The Goodness Of St. Rocque & Other Stories

Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar Nelson was born Alice Ruth Moore on 19th July, 1875 in New Orleans, Louisiana to a seamstress mother who had been a former slave and merchant marine father. Her ancestry of mixed white, black and Indian from her Creole forebears gave rise to her strawberry blonde curly hair and fair skin who occasionally passed for white, which allowed her to participate in the cultural life of New Orleans at a time where darker skins were often excluded. Alice was among the first generat