Norman C. Francis arrived at Xavier University of Louisiana from Lafayette and went on to lead the nation's only historically Black Catholic university for forty-seven years. In Black, Catholic, and Leading, Kim Vaz-Deville follows Francis from student to president, tracing how Xavier came to stand at the intersection of race, religion, education, and southern public life in the mid- to late twentieth century.

Francis became president in 1968, as the civil rights movement, desegregation, and the demands of Black students were reshaping American higher education. Under his leadership, Xavier educated generations of Black students, served New Orleans, expanded its national reputation in undergraduate education and medical preparation, and endured the devastation and rebuilding that followed Hurricane Katrina. Vaz-Deville places these achievements within a longer history of Black exclusion, showing why Xavier had to take on responsibilities that other universities, civic bodies, and church structures had refused or failed to meet.

More than a biography, this book shows how extraordinary leadership took shape at Xavier under circumstances that tested what one institution could make possible.

Kim Vaz-Deville is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work centers Black cultural life and public memory in New Orleans. Her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, the UNCF/Mellon Programs, and the Louisiana Board of Regents ATLAS program. In 2024, she was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes académiques by the French Republic. She lives and works in New Orleans.

Walter Isaacson is the former editor of Time and CEO of the Aspen Institute. He has written biographies of Marie Curie, Jennifer Doudna, Elon Musk, Albert Einstein, and Steve Jobs. He is a professor of history at Tulane University in New Orleans.