Ernest Lagarde
Louisiana Creole academic
Ernest Lagarde was a mixed race Creole author, journalist, professor, publisher, and linguist. He spoke many languages including Greek, following his Greek-American heritage. Lagarde was a member of the prominent Creole Dimitry family of New Orleans. The family was involved in a large number of controversial incidents that involved racism. He was a faculty member at Mount St. Mary's University for over 45 years. He served as chairman of the university's Department of Modern Languages and Literature. Lagarde worked for several newspapers and also wrote several scholarly books, including one on William Shakespeare entitled Shakespeare A Lecture. He started a newspaper for Mount Saint Mary's College called The Mountain Echo.