Victor Eugene Macarty

---

Early Life

Victor Eugene Macarty’s father, Eugene Theodore Macarty, was a New Orleans financier who had many long-term relationships over the course of his life in the city. Three of these relationships were with women of color—of the three, one was Heloise Croy, a young lady born around 1795 on the northern coast of Saint-Domingue. Although there are no records to prove that she had immigrated, there is also no evidence indicating that Croy was enslaved. Of the three women of color that Eugene had relationships with, the most well-known was Eulalie Mandeville de Marigny. She had more financial power than he did, as she even helped finance some of his business activities. Between the years of 1817 and 1823, Heloise Croy gave birth to Victor Eugene Macarty in New Orleans. A couple of years later, she had given birth to his younger brother, Jean Francois Pierre Croy, who had unfortunately died soon after. Given the financial success of the entire Macarty lineage, Victor had many more privileges that were not usually accessible for people of color. Adding to the unorthodox childhood that Victor had as a man of color, records show that his mother had acquired an 11-year-old enslaved girl in 1827 and a total of at least six women and two children as slaves over the course of Victor’s life. There is no record that Croy had been married, as Victor was also never close to his father.

According to the only account of Macarty’s childhood education in a published overview of musicians of color, author James Trotter recounted how Macarty began taking piano lessons from J. Norres at a young age. He was gifted at singing, songwriting, and playing the piano. Given his talent and the help of elite individuals, Macarty earned the opportunity to study at the Imperial Conservatoire of Paris, despite being “over the age prescribed for admission.” Given Macarty’s well-off family life, a wealthy and well-known lawyer, Pierre Soule, intervened and fought for his spot in the Conservatory. At the Imperial Conservatoire of Paris, Trotter states that Macarty spent his time studying, “vocal music, harmony, and composition.” After school, he would return to New Orleans where he would continue to compose and perform music. Looking at the only surviving manuscript, “Fleurs de Salon: Two Favorite Polkas,” Macarty’s music was “sold at the principal music stores.” Some of his other musical achievements consist of being one of the first people of color to headline his own performances at the Orleans Theater in the middle of 1865.

Mechanics Institute Riot of 1866

On August 16, 1866, there was a convention held where many delegates formed in hopes of supporting black enfranchisement. While waiting in the middle of the hall, Macarty recounts the sound of gunshots. As explained by spectator Caryn Cosse Bell, a Research Professor at the University of New Orleans Midlo Center, she states, “There was panic because the police and firemen, armed, surrounded that building and began advancing. The attack was premeditated. Lead police chief Harry T. Hayes… They stormed in and started shooting, chasing people down the street.” When the attack was finally finished, approximately 50 people lay dead, most of them being black. Physically witnessing one of the innocent killings himself, Macarty describes it as “I saw one man killed positively on that pile of brickbats by a club. He was struck by a policeman.” The riot at the Mechanics Institute would have a long-lasting impact on Macarty’s mind. In the years to follow, Macarty moved away from music and became more of a vocal and political leader, as he strongly desired to promote respect and equality amongst citizens of color.

Dating a year after the Mechanics Institute Riot had occurred, Macarty gave a speech on July 30th, 1867, honoring those who were hurt and killed during the massacre. In addition to his speech, a requiem mass was held at the Mechanics Institute, which was organized by the family and friends of those who had passed. Although Macarty would go on to become more politically involved in the years to follow, this speech highlighted one of his earliest and most impactful political acts.

1869 Opera House Incident

The roots of Macarty’s eventual political activism were originally planted on January 19th, 1869, when Macarty was forcibly and unjustly removed from the showing of The Barber of Seville at the New Orleans Opera House. As reported by the prejudiced January 20th edition of the New Orleans Crescent newspaper, Macarty was painted as being “very light in complexion” and “somewhat pompous in his manners” and was seated in the parterre of the theater, or the area of the Opera House “generally frequented by the middle classes.” The controlleur of the Opera House, a man described as Mr. Normandin, was informed that Macarty had “intruded himself into the portion of the house which is exclusively reserved for white persons,” and in conjunction with officers Degros and McMahon of the Metropolitan Police, claimed to “politely address” Macarty to leave the performance. After Officer Degros offered Macarty a mere $1 reimbursement for the fee of admission, The Crescent then paints Macarty’s response to his racially-motivated removal as “indignant” and containing “uncomplimentary language towards Mr. Normandin,” which the paper labels as “excitement” that was “allayed” by the presence of both Degros and McMahon. Macarty’s unjust removal, which came to be known as “The Macarty Affair,” eventually resulted in a legal challenge of the Opera House management and their segregated seating. This played a valuable role in the modern understanding of Louisianian Reconstructionist history.

Macarty’s legal challenge of Opera House Management and claim for $1,500 in damages was submitted to US District Court on January 26th, 1869, and maintained that in accordance with the Opera House’s status as “open and free to the public upon the payment of the price of admission,” Macarty acted fully within the law when he was “sold a ticket for the stipulated and regular price fixed by said managers and proprietors to participate in and enjoy the performances of said company without interruption.” The petition utilized activist language and the accounts of other attendants of the Opera by asserting that Macarty’s dismissal was “calculated and degraded [Macarty] in the estimation of many persons so assembled,” and continued by claiming Macarty’s entitlement to “vindictive damages” on the grounds of “great damage to [Macarty’s] character and reputation.” Most notable about this legal challenge, moreover, was its specific classification of Macarty’s removal as representative of Louisiana's ingrained racist atmosphere. As stated in Macarty’s petition, “being a person of color, and advocating for the principles of the Republican party and the equal rights of all persons, strong prejudice exists against him in the community that he cannot enforce his rights and recover for the [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015775/1869-01-28/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=01%2F01%2F1869&index=0&date2=03%2F31%2F1869&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=McCarthy+Opera+opera&proxdistance=5&state=Louisiana&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=mccarthy+opera&dateFilterType=range&page=1 injury committed.”

In wake of Macarty’s original expulsion and subsequent legal challenge, the New Orleans Crescent published a whitewashed column regarding the aftermath of the incident titled “Sequel to the McCarthy Affair - Two Policemen the Victims.” The column details the official statement from police captain J.W. Schoenecker of the Third Precinct’s findings regarding an investigation into the conduct of Macarty’s two arresting officers, Henry Degro and McMahon. Operating off of the inherent white bias of the Louisianian police force, the article falsely glorifies the officers as “preservers of peace,” and includes Schoenecker’s official statement on the police officers that command officers to “strictly comply with the rules and regulations of the metropolitan police.” Instead of publicly admitting to the illegality and racist action of removing a paying and non-disruptive customer of the Opera based on the color of their skin, such as Macarty, the article states that officers may continue to eject Opera-goers who are “objectionable” to managers if “they shall have previously received orders from the captain of the precinct to which they belong.” And, instead of holding officers Degro and McMahon accountable and condemning them for their breach of protocol, the article sympathizes with the fact that “they receive little if any pay for their service,” and ultimately are only deducted a “small extra salary which was paid them by the manager of the Opera House Company.” This institutional lack of accountability for the race-based injustices brought on Macarty and preservation of the ability to remove paying customers from the Opera predicated upon the racist beliefs of Metropolitan police captains illustrates the urgency and significance of Macarty’s subsequent activism against Louisianian segregation efforts.

Political Legacy and Lasting Impact

Ultimately, despite numerous physical beatings and personal struggles such as infidelity, Macarty was able to lay a lasting foundation of African American “political engagement” that played an instrumental role in solidifying black political rights and promoting the general well-being of black New Orleans community members. His activist spirit can be understood through the context of his art, as his musical expertise and passion for theatre helped fuel his inclination to fight for black civil rights in wake of his racist expulsion from the Opera House. He can be remembered as a pioneer among Afro-Creole activists in chipping away at New Orleans’ abhorrent culture of white supremacy throughout southern Reconstruction.

References

This article "Victor Eugene Macarty" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Victor Eugene Macarty. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---