Etnah Rochon Boutte (1881 – March 9, 1973) was an American educator, pharmacist, and clubwoman. She taught French at Fisk University and in New York City. She was executive secretary of the Circle for Negro War Relief during World War I.

Early life Etnah R. Rochon was from St. Martin Parish, Louisiana,"New Iberia" The Times Democrat (June 25, 1906): 7. via Newspapers.com the daughter of Victor Narcisse Rochon and Kate Rochon. Her mother was a teacher, and her father was a member of the Louisiana legislature during Reconstruction. She had three older sisters, including Althea Rochon, who went overseas as a YMCA worker during World War I."Mrs. Kate Rochon Dead" The New York Age (April 12, 1924): 2. via Newspapers.com"The Horizon" The Crisis (June 1919): 100. Another older sister, Beatrice Frances Rochon, married architect Robert Robinson Taylor;Ellen Weiss, "Robert Robinson Taylor" Encyclopedia of Alabama. former government official Valerie Jarrett is the great-granddaughter of Beatrice Rochon Taylor.Henry Louis Gates Jr., Finding Your Roots, Season 2: The Official Companion to the PBS Series (University of North Carolina Press 2016): 251-252.

(Etnah Rochon Boutte's first name is found as Etna or Edna in some sources, but she used the five-letter spelling in published advertisements for her schoolAdvertisement , The New York Age (May 16, 1931): 2. via Newspapers.com and in correspondence.)

Education Boutte attended Fisk University, but left during her senior year in 1917 to do war work. She petitioned later for her degree, with a letter of support from W. E. B. Du Bois."Petition to the Presidents and Trustees of Fisk University, ca. July 8, 1927" W. E. B. Du Bois Papers, University of Massachusetts Amherst. After the war, she attended Columbia University and studied a semester in Paris."Making European Trip" The New York Age (July 7, 1923): 8. via Newspapers.comCeleste Day Moore, "'Every Wide Awake Negro Teacher of French Should Know': The Pedagogies of Black Internationalism in the Early Twentieth Century" in Keisha N. Blain, Christopher Cameron, Ashley D. Farmer, eds., New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition (Northwestern University Press 2018): note 12. She received a pharmacy degree in 1923 and a French teaching degree in 1924."Mrs. Boutte Wins Diploma in French and B. S. Degree" The New York Age (June 14, 1924): 9. via Newspapers.com."The Year in Higher Training" The Crisis (July 1924): 108.

In 1928, John D. Rockefeller Jr. presented Boutte at Fisk's commencement with her belated degree, saying, "Here is a young woman who has a bachelor of science degree from Columbia and a master of arts degree from Columbia and the University of Paris, but she comes back to Fisk for her bachelor of arts degree, prizing it above all the others.""John D. Rockefeller Jr. Delivers His First Commencement Address at 1928 Commencement, Fisk University" The New York Age (June 16, 1928): 2. via Newspapers.com

Career Education work Boutte was a school teacher in Opelousas, Louisiana,"Proceedings of the Board of School Directors" (October 1, 1904): 6. via Newspapers.com and was a teacher educator in summer training programs.Untitled news item , The Donaldsonville Chief (May 21, 1910): 1. via Newspapers.com She taught French at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.Catalog of the Officers, Students and Alumni of Fisk University (1915): 6."Fisk University" Annual Report of the American Missionary Association (1916): 40. She taught French at New York's 137th Street YWCA in 1925,"Industrial Classes at 137th St. Y Offer Opportunities" The New York Age (October 31, 1925): 7. via Newspapers.com and opened her own school of French in Harlem in 1930."Etnah Rochon Boutte School for French to be Opened in Harlem" The New York Age (August 30, 1930): 3. via Newspapers.com She was an officer of the New York Fisk Club,"New York Fisk Club Reorganizes, Elects Dr. Reddick as Prexy" The New York Age (January 18, 1941): 6. via Newspapers.com and a member of the Penelope Club in Brooklyn."Penelope Club Royally Feted" The New York Age (December 18, 1948): 12. via Newspapers.com

Wartime work During World War I, while her husband was overseas as a member of John J. Pershing's staff,"Col. Chas Young Post Dedicates Colors Given by Mrs. Etnah Boutte" The New York Age (June 30, 1923): 2. via Newspapers.com Boutte was executive secretary of the Circle for Negro War Relief, a national fundraising effort organized in New York City.Philip McGuire, "Circle for Negro War Relief" in Nina Mjagkij, ed., Organizing Black America (Routledge 2013): 129-130. Jefferson Williams, ed., The Voluntary Aid of America (Williams 1918): 214. via Internet Archive During World War II she chaired the Manhattan chapter of the Free French Relief Committee."Free French Relief Committee to Hold Public Meeting" The New York Age (May 30, 1942): 5. via Newspapers.com

Community and health advocacy In 1922, Boutte was one of the sixteen women who founded the NAACP fundraising effort the Anti-Lynching Crusaders, in Newark, New Jersey, with Mary Burnett Talbert as director."Work of Women" NAACP Annual Report for 1922 (1923): 55-56. In 1927 she was on the committee of the Emma Ransom House at the 137th Street YWCA."First Year's Operation of Emma Ransom House, Y. W. C. A. Hotel, Connected with 137th Street Branch, Shows Fine Results" The New York Age (February 12, 1927): 1. via Newspapers.com She was president of the New York Chapter of the National Council of Negro Women in 1944 and 1945."Metropolitan Chapter of Natl. Council of Negro Women Sponsors Portia White Concert" The New York Age (September 23, 1944): 4. via Newspapers.com"Congresswoman Helen G. Douglas Speaks at Mid-Lenten Tea Honoring Noted Women" The New York Age (March 24, 1945): 4. via Newspapers.com

After World War II, she worked with the American Cancer Society as a medical social work consultant, and ran "The Little Red Door", a cancer information center in Harlem."Medical Social Worker Alarmed" New York Age (November 27, 1948): 11. via Newspapers.com"Talk on Cancer" The New York Age (March 23, 1946): 5. via Newspapers.com"Cancer Surgical Dressing Unit" New York Age (February 24, 1945): 4. via Newspapers.com In 1952, she was a member of the New York City Cancer Committee Board."Harlem's Cancer Group Program is Integrated" The New York Age (August 30, 1952): 6. via Newspapers.com From 1943 into the 1960s, she was appointed to several terms on the Board of Visitors at the Warwick State Training School for Boys."Rocky Again Picks Mrs. Boutte" The Times Record (May 23, 1961): 16. via Newspapers.com

Boutte's Pharmacy Boutte ran a pharmacy with her husband in New York for decades. In 1958 she survived an armed robbery while she was alone in the store."Rob Drugstore" Daily News (April 6, 1958): 268. via Newspapers.com

Personal life In 1914, Boutte married pharmacist Mathieu (or Matthew) Virgil Boutte (or Boutté). In 1928, Boutte was in a serious traffic accident."Alderman Fred R. Moore in Automobile Accident" The New York Age (December 15, 1928): 1. via Newspapers.com

In 1957, Boutte's husband M. V. Boutte died."Mathieu V. Boutte Buried at Arlington" The New York Age (October 19, 1957): 3. via Newspapers.com

On March 9, 1973, Boutte died. She was 92 years old. Boutte is buried with her husband at Arlington National Cemetery."Death Notices" Daily News (March 11, 1973): 57. via Newspapers.com

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