Joe Louis Caldwell, first African-American chairman of UNO history department, dies at 67
Times Picayune 03-12-2010
Submitted By NOVA

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Joe Louis Caldwell, a tireless teacher who became the first African-American chairman of the
University of New Orleans' history department, died Monday of congestive heart failure at
Ochsner Baptist Medical Center. He was 67.

Dr. Caldwell, who led the department from 1996 to 2001, didn't take breaks from teaching, even
when he was battling cancer, enduring pain before undergoing hip-replacement surgery or coping
with heart disease, said Sherrie Sanders, who had been Dr. Caldwell's assistant since he arrived
on the Lakefront campus in 1985.

"He just loved what he was doing," she said. "The students kept him going. He didn't take
breaks."

Dr. Caldwell, whose specialty was American history, taught courses on the Civil War and
Reconstruction, African-American history and African-American cultural and social history.

"He was a lion-hearted man," said Nikki Brown, an assistant professor of history at UNO. "He was
a man of immense compassion but also someone who cared deeply about the craft of history."

Born in Lincoln Parish in north Louisiana, Dr. Caldwell was named for the prizefighter Joe
Louis. He earned a bachelor's degree at Grambling College, now Grambling State University, a
master's degree at Atlanta University, now Clark Atlanta University, and a doctorate at Tulane
University.

Before UNO hired him, Dr. Caldwell taught at Tulane, as well as Southern University's Baton
Rouge and New Orleans campuses, Texas Southern University in Houston and Loyola University.

He joined the UNO history faculty as an associate professor. After stepping down from the
chairmanship in 2001, Dr. Caldwell served two years as associate vice chancellor for academic
affairs.

One of the highlights of his later years at UNO, he said, was the assignment to introduce
Frederick Douglass IV, a descendant and namesake of the towering 19th-century civil rights
figure, and his wife, B.J. Douglass, when they spoke on campus in 2003 as part of the
Chancellor's Lecture Series.

He was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Omega Psi Psi
fraternity, the American Federation of Teachers and Degruy Lodge No. 7 of Prince Hall Masons.

In addition to researching and writing articles for scholarly journals, Dr. Caldwell was devoted
to his family, said Raphael Cassimere, an emeritus professor of history at UNO.

"It's good to be a good scholar," Cassimere said, "but it's also good to be good people."

Survivors include his wife, Henri Belle Caldwell; a son, Adrian Jahmal Caldwell; a daughter,
Keshia Caldwell; and a sister, Dr. Arlena Caldwell.

A funeral will be held March 19 at 7 p.m. at New Hope Baptist Church, 1807 LaSalle St.
Visitation will begin at 6 p.m.

A second service will be held March 20 at noon at Countyline Baptist Church, 7246 Louisiana 146,
in Ruston. Burial will be in Ebenezer Cemetery in Ruston. Rhodes Funeral Home is in charge of
arrangements.