Cane River Creoles

The Forgotten People: Cane River's Creoles of Color by Gary B. Mills, LSU Press, 1977.

Slavery and the Old South remains an issue fraught with landmines which produce hurt, outrage, and shame. The history of slavery haunts the U.S. as well as countries worldwide. The complexity of the peculiar institution brought together an intermingling of cultures which produced a uniqueness which is found in music, food, and common heritage in the USA and the South in particular. One of the often mentioned historical oddities is the occurrence of black slave-owners. The 1830 U.S. census mentions 3800 free black slave-owners but this number is a bit deceptive since many free blacks counted their spouses and relatives as slaves since some state laws prevented them from granting their freedom. While rare, black slave-owners existed in a number of Southern states nowhere was their presence greater than Louisiana.

An example of racial mingling and black slave owning can be found in the book The Forgotten People Cane River’s Creoles of Color by Gary B. Mills. The story centers on the Cane River area in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The area consisted of four primary ethnicities: French, African, Indian, and Spanish but it is the French heritage in which they pride themselves. The legend surrounding the Cane River Colony began with a slave woman known as Marie Thereze or Coincoin. As a favorite servant in the wealthy St. Denis home she saved the life of the mistress using herbal medicines. In gratitude, the family rewarded her with her freedom. With the gift of a large grant of land she built a stunning plantation with fertile and rich soil. Through her determination Marie Thereze lifted her family out of slavery and benefited her family for generations.  She cohabited with a Frenchman Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer supposedly of royal lineage. The lands were divided by her children and the Metoyers subsequently enjoyed a life of wealth and prestige. The men enjoyed an equality others of color never experienced. Wealthy white planters arranged marriages for their own multiracial children. During the Civil War the Metoyers sided with the Confederacy yet Reconstruction brought their ruin. The reactions of the Redeemers and the emancipation of the slaves caused the Metoyers to lose their uniqueness and when Jim Crow became law the Metoyers found themselves subject to the cruel restraints of segregation.

Marie Therese Coincoin from KnowLouisiana.org

                Records however contradict the legend. Marie Thereze was still a slave after the death of the St. Denis widow. Apparently, Marie gained her freedom through her relationship with Metoyer who engaged in a relationship with lovely slave. He reached an agreement with the mistress of Marie to lease her to his care. Eventually because of controversy and protest Metoyer purchased her freedom. After the passing of Marie Thereze the role of leadership passed to her son, Nicolas  Augustin Metoyer who served as the leader of the colony. Religion became a central feature of the colony as a chapel became a central place on the property. The recognition and legitimacy of the church carried great importance for Augustin Metoyer as he reserved eight pews for his white friends. For Augustin the existence of the church meant prestige and a recognition by the outside community.

Nicolas Augustin Metoyer from Civil War Talk

The characteristics of the Creoles of Cane River clashed with the stereotypes whites held of blacks during the antebellum period. The people of the Cane River colony possessed aristocratic manners. They learned to treat their elders with respect and to obey them in all matters. Conscientious Catholics, they absorbed a pride in their heritage, their wealth, their education, their religion, and above all themselves. They always erected themselves with self-respect.  The free blacks of Louisiana claimed rights not permitted free blacks in other Southern states. Free people of color in Louisiana used firearms and acquired limited access to the court system. The Cane River Creoles knew their rights and took advantage of the courts. They also used their wealth and hired legal counsel when needed.  They even filed suit against whites and trusted the outcome to white juries. The Metoyer Creoles regarded themselves as a special class and held themselves apart from both blacks and whites.

The Civil War and Reconstruction brought decline and a loss of their special status. The colony isolated itself and the members clung to their French language and traditions. During the twentieth century, younger colony members relocated to industrial areas of the North and West Coast. Those with white complexions assimilated into the white community. Circumstances changed somewhat the by the mid- twentieth century with the purchase of the Melrose Plantation by a white planter John Hampton Henry who along with his wife “Miss Cammie” began to restore the manor house. “Miss Cammie” developed the estate into a cultural and literary center. Paintings, crafts, and mementos of the lives and legends of the colony displayed in the manor house celebrated the culture of the Colony. The library explored aspects of Louisiana folk life and the Cane River life. Melrose hosted painters, writers, and other artists fascinated with the Cane River society and culture. In 1974 the federal government declared the buildings of the Melrose Plantation a national historic landmark in recognition of its unique culture and history.

Melrose Plantation http://www.natchitoches.net/attractions/plantation-homes/melrose/

The Creoles of Cane River adapted and thrived in their region. They thrived despite existing racial barriers present aided by the unique French heritage of Louisiana. They developed a unique aristocratic culture apart from the white and black folk cultures near them. The irony is that one of the factors which led to their demise came with the end of slavery. The Creoles simply lost their special status. The advent of Jim Crow also placed unavoidable pressure on the community. Racial laws which no longer distinguished between black and Creole ended their legal protections. But their uniqueness and legend as a special folk culture remained.

Further Reading:

Mills, Gary B. The Forgotten People: Cane River’s Creoles of Color.  Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ Press, 1977.

 Ringle, Ken. "Up Through Slavery." Washington Post, May 12, 2002. Helpful article on the Cane River Creoles

 Creole Heritage Center at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA

Important Book:Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice

David O. Oshinsky Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice      

This was a book read for a class at Southeastern Louisiana University and the review was written for class. Oshinsky's book is an important contribution to understanding the racial sins of the past and the horrors of Jim Crow. I highly recommend it.     

            Violence characterized much of Southern culture and history before and after slavery. In his book, Worse Than Slavery David O. Oshinsky lays out the violence and racial injustice within Mississippi, especially as demonstrated by the prison system. The book divides into two sections. The first section examines the period after slavery and before Parchman Farm prison while the second section deals with the Parchman Farm period. From the 1830s to the 1930s Mississippi appears as the most violent state in the nation. The antebellum period was the scene of murders, duels, stabbings, and extreme violence among white men. The violence of that time bleeds throughout the history of Mississippi.

            The violence and evils performed upon African American men by the state are clearly evident in the convict lease system. After the Civil War and Reconstruction black men find themselves arrested for the smallest of petty crimes. In 1876 Mississippi passed the ‘pig law” which defined as grand larceny any theft ten dollars or more. The punishment up to five years of hard labor trapped many African American men. During slavery, the punishment of slaves centered on the plantation. State involvement in the punishment of slaves was rare. But a fear of black freedmen moved politicians to crack down on black crime. Most of these men landed in the cruel convict lease system. Working to death became commonplace for men trapped in this unforgiving system. But this system brought great wealth to those who used convict labor. Convicts worked on plantations, railroads, mining, or lumber. The exhausting work and the astronomical mortality rates became the norm. The harsh and unforgiving conditions even led white Mississippians to speak out against its cruelties. The death rate was astounding as few inmates “ever lived long enough to serve a sentence of 10 years or more.''

             The replacement for the convict lease system was Parchman Farm.  In 1904 James K. Vardaman became governor of Mississippi on a platform of white supremacy. Chief among his goals was penal reform. Vardaman’s goal for the Parchman Farm was a replication of plantation life. The Parchman prison farm located in the rich soil of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta made for ideal growing conditions. Parchman became very profitable and even supported half of the education budget for the state. By the early 1900s, the great majority of Mississippi’s felons went to Parchman Farm. There they worked from dawn to dusk. White sergeants like slave overseers supervised the prisoners much like overseers. Underneath the sergeants' trustees armed with rifles or shotguns kept a close watch on prisoners. The trustees received special privileges as a reward for their service and resembled the drivers of the antebellum plantations despised and mistrusted by the general population. Sitting on top of Parchman was the superintendent who operated like a slave master. Parchman was very much like slavery.

            Conditions began to change after World War I as the black population of Mississippi dropped due to the mass migration of African Americans north. As the black population decreased the population of white inmates increased at Parchman. Parchman officials generally believed that white men were not suited for hard plantation labor. White inmates reportedly worked less and complained more about hard labor. The only recorded strikes at the prison were by whites complaining of hard work and long hours. Yet there was one ironic privilege that black inmates enjoyed over their white peers. Blacks received conjugal visits on Sundays with their wives or prostitutes. Officials believed the myth that black men being more primitive in nature thought it prudent to allow black prisoners a sexual outlet.

            As the Civil Rights Movement moved through the South and eventually Mississippi, Parchman developed into a tool against those working for equality. When Freedom Riders found themselves arrested their Parchman tested their commitment. Most heartbreaking though was the story of Clyde Kennard who faced imprisonment at Parchman due to conviction from framed up charges. A World War II paratrooper, Kennard’s only real crime was his application for graduate school at Mississippi Southern College. (now The University of Southern Mississippi) Kennard faced brutal labor and when abdominal pain advanced into cancer, he was accused of indolence. Parchman officials ignored his declining health until he was finally released in the spring of 1963. Rushed to Chicago for emergency surgery Kennard died on July 4, 1963, after cancer ravaged his body.

Clyde Kennard

            After the Civil Rights movement, reform came to Parchman due to the class action lawsuit Gates v. Collier. Integration of the races in the prison and replacement of armed trustees with civilian guards changed the prison immediately.  Yet violence did not end. White and black gangs formed and violence shifted from guards and trustees to the inmates. Local farmers leased the vast farmlands leased to local growers while Parchman developed into a prison similar to other states.   Oshinsky's book is a difficult read as he reveals the depth of depravity and cruelty within Jim Crow Mississippi and the larger South. But this is an atrocity which must be faced if one desires an understanding of our tortured racial past. It's not a pretty picture but one which must be faced if healing is to occur.