, and suffered many subsequent medical problems.
Racial discrimination prevented Joseph Laroche from obtaining a high-paying job in France. Since the family needed more money to cope with Louise's medical bills, Joseph decided to return to Haiti to find a better-paying engineering job, the move being planned for 1913.
In March 1912, however, Juliette discovered that she was pregnant, so she and Joseph decided to leave for Haiti before her pregnancy became too far advanced for travel. Joseph's mother in Haiti bought them steamship tickets on the La France as a welcome present, but the line's strict policy regarding children caused them to transfer their booking to the Titanic's second class. On April 10 the Laroche family took the train from Paris to Cherbourg in order to board the brand new liner later that evening.
Joseph - who is thought to have been the only black passenger on the Titanic - died in the sinking but his family were saved, possibly in lifeboat 14.
References and Sources
Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279])
Marriages, births, deaths and injuries that have occurred on board during the voyage (PRO London, BT 100/259-260)
Judith Geller (1998) Titanic: Women and Children First. Haynes. ISBN 1 85260 594 4
Credits
George Behe, USA
Phillip Gowan, USA
Olivier Mendez, France
