At first glance, The Forgotten People appears to be a straightforward socioeconomic history of one of Louisiana’s Creole communities, specifically Isle Brevelle. But just as Isle Brevelle is most decidedly not an island, so too is the community’s story anything but straightforward. Gary Mills begins with the folklore of the community’s founding: a slave named Coincoin saved the life of her direly ill mistress, a prominent member of the Natchitoches community. As a reward for doing what medical professionals could not, the family freed Coincoin, secured for her a land grant from the king, and gave her two slaves to work the land. Coincoin used this capital to establish a plantation and ensure her children’s economic future. In doing so, she singlehandedly built an agricultural empire that encompassed thousands of acres, and founded one of the most prosperous communities of free people of color.
In dissecting this origin story, Mills is very careful to balance the oral tradition of the community with the weight of historical evidence. After presenting the locally accepted version of the story, he investigates Coincoin’s life and the early development of the community by her children and other families in the area. He then turns to the community’s economic pursuits, religious beliefs, and general lifestyle, before describing the racism faced by the community and the political and economic turmoil of the nineteenth century. Mills tackles a daunting amount of evidence to create this portrait of the community, integrating parish registers, tax rolls, censuses, legal proceedings, and other historical documents with family lore, genealogy, slave narratives, archaeology, travelogues, and interviews with the family.
Mills’ findings directly challenge the family’s stories about Coincoin and the founding of Isle Brevelle. Rather than undermining Coincoin’s compelling story, however, these challenges demonstrate that the truth is even more impressive than the family lore. Coincoin’s mistress was, indeed, bedridden later in life, but whether or not Coincoin administered to her was immaterial. What did matter, though, was that her owner leased Coincoin to Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer, a newly arrived businessman from France. Metoyer fathered ten children by Coincoin, several of whom he would purchase in order to prevent their sale to others. Metoyer eventually purchased Coincoin from her owner and freed her shortly thereafter, though that resulted in no real change to her life. They continued to live together for years until Metoyer decided to relocate and establish a family acceptable in the eyes of Louisiana society. Upon their separation, Metoyer agreed to give Coincoin a small annual stipend and a piece of land as payment for her years of service. She later gave up the stipend in exchange for the freedom of several of her children, who by law were Metoyer’s property.
And so, with very little money or land at her disposal, Coincoin began to farm. She shrewdly and wisely invested her earnings to expand her holdings. When possible, she diversified her interests; for example, in addition to shipping tobacco to the New Orleans market, she also sold bear hides and grease. She single-mindedly managed her finances with one goal in mind: to buy slaves. Or so it would appear from the historical records. Mills’ genealogical research shows that the slaves whom she initially purchased were her children, born to her before her relationship with Metoyer. Only after she secured their freedom did she turn to purchasing slaves for labor.
A generous policy regarding land grants allowed Coincoin’s children to establish themselves in the Isle Brevelle area. From there, they followed their mother’s example. They established farms, managed their finances, purchased slaves, diversified their economic interests, and flourished. They strengthened their social position by marrying into prominent Creole families and becoming economic and political partners with local white planters. They saw to their children’s education and religious upbringing and manifested all of the accoutrements of Louisiana’s upper class.
Yet they would never be part of that upper class, as the Creoles of Isle Brevelle were consigned to the “third caste.” As free people of color, they would never be considered equals by their white neighbors, regardless of their similar financial standing. As slave owners and planters, they would never be fully embraced by the black community. As long as they maintained their position as the third caste, the Metoyer family maintained their tenuous status. Several factors made this impossible. Louisiana’s statehood changed the political climate of the area, making it much more difficult for free people of color to maintain their position. Later, the economic collapse of the 1830s eroded their financial prosperity. Finally, the Civil War exacerbated the effects of that depression, left the family’s plantations in ruins, and created an even more racially-charged and hostile environment.
By the time Gary Mills published the first edition of this book, Cane River’s Creole community was indeed forgotten by outsiders. This is no longer the case, as the book’s epilogue points out. The National Park Service’s Creole Heritage Center has reinvigorated interest in the community among outsiders as well as among those with ties to Cane River. This year also marks Natchitoches’ tricentennial, which will bring its own level of interest in local history. Not only is this revised edition timely, but it is also elegantly done with the new research seamlessly integrated with the original work.
Overall, I recommend this work to anyone with an interest in the history of Louisiana or this time period. For me, Mills’ work brought together strands of history that I never knew were connected and helped provide context for (and sometimes challenged) the stories I’d heard about the Creole community on Cane River. Folklorists, in particular, will take interest in the way Mills combines the historic record and the community’s retelling of events. Oftentimes, the community’s stories provide the nuances that the historical documents lack, while the historical documents show that the story of Coincoin and her descendants is even more impressive than the stories imply.
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[Review length: 982 words • Review posted on April 2, 2014]