Joseph Bartholomew

Early life Bartholomew was born on August 1, 1885 New Orleans, Louisiana. However some sources have his year of birth as either 1881, or 1888.

Career Bartholomew was the first African American man to build a public golf course, even though he was often barred from playing on these fields due to racial segregation. The Pontchartrain was renamed Joseph M. Bartholomew Sr. Golf Course, for Bartholomew in 1979.

Bartholomew also maintained his own construction company and expanded his business into landscaping.

He was the first African-American inducted to the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame. He was a major contributor to Dillard University and Xavier University of Louisiana. Bartholomew's profile was included in the biographical dictionary African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865–1945 (2004).