Keith Weldon Medley is the author of “WE AS FREEMEN – Plessy v. Ferguson – The Fight against Legal Segregation” (Pelican Publishing Company; May, 2003). He is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and a 2001 and 2002 recipient of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ Publication Initiative Grants. As a freelance writer, he has compiled over fifty writings on Louisiana’s history and culture including two reports in Smithsonian magazine. His contributions have also appeared in Historic Preservation, The New Orleans Tribune, American Legacy, Louisiana Cultural Vistas, Preservation In Print, Times-Picayune, Southern Exposure, and many other publications. The Forbes publication, American Legacy, featured a summer travel issue in 2000 with a cover story by Medley on sites of Black historical interest in New Orleans. The May 2004 issue of Smithsonian magazine featured an article by Medley on the historic Tuskegee Airmen.

Medley has written a great deal on the New Orleans origins of the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case. He authored the text of "When The Future Became The Past", a Tulane University and Louisiana State Museum touring exhibit that chronicles this pivotal United States Supreme Court case. During the 1996 centennial of the case, an interview of Medley by Scott Simon was broadcast on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered”.  He has also been featured on Louisiana Public Broadcasting’s popular show Louisiana : The State We're In and was interviewed in WDSU-TV’s special report by Norman Robinson entitled “Bound for Freedom”. In addition, articles by Medley on the case appeared in Louisiana Cultural Vistas, Times-Picayune, and as a cover story in The New Orleans Tribune.

As a photographer, Medley’s work has appeared in Smithsonian magazine, American Legacy, The New Orleans Tribune, and the front cover of Callaloo #20, and also the front cover of In These Houses by Brenda Marie Osbey. He has also contributed photographs to American Poetry Review and Welcome! A Guide for Black Tourists In New Orleans . Medley’s photographs are also part of the New Orleans Public Library’s regional photographers collection.

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