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I have been watching things about the Titanic, being the centennial, today. There was a multiracial family I read a great article about, like 10 years ago. I don't think many people know that there were any black people on the Titanic, and thought those here on this forum might be interested. I can't remember all of the details, so please forgive me if I make any mistakes! I have seen some other articles about them on the internet but none are nearly as detailed and some of the details that are there, are not the same as what I remember from the article.
Anyway, the father, Joseph LaRoche, had gone from his native Haiti, to France, to study. He was from a wealthy family, and was the nephew of the president of Haiti. While there, he met and fell in love with a young French woman, named Juliette. She had dark features, for a caucasian, so many people apparently thought she was a light skinned black. When they decided to move to Haiti, they booked passage on the Titanic. They could afford to travel first class, but ended up traveling second class. The first article said it was because the powers that be would not allow a black man to travel first class, but I saw another thing that said that it was because the first class dining room would not allow children. The Laroches had two beautiful little daughters, Simonne and Louise, and Juliette was pregnant. They were said to be an especially loving family, and the parents had a very strong marriage.
Well, you can probably guess what happened. Joseph put his pregnant wife and two daughters in a life boat, and went down with the ship. Like most of those who died that night, his body was never recovered. Juliette never recovered very well from losing him and never remarried. It is a sweet, but very tragic, love story.
This picture I am posting isn't very clear, but will give you an idea. The article I can't find has the same photo, but a much more detailed version of it. They were an exceptionally beautiful family.
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Thank you for the information. My dh is a Titanic enthusiast. He was surprised that I knew something about the ship that he didn't.