Historic Louisiana

of them, and it will be a long time before I
have them and you will see to it that they are
not in bad shape.
I am sending you also the dictionary of
synonyms of Gérard so that you will know
that words that have several “rapports” don’t
mean however the same thing; and to speak
well, it is necessary to know the true meaning
of each word so as to render your ideas
correctly if you want to be well understood by
those who hear or listen to you…I am also
sending you eight French novels entitled: La
Reine des Fleurs, L’Ange Fidele, Pauvre Ange des
Ciecen, La Fleur de Ciel, Aimer Seule, Dieu
Soit Toujours Beni, Que les Hivers sont Courts,
Vous le Sauvez.
One of the characteristics of the Creole
economy was the relative freedom of the African
Americans. Many were literally free, and many
slaves acted as if they were free. The typical
Creole plantation was run not as a factory, but as
a personal enterprise. The way Creoles
administered their plantations was
fundamentally different from the American
system. Benjamin Poydras in Pointe Coupée
Parish worked his slaves under the “Creole” plan,
where “the masters, instead of feeding their
Negroes and requiring them to work all day, gave
them tasks which occupied about half the time,
and the balance of the time they were allowed to
provide for themselves with the necessaries of
life.” Poydras used the Creole plan on all his
plantations because it avoided cash outlays.
One consequence of the Creole plan was
the formation of enterprising companies of
slaves who organized work gangs for their
own benefit. On his main plantation at Pointe
Coupée, Poydras had a gang of young
Negroes who “had the reputation for picking
cotton very well. That gang contracted for a
twentieth. There were also women [in the
gangs]. Before Poydras departed for France,
he sent the gang to the chenal [Alma], also the
Isle, and rented them out sometime.”
The leader of this gang was a woman by the
name of Lise. One of their clients was Evariste
✧
Above: The Creole cottage of four rooms
and two rear cabinets is one of the
architectural jewels of New Orleans. This
cottage sits on a corner, so the roof slopes in
all four directions.
COURTESY OF THE LOUISIANA OFFICE OF TOURISM.
Below: This rear view of a cottage clearly
shows the two rear corner rooms that frame
an open gallery. The little rooms are called
“cabinets,” and the gallery is thus the
cabinet gallery. Such galleries are found on
raised Creole countryhouses and city
cottages. The cabinet gallery is a
comfortable space, offering openness with a
modicum of privacy.
COURTESY OF THE LOUISIANA STATE MUSEUM.
CHAPTER II
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