Biography George Washington Cable

george washington cable

in 1880 cable published first novel, grandissimes: story of creole life, portraying multiracial members , different classes of society in 1800s shortly after louisiana purchase. had first been serialized in scribner s. plot follows adventures , romances of several members of grandissime family, french creole family mixed-race members. used historical romance way explore society , racial injustice, addressed european creoles, mixed-race class, plaçage, slavery, , lynchings. in 1880, united states census bureau commissioned cable write historical sketch of pre-civil war new orleans special section of 10th united states census social statistics of cities. submitted well-researched 313-page history. reduced publication in 1884.

his novella madame delphine (1881), expanded short story, featured issue of miscegenation, in woman of partially african descent tries arrange marriage of daughter, has more european ancestry, 1 of french creole elite. in 1884 published work, dr. sevier, on prison reform.

after these works, cable seemed split efforts between romantic novels , non-fiction articles, in expressed sympathy racial equality , opposition jim crow, such freedman s case in equity , silent south, both published in 1885. essays resented many white southerners , generated controversy.

after end of war, whites had worked re-establish political , social supremacy on freedmen , on in antebellum years free people of color. ku klux klan , paramilitary groups practiced racial intimidation , other efforts dissuade blacks voting. after reconstruction, when democrats regained control of state legislature, worked disenfranchise blacks, , imposed legal racial segregation , other restrictive measures.

so hostility expressed against cable in 1885 decided leave south. year, moved family northampton, massachusetts, continued write south in novels , critical essays. in 1888, published bonaventure, described acadian pastoral. in total, published 14 novels , collections of short fiction. last novel lovers of louisiana (1918).

cable elected member of american antiquarian society in 1888.

cable s wife louise died in 1904; , in 1906 married eva stenson. after death of eva, married third time, hanna cowing in 1923. in 1925, cable himself died, in st. petersburg, florida.