High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Barthelemy was born in New Orleans, the third of six children in a Creole family. He grew up in the Seventh Ward, and attended Corpus Christi Elementary School and St. Augustine High School (New Orleans). From 1960 to 1963, in preparation for entering the priesthood, he studied at Epiphany Apostolic Junior College in Newburgh, New York, and then entered St. Joseph Seminary in Washington, D.C., where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and pursued graduate study in theology. While in seminary, he worked summers as a laborer in a stevedoring company. In 1967, having made the decision not to enter the priesthood, Barthelemy returned to New Orleans and worked as an administrative assistant in the office of Total Community Action. From 1969 to 1972, he served as director of the Parent Child Center of Family Health, Inc. During these years he also completed a Masters of Social Work at Tulane University in New Orleans, worked part-time for the Urban League of Greater New Orleans and assisted with various political campaigns, joining COUP, a political organization based in the 7th Ward of New Orleans.