Written by historian Brian K. Mitchell (who is also a descendant of Dunn), Monumental: Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction Louisiana is a deeply researched graphic account of the remarkable life of Dunn, a New Orleans-born former slave, musician, carpenter, and grandmaster freemason, who rose to become the first African American state lieutenant governor and acting governor in the U.S. Respected for his integrity and deep roots in the New Orleans Black community, Dunn joined the post-Civil War Republican Party working tirelessly in support of Black suffrage, integrated public schools and police, fair labor for freed slaves, and equal rights, in the face of violent white militias determined to defy the newly enacted Reconstruction Act and Black civil rights of any kind. Running as a progressive Radical Republican, Dunn was elected lieutenant governor of Louisiana in 1868 under governor Henry Clay Warmoth, who ultimately betrayed Dunn and the Radical Republican vision of political and racial equity when he vetoed key state Civil Rights legislation and allied with local white supremacists. In this 14-page excerpt, Dunn solemnly accepts the political nomination and takes on the growing and violent white opposition to Black political enfranchisement. Monumental: Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction Louisiana by Brian K. Mitchell, with art by Barrington S. Edwards, and edited by Nick Weldon, will be published by The Historic New Orleans Collection in March.
