Pierre Caliste Landry (April 19, 1841 – December 22, 1921) was born into slavery and went on to become an attorney, Methodist Episcopal minister, mayor, newspaper editor, and state legislator in Louisiana.

[6] By the end of the Civil War, Landry had married and converted to the Methodist Episcopal faith.

[6] In the postwar years, many freedmen were migrating from rural areas to towns in order to establish their own communities, trades, and businesses independent of white supervision.

In 1868, during the Reconstruction Era, Landry was elected mayor of Donaldsonville, Louisiana, the first African American in the United States to achieve this distinction.

He also founded St. Peter's Methodist Episcopal Church and became active in local community affairs on many levels.

He regularly attended the annual conferences of the church, and in 1891 was elected to its highest position, as a Presiding Elder of the South New Orleans District.