A friend of mine forwarded this to me and I thought I'd share it with
you'll.  I hope you find this piece informative.

Comments:

Looks like this is true! We can see it at the Museum of Science and
Industry.


Comments:
Bobbie and I went to the Museum to see this exhibit. Imagine my
surprise. A black man was on the Titanic! All this time I was told that not
even
black smoke came out the chimneys!
Jon L.

---Forwarded article---------------- Untold story of the Titanic

By Sabrina L. Miller

Joseph Laroche, a Haitian-born, French-educated engineer, had no intention
of traveling on the Titanic when he and his family left France in 1912.

Unable to find work in France because he was black -- and having discovered
that his wife was pregnant with their third child -- Laroche decided to
return to his native Haiti with first-class tickets aboard the French liner
France. But just before departure, he learned that the ship did not allow
children to dine with their parents.

As a result, Laroche, his wife Juliette, who was white, and their two young
daughters quickly transferred to the Titanic, their first-class France
tickets equivalent to second-class tickets aboard the British luxury liner.

The story of the only blacks on board the Titanic is being highlighted in
the Titanic exhibit that opened Friday at the Museum of Science and
Industry.

They boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg, outside Paris, and for three days,
the family enjoyed the ship's splendor. At a 9 p.m. seating April 14, the
family dined together for the last time. Joseph Laroche retired to the
smoking parlor with other men in second class. Juliette Laroche and their
daughters, 3-year-old Simonne and 1-year-old Louise, returned to their
suite.

Later that evening, Joseph Laroche felt the collision, ran back to his room
and awoke his wife and daughters. As the mother and children were placed in
a lifeboat on that frigid evening, Joseph Laroche draped his coat, stuffed
with money and family valuables, across his wife's shoulders.

"You will need it," he told Juliette Laroche, 22. "I will see you in New
York. I must take another raft. God be with you."

Those were the last words Joseph Laroche spoke to his wife. The coat was
stolen, but Juliette Laroche and the girls survived. Joseph Laroche, 26,
the only black man aboard the ship, was one of 166 second-class passengers
who died.



The Laroches weren't featured in the popular 1997 film "Titanic," but their
place in this historic episode is being told in detail -- perhaps for the
first time -- at the exhibit.

Two of the museum's "program interpreters," are portraying the couple,
giving patrons an interactive history lesson about the Laroches throughout
the exhibit's seven-month run. Other passengers being portrayed include
socialite Margaret "Molly" Brown and Capt. Edward Smith.

"We found out through research that there was one black family on board,"
said Cheryl McDonald, manager of program interpretation. "In an attempt to
show diversity, which the museum feels very strongly about, we decided that
we wanted to show this."

"We're very excited about being the first to tell the story of the Laroches
in an exhibition," added McDonald, who handpicked the program interpreters
who portray them. "It's an important story and has just been a huge topic
of conversation around the museum."

Judith Geller, author of "Titanic: Women and Children First," said the
Laroche story is one of the more interesting among those from the doomed
ship, which sank April 15.

"It is strange," she writes in her book, "that nowhere in the copious 1912
press descriptions of the ship and the interviews with the survivors was
the presence of a black family among the passengers ever mentioned."

Many attending a media preview of the exhibit Wednesday evening were
startled by the sight of a well-dressed black couple strolling about in
early 1900s style: the woman in a spectacular, floor-length red silk dress
with a full floral skirt and matching handbag; the man in a natty three-
piece suit, complete with a waist-chain pocket watch.

The Laroches -- played by Gregory Armstrong and Meredith Browder -- provide
a history lesson about their lives and the fateful journey that would
separate them forever.

"I am Joseph Laroche," begins Armstrong in a booming baritone. "I was born
in Cap-Haitien, Haiti. I traveled to France to study engineering when I was
15."

Browder, as Madame Laroche, picks up the story, "My father was a widower
who owned a wine store. I met my husband when I was 15, but my father would
not allow me to marry him until he received his degree. We married in March
1908."

They never break character. Juliette Laroche, who grew up in a prominent,
privileged family, was accustomed to traveling first class and complained
bitterly about the lack of adequate heating in the Titanic's second-class
rooms; Joseph Laroche regrets that he "was unable to find fair wages" in
France as an engineer, which forced the couple's hasty trip to Haiti, where
his family was quite prosperous. Joseph Laroche worked on the building of
one of the early Metro lines in Paris.

"We actually had not planned to leave France until 1913, but my wife's
delicate condition made it necessary for us to leave early, while it was
still safe for her to travel," said Armstrong as Laroche.

Armstrong and Browder, Chicagoans who are both black, said they were
thrilled to have the opportunity to educate themselves, as well as the
public, about this little-known story. French researcher Olivier Mendez and
the Massachusetts-based Titanic Historical Society are credited with first
uncovering the information.



Cheryl Colbert, who attended the exhibit preview, said, "I had no idea
there were people of color aboard the Titanic in any capacity. But it shows
you that people of color are a part of everyone's history."

Although author and historian Geller said Juliette Laroche was white,
Browder said she didn't think her portrayal was historically inaccurate.

"I've seen her picture, I've seen her features," Browder said. "She
definitely looks like she could have been mixed to me."

Either way, the presence of the Laroches in the museum's exhibit is part of
what makes it special, observers said.

"I don't know why it hasn't gotten more attention. I find it a very unique
story," said Geller, who attended Wednesday night's preview. "There are
people within the Titanic community who have always known the story, but
somehow it just never got out."

The Laroches, by survivor accounts, were a charming couple who socialized
easily with other passengers. A mention of the couple's mixed-race
daughters in a letter by passenger Kate Buss reads, "There are two of the
finest little Jap(anese) baby girls, about three or four years old, who
look just like dolls running about."

Transported on the rescue ship Carpathia, Juliette Laroche, whose feet were
frozen, and her daughters arrived in New York, where they were treated at
St. Vincent's Hospital. She later returned to France, where Joseph
Lemercier Laroche was born on Dec. 17, 1912.

Juliette Laroche never remarried and never spoke of the disaster except in
letters to the Titanic Historical Society, said co-founder Karen Kamuda.
Juliette Laroche died in 1980. Her daughters never married.

The younger Joseph Laroche, who married and had three children, died in
1987.

I will go to the museum and see this myself and will keep you'll posted.

Chi Jaama

Joe Sambou

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