Robert Mills Lusher
Lusher moved to New Orleans following his first cousin Mary Powell Mills who was involved in an interracial marriage to Creole author and diplomat Alexander Dimitry.
While in Washington he attended Georgetown College and met Creole author and educator Alexander Dimitry whom motivated the young man to move to New Orleans, Louisiana.
He became the ninth state superintendent of education in Louisiana supporting segregation of schools right after the Civil War and the onset of Jim Crow laws.
His father's family home known as the George Lusher House is a tourist attraction in Charleston, South Carolina.
On April 5, 1835, his first cousin Mary Powell Mills married a prominent Creole educator named Alexander Dimitry.
[5] Alexander's first cousin George Pandely was ejected from public office as assistant alderman in New Orleans because he was of African descent.
A detailed account of the Dimitry family's ethnic background was published in local newspapers proving their African heritage.
[19][20] It became known that the family was African but they publicly denounced their ethnicity in court in favor of a fictional American Indian heritage.
The incident widely became known as the Pandelly Affair[21] By 1854, Lusher was elected by the City Council Director of the Public Schools of the Second Municipal District holding the position until the commencement of the Civil War.
Lusher took on the role of clerk of the Confederate states district court and chief tax collector for Louisiana while Alexander was assistant postmaster general of the Confederacy.
[10][11] Lusher was elected State Superintendent of Public Education following in the footsteps of Alexander, during his tenure from 1865 to 1868 he segregated schools in Louisiana due to the growing pressure from whites.
He was elected superintendent in 1872 on the democratic ticket but was removed from office by P. B. S. Pinchback because of his segregationist history even though his public stance was racial integration.
[10][11][22] One year later Alexander was one of the vice-presidents during the Grand Unification Mass Meeting in 1873 to desegregate schools in Louisiana during the Jim Crow era.
