Monroe Dispatch - No Struggle, No Progress

There is an adage that states, “You never know where you are going unless you know where you have been.”

In the spirit of Black history month, the Monroe Dispatch will highlight stories and the history of Blacks that are not commonly known.

Dr. Emma Wakefield-Paillet was a trailblazing African American physician who made significant contributions to medicine and civil rights in Louisiana. Emma was born on November 21, 1868, in New Iberia to state senator Samuel Wakefield and Mrs. Amelia Valentine Wakefield. Her family fled New Iberia not long after her younger brother was lynched and the famil...