(1805-02-07)February 7, 1805 New Orleans, Louisiana, US
Died
January 30, 1883(1883-01-30) (aged 77) New Orleans, Louisiana, US
Resting place
Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1
Spouse
Mary Powell Mills
(m. 1835–1883)
Children
John Bull Smith Dimitry Charles Patton Dimitry
Alma mater
Georgetown University
Profession
Lawyer, Statesman, Educator
Known for
Education, Diplomacy
Other names
Tobias Guarnerius
Family
Dimitry Family (Creoles)
Alexander Dimitry (February 7, 1805 – January 30, 1883) was an American author, diplomat, educator, journalist, lawyer, orator, and publicist. He was the first state superintendent of public instruction in Louisiana and represented the United States as Ambassador to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Despite his mixed heritage (quadroon), he was one of the few people of color to serve in the bureaucracy of the Confederate Government. Alexander generally passed as white but still witnessed countless incidents of racism. Two major incidents involving his family were documented in court entitled Forstall, f.p.c. v. Dimitry (1833) and Pandelly v. Wiltz (1854). Throughout his entire life, Alexander underwent constant persecution and was always reminded of his skin color and ethnic background.[2][3][4]
Dimitry was born in New Orleans to a Greek white father, Andrea Dmitry, and to a mixed Greek-African mother, Marianne Céleste Dragon. His father was from the Greek island Hydra. He grew up speaking a number of languages and promoted Greece throughout his entire life. He attended Georgetown University,[5][6][7] which later paved the way for other members of the Dimitry family to attend the institution.[8] He was a prominent educator throughout his entire life, giving lectures on many subjects including The Wonders of Astronomy and The Harmonies of Creation.
Dimitry was one of the founders of the secret society The Seven Wise Men or The Order of the Heptasophs. He was also a member of the Cosmopolitan Club and Louisiana Historical Society. He was one of vice-presidents during the Grand Unification Mass Meeting in 1873 to desegregate schools in Louisiana during the Jim Crow era.[9][10] He was a prominent educator and became a chair at the Pass Christian College. His children John Bull Smith Dimitry, Charles Patton Dimitry and Virginia Dimitry Ruth became prominent Creole educators and writers. His nephew Ernest Lagarde also followed in his footsteps speaking numerous languages and teaching at Mount St. Mary's University. Alexander died at seventy-seven years old in New Orleans and is buried at Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 along with other family members. The entrance at Wolf River was named Dimitry Point and the region is known as Alexander Dimitry Claim.[11][12][13]
^Arroyo 1886, p. 73.
^Broyard 2007, p. 149.
^"Distribution of Paris Metals". The Chicago Tribune, Volume 21, No. 3541. Chicago, Illinois: The Chicago Tribune. June 22, 1868. p. 2, col. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 23, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2023. The Principle Address was by Prof. Alexander Dimitry a gentlemen revered for his learning but said to possess a small mixture of African Blood.
^"Nomination Confirmed". Evening Star, Volume 15, No. 2164. Washington D.C: Evening Star. January 25, 1860. p. 2, col. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 29, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023. Nomination Confirmed The appointment of Alexander Dimitry, as Minister to Africa, was yesterday confirmed by the Senate. amongst others.
^Alexander Dimitry - People - Department History - Office of the Historian
^Brown 1900, pp. 462.
^Shelby 1866.
^Maxwell 1916, p. 111.
^Reeves 1999, p. 132.
^"Grand Unification Mass Meeting". New Orleans Republican, Volume VII, No. 82. New Orleans, Louisiana: New Orleans Republican. July 15, 1873. p. 2, col. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2023. Grand Unification Mass Meeting, At Exposition Hall, on Tuesday, July 15 at 7pm, An Appeal for the Unification of the People of Louisiana
^Mary Helen Schaeffer (June 3, 2013). "Short History of Pass Christian 1931" (PDF). Pass Christian, MS: Pass Christian Historical Society. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
AlexanderDimitry (February 7, 1805 – January 30, 1883) was an American author, diplomat, educator, journalist, lawyer, orator, and publicist. He was...
educator AlexanderDimitry. Andrea Dimitry was born on the island of Hydra. He was the son of Nicholas Dimitry and Euphrosine Antonia. The Dimitry family...
Dimitri, Dimitry, Demetri or variations thereof may refer to: St Dimitry (died 306), Greek Christian martyr and Orthodox saint Dimitri Atanasescu (1836–1907)...
Thompson. Two of her creole children attended Georgetown. Her son AlexanderDimitry was the first person of color to attend Georgetown University and...
people of color venerated by the Confederacy. As the son of the author AlexanderDimitry, John was selected to write the Confederate Military History around...
Confederate soldier. He was the second son of author and diplomat AlexanderDimitry and also the grandson of Marianne Celeste Dragon. His catalog features...
and Marie Francesca Athenais Dimitry. His father died while Lagarde was a young child, and so his uncle AlexanderDimitry took on an important role in...
company in the Second Regiment of the Federal Louisiana Native Guards. AlexanderDimitry, a Creole of New Orleans, was one of the few people of color to take...
influential Greek families in United States history. His grandson AlexanderDimitry, who was mixed-race due to his mother's partial African ancestry,...
educator AlexanderDimitry is buried at Saint Louis Cemetery Number One. Most of the Dimitry family is interred there including; Andrea Dimitry and his...
Stuart. Pandely's mother Euphrosine Dimitry was a member of the Dimitry Family. Her younger brother was AlexanderDimitry. Pandely grew up in an academic...
America. His son was United States ambassador to Costa Rica & Nicaragua AlexanderDimitry. Another Greek refugee named George Marshall also came to the United...
Greek ancestry, around 1799. Their son, Creole author and educator AlexanderDimitry, was the first person of color to represent the United States as Ambassador...
and writer John Bull Smith Dimitry Creole author known for Le Tombeau Blanc George Washington Dixon, newspaper editor Alexander John Drysdale, artist George...
James Costos – former U.S. Ambassador to Spain under Barack Obama. AlexanderDimitry – diplomat, linguist and scholar who worked as a U.S. Ambassador to...
to Costa Rica; resident partly at Managua and partly at San José. ALEXANDERDIMITRY, Minister to Nicaragua and Costa Rica, has been recalled, although...
group of survivors consisting of Carl, Yaya, Dimitry, Therese, Paula, Jarmo, ship's mechanic Nelson (whom Dimitry accuses of being a pirate), and cleaning...
when she removed to Texas during the American Civil War. A pupil of AlexanderDimitry, her translations from different languages were admired, and her poems...
Minister Resident September 14, 1858 May 20, 1859 James Buchanan AlexanderDimitry September 29, 1859 April 27, 1861 Charles N. Riotte August 29, 1861...
teaching. His legal studies were pursued in company with his friend, AlexanderDimitry, in the office of Auguste Devesac, beginning in December 1826 and...
False Dimitry in The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, Rilke's only longer prose work. Harold Lamb fictionalizes the demise of False Dimitry in "The...
1983 Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. The Russian Church under the Soviet Regime, 1917-1989 (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1984) ch 2. Dimitry V....
Judge Daniel Carroll Digges (Class of 1833), Maryland politician AlexanderDimitry, American diplomat, linguist and scholar; ambassador to Costa Rica...
(2004), Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press. Pospielovsky, Dimitry V (1987), A History of Soviet Atheism in Theory, and Practice and the Believer...
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