Severiano de Heredia

Severiano de Heredia
Paris municipal council
In office
April 1873 – 1881
Deputy of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
21 August 1881 – 11 November 1889
Personal details
Born(1836-11-08)8 November 1836
Havana, Cuba
Died9 February 1901(1901-02-09) (aged 64)
Paris, France
Resting placeBatignolles Cemetery, Paris, France
CitizenshipSpanish, French
Political partyRepublican Union (1881–1885)
Radical Left (1885–1889)

Severiano de Heredia (8 November 1836 – 9 February 1901)[1][2] was a Cuban-born biracial[3] politician, a freemason,[4] a left-wing republican,[5] naturalized as French in 1870,[6] who was president of the municipal council of Paris[7] from 1 August 1879 to 12 February 1880, making him the only native of the American continent who was appointed on relevant post of the Mayor of Paris[note 1] and the first mayor of African descent of a Western world capital.[9]

In 1880, he succeeded Victor Hugo in the presidency of the Philotechnical Association. He served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1881 to 1889 and was briefly Minister of Public Works for the cabinet of Maurice Rouvier in 1887,[10] at the time when the Eiffel Tower first started being built, where he planned and oversaw the construction of some of the finest French highways.[11] He is believed to be a cousin of the famous French poet José-Maria de Heredia.[12][13]

  1. ^ Mayeur, Jean-Marie; Schweitz, Arlette (2001). Les parlementaires de la Seine sous la Troisième République [Deputies and senators of the Seine under the Third Republic] (in French). Vol. 2. Dictionnaire biographique. Paris, F: Publications de la Sorbonne. pp. 308–309. ISBN 978-2-85944-432-7. ISSN 1243-0269. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  2. ^ Luquiens, Corinne, ed. (15 April 2014). "Severiano DE HÉRÉDIA". Base de données historique des anciens députés – Assemblée nationale (in French). Paris, France: Secrétariat générale de l'Assemblée nationale. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  3. ^ National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (November 1915). Burghardt Du Bois, William Edward (ed.). The Crisis (PDF). Vol. 11. New York, USA: Crisis Publishing Company. p. 22. Retrieved 31 July 2015. Jose Maria Heredia, the king of sonnets crowned by the French Academy, was a white man but Severiano de Heredia, who held high post under the French government, was of Negroid descent and this is amply verified not only by LaRousse, encyclopaedia but by his family, some of whom still survive him.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference lkupferman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Raitt, Alan William (1981). The Life of Villiers De I'Isle-Adam. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-1981-5771-7. Retrieved 31 July 2015. He had two opponents, the sitting councillor Severiano de Heredia, a Cuban-born left-wing republican who later became a minister, and a fringe 'collectivist' called Couturat.
  6. ^ Adolphe Crémieux (June 1871). Bulletin des lois de la République française [Bulletin of acts of the French Republic] (in French). Paris, F: Imprimerie nationale. p. 35. Retrieved 18 October 2015 – via Gallica. N° 48. – DÉCRET (signé par le membre et délégué du Gouvernement de la défense nationale, garde des sceaux, ministre de la justice) qui admet à jouir des droits de citoyen français le sieur de Heredia (Severiano), né le 8 novembre 1836, à la Havane (île espagnole de Cuba), sans profession, demeurant à Paris. (Tours, 28 Septembre 1870.)
  7. ^ Piñeyro, Enrique (1907). "José María Heredia". Bulletin Hispanique (in Spanish). 9 (2). Bordeaux, France: Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux: 187. doi:10.3406/hispa.1907.1527. ISSN 0007-4640. Retrieved 6 February 2017 – via Persée. … niño que fué adoptado como hijo por su viuda, dama de origen francés, y llamado Severiano de Heredia; que recibió su educación en Francia y llegó á ser primero Concejal de París, luego miembro de la Cámara de Diputados y por último Ministro de Obras Públicas de la República francesa.
  8. ^ Theodet, Nicolas (28 April 2013). "En 1879, le maire de Paris était noir" [In 1879, the Mayor of Paris was black]. Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 6 February 2017. Il est ensuite élu à la tête du Conseil de Paris en 1879, devenant ainsi l'équivalent du maire de l'époque.
  9. ^ Triay, Philippe (10 December 2012). "L'incroyable destin de Severiano de Heredia" [The incredible fate of Severiano de Heredia]. France Info (in French). Paris, F: France Télévisions. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  10. ^ Lloyd, Reginald; Plá Cárceles, José (1913). Twentieth century impressions of Cuba, its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources. Twentieth Century Impressions. London, UK: Lloyds Greater Britain publishing company, ltd. p. 158. OCLC 1864681. Retrieved 6 January 2018. A Cuban quadroon, Severiano Heredia, also a naturalised Frenchman, became through his unusual ability Minister of Public Works in France.
  11. ^ Ribbe, Claude (2016). "18 Severiano de Heredia". Une autre histoire [An alternative history] (in French). Paris, F: Le Cherche midi. ISBN 978-2-7491-1397-5. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  12. ^ de Heredia, José María; Zerolo, Elías (1893). "Prólogo" [Foreword]. Poesías líricas [Lyric poems] (in Spanish). Paris, F: Garnier Hermanos. p. xvi. OCLC 431794473. Retrieved 6 January 2018. Del mismo don Pedro de Heredia son sucesores don Severiano de Heredia, importante político radical naturalizado en Francia, donde ha sido ministro y muchas veces diputado, y don José María de Heredia, poeta de alto vuelo que escribe en lengua francesa.
  13. ^ de Santa Cruz y Mallén, Francisco Xavier (1944). Historia de familias cubanas [History of Cuban families] (in Spanish). Vol. Tomo V. La Habana, CU: Editorial Hércules. p. 141. OCLC 835638000. Retrieved 7 January 2018.


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