William Edgar Easton (March 19, 1861January 10, 1936) was an American playwright, journalist, and political activist. He wrote two plays about the Haitian Revolution and its aftermath: Dessalines (1893), a historical drama about Jean-Jacques Dessalines; and Christophe (1911), a drama about Henri Christophe, King of Haiti following the Revolution. Life Early years (1861–1883) Easton was born on March 19, 1861, in New York City, to Marie Antoinette Leggett-Easton and Charles F. Easton. His mother was a native French speaker whose family had immigrated to New Orleans from France; the Eastons spoke both English and French at home. Marie Antoinette Leggett-Easton was descended from a participant in the Haitian Revolution. On his father's side, he was a descendant of Moses Easton, the brother of James Easton. James was a veteran of the Revolutionary War—he planned the fortification of Dorchester Heights—and a prominent figure in the Black community of Massachusetts in the early Republic. Although born in New York, Easton grew up mainly in New Bedford, Massachusetts. His mother died when he was 13 years old. Following her death, he came under the care of his godmother, whom Beasley calls the "Baroness de Hoffman". The Baroness, in turn, put Easton under the care of an unnamed Catholic priest. Thereafter, Easton attended school at a number of Catholic institutions: a seminary in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, likely the Séminaire Saint-Joseph de Trois-Rivières; La Salle Academy in Providence, Rhode Island; and in a "college of the Congregation of St Croix". Beasley does not record which college this was, but the use of the French term Sainte Croix for "Holy Cross" suggests that Easton attended one of the several schools in Quebec organized by the Congregation. Another source claims he attended "St. Caesar's College, Canada". This appears to be a reference to Collège Saint-Césaire, in Saint-Césaire, Quebec, which founded in 1869 by a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Texas (1883–1901) Easton moved to Texas at age 22. Price notes that was a momentous and somewhat unusual decision for Easton to have made, given that he was "a young man just out of a Canadian Catholic seminary". He married Mary Elizabeth Easton in 1888 in Austin. He worked as a teacher from roughly 1882 to 1885. While in Texas, Easton edited at least three newspapers: the Citizen, the Blade, and the Globe. He later served as the inaugural president of the Colored State Press Association. He