John LaFarge, Jr.

John LaFarge, Jr., S.J. (February 13, 1880 – November 24, 1963) was an American Jesuit Catholic priest known for his activism against racism and anti-semitism. In the run-up to World War II, he worked on a draft of a papal encyclical against racist and totalitarian ideologies for Pope Pius XI; entitled Humani generis unitas, though it was never promulgated due to the death of Pius XI on February 10, 1939.

John LaFarge was born on February 13, 1880, in Newport, Rhode Island. He was the youngest son of the artist John La Farge (1835-1910), who was a descendant of French refugees, and his mother Margaret Mason Perry La Farge was a granddaughter of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and a great-great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin. His siblings included Christopher Grant (who became an architect and partner in the firm of Heins & LaFarge), Emily Marie, John Louis Bancel, Margaret Angela, Oliver Hazard Perry (who also became an architect), Frances, and Joseph Raymond (who did not survive infancy).

LaFarge was gifted at music and languages, eventually becoming fluent in both French and German. At the age of 10, he edited The Sunlight, a monthly magazine put out by a group of his friends, one of whom had access to a hand printing press. LaFarge wrote a serialized science fiction story for the magazine under the title "Trip to Mars". As a child he met a number of notable friends of the family, including Henry Adams, Edith Wharton, Theodore Roosevelt, and William and Henry James; he later became friendly at college with William and Henry's younger brother Robertson James.

In 1897 he entered Harvard University, from which he graduated with the class of 1901. During his studies he focused mainly on classical Latin and Greek. He also published several articles in The Harvard Monthly.

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