A Glance into the Past

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of culture is “the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time; a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life, art, etc.: a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or organization (such as a business)”. Characteristics such as music, food, language, dress/clothing, art, religion, traditions, and social norms may remain explicit in one specific culture. Culture plays an important role in the way people of that culture think and live their daily lives. It also influences their attitudes and beliefs. Culture helps shape a person’s behavior, thinking, and personality. Diversity may be the spice of life, but culture is the spice of diversity.

Recognizing the importance of culture provides individuals and communities an easy way to identify, locate, and connect with others who share similar values and mindset. Creole culture is rich and lengthy. Most notably, people recognize the culture for its food and music. However, Creole culture also made a mark in literature. Today, in Creole Bayou, I focus on an important figure in Creole literary history: George Washington Cable.

George Washington Cable was born to George W. Cable, Sr. and Rebecca Boardman Cable on October 12, 1844, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He died on January 31, 1925, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Cable’s parents’ families had moved to Louisiana after the Louisiana Purchase and were wealthy members of New Orleans society. His father was from Pennsylvania and his mother from Indiana. George Sr. worked as a notary public, wholesale merchant, cotton speculator, and investor in steamboats. They also were slave owners. George Senior lost his wealth in bad investments and an economic downturn of the time, causing the family to struggle financially. When George Sr. died, George (the junior) was a teenager. He was forced to discontinue his private school education and find employment to help support the family. However, he continued to study on his own and taught himself French.

During the American Civil War, George served in the Confederate Army. He was nineteen years old when he enlisted as a private. While serving, he was shot in the arm. His time spent in the army, along with his extensive reading of the Bible, altered his views about the treatment of people of color and Louisiana society.

He contracted malaria/yellow fever struggled with the illness for two years. During that time, he began writing. In 1870, he began a career in journalism. George got his first writing job at the age of twenty-six. He secured a job with the New Orleans Picayune. He worked at the New Orleans Picayune from 1865 to 1879. Later, he was requested to submit stories to the Scribner’s Monthly. He eventually published six stories in the Scribner’s Monthly over the next three years. All of his stories published there became popular and critical successes. These stories subsequently were published in a collection in 1879 entitled Old Creole Days.

The topic of his stories mainly focused on antebellum New Orleans society and the struggle of Creoles of color with Anglo-Americans. These stories also had a romantic plot involving characters with persons of mixed race. However, he used these stories as vehicles to expose racial injustices and Jim Crow. Because of the social message his stories contained, his writings generated a great deal of controversy and was resented by many white Southerners. The content of Cable’s stories generated so much hostility towards George that he and his family moved to Northampton, Massachusetts in 1885. In 1888, he was elected a member of the Anerucab Antiquarian Society. After thirty years in Massachusetts, George moved to St. Petersburg, Florida where he died.

Quick Facts:

Name: George Washington Cable

Birthdate: October 12, 1884

Death date: January 31, 1925

Place of Birth: New Orleans, Louisiana

Place of Death: St. Petersburg, Florida

Parents:

George W. Cable, Sr., father

Rebecca Boardman Cable, mother

Wives:

Louisa Stewart Bartlett (m. 1869 – 1904)

Eva Stenson (m. 1906 – 1923)

Hanna Cowing (m. 1923-1925)

Children:

George was the father of eight children.

Writing Credits:

The New Orleans Picayune (regular column)
“Sieur George” in Scribner’s Monthly (1873)
Old Creole Days (1879)
The Grandissimes: A Story of Creole Life (1880)
Madame Delphine(1881)
A commissioned essay for the 10th U.S. Census Bureau’s “Social Statistics of Cities.” (1884)
Sevier (1884)
“The Freedman’s Case in Equity” (1885)
“The Silent South” (1885)
Bonaventur (1888)
The Negro Question(1890)
Strange True Stories of Louisiana(1890)
The Busy Man’s Bible and How to Study and Teach It(1891)
A Memory of Roswell Smith(1892)
Famous Adventures and Prison Escapes of the Civil War(1893)
John March, Southerner(1894)
Strong Hearts(1899)
The Cavalier(1901)
Bylow Hill(1902)
Kincaid’s Battery(1908)
Possen Jone’ and Pere Raphael(1909)
The Amateur Garden(1914)
Gideon’s Band(1914)
The Flower of the Chapdelaines(1917)
Lovers of Louisiana (1918)

*In total, Cable published fourteen novels and collections of short fiction.

Odds and Ends

He was raised Presbyterian.
He attended Prytania Street Church where he became a deacon and worked in the mission school. He later became a superintendent of the mission Sunday school.
Served as a private in the Confederate Army
He grew unpopular because of his criticism of racial inequality of the time.
Most of his letters, manuscripts, and essays can be found at Tulane University in New Orleans and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions about this blog, please comment below. I would love to hear from you. Remember, new blogs are posted on Creole Bayou each Wednesday. Come again for a visit and see what is new. Also, watch for a special announcement coming soon.

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