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Norbert Rillieux
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Norbert Rillieux (1806 - 1894) Norbert Rillieux was born a free man in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 7, 1806 to Constance Vivant a slave on the plantation of his father Vincent Rillieux. He was adopted by his father ad given his name when he was baptized in St. Louis Cathedral by Pere Antoine. Rillieux’s intelligence was noted at an early age by his father who decided he would send Norbert to school. Since the law (The Black Codes) stated that white people would not allow Blacks to be educated in America Norbert’s father sent him to France. He studied engineering at L’Ecole Centrale in Paris. Norbert excelled over his French classmates and at the young age of 24 he was appointed engineering teacher at the school upon his graduation. He was the youngest professor at the school for that time. He contributed many papers on steam technology to engineering journals. When Norbert was young and still on his father’s plantation he would watch gangs of men laboriously ladle sugar cane juice from one kettle to another. Sugar cane had become a dominant crop in Louisiana, but the sugar refining process employed at that time was extremely dangerous and very inefficient. Known as the Jamaica Train, the process called for sugar cane to be boiled in huge open kettles and then strained to allow the juice to be separated from the cane.
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