Louis Cain

Louis Cain

Louis Cain was supposedly born in 1849, in North Carolina. 'Supposedly', because the only reason he knew his birth year was because it was written on his "bill of sale". It is unclear how accurate this would have been, as it would have been written by a white man, who would not have prioritised the accuracy of the birth of a slave. Louis' parents were both slaves from different slave owners. What was interesting about Louis Cain is the number of contradictions and statements that were surprising coming from a former slave.

Louis' father was Samuel Cain and his mother was Josie Jones. This suggests that by 1849, new generations of children were being born into slavery, meaning they would be considered today as American. Louis addresses this when he states that his father was from "Africy" (Africa), and describes how relaxed his father's lifestyle was before being captured and shipped to America. This is surprising, as it is common knowledge that there was a lack of ancestral knowledge among slaves. But Louis seems to have been informed about his father's past life. This is contrary to the life of most slaves, as slave owners tended to keep education and information on the slaves' heritage away from them, to prevent any revolutions or uprisings.

In addition, Louis says his master, Massa Cain, was "purty good to his slaves", but was mean when they misbehaved, suggesting he thought his master was a fair owner. Again this creates a contradiction to what is often thought about slaves and slavery. People assume that the slaves were constantly oppressed and unhappy, but the fact that slavery is all that Louis knew at the time, suggests that he offered an alternative view. He seems to feel like he was fairly lucky with how he lived. He says he had "plenty to eat" and although his living quarters don't sound particularly enticing to a 21st Century 20 year old, he doesn't seem too downhearted about it, stating that "sleep wam all night long".

The nature of Louis' labour is more familiar to a 'typical' slave in America. He had to work as "long as we could see", meaning he would have to be working as soon as there was light in the day, which could be as early as "four o'clock in the mornin'". In addition, if a slave didn't work in a satisfactory manner, Massa would tie "they hands to they feet and tied them to a tree" and then they would be whipped. It is intriguing how Louis can transition from describing Massa as being "good to his slaves", to this detailed image of torture towards his slaves. This suggests that Louis has a deep sense of loyalty and respect towards Massa even after the long period of time that had passed since Louis' enslavement.

After being freed from slavery, Louis got married and got a job on the railway earning "fifty cents a day". However this only lasted a year, so he moved onto farming. He goes on to mention Massa's land again, which suggests he had to go back to his former owner to get work. In addition, he states that "sometimes they wouldn't pay us", which suggests he had inadvertently become a 'sharecropper', often former slaves who remained on their former owners' land because they had no education or money to move elsewhere, so they basically became unofficial slaves once more.

References:

https://www.loc.gov/resource/mesn.161/?sp=191