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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Common Roots:
The Godchaux Family in Louisiana History, Literature, and Public Folklore
A Dissertation
Presented to the
Graduate Faculty of the
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Laura Renee Westbrook
Spring 2001
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Copyright 2001 by Westbrook, Laura Renee
All rights reserved.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Common Roots:
The Godchaux Family in Louisiana History, Literature, and Public Folklore
Laura Renee Westbrook
APPROVED:
Marcia Gaudet, Chair iseph Andriano Professor of English "Professor of English
c
Mary Ann Wilson Lewis Pyenson Associate Professor of English Dean, Graduate School
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ii
Introduction iii
Chapter 1 : From Alsace to America: Lion Godchot to Leon Godchaux 1
Chapter 2: The Next Generations 78
Chapter 3: “Mice in the Same Cat’s Paws”: The Short Stories o f Elma Godchaux 157
Chapter 4: Stubborn Roots 222
Chapter 5: The Story of Reserve 283
Chapter 6 : The Future o f the Godchaux Story and La Reserve 319
Bibliography 349
Timeline 369
Glossary 381
Abstract 382
Biography 383
i
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to thank: Charlotte Godchaux Fraser; Leon Godchaux II; Justine
Godchaux McCarthy; Tommy Godchaux, Richard and Victoria Whitten; Dr. Marcia Gaudet,
Professor of English. University of Louisiana, Lafayette; Dr. Patricia Sawin, Assistant
Professor, Department of Anthropology and Curriculum in Folklore, University of North
Carolina; Catherine Kahn, Archivist, Touro Infirmary; Kathy Kraft, Acting Radcliffe
Archivist, Radcliffe Archives; Jonathan Flicker, Director, Louisiana State Historic
Preservation Office; Dr. Dorothy Brown, Professor Emerita of English, Loyola University of
New Orleans; Julia Remondet, St. John the Baptist Historical Society, Godchaux-Reserve
House Historical Society; Maida Owens, interim Executive Director of the Louisiana
Division of the Arts; Susan Tucker Curator of Books and Records, Newcomb College Center
for Research on Women, Tulane University; Rosalee McReynolds, Special Collections
Librarian, Monroe Library, Loyola University of New Orleans; Dr. Bobbie Malone, Director,
Office of School Services, State Historical Society of Wisconsin; Dr. Christina Vella,
Adjunct Professor of History, Tulane University; Dr. Mark Greenberg, Resident Historian,
and Susan Goldberg, Registrar, Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience; and, of course,
my family.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Common Roots: The Godchaux Family in Louisiana History,
Literature, and Public Folklore
Introduction
This dissertation was bom of a reading of the book Louisiana Women Writers by
Dorothy H. Brown and Barbara C. Ewell. This book, comprising a collection of scholarly
essays and a bibliography, included an interesting bibliographic entry for a writer named
Elma Godchaux (1896-1941), who had been highly recognized in her own time, winning the
prestigious O. Henry Memorial Award Prize of 1936 for one of her short stories. Three of
her stories were included in important anthologies that were published in 1935, 1937, 1940,
1953, and 1986. The biographical information was intriguingly scant:
Bom in Napoleonville, Louisiana. Daughter of Edward (planter) and Ophelia
Gumbel Godchaux. Educated at Radcliffe College. Married Walter Kahn;
divorced; one daughter. Died in New Orleans, April 3, 1941. Novelist; short
story writer. (264)
A writer who has had neither a wide influence nor a place in histories of American
literature, Godchaux was highly regarded in her own lifetime among her own formidable
circle. Like idiosyncratic women writers of her general time period, she is not mentioned,
and was probably never read, by Richard Chase or Leslie Fiedler, or even by Malcolm
Bradbury, Ellen Moers, or the major rediscoverers of neglected women’s literature. The lack
of available printed information about this presumably talented author, who had clearly spent
at least some of her time in my own hometown of New Orleans, enticed me to read
Godchaux’s works and to investigate the life of this seemingly forgotten woman.
iii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. As luck would have it, the Godchaux family was closer to me than imagined. Not
only did Elma Godchaux grow up on St. Charles Avenue near my own Uptown address, but I
had shopped as a girl in her family’s popular department store. My first grown-up coat and
first dancing gown carried Godchaux’s labels. My family had baked with sugar packaged in
the familiar red, white, and blue Godchaux’s Sugar bags.
Godchaux’s novel, Stubborn Roots, contains a host of references to Louisiana history
and folk traditions. Personal interviews with Elma Godchaux’s daughter, Lady Charlotte
Fraser of London, disclosed that the novel is based on Elma’s personal experiences and on
the life of Elma’s father, Edward Godchaux. This assertion is supported by the inscription in
the University of Louisiana’s copy of the novel, written by Leon Gumbel Godchaux at the
time of its donation, stating that the novel presents “a true picture” of life on a southern sugar
plantation as it was experienced by his family. By Elma’s own account, Edward was the
most important adult in her life. Further interviews with Elma’s first cousin Justine
McCarthy and friend Dick Whitten revealed that the novel’s male protagonist shares some
life experiences with Elma’s grandfather Leon Godchaux.
The paucity of information about Leon Godchaux was baffling. Accounts of
important people in Louisiana history contain few references to a man who was known in his
own time as ‘The Sugar King of Louisiana.” Research has made it clear that Leon
Godchaux’s contributions to his adopted country and state are significant. Additionally, he
seems to have been an exceptional man in both a business and a personal sense. His
influence on his own children and grandchildren has been demonstrably profound.
Elma Godchaux has, in her literature, blended the lives of her ancestors with her own
memories and observations to produce fiction that is both distinctive and evocative of the
iv
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. place and period in which she lived. Though she grew up in “the big house,” Elma
Godchaux’s sympathies are clearly with the struggling and the powerless. A child of
privilege, she was able to gain perspective on the South in which she was raised during her
education at Wellesley and Radcliffe, and the following eleven years in New York City.
Godchaux believed that she was destined to be a writer, and her family connections
make this ambition understandable. The Godchauxs of New Orleans were a highly literate
and artistic family who counted many of the most highly regarded writers and artists of their
time among their acquaintance. Elma began writing as a child, and as a young woman was
welcomed to spend time with those writers that brought about the richest period in Louisiana
literary history, the “southern renascence.” As a college student she studied under two of the
most highly regarded literature professors in the country, and her years in New York helped
her to solidify her friendships with those writers who would become her closest friends and
mentors for the remainder of her life.
In her own time, Elma Godchaux was considered to be an important writer who was
valued by such knowledgeable readers as Robert Penn Warren. From her personal
knowledge and experience, she gives readers insights not usually available—among them
pictures of plantation life, Cajun and black cultures. Godchaux has the ability to create good
literary images based on real people she knew or about whom she had heard stories. She
employs her knowledge of folk culture to give readers a fuller picture of Louisiana life
during the twenties and thirties along the river. Her characterizations are products of clear
eyed observation. While she is careful not to have her narrators use pejorative language, she
scrupulously uses narrative rhythms and expressions that would have been used by her
characters.
v
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Elma Godchaux’s literature focused entirely on the area around the place that held the
most meaning for her—Reserve Plantation. The first of her grandfather Leon’s real estate
acquisitions and the site of her father’s work, Reserve was the place Elma spent her
childhood weekends and summers. Here she befriended people of a variety of backgrounds,
and here she wrote her first stories about the residents of the plantation.
Reserve Plantation has an especially rich and complex history. The building, as new
research has proven, is the oldest extant plantation house in the lower Mississippi Valley.1
Built on land once roamed by bears and buffalo and peopled by Choctaw and Chickasaw, the
structure has housed settlers from the earliest German inhabitants and the first wave of
French settlers, to free slaveholding families of color and Jewish planters who explored new
means of working the property with paid labor. This home has been in the Godchaux family
for five generations, and Elma Godchaux returned there to write and reflect throughout her
life.
This structure, now called the Godchaux-Reserve House, has been the subject of
recent controversy. Its historical significance and its wealth of architectural detail have
gained it a place on the National Register of Historic Places. This designation has spared it
from destruction thus far. The River Road Historical Society and the St. John the Baptist
Historical Society have raised and spent $60,000 toward the restoration of the building.
These organizations had planned to convert the house into a museum, to be called the
Godchaux-Reserve House Museum, but efforts have stalled due to exclusive reliance on
volunteers, the need for reliable funding, and the lack of a consistent and competent
coordinator. The house remains in jeopardy.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Godchaux family story touches, directly or indirectly, many other stories: the
eighteenth century settlement of Louisiana by German and French immigrants; service in the
Spanish militia; four wars; slave ownership and slave rebellion; the story of Tassin, a free
black immigrant from the West Indies; Jewish assimilation in America; the development of
the city of New Orleans; changing tastes in fashion and music; advances in Louisiana
industry and agriculture; philanthropy; high culture and folk culture; labor activism; and the
southern literary renascence.
Structure of the dissertation
This dissertation divides into three closely interrelated sections. The first two
chapters of this volume focus on Godchaux family history. The second two examine Elma
Godchaux’s literary works, taking into account their heavy reliance on family lore and
Louisiana history. The final chapters outline the history of the Godchaux family’s primary
plantation house and the implications of the Godchaux story and the house for public folklore
programming.
The first two chapters of this work focus on the first three American generations of
the Godchaux family. Chapter One explores the lives of Leon and Justine Lamm Godchaux.
Leon and Justine were part of the immigration from Alsace that so enriched Louisiana. In
the early 1700s, Alsatian immigrants settled the German Coast, and Leon would eventually
purchase his first plantation there. Leon was present at many historic events, and took part in
movements that have become important to history. With his friend from the age of thirteen, a
free black youth of his own age, he formed an association that took him from a pushcart to
prominence. These two young men remained friends and partners through the Civil War and
vii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. its aftermath. Leon helped establish New York’s garment district. He was a plantation
owner during Reconstruction, and sought new ways of structuring both the sugar business
and the relation of workers to employer. He knew early Louisiana writers and folklorists,
and was honored by high government officials and a future president.
The second chapter concerns the lives of Leon’s son Edward Godchaux and his
daughter Elma. Edward inherited the business at Reserve, and Elma spent a good deal of her
childhood there. Her time in New Orleans, where she was bom and attended school, saw
great changes. Transportation and health conditions were modernized, clothing styles were
revolutionized, and jazz was bom. Elma spent the “roaring twenties” in New York, toured
Germany and France, and returned to the South to observe the effects of the Great
Depression. She was privy to discussions about literature among eminent southern writers—
William Faulkner, Julius Friend, Lyle Saxon, Robert Penn Warren, Tennessee Williams,
Thomas Wolfe. Godchaux became involved with members of Huey P. Long’s organization
and became active in labor issues, mixing with intellectuals and activists, northern
communists and southern workers. She explored new ways of writing from her perspective
as a southern woman with a radical political consciousness.
The second section, chapters three and four, considers Elma Godchaux’s body of
literature as a fictionalized family saga and as a means by which its author reconnected with
lost family and protested conditions of the southern working poor. Elma Godchaux used her
literature to move beyond the conventions of “local color” as it was exemplified in the South
and to explore her generation’s “woman question,” the growing “negro question,” the notion
of social Darwinism, and psychological issues relating to life in Louisiana’s rural agrarian
culture.
viii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The final section delves into the history of Reserve, both the house and the territory.
This is the environment of Elma Godchaux’s stories, and also the setting for current debate
about preservation, economic development, tourism, and cultural interpretation. The fact of
the Reserve Plantation house’s continued existence makes real the possibility that the
Godchaux story could become widely known in the state of Louisiana. However, this
possibility becomes more remote each day action is not taken to preserve the structure and
create a stable administration to oversee its restoration and development as a cultural center
and interpretive facility.
Folklore training has been an excellent preparation for this study, which was begun
with the expectation that hours spent examining texts and microfilms, letters and journals,
would be supplemented by numerous interviews with members of the Godchaux family, their
acquaintances, and other informants in Orleans and St. John the Baptist Parishes. Not
surprisingly, these personal contacts have been the most rewarding part of the research, both
educationally and personally. One of the most important of these interviews involved flying
to London to meet Charlotte Fraser, the daughter of Elma Godchaux and Walter Kahn.
Literary and historical folklore studies helped with identification of motifs from folk
narrative and oral history that found their way into Godchaux family lore and into the
literature of Elma Godchaux. Public folklore training or, as it has been called in the past,
“applied folklore,” made it clear that the Godchaux-Reserve House structure, itself a
testament to the craftsmanship mid the amazing variety of experience found in Louisiana
history, presents an opportunity for development o f public programming that interprets
neglected areas of Louisiana history. For such a project as this, folklore training, both
ideological and methodological, must be supplementary to more traditional historical and
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. literary studies. As Benjamin Botkin writes, the applied folklorist uses folklore training as
“ancillary to the study of culture, of history or literature—of people” (Botkin 199).
1 According to Jonathan Flicker's 1973 report to the National Register of Historic Places, the Godchaux-Reserve House is the oldest extant plantation house in the lower Mississippi Valley. The house was placed on the National Register on January 21,1974.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. From Alsace to America
Introduction
The Louisiana to which young Lion Godchot emigrated was a state of tremendous
opportunity that was nevertheless known as the “grave of young mem” In addition to the
advantages a port city like New Orleans offered to a budding entrepreneur of the eighteenth
and nineteenth centimes, the crime, disease, and lack of sanitation made it a dangerous place
that discouraged many who tried to make a name there. Nevertheless, many immigrants,
such as Isaac Delgado, Leopold Jonas, Judah Touro, Judah P. Benjamin and Leon Godchaux
(the name was legally “Americanized”) rose from a variety of backgrounds to become forces
for progress in their new state.
Though informally educated, he reached out to his new community to enrich the
cultural as well as the commercial complexion of the state. Leon Godchaux energetically
pursued progressive business and agricultural techniques, and supported improved public
services and access to the arts. His values and creativity have been passed on to successive
generations of Godchauxs, who have instituted public facilities for working families, helped
to establish a major literary movement, created literature and supported workers’ struggles
for equitable treatment, and administered musical and health care organizations.
Nineteenth-century Louisiana was a place in which immigrants might remake
themselves—might alter their social status through their own efforts, change religious
affiliations or escape religious or cultural persecution that, though tried in Louisiana, M ed to
gain popular or institutional support. Romantic and volatile, ripe with possibilities for
fortune or disaster, Louisiana was a place where hardy adventurers might, with work and
1
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. luck, create new lives and leave legacies of lasting impact on future generations of family
and on state history.
Thriving commerce in New Orleans
In 1837, at the age of thirteen, Leon Godchaux arrived in New Orleans from his
native Jewish community of Herbeviller, France. At the time of his arrival at the Port of
New Orleans, and like many rural emigrants, he was unable to read and write in either French
or English. Family lore has ii that he carried oniy the coins in his pockets.1 The Louisiana to
which he traveled was one whose opportunities were spoken of throughout the poorer areas
of France; at this time Louisiana attracted Jewish emigrants from throughout Europe,
particularly France and Germany.2 New Orleans’ population increased from 29,737 in 1830
to 102,193 in 1840 (Fossier 22). Although Jewish migration accounts for a small percentage
of this number, most Jews who did emigrate from Europe to the United States during this
period did settle in New York or New Orleans. The Civil War effectively closed the port of
New Orleans as a substantial point of entry for direct European immigration; later
immigrants primarily arrived from other American cities (Berthoff 328-45).
Though definitive statistics are unavailable, Stephen Hertzberg has compiled the best
available figures for the populations of Jews in the United States and in the South. A
generally accepted estimate is that roughly half of the country’s Jewish population lived in
the South in 1820. Though the number of Jews in the United States increased to 230,000 in
1880, the percentage of Jews in the South decreased.3
2
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Jewish Population of the United States, 1820-1860
Year Number 1820 2,700 1840 15,000 1850 50,000 1860 150,000 From Stephen Hertzberg, Strangers within the Gate City: The Jews o f Atlanta (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1978), p. 281, n. 18.
Although it is not possible to estimate the number of Jewish residents of New Orleans
or Louisiana during this period, the Jewish population in the South is estimated to have
increased tenfold between the years of 1815 and 1860 (Ashkenazi 10). New Orleans, in fact,
received the second largest total number of immigrants to the United States, after New York.4
Jewish Population in the South, 1860 State Number Alabama 2,000 Georgia 2,500 Kentucky 2,500 Louisiana 8,000 Mississippi, Arkansas, and Florida 1,200 Maryland 5,000 Missouri 3,000 South Carolina 3,000 Tennessee 2,000 Texas 1,000 Virginia 2,000 North Carolina 1,000 Total 33,200 From Stephen Hertzberg, Strangers within the Gate City: The Jews o f Atlanta (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1978), p. 281, n. 18.
The period in New Orleans’ development between 1800 and 1840, especially between
1825 and 1840, has been referred to as “The Glamour Period”—a time of extraordinary
economic and cultural growth and activity, and an epoch that shaped the lingering character
of the city (Fossier vii-x). Though the early part of the twentieth century was late in the 3
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. game for the oldest American cities like Boston, Philadelphia, and New York, New Orleans
was in its infancy as an American city. The city did not enter its American period until 1803,
and the pioneers of the early 1800s helped transform this colonial port into a vital,
enterprising city. By 1837, the port was second only to that of New York, and the city of
New Orleans was the nation’s fourth business leader. Steamboat usage of the port increased
from 21 arrivals in 1814 to 1,537 in 1840, and tonnage of shipped goods multiplied eight
times over. The Louisiana Gazette reported in June of 1825:
It has been well remarked by our respectable Mayor, that the great
prosperity of our city, is in a great measure to be ascribed to the cultivation
and increasing products of the Western country, and the rich countries on the
banks of the Mississippi, and its tributary streams.
The upper faubourgs and the upper part of the city are covered with
spacious, magnificent and costly buildings for the reception of every species
of produce, it is there that merchants and others, chiefly connected with the
upper country, have located themselves, and it is from thence that spring and
must continue to spring, the vast resources of our flourishing city. (Louisiana
Gazette June 6,1825)
Over the next decade, imports and exports would triple, sugar would begin to rival cotton as
a leading export, and the apparently solid financial boom would lead intoxicated speculators
into dangerous practices.
Though experiencing a time of economic progress begun after the War of 1812, the
state was experiencing great change and flux. Railroads had not yet extended into the deep
South, and steamboats were the primary means of commercial transportation. Increased
4
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. traffic on the Mississippi River and the Red River spurred development of plantations along
those waterways. The composition of the South’s population dramatically changed as
migrating cotton and sugar planters from other southern states moved large numbers of
slaves into the area to power their enterprises.
After 1815, when Louisiana had been one of the United States for only three years
and hostilities had ended here and in Europe, Louisiana’s economy began to grow through
two primary avenues: agriculture and commercial and financial activity in New Orleans.5
Expansion in agriculture reflected westward migration patterns as planters from the seaboard
states moved westward to more desirable land. Though cotton was the state’s principal crop,
Louisiana was the United States’ primary source of sugar. The port of New Orleans served
as the shipping and receiving point for agricultural goods from a wide area. Louisiana
planters sent their products through the port, as did cotton and sugar planters in Arkansas,
Mississippi, and parts of Texas. Its location at the mouth of the Mississippi River made the
port especially valuable, as it allowed shipments to go upriver or to pass through the Gulf of
Mexico for points west or toward New York. Though new railroads, the opening of the Erie
Canal and the extension of canal systems cut into the traffic once served by the port of New
Orleans, as of 1845 fully half of western produce bound for New York still arrived in New
Orleans by means of river steamships and left from there aboard ships.
Early Jewish experience of New Orleans
The increase in business activity and the relative increase in Louisiana’s European
and Jewish populations reflect the vigorous economy within the southwestern region and in
New Orleans during the antebellum years. New Orleans thrived and the port exceeded all
5
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. other southern ports in commercial activity. The agricultural and commercial interests
became inextricably bound together, as rural formers and planters (“planters” were formers
on a large scale) employed traders and dealers in the city.
Until the time of the Civil War, Louisiana’s Jewish population was divided almost
equally between New Orleans and the rest of the state. Rural Jewish traders routinely dealt
with Jewish merchants in the city. Many successful Jewish merchants maintained
relationships, for business and personal reasons, with family members or former European
community members throughout Louisiana or in New York. Most Jewish merchants in New
Orleans dealt in clothing or dry goods. Some became cotton merchants or commission
wholesalers, providing goods to urban or rural shopkeepers. Because there was no
manufacturing of mercantile items in New Orleans, immigrants were provided with
opportunities for trade similar to those with which they would have been accustomed in
Europe. The opportunities for great economic success and upward mobility, however, would
have been foreign to the European experience. Elliott Ashkenazi has identified
“approximately 245 Jewish business firms [ ...] in New Orleans between 1841 and the Civil
War;” over half of these enterprises dealt in clothing or dry goods (Ashkenazi 13). These
merchants operated at a variety of levels, from backpack and pushcart peddlers to stall
vendors or auctioneers, to storekeepers. Jews also sold imported goods, jewelry, and
tobacco. Jewish visitor Isidore Lowenstem o f Liepzig remarked on the abundance of rare
and fine imported merchandise available at many of the city’s shops during his visit to New
Orleans in 1937. He wrote that he found that the shops surpassed “in elegance those of any
other city in America, and that their stocks o f luxury merchandise stand comparison with
6
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. those in Paris or London.” He also noted that the French laboring class included many fine
tailors and shoemakers (Fossier 57).
Jewish merchants in New Orleans generally located in close proximity to one another.
Vendors set up temporary booths or operated from pushcarts along the river near the French
Quarter. Chartres Street, one block in from the river, housed the largest number of Jewish
businesses and stores. It was doubtless these that so impressed Isidore Lowenstem in 1837.
The most prosperous Jews transferred their businesses and homes, often located in the same
building, to the northwest of the Quarter, along Camp, Magazine, and Tchoupitoulas Streets.
The small handful of Jewish merchants who chose to live or work in rural Louisiana
commonly began as itinerant backpack or pushcart peddlers. Eventually some of these were
able, with little capital investment, to open stores for the custom of slaves, landowners, and
townspeople. Records show that by 1860, at least thirty-one of forty-seven parishes included
Jewish businesses (Ashkenazi 15). Most often, their inventories were purchased from Jewish
wholesalers in New Orleans, but also from Shreveport, Baton Rouge, or Donaldsonville.
Some got their goods from New York or Europe. Their sales, and those of their suppliers,
were dependent on the cotton and sugar markets. Many rural storekeepers became traders in
these necessities, either through interest or because they were sometimes paid with them.
Because the country store was customarily a hub of rural life, the Jewish shopkeeper was a
visible and vital member of the community, even though the number of Jews in Louisiana
was small.
Though Jews accounted for a small portion of Louisiana’s population, they forged
important links with New York business contacts and served an important economic function
in rural communities. In the early 1800s, most of the non-Jewish population were either
7
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. planters or aspiring planters. Very few entrepreneurs were inclined to be businessmen, and
manage the sorts of goods and services needed by sugar and cotton planters. Jewish
businessmen filled these needs by becoming peddlers, operators of general stores,
agricultural factors and business agents.
Jewish assimilation in eighteenth and nineteenth century New Orleans
Jews were among the earliest settlers in Louisiana; in feet, they arrived earlier than
many of the more dominant cultural groups. As a consequence of the social and economic
success of these early Jewish settlers, a great deal of anti-Semitism has been averted.
Attempts to import animosity toward Jews were largely unsuccessful in Louisiana’s early
days. Louisiana’s sparse population and its great need for enterprising citizens allowed
individuals to be judged more on merit than religious creed.
Though Jews were banned from New Orleans when, as stipulated by the Code Noir of
1724, the French West India Company demanded the expulsion of all Jews from the
Louisiana Territory, enforcement was indifferent. Code Noir made Catholicism the official
religion of Louisiana, and mandated the expulsion of all Jews. Liliane Crete reports that
during the administration of Governor Kerlerec, there were six wealthy Jewish families in
New Orleans who had no difficulty keeping property despite the proclamation. It is
generally acknowledged that many New Orleans Jews of the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries identified with their coreligionists as members of a cultural group with similar
heritage rather than as a congregation of worshippers. Many members of New Orleans’
Jewish population apparently did convert to Christianity when General O’Reilly made efforts
toward enforcement of Code Noir. Records show that Jews were married in the Catholic
8
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Church according to church strictures, and many had their children and slaves baptized. Pere
Antoine was especially known for his cheerful supervision of “mixed” marriages, and his
hopes that the children of such unions would grow up to be good Catholics (Crete 153-54).
Some historians still promote the notion of Creole society as an exclusive group that
never worked with their own hands, who lived almost exclusively for pleasure, and who “like
the Chinese. . . eat rice and worship their ancestors” (Stanforth 29). However, others have
effectively proven that cultural and economic contributions to the city were enough to earn
one entree into early Creole society, and that intermarriage between Spanish and French
families, as well as between Jewish and French families, did take place without ostracism.
Balls of the early 1800s were commonly attended by French Creoles and Americans; even
blacks and Indians were allowed to sit and listen to the music (Reinders, Crete, Fossier,
Korn, Kmen).
The story of Pere Antoine is in some ways reflective of the laissez faire attitude
toward Jews (and religion in general) common in New Orleans in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. Antonio de Sedella, a Capuchin monk, began his career in New
Orleans in 1780. On December 5, 1788, he was appointed a commissary of the Spanish
Inquisition and ordered “to discharge his functions with the most exact fidelity and zeal, and
in conformity with the royal will” (Gayarre 61). For months the popular priest was able to
keep his new assignment a secret, and he continued to carry out his accustomed duties.
When Governor Miro heard, in a letter from Madrid, about Sedella’s “promotion,” he
ordered his troops to expel the priest to Cadiz. He gave his reasons in a letter to a cabinet
minister dated June 3, 1789:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. When I read the communication of that Capuchin, I shuddered. [... ]
This emigration was to be encouraged under the pledge, that the new colonists
should not be molested in matters of religion, provided there should be no
other public mode of worship than the Catholic. The mere name of the
Inquisition uttered in New Orleans would be sufficient, not only to check
emigration which is successfully progressing, but also would be capable of
driving away those who have recently come, and I even tear, in spite of
having sent out of the country Father Sedella, that the most fetal consequences
may ensue from the mere suspicion of the cause of his dismissal. (Fossier 53)
In 1795, Father Sedella returned to New Orleans. His earlier appointment as Grand
Inquisitor, which he never fulfilled, was eventually forgotten, and the Spanish monk came to
be known as “Pere Antoine.” Eventually he was promoted to the post of vicar-general of St.
Louis Cathedral. Catholic historian Roger Baudier believes that Pdre Antoine’s great
popularity was because “he never condemned anything,” and tolerated “usurers, apostates,
and prostitutes” in his parish. He did not cry out from the pulpit against dueling,
freemasonry, the practice o f taking mistresses; even divorce and remarriage were subjects for
compassion rather than censure. Baudier notes that, when a Jewish man asked to marry a
Christian in the St. Louis Cathedral, P6re Antoine performed the ceremony without first
inquiring whether the groom had renounced his faith. The historian decries these practices,
asking, “Where were the laws o f the Church, the decrees of the councils o f the Church, the
expressions of the Sovereign Pontiffs, canon law?’ (Baudier 76). Catherine Kahn, president
of the Southern Jewish Historical Society, humorously sees this as a particularly New
10
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Orleans story. “New Orleans has corrupted everyone who has come down here. We are the
city that the Inquisition busted in. The Spanish sent us an inquisitor and we turned him into a
benevolent priest” (Kahn 3).
Although Pere Antoine died on January 19,1829, his attitude of religious tolerance
seems to have been typical of antebellum New Orleans. Though a number of Jews did
convert to Catholicism or marry outside the faith, others never renounced Judaism, even
during the time of Code Noir. Though interfaith marriages were disapproved of in the most
conservative circles, the families were not punished or ostracized.6
We cannot know exactly how these early Jewish Americans regarded their faith, but
there is ample evidence that Jews assisted congregations of Protestants and Catholics. Judah
Touro, the Jewish merchant and ship’s agent from Newport, Rhode Island, who settled in
New Orleans, gave widely to those in need regardless of religious faith. He purchased the
debt-ridden First Presbyterian Church at the comer of St. Charles and Gravier Streets, in
what was then known as Faubourg St. Mary, and gave it back to the congregation. The
minister, Reverend Theodore Clapp, encouraged the gratitude of his congregation and
praised Touro. “Although an Israelite to the bottom of his soul,” he wrote, “it would give
him the sincerest pleasure to see all the churches flourishing in their respective ways.”
Though there was a great deal of religious tolerance in New Orleans, Clapp was “heartily
sorry that they did not more generally fraternize with love, and help each other” (Clapp 97).
Clapp knew that Touro “might have tom the building down at the beginning, and reared on
the site a block of stores, whose revenues by this time would have amounted to half a million
dollars at least.” Touro reportedly was made an offer for the land, which he turned down
saying “there should always be a church on this spot to the end of time” (Clapp 101-103). In
11
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. feet, at Judah Touro’s death his papers included $14,000 in St. Louis Cathedral bonds, which
accounted for about ten percent of its total cost (Korn 219).
Jewish citizens in rural parts of the state grew to be disinterested philanthropists as
well. Inspired by Touro’s genuine concern and interest in people of all faiths, the planter
Leon Godchaux and his son Edward both contributed significantly to Protestant and
parochial schools, as well as to St. Peter’s Catholic Church and Our Lady of Grace Catholic
Church near their plantation in Reserve, for which they were greatly appreciated by their
neighbors. They contributed time and money to hospitals and civic endeavors. Between the
years of 1850 and 1975, the Godchaux femily also constructed lending libraries, dance halls,
baseball diamonds, swimming pools, and clubhouses for public use in the small towns in
which they owned plantations and refineries.
Lion Godchot’s voyage to America
There are several uncorroborated accounts of events surrounding Leon Godchaux’s
departure for America. What is known is that Lion Godchot was bom on June 10, 1824, to
Paul Godchot and Michelette Lazard Godchot, and raised in the village of Herbeviller in the
French province of Lorraine. According to the majority of femily and secondary sources, he
left for New Orleans at the age of twelve, on board the packet ship Indus on October 18,
1836, and arrived on February 20,1837. In the only published version of the story, Lion and
an older brother set out together from Herbeviller and the brother sent Lion ahead to Le
Havre while he visited Paris. Once in America, the spelling of the child’s name was
creolized, and became ‘Leon Godchaux.” The brother followed some time later on a ship
that was lost at sea (Wall 50). According to femily genealogical records and oral tradition,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. whether Leon had an older brother who died at sea is not definitely known. What is certain
from military records in the Historic New Orleans Collection is that Leon’s brother Mayer
Godchot did military service in Paris, was released from service in June of 1839, and
departed for New Orleans from Le Havre, with his mother, brother Lazard and sisters
Fleurette and Pauline, in 1839.7
Justine Godchaux McCarthy, Leon’s granddaughter, recalls Leon Godchaux’s
description of Herbeviller. Ail of the houses were small and low, with thick stone walls and
plain but serviceable furnishings. Each household included a fireplace that allowed for open-
hearth cooking and served as a heat source. Family firms and grazing land were on the
periphery of town; livestock pens for sheep and cattle were next to the houses.8
An article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, written by Leon Godchaux’s
granddaughter Elma Godchaux, offers Leon’s recollections as she remembers them.
Then the little town was like so many towns of present France, small
houses set along a narrow street, cobbled with stone. A little store of dry
goods and odds and ends faced the street and on the street the bar was, not
necessarily on the comer. Above the bar, a few clean empty rooms could be
rented by a stranger. Behind the store and bar and all the houses were the
firm yards where the chickens pecked and the cows came home. The narrow
fields the peasants owned might be beyond the town, a good long walk
beyond, away, beyond the woods.
It was in the bar, where a boy might sometimes go for a jug of
necessary wine, that Leon heard first about America, about Louisiana, New
Orleans where people spoke in French. He listened to men talk, men who had
13
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. crossed the seas and seen America. Perhaps they spoke about the money to be
picked up off the streets for the stooping and the good jobs to be had for the
asking. They said the land stretched for miles and miles and had not been
scratched and scratched and planted and replanted for centuries.
In France, 1836 was a mere 21 years after the battle and defeat at
Waterloo. People talked above their wine about the upstaged glorious
emperor and the restoration of the Bourbons.
Also, Germany had surged on more across the Rhine. There was a
feeling of defeat in France, a narrow feeling, pressed as she was by the
victorious allies, Austria, Russia, Prussia, England share in the plunder that
was taken mainly outside Europe. There was a feeling that the wars would
always be, that they always had been, and a man would be a soldier and work
himself out within a little space. (Godchaux 1940b: 1, 3)
Leaving his brother in Paris (femily legend has it that the elder Godchot wanted to
investigate the celebrated women of that city), Leon set out for Le Havre carrying “a bar or
two o f soap, knitted underwear, a homespun shirt or two, wrapped in a checkered scarf,
homespun too, woven by his mother on her own loom” (Godchaux 1940b: 3). This was
certainly the bravest and most important step o f his life, and he arrived in America with little
more than the conviction that he could succeed through hard work and good sense.
This voyage was the occasion for Leon to make the first two of his many lasting and
mutually beneficial American relationships. While awaiting the Indus in Le Havre, he met
Charles Emanuel of Normandy, a boy his own age who was to disembark at New York.
14
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Emanuel found work as a clerk in a commercial house, and eventually became a successful
businessman. After he was established, he became Godchaux’s lifelong New York business
agent and advisor. On board the ship, he met another boy named Joachim Tassin. A free
young man o f color (described by the femily as an “octoroon”) from the West Indies, Tassin
was the cook’s helper. Tassin disembarked in New Orleans with Leon Godchaux, and the
two worked together for the rest of their lives. When Tassin and Godchaux stepped off the
Indus, they found a world of wonder and opportunity.
The age was the age of the fabulous ’40s, times almost unbelievable
when, in the East, men and women were buying themselves ascension robes
so that they would be suitably attired for the end of the world, when, in the
West, Manifest Destiny was a promise of life, not of course to the Indians, it
was a promise if you were white.
New Orleans, the city behind the river, was so low as to seem to be
built in a hole. Canal Street stretched from the wharf, two broad paths of mud
with a canal between them. A Negro boy was wading in the mud, driving a
flock of geese. The Negro boy spoke French. (Godchaux 1940b: 3)
Leon and Tassin investigate the new city, choose a career
Not surprisingly, once in New Orleans Godchaux opted to become a peddler. “He
saw the roads were sloughs of mud, and not safe for a lady in a carriage. The ladies certainly
could not come to town more often than once or twice each year, and their husbands, men of
affairs, would hardly find the time to visit with the merchants for pins and needles and such
geegaws as their women wanted” (Godchaux 1940b: 4). Because he was a child, he would
15
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. have had no experience that would allow him to be a trader or a merchant; he also had no
resources to support such enterprises. He had had experiences in Herbeviller with peddlers,
though, and presumably felt comfortable with the demands of that job. Leon sought out a
man named Leopold Jonas, arguably the most successful merchant in New Orleans at that
time. The most reliable femily sources maintain that young Leon carried a letter of
introduction to Mr. Jonas, who had some femily in the Alsace area.9 He offered the boy a
position as his clerk, but Leon preferred independence. Jonas invested in Leon’s venture,
staking him to a pack and an assortment of “notions.” These included pins, needles, ribbons,
yam, mirrors, combs, and other small household items.
It is tempting to wonder where the young men’s first investigations of their new city
may have taken them. Leon’s femily remember that he played the fiddle as an adult.
Because he spent most of his time establishing himself in his earliest years, and then seeing
to his various enterprises, it is unlikely that he learned to play in America. If he learned to
play the fiddle in Herbeviller, and was interested in music as a boy, it stands to reason that he
might have wished to hear the type of music that was played in his new home. Likewise it is
reasonable to speculate that young Tassin might have wished to meet some of his own
countrymen. The two boys could have visited the musical gatherings of slave and free West
Indians along Bayou St. John or Lake Ponchartrain in relative safety. Public voodoo rituals,
popular with the city’s West Indians, were regularly observed by spectators, who were
occasionally moved to take part in the spectacle. In feet, the ceremonies were open to “the
press, the police, the sporting world and any thrill-seekers ready to donate a fee for
admission” (Tallant 56). It is easy to imagine two curious boys listening to the music and
16
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. catching glimpses of the dancers from a safe, non-paying distance—probably in company
with plenty of others who had not the price of admission.
New Orleans was the most cosmopolitan and the most musical city in the United
States. Music served many purposes in New Orleans. It set the tone for dances of all types,
from impromptu street celebrations to formal masquerade balls. The boys would have seen
slaves, carrying evening clothes and dancing shoes, clearing the way for wealthy families
walking through the filthy streets on their way to fancy-dress balls. So many balls were held
on any given night, in feet, that there was considerable competition among ballroom
proprietors, who invented endless gimmicks such as inventive masquerade themes to attract
dancers—the Jefferson Ballroom even offering an “exhilarating gas” (nitrous oxide) to
patrons of its masked ball (Kmen 24).
The two boys would have heard black street vendors, like the famous “Old Com
Meal,” whose singing was so popular that he was invited to perform his signature
composition, “Fresh Com Meal,” as well as others such as “Nigger Jim Brown,” and “Old
Rosin the Bow,” at the posh St. Charles Hotel on May 13, 1837, making him the first black
performer to appear on the stage in New Orleans, perhaps in the United States (Kmen 239).
The knowledgeable listener could discern satire directed at public figures among the lyrics of
the “green-sass” men selling vegetables or the “cymbal” men with crullers (Moore 724).
Visitors to the city commented on the melodies and rhythms heard from oarsmen on the river
boats, longshoremen on the levee, and boathands on the steamers, and also noted the children
whistling in public squares and impromptu drumming and dancing. Because opera was
popular with, and available to, all New Orleanians, visitors were sometimes amazed to hear
slaves, carrying heavy loads or strolling in the streets, humming operatic arias. Informal
17
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. street parades were also common. Both white and black militia companies marched through
the streets, often in full regalia, playing brass band music between the turn of the century and
the Civil War. The most popular day for the marching brass bands was Sunday, causing
much consternation among clergy of all denominations. Services at St. Louis Cathedral were
frequently inconvenienced because of the church’s proximity to the popular parade ground,
the Place d’Armes. One Episcopalian minister was compelled to stop in the middle of his
sermon and dismiss the congregation due to the overpowering martial music outside (Kmen
201-202).
Perhaps in defiant response to the city’s economic crisis of 1837, referred to as “The
Panic,” the first formal Mardi Gras parade took place that year. The tradition began in 1827,
when a group of costumed young men, home from a trip to Paris, strutted through the streets
in imitation of a Parisian carnival. The parade of 1837 was the first organized event of its
type, and the following year saw the addition of the first Mardi Gras float, a giant fighting
cock, and the first “throws,” sweetmeats thrown to the ladies (Leavitt 120). Because young
Godchaux and Tassin arrived in February, it is not unlikely that they observed this
momentous spring event, about which there had been much speculation and excitement.
1837 was a year of terrible plague in New Orleans, which “had a reputation as a grave
of young men” (Reinders 92). Doctors were unable to effectively treat the yellow fever that
threatened the population, especially the unacclimated immigrants. New immigrants lived in
filthy shantytowns in the most undesirable parts of the city, along the swamps that smelled of
sewage and decay and also served as breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes. In
these slums, overcrowding was prevalent, fresh drinking water was unavailable, and the
mortality rate was high, especially for children. Moreover, it was difficult for those living
18
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. under such harsh conditions to better their situations in life. Though they had no guarantee
of secure lodgings, Godchaux and Tassin saw clearly that their greatest chance of health and
success lay outside the city limits. Wealthy families left the city for plantations in the
country; the two boys followed suit in a fashion, by making the plantation homes the primary
destinations along their sales route. Godchaux began the business on his own, with the
understanding that Tassin would join him if the plan met with success.
Once on the road, Godchaux" s first stop was Destrehan Plantation, the home of Judge
Pierre A. Rost, where he was cordially received. Godchaux quickly learned that the
conditions of Louisiana roads were such that even townspeople were often unable to navigate
the roads and footpaths to community stores, and that rural householders were quite isolated.
Godchaux’s first customers included plantation householders, free blacks, and small fanners.
He took orders and was able to fill them in New Orleans with his profits. Within a week,
Godchaux’s supplies were depleted and he needed to re-stock. Of course he took his
business to Mr. Jonas, and he continued to do so long after his success would allow him to
trade anywhere in the city.
Leon Godchaux learned, on this first trip, that the role of the peddler in Louisiana was
much the same as it had been in Alsace. The peddler carried information—news and
gossip—to each plantation and household he visited. The peddler was often the harbinger of
births and deaths, business failures and binned crops, increasing hostilities between North
and South, tales of adventure in new territories, engagements and elopements. In order to
know what news would be most welcome, but primarily in order to satisfy his own interest,
Godchaux learned all he could about the different households he visited. He learned about
plantation life, especially how the plantations ran their businesses. He learned about the
19
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. operation of small-town stores as well as the large markets that supplied them. He learned
about the operations, often subsistence farming, of poor whites and free blacks. After
familiarizing himself with the households on his early route, Godchaux realized that some
planters would allow him to trade with their slaves, so he educated himself about their needs
and concerns.
Above all Leon learned about the sugar business. Men and women, blacks and
whites, workers at all economic levels were intensely interested in the success of each
season’s crop of cane. Almost everyone was dependent on cane in some way, and Leon
became a major conduit of sugar news between plantations and the city. His access to most
of the plantations in South Louisiana, as well as some in Mississippi, and the knowledge of
the land gained through daily long walks, as well as the knowledge of business gained
through increasing contact with merchants in New Orleans and New York, and his freedom
from the “sugar culture” perspective, were to give Leon Godchaux a formidable advantage in
his adult life.
After he had been in business for several months, and was no longer under obligation
to Mr. Jonas, Leon Godchaux invited Joachim Tassin to join him in his business. This
allowed the young men to double the amount of goods carried per trip. Godchaux added
some luxury items to his stock, such as silk and fancy fabric for tignons. They also expanded
their trading area. The energy with which the two young men pursued their trade allowed
them to abandon the packs in favor of a horse and wagon. Again, the new means of
transportation allowed them to enlarge their inventory and to expand their service area.
Godchaux regularly sent a portion of his profits to his family in France to help with living
expenses, while he saved his own money toward bringing them to America.
20
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Godchaux and Tassin became welcome visitors at most of the homes on their route.
Both shrewd businessmen, they were able to advise planters and shopkeepers about prices of
agricultural goods and speculate about business trends, offering information they picked up
in the city. His knowledge of French agricultural techniques gave him a point of comparison
with those of Louisiana formers and planters, and his view of plantations as businesses gave a
new perspective to their discussions. Family legend has it that, as they traveled, Godchaux
would talk with Tassin about the sugar business, developing a plan to make it more efficient
and profitable. As for as anyone remembers, the two never feced any racial difficulties
during their travels.10
The birth of Godchaux’s Department Stores
Eventually Godchaux’s route expanded beyond his means to fill orders in a timely
fashion. It became necessary to purchase a store in order to keep himself supplied with
merchandise. One of the reasons planters relied heavily on Godchaux was because he could
purchase items in New Orleans and deliver them more quickly than their own factors could
fill orders that required transportation by boat. By 1839, the Lafourche country was central
to Godchaux’s business, and Convent, Louisiana was settled upon as the site for fifteen-year
old Godchaux’s general store (Hendrickson 354). This store, in addition to serving as a
supply-house for established delivery customers, drew from the nuns living in the convent
that gave the town its name, students at a nearby boys’ school, and those associated with the
large plantation closest to the store called “Uncle Sam’s,” the home of Pierre Samuel Fagot.
The management of the store proved more challenging and profitable than peddling, and
soon Godchaux turned his attention to purchasing commercial property in New Orleans.
21
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “Leon Godchaux, French and American Clothier” opened in 1844, when Leon
Godchaux was twenty years old. The store was located at 107-8 Old Levee Street, in the
heart of the flourishing commercial district. Old Levee Street is now called Decatur Street
and the numbers have since been changed to 213-15. Nearby was the Old French Meat
Market. This location, near the thriving markets and the port, attracted a wide clientele,
though all of the customers were mea His customers comprised those patrons he had
cultivated on his travels, visitors to the city, ship captains and sailors of every race wanting to
dress appropriately while in the cosmopolitan city, and a miscellany of colorful types.
Godchaux acted as business manager of the store and Tassin, with knowledge gleaned from
years of peddling fabrics and notions, became the salesman and tailor. Rosamund
Champagne was added as clerk and floor manager. Champagne, like Emanuel and Tassin,
remained an associate of Leon Godchaux’s throughout his life.
The New Orleans store, and the apartment above it in which he lived, allowed Leon
Godchaux a home and headquarters from which to plan his future. Life in New Orleans was
familiar to him, as the city had always been his home base, but living full-time in his own
home was an experience new to him. The store, a gathering place for men from all walks of
life, would have allowed him to hear news from around the world. Ship captains, in for a suit
of clothes appropriate for New Orleans visiting, would have told him of their homes in the
East. He would have heard tales of the expanding west from adventurers on their way out or
who had just returned with new fortunes, and needing new clothing suitable to their new
status.
The store allowed for discussion of the French-language papers among employees
and clientele, some of who, related stories of European relatives and travels. L ’Orleanais
22
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. contained news of Europe, particularly of France, editorials about foreign affairs, notices of
interest to Catholics, and a reader’s digest for Francophiles; in 1849, the abridged novels of
Alexandre Dumas were serialized in the New Orleans paper. The section containing local
news reported that several locals had been arrested for participating in a charivari,
sarcastically stating that “several loafers and loaferesses were furnished with quarters in the
workhouse,” but that the aldermen to whom the case was referred failed to appear. Historian
Christina Vella compares the tone o f the French papers to that of the American papers, which
during the same period published an article praising a minister “who recruited numerous
people to take a temperance oath—an article unimaginable in the pages of L ’Orleanais”
(Vella 270-1).
Beginning in the 1840s, minstrelsy was the most nationally popular type of
entertainment, and almost everyone—black and white—attended minstrel shows at a variety
of theatres. These shows performed the remarkable function of giving Americans a common
stock of jokes—“Why did the chicken cross the road?,” and “Who was that lady I saw you
with last night?’ Both whites and blacks wrote for the minstrel shows, and in its earliest
days, whites performed them in blackface. Later, blacks donned “blackface” as well and
performed in minstrel shows around the countiy. Although minstrel shows eventually fell
into disfavor with black audiences, in their earliest days they were very popular and black
writers, musicians, and performers viewed minstrelsy as an opportunity to work. People at
all sorts of public gathering places enjoyed laughing together at the latest jokes, which served
as an interesting commonality between classes and races.
23
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Leon’s success allows him to support his family and take a wife
Within a year of opening his New Orleans store, Leon Godchaux was in a position to
send for his femily. His mother, two brothers and two sisters arrived from Herbeviller via Le
Havre in 1845. Both sisters eventually married successful businessmen; one married Nathan
Blum and the other married Joseph Israel. One adventurous brother, Lazard, joined the 1849
gold rush and headed out for the California gold fields. He eventually became the owner of a
butcher shop and used his business contacts anu acumen to control extensive stock-farming
interests, making him an extremely wealthy man. The audacious Lazard’s grandson Keith
Godchaux became the keyboardist for the phenomenally successful Grateful Dead rock band
from 1973 to 1979.
The other brother, Mayer Godchaux, immediately joined Leon’s business, which was
renamed “Godchaux Freres, French and American Store.” In order to better support his
femily, and in order to become more marriageable himselfj Leon Godchaux purchased the
buildings at 213-215 Old Levee Street. By 1847, a large investment from a new “silent”
partner, Jean Hahn, allowed the Godchaux business to expand into 217 Old Levee Street as
well. Leon allowed himself a salary of twenty dollars per month, and the rest of the profits
were divided among the group.
By the year 1851, at the age of twenty-seven, Leon Godchaux felt that he was in a
position to marry, and he chose a wife who would prove to be tolerant of his schedule and
who would help to supply his shortcomings. He chose Justine Lamm, the daughter of Isaac
Lamm and Anne Sarah Alexandre Lamm. Justine was bom in Aie, France, and emigrated to
America with her family as a child. Justine had been well versed in Jewish law but after her
24
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. femily arrived in America, like many who chose to settle in New Orleans, the Lamms
adopted the relaxed attitudes of their neighbors.
Justine’s father was a schoolteacher, and Justine was well educated for a young
woman of her time. She was petite, with a kind demeanor and serious blue eyes that belied
an impish sense of humor. Justine loved music and wrote out the lyrics of her favorite songs
in her exquisite longhand.11 She cherished her independence and cultivated her intellect. An
accomplished seamstress who specialized in crocheting, knitting, and sewing, she served as
apprentice to a dressmaker on St. Anne Street in the Old Quarter, just up the street from the
sprawling cottage occupied by Marie Laveau and the families of several of her fifteen
children.12
On her way to work each day, Justine would have carefully lifted her skirts above the
usual mud of the Old Quarter streets and carried a pair of “good” shoes to change into at the
shop. She would have passed gawkers, black and white, who stood outside the Laveau home
hoping for a glimpse of its famous mistress, or perhaps wishing to purchase a potion or
amulet. She would have had to step carefully around the chickens and geese, dogs, goats,
cows and horses that rambled the streets freely. She would have heard innumerable street
vendors performing their own variations of locally-favored folk songs such as “My Long Tail
Blue,” “Sich a Getting’ Up Stairs,” “Jump Jim Crow,” and “Old Rosin the Bow” (Kmen 329-
43).
Once arrived at work, she would have changed her shoes, brushed off her muddy
walking shoes and carefully stowed them away, and begun her sewing in the relative peace of
the shop. Because it was built right on the street, the sounds of activity—animals, vendors,
carts and wagons, music, and voices—would have been completely audible, almost intrusive,
25
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. at the front of the shop. The rear of the shop would have been a good place to keep up on
local news, as society women chatted together during fittings.
As the owner of a custom clothing store, Leon Godchaux would have known of the
best tailors and seamstresses in the city. It is likely that, once interested in the pretty young
Justine, he made it a practice to send business to the St. Anne Street business in order to
personally walk over and discover whether she had the qualities he sought in a wife. During
the period of their courting, an exciting event occurred in New Orleans, one of which any
smart young man hoping to impress his girl would certainly have taken advantage.
In January of 1851, the wildly popular “Swedish Nightingale” Jenny Lind, touring
America under the sponsorship of P.T. Bamum, visited New Orleans for thirty performances
at the St. Charles Theater. During her month-long stay in the city, she resided in an
apartment in the Pontalba Buildings, just a few blocks from the Godchaux business and from
the seamstress’ shop. In a style typical of Bamum and of New Orleans, the singer’s arrival
was anticipated with frenzied hype. A competition was held among the city’s top chefs to
determine who would prepare meals for the beloved singer during her stay. A committee of
tasters selected Chef Boudro, who was crowned with parsley and presented with a gold
medal (The Republican, April 4,1875).
Residents of the Vieux Carre would have periodically overheard the crowds that
routinely gathered under her balcony to express their appreciation of the previous night’s
performance. All of Jenny Lind’s thirty performances sold out. Tickets were priced so that
anyone who wished to attend could afford a ticket. Though many of the most expensive
tickets were given away as complimentary gifts to special patrons and guests, first gallery
tickets cost eighteen dollars—less than the price of admission to many of the fancy-dress
26
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. balls. Front row seats cost twelve dollars, and single upper balcony seats cost one dollar and
fifty cents. Free people of color were admitted at the cost of one dollar, and slaves paid fifty
cents for their seats. The Daily Picayune called Lind “the Queen of Song,” and gushed “Not
to have heard Jenny Lind is to have heard nothing” (Reinders 187). It is unlikely that Leon
and Justine did not attend at least one of her enormously popular concerts.
Shortly after Justine celebrated her sixteenth birthday, the couple was married on
May 24, 1851. Justine moved into Leon’s apartment above the store on Old Lcvcc Street,
and set about converting the bachelor businessman’s quarters into a home suitable for a
prosperous young couple. In addition to a quick understanding and apparent head for
business, Justine possessed a skill that Leon unfortunately lacked—she could read and write.
Leon was fortunate to find love with a woman who not only understood his business, but was
able to help him with correspondence. Present-day femily members Jane Godchaux Emke
and Eve Godchaux Hirsch point out that dyslexia is prevalent in the Godchaux femily, and
believe that his ease with numbers and business ledgers and his inability to navigate letters
indicate that Leon Godchaux may well have been dyslexic. Leon, who must have always had
concerns about his inability to read and write, confessed his difficulty to his new wife, and
under her tutelage he was eventually able to achieve basic literacy, to write personal letters
and comprehend business documents. Though he never became a voracious reader, he and
Justine encouraged a great love of literature and the arts in their children.13
Conditions of life in New Orleans
In 1853, Justine Lamm Godchaux, 18 years old and pregnant with her first child,
sewed infant clothes in the evenings and continued to coach her husband with his reading in
27
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. his rare free hours. On May 28 of that year, the city’s first death due to a new wave of
yellow fever occurred. In early June, there were rumors of several more cases of the disease
that caused vomiting of blood, jaundiced eyes, and blackening of the tongue. The disease
was attributed to swamp “miasma,” and city officials ordered that smoky bonfires be
continually fed in city streets to disperse the “vapors.” “The combustion of tar and
gunpowder” was thought to clarify the atmosphere but, wrote Theodore Clapp, the smoke
hung over the city in a funereal pall, suffiising the city with a bright red, eerie glow after
sundown. He, like many others, knew the bonfires to be useless, and reckoned that they may
have “scared some to death.” “It was,” he wrote, “an awful spectacle to see night ushered in”
(Clapp 240). In 1853, cholera and yellow fever struck the city simultaneously. “Words can
convey no adequate idea,” wrote Reverend Clapp. “In some cases, all the clerks and agents
belonging to mercantile establishments were swept away, and the stores closed by civil
authorities. Several entire families were carried off—parents, children, servants, all. Others
lost a quarter, or a third, or three-fourths of their members, and their business, hopes, and
happiness were blasted for life” (Duffy 108-9).
New Orleans’ death rate in the 1800s was twice that of most large urban areas,
swollen by periodic epidemics of typhoid, cholera, malaria, and “Yellow Jack.” The city was
filthy and smelly. In addition to poor sanitation and offenses to the eyes and nose, New
Orleans, particularly the area near the docks, was an exciting place where one might
encounter many distinguished international travelers but also dangerous due to vagrants, men
in search of adventure and excitement, and transient fortune-hunters o f all descriptions.
Sailors, having a break from months or years at sea, wandered the streets in search of
haircuts and fresh clothing, opportunities to gamble and carouse, or female companionship.
28
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Card-sharks, pickpockets and prostitutes followed in the wake of these ripe targets. Elegant
Creole families walked to glittering balls through the same slimy streets, led by slaves
carrying lanterns and fancy dress, occasionally stepping past the unremarked corpses of
murder victims or, more likely, of the dogs that were routinely fed poisoned sausages by the
city but not disposed of (Stanforth 29, Vella 256).
The unpaved streets flooded frequently during heavy rains; at other times the muddy
paths teemed with loudly-chanting vendors, livestock being herded to market, and free-
roaming neighborhood horses, goats, pigs and chickens. Justine’s grandchildren remember
her stories of wild dogs that roamed the streets, endangering hapless pedestrians.14 The
urgency o f dealing with fever victims precluded measures being taken toward clearing up
some of its causes. The streets were clogged with funeral processions en route to cemeteries
in which bodies were buried only a few feet deep, so that caskets could clearly be seen after a
strong rain. The critical necessity of the disposal of human remains left little attention for
other types of sanitatioa At one point during 1853, “twelve dogs rotted on the streets of a
few square blocks in the French Quarter” (Reinders 93). The only sewers were open drains
that dealt quite inefficiently with garbage and human waste, euphemistically termed “night
soil” (Leavitt 97). All of these factors contributed to the high rate of disease. The primary
treatments known to doctors at that time were bleeding, vomiting, sweating, and blistering.
Residents of the Vieux Carrd did what they could to make life bearable. Houses were
built right on the street to maximize the space behind the houses, where most household
activity took place. To combat the stench of the streets, these courtyards were planted with
strong-smelling blooming plants. These urban oases were the places where groceries were
purchased and prepared for cooking. As a Quarter wife, Justine would have hailed vendors
29
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. to her courtyard, where she could have bargained without standing in the muck of the streets.
Because the heat often made it unbearable indoors, many household tasks were done in the
courtyards as well. Wealthy families, such as the Hermanns of St. Louis Street, had private
courtyards surrounded by private stables, slave quarters, and kitchen buildings, and
containing private cisterns that provided the healthiest possible water even as they bred
mosquitoes. Less privileged families shared courtyards with adjoining households.
Shortly after the peak of the 1853 epidemic, Justine Lamm Godchaux gave birth to
her first child, August, in the apartment above the shops at Old Levee Street. He lived only a
few days, and for three years Justine threw herself into assisting Leon with his business.
The war years
Soon the Godchaux brothers were among the most successful dry goods merchants in
the South, and country merchants flooded the brothers with orders for merchandise at
wholesale prices. Knowing that the existing locations would be insufficient for such an
enterprise, Leon began to cast about for a location in which to develop a large-scale
wholesaling business. The continued infusion of new settlers created a shift in the business
area of town, from the Old Quarter, which was now beginning to be called the French
Quarter, toward the “American” district. Godchaux bought the building at 81 Canal Street,
the heart of the booming new business district. The stretch of ground between the ‘Trench”
side of Canal Street and the “American” side of the street was called the “neutral ground” on
which business between these somewhat antipathetic groups could be amicably conducted.15
By 1865 Godchaux was able to add the buildings at 83 and 85 Canal Street. The saloon-
30
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. keeper whose building completed the block, at the comer of Canal and Chartres, held out
until 1899 but that property eventually completed the Godchaux’s block of Canal Street.
Paul Leon Godchaux, named for Leon’s father, was bom on April 17, 1857 at Old
Levee Street, as was Anna, named for Justine’s mother, on July 19, 1862. It was from this
apartment that Justine experienced the coming of the Civil War. In feet, from her balcony
the six-months-pregnant Justine would have been able to see the fireworks and feel the earth
shaking as Flag Officer David G. Farragut’s fleet of twenty-four ships hailed mortar fire on
nearby Forts Jackson and St. Philip for six days, April 18 to April 24,1862. When the forts
fell, the city went into a panic. The Union army swarmed over the town, burning stores of
cotton on the levee, and sending flaming steamboats down the river to greet the Union fleet.
The Federal Custom House was sacked and the confiscated goods were burned on Canal
Street. Warehouses were looted and burned, but neither of Leon Godchaux’s businesses
were seriously ransacked or put to the torch. Though the Godchaux femily was to prosper
from events following the Civil War, the port of New Orleans was never to regain its status
as America’s second port, and the city’s “Golden Age” came to an end. “New Orleans
gone—and with it the Confederacy?’ wrote South Carolinian Mary Chestnut in her diary on
April 27, 1862, “Are we not cut in two? The Mississippi ruins us, if lost.” Chestnut, like
many southern women, was an ardent follower and astute analyst o f issues and actions
related to the war. Two days later she wrote
Grand smash. News from New Orleans fetal to us. Met Weston—he
wanted to know where he could find a place of safety for two hundred
Negroes. I looked in his face to see if he were serious—then to see if he were
sane.
31
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. There were a certain set of two hundred Negroes that had grown to be
a nuisance. Apparently all the white men of the family had felt bound to stay
at home to take care of them. There are people who still believe Negroes to
be property. Like Noah’s neighbors, who insisted that the Deluge would only
be a little shower, after all.
These Negroes, however, were Plowden Weston’s—a totally different
part o f speech. He gave Enfield rifles to one company and forty thousand
dollars to another. He is away with our army at Corinth.
So I said, “You may rely upon [it]. Mr. C. will assist you to his
uttermost in finding a home for these people.”
Mr. C. did get a place for them, as I said he would.
Later in the same entry she wrote
War seems a game of chess—but we have an unequal number of
pawns to begin with. We had knights, kings, queens, bishops and castles
enough. But our skillful generals—whenever they cannot arrange the board to
suit them exactly, they bum up everything and march away. We want them to
save the country. They seem to think their whole duty is to destroy ships and
save the army.
Lovell’s dispatch set me crying.
The citizens of New Orleans say they were deserted by the army. Oh,
for an hour of brave Jackson that the British turned their backs on.
(Woodward 330-32)
32
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The year after Paul’s birth, Leon Godchaux traveled to New York City in order to
establish a clothing manufacturing operation that would supply his store in New Orleans,
which Mayer managed in his brother’s absence. Jewish historian Russ Greenbaum
speculates that “in this he may well have been among the pioneering Jews who were starting
the garment industry in New York.” Elias Howe had patented a sewing machine in 1846,
and Isaac Merrit Singer and others further refined the new invention in the 1850s. The
resulting machines could make a man’s shirt in an hour and fifteen minutes, whereas the
hand-sewing process required 14 horns to produce the same item. By the end of its first year
the New York Godchaux manufacturing establishment employed 200 workers. The New
York Brooks Brothers had begun the practice of standardizing sizes, which made it possible
for a man to purchase a ready-made suit for ten dollars. Suddenly it became possible for
almost any man to own a well-made suit of clothes. “Perhaps Godchaux is referred to by an
eminent historian who wrote ‘Human dignity owes much to the Hebrew reorganizers o f the
garment trades, who wiped out class distinction in dress.’” (Greenbaum 1,12,20)
What Justine did during this period is not known. She would have had to develop a
great deal of inner strength to endure the worsening conditions of life in New Orleans, which
was captured and occupied early on in the Civil War. It is likely that Justine and infant Paul
went to live with Justine’s parents or with Leon’s mother Michelette. In any event, Leon
returned home to Justine periodically, as witnessed by the birth of Anna, though he kept the
New York business fully operational until the end of the war. With the end of the Civil War,
Leon closed the New York manufacturing establishment and prepared to develop the first
clothing manufacturing enterprise in New Orleans.
33
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Because New Orleans was captured early on in the war, it was spared the physical
wreckage of combat. However, every aspect of the city was hobbled by the abrupt end of the
South’s economic system based on slavery and by the psychological effects of defeat.
Before the war, there had been over one thousand plantations whose cotton and sugar moved
into and out of New Orleans. By 1865, there were less than two hundred, all of them barely
functional. Cotton planters, especially, were ruined. Those brokers and exporters dependent
on them went bankrupt and/or left the state. The clerks, sorters, labelers, and many others
whose livelihoods depended on the cotton industry suffered more, being unable to move or to
find other work. Even the formerly wealthy found themselves impoverished. Without a
labor force to work it, even the best land was effectively valueless. The once-reliable New
Orleans banks, having entrusted most of their gold to the Confederate government, were left
with only Confederate paper. The planters’ ruin was shared by merchants who depended on
their business, as well as by insurance companies, hotels, and every enterprise connected
with shipping.
Leon Godchaux, who had converted most of his liquid assets into gold and silver
before the war, was able to take advantage of the city’s plummeting real estate values in a
way that helped the city and did not enrage his new neighbors. While the tenants of luxury
and commercial properties were unable to make their rents and were abandoning the Old
Quarter in droves, Leon was able to purchase some new properties and keep functioning
businesses in them. Others were not so lucky. The Pontalba buildings had all been leased in
1860; the tenants included “the Bank of America, a planter, several stockbrokers, the
secretary of the Ohio Railroad, and over ten attorneys dealing with maritime law, insurance,
and commercial contracts” (Vella 333). By war’s end almost none of these people were
34
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. financially able to maintain business space. Concerning the emptiness of the once-thriving
Old Quarter business district, the Daily Picayune of 1866 mourned, “The words ‘To Let’ are
posted on nearly every door.” Describing the formerly bustling Pontalba buildings, it stated,
“They look as though they might be mausoleums” (Daily Picayune, December 4,1866). A
decade after the war, properties in the French Quarter were only half rented and brought in
less money than formerly.
In 1866, Mayer left the business for other pursuits, and Leon operated a second retail
store from Old Levee Street, as well as a wholesale business and a clothing manufacturing
plant on what is now Elysian Fields. Rather than relying on the “connections with the upper
country” the mayor had spoken of in 1825 as the source of the city’s richness in consumer
goods, the Godchauxs became the first firm to manufacture clothing in New Orleans. For
this enterprise, Leon Godchaux traveled to New York himself to acquire the best sewing
machines (Ashkenazi 111). While there, he consulted with his old friend, the business
advisor Charles Emanuel, while preparing for this innovative venture. An advertisement
from this period, composed by Rosamund Champagne, is entitled ‘Trench and American
Clothing Store: Leon Godchaux Gents’ Clothing and Furnishing Goods Manufactured at
Short Notice” (Godchaux 3).
Leon’s talent for choosing reliable and trustworthy employees allowed him to leave
most of the store operations to them. With the opening of the Canal Street store came several
invaluable new employees. The accountant who handled bookkeeping and banking,
insurance and other important matters was Carl Wedderlin, an Austrian whom Leon had met
during his time at the Convent store. Wedderlin admired Godchaux for his natural creativity
and innovation, his intuitive talent for accounts and his innate business sense. Godchaux
35
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. admired Wedderlin’s education; Carl spoke English, French, German, and Spanish, and
could read Greek and Latin. At the University of Berlin, he had studied mathematics,
philosophy, psychology, economics and sociology. Wedderlin’s accomplishments reinforced
Godchaux’s resolve to ensure first-rate educations for his sons.
The talented Steve Dauenhauer joined the firm as a tailor and there are still a few
people who tell stories about how Dauenhauer could size suits strictly from memory. It was
said that, if a customer of several years wanted a new suit, he would not have to be re
measured. The salesman would simply attach a note to the order reading “Steve knows.”
Charles Steidinger also helped with daily operation of the Canal Street Store. All of these
men remained with the company until retirement. Leon Godchaux regularly rewarded his
valuable employees with gifts and bonuses, and helped them purchase land for their
households. At their retirements, Leon’s heirs saw that each man had a fair pension.
During this period, Leon also kept up his contacts with planters and farmers in the
outlying parishes. He began to loan money when the plantation economy began to falter in
the 1850s and 60s. Though he never advertised his willingness to lend money, those old
friends and acquaintances, knowing of his great success, approached Leon as part of their
attempts to save their plantations. In many cases, the planters pledged portions of their
properties as collateral on loans. According to family lore, he regarded the loans as
repayment of kindnesses offered to him when he was a young peddler. In addition to loans,
Leon offered jobs to some of his former customers when their crops were no longer
profitable. Leon was now in the ironic position of being able to provide financial assistance
to those whom he had once provided with fabrics and notions from his pack.
36
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. There is some evidence that Leon Godchaux disapproved of slavery. His obituary
states that Godchaux purchased a few slaves to work in his home, but freed them and paid
them wages. There is one extant act of sale of a slave named Celestine to Mayer Godchaux,
but no records exist of his attitudes, or whether he also freed his slaves so that they could be
wage earners. All records indicate that Godchaux Freres did not utilize slave labor.
Ideologically sympathetic to the North, yet loyal to his new home, Leon Godchaux
was able to avoid enlistment or conscription in the Civil War. Mayer Godchaux, who had
already served in the French army, was not anxious to repeat the military experience. When
it first seemed that war, or at least a disruption of the economy, might be imminent, the
Godchaux brothers were able to convert most of their financial holdings into gold and silver.
In the Times-Picayune, Leon’s granddaughter reported that “when the war came, Leon did
not own slaves and did not own paper money, the two forms of wealth that depreciated
lowest and fastest. His money was in currency, but his city properties lessened in value.
However, he continued to invest in Louisiana” (Godchaux 12). Godchaux Freres became,
and remained, the leading mercantile business in New Orleans. Though there are no records
of their pre-war and wartime business activities, it is likely that Godchaux’s New York
contacts helped him maintain his profitable business. His was a rare case; because most
businesses were interdependent with agrarian interests, the disruption in crop production was
ruinous to the majority of merchants and businessmen in the city.16
Southern Jews did fight for the Confederacy; there were enough soldiers that Robert
E. Lee had a regular correspondence with Rabbi M. J. Michelbacher of the “Beth Ahabah”
congregation of Richmond, Va.17 The diary of Major Alexander Hart of the 5* Louisiana
Infantry makes clear the miserable conditions under which the soldiers suffered and their
37
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. constant, numbing activity.18 A number of New Orleanians fought for the Confederate cause.
One of them was Edwin I. Kursheedt, whose family was prominent in New Orleans Judaism
and who was descended from a Revolutionary War patriot (Korn 245-58). In a letter to his
sweetheart Sallie, postmarked Williamsburg and dated Sunday, April 27, 1862, he writes,
“We are in receipt of the telegraphic news ‘Fall of New Orleans & c. but do not credit it.”
Apparently Sallie had relatives in the war herself because later, in an undated letter sent from
“‘Bivouac’ ! mile from Lebanon Church,” he writes
We started from Kings Mills yesterday & reached here in the evening
and are now encamped in a group of trees beautifully located. I cannot say as
yet where to address me as our movements are so very uncertain—we are at
present but 4 miles from Yorktown but a long distance from your brothers.
Since I have been here I have met with many of my New Orleans friends who
are in the army, making me feel almost at home. With kindest remembrances
to your dear parents, sisters and brothers, remember me to Mrs. Davis &
family & others, and last though not least to your devoted self.19
The military governor of occupied New Orleans, General Benjamin F. Butler, became
the focus and symbol of residents’ anger. He confiscated the property of families who
refused to swear allegiance to the Union, earning the derisive nickname “Spoons” for
allegedly pocketing silverware in the process. Louisiana women commonly referred to him
as “Beast” Butler. The women of New Orleans habitually insulted Butler’s soldiers, pulling
their skirts aside when passing them as if afraid of contamination. When a French Quarter
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. woman emptied her chamber pot onto the head of David Farragut, now America’s first rear
admiral, General Butler issued General Order Number 28:
As the Officers and Soldiers of the United States have been subject to
repeated insults from the women calling themselves ladies of New Orleans, in
return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is
ordered that hereafter when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement,
insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she
shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town, plying
her avocation. (Ward 126)
Butler’s demand that all foreign-born, non-naturalized residents take an oath of
allegiance to the United States further outraged the population, and instigated his removal by
President Lincoln in December of 1862.
The Godchaux family builds a home
It was at this time that Leon Godchaux moved his small family to the house he had
built at 840 Esplanade Avenue, at the comer of Liberty Street. Whether Butler’s infamous
“woman order” hastened their departure from the Vieux Carrd is not certainly known.
Fashionable French families had been moving from the Quarter in favor of new houses on
Esplanade Avenue for the past few years, and Leon may have been anxious for Justine to
enjoy the benefits of his growing fortune and rising social status. One can imagine that the
couple must have visited the building site often to check on the house’s progress and consult
with the builders. In her new brick house she was to give birth to eight more children, and on
39
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Esplanade Avenue she was able to live in the fashion of other Creole wives. The couple
lived in this home for thirty-five years.
The new brick home on Esplanade Avenue, though less than a dozen blocks away
from the home at Old Levee Road, allowed for a radical, and most welcome, change in the
Godchaux family lifestyle. For the first time, Justine would have been able to take the
outside air with some degree of privacy. Presumably, the house was built with many of the
modem novelties of the day—gas lighting, interior water closets, and working shutters. Just
as in the old apartment, every bed would have been tented with yards of mosquito netting to
make for sleeping in some degree of comfort. The rear of the house would have included an
open, covered area that gave way to a stairway and to a working courtyard with kitchen and
laundries. Rather than a French Quarter courtyard shared with other neighbors, she now had
a yard of her own, with her own garden. There were places for the children to play. Before
the abolition of slavery, the streets were less crowded and smelly than in the Vieux Carrd,
which began to resemble a sewer, and ladies were able to walk the footpaths in relative
safety. After the war, however, the streets swarmed with former plantation slaves who
traveled to the city in search of mythical jobs. Justine did not do much walking for a time
after the move, however, because shortly after setting her new home in order she gave birth
to her third child, a girl who was named Blanche. The slaves purchased by Leon Godchaux,
now free house servants, helped Justine to care for her children and keep the household
running smoothly.
The Godchaux family, like most Jewish families, seems to have been closely
assimilated into the community. Jewish historian Bertram W. Kom writes that “there was
probably less prejudice against Jews in New Orleans during the ante-Bellum period than in
40
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. any other important city in the country” (Korn 227). During this time, Jews were prominent
in business and government, and they took part in integrated secular social and civic
activities. Judah P. Benjamin served as Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of
State of the Confederacy, and his cousin Henry Hyams served as Lieutenant Governor of
Louisiana after the war.
In 1862, Jewish businessman Louis J. Salomon reigned as the first King of the Krewe
of P.ex, which began as a civic association. Leon Godchaux and all of his seven sons were
members; Godchaux’s Department Store was a “corporate member” of the organization.20
Successful Jewish men were welcomed into exclusive Masonic lodges as well as into the
early Boston and Pickwick Clubs; various Jewish members of the Pickwick Club co-founded
the institution, served on its board and as its presidents, and owned its meeting house. In
subsequent generations these clubs became closely associated with elitist Mardi Gras
organizations and today exclude Jews; the rolls of Rex now reflect the “exclusivity” of the
other “old-line” krewes (Korn 228).21
The overwhelming factor in every life during this period was the pall cast on the city
by the wartime depression, which devastated the agrarian economy of the entire South and
dampened the spirits of New Orleanians for decades afterward. When Justine first moved to
her new home, noisy Union troops occupied the nearby Creole Fair Grounds, a horse-racing
track located on the spot now held by the New Orleans Fair Grounds. Though many families
faced catastrophic financial ruin and the city could no longer afford to maintain even its usual
rudimentary sanitation practices, the women of Esplanade Avenue attempted to preserve their
normal routines of family life and social visiting as much as possible. Creole ladies were
expected to maintain “at home” days at least once a week. On these days, visitors could
41
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. expect to be welcomed and treated to a light meal at any time of the day. On other days,
ladies would visit their neighbors, leaving their cards for those who were also out making
visiting rounds.
During this period, Jewish families lived on terms of friendship with their Christian
neighbors. The diary of Clara Solomon, the daughter of prominent Jewish merchant
Solomon Solomon and a neighbor of the Godchauxs, describes a schoolgirl society in which
youn^ CImTm complains of being obliged to leave her friends in order to observe the Sabbath
in much the same way that her Christian friends resent dull trips with their parents. Clara’s
friends apparently never made an issue of religious differences, and she herself cheers
heartily at the news of any romantic marriage, regardless of interfaith unions. Clara
describes instances in which struggling neighbor ladies loan each other delicacies with which
to treat visitors in order to keep up appearances. Her family anxiously awaited letters from
her father, who supplied equipment and clothing to the troops in Virginia, for wartime news
and enclosures of money.
Like the rest of New Orleans society, the Solomon family were voraciously interested
in battles, news of families who lived near the fighting or who were affected by it, war heroes
and tragedies, and all dramatic current events. Sixteen year old Clara records astute
assessments of battles from Bull Run to Shiloh, discussions of local and national politics, and
the state of the local economy. Any extended conversation usually turned to the related
problems of unharvested cotton and unemployed black laborers. Every planter ruined in the
war took many more—mortgagers, creditors, agents, and merchants—along into bankruptcy.
Clara describes conversations between visiting ladies that lament lost or injured friends and
relatives. Though they lost no family members, the Solomon family did not fere well during
42
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and after the war. Her father sent money sporadically, and his business collapsed toward the
end of the war. Because he had exclusively served the Confederate army, it was difficult for
him to recover. His family suffered, as did so many others, from shortages in food and
necessities, as schools closed and social activities were curtailed.22
Leon Godchaux enters the sugar business
The fortunes of the Leon Godchaux family, on the other hand, rose toward the end of
the war and continued to do so for the next half-century. Wartime conditions, his own
contacts, and circumstance combined to ease Leon Godchaux’s debut in the sugar business.
When New Orleans fell to the Union Navy in April, 1862, the city was flooded with slaves
fleeing their plantation quarters. The few remaining workers were not enough to maintain
operation of the floundering plantations. In addition, prices were down, supplies were
largely unavailable due to blockades, and stockpiled sugar meant there was no capital for
reinvestment. In the first two years of the war Leon Godchaux bought the plantation owned
by his friend Antoine Boudousquie called La Reserve. La Reserve, in St. John the Baptist
Parish, had once been a favorite stop on the adolescent Godchaux’s backpack peddling route.
After Boudousquie’s death the plantation had to be liquidated, and Godchaux arranged to
purchase it. He did not move into the house, but allowed the widow Boudousquie to remain
there. According to family legend, young Leon was opening his pack of goods for Mrs.
Boudousquie when he fainted, probably due to heat and exhaustion. She had him installed in
one of the family bedrooms and cared for him until he recovered. In gratitude, he insisted
that she remain as long as she wished, without paying rent, in her former home. Years later,
43
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. in the Times-Picqyune, Elma Godchaux remembered the story as she had heard it from her
grandfather:
When he (young Leon) stood upon his legs again, he told her he would
never forget her. She had saved his life. If he could ever do her a good turn,
he promised he would do whatever good he could for her. He promised
solemnly. The words seemed absurd, coining from the mouth o f a child, the
immigrant who could not read or write, the peddler owning no mere than the
few clothes that kept him clean and the bag frill of odds and ends he liked to
think of as a store. Perhaps the lady did not even know the blue-eyed
peddler’s name. But he promised earnestly and with some poise. He
remembered her and the promise, too, for something over 20 years. (13)
Because it was the first land Leon Godchaux was able to purchase, Reserve always
held a special place in his heart. The strength of Godchaux’s feeling for Reserve is
illuminated by an incident that occurred during the “Great Flood” of 1893. A rupture in the
levee threatened not just the plantation but also the growing town of Reserve. Leon advised
the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers that he would spend as much as $100,000 to repair the
break, and hired a steamboat on which floodlights were mounted. At the age of sixty-nine
Leon, with sons Edward, Charles, and Walter, fought around the clock alongside the
engineers, as did other planters, small formers, and crews o f convicts. “Cribs” were built and
sand bags carefully placed despite cold wind and pelting rain. This fight took an entire week,
and by its successful conclusion Leon had spent the entire sum he had mentioned. His
44
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. determination undoubtedly saved the plantation, as well as the homes and jobs of a grateful
citizenry.
Leon Godchaux added several sugar plantations to his properties by the end of the
war. One of them was called Souvenir, and Leon’s past experience with that plantation made
its acquisition especially gratifying. When his backpack route had included Souvenir
Plantation, its owner had ejected young Leon from the property in an insulting manner. Leon
told Tassin that if he had simply been informed o f the “no peddlers” policy, he would not
have minded, but that he had felt humiliated at being roughly handled by the planter’s
servants. He credited that episode with strengthening his resolve to own land, which he felt
gave a man dignity and a certain protection. Tassin later recounted this incident to the
family, adding that the humiliated Godchaux had vowed that some day he would return to the
property as its owner.
Another of the plantations was called M’enfobin (“the place where they raise hell”).
This place, which had been owned by the Simien La Branche family, was another of the
households on Leon’s former trading route. Mr. La Branche’s two youngest sons befriended
young Leon, welcoming his visits, sharing their table, and inviting him to stay in their
gargonniere when he was in the area. When it was necessary for the younger sons to earn
money outside the plantation, Leon Godchaux was able to help them relocate and obtain
loans and employment. When the plantation finally went bankrupt, Godchaux purchased it.
Godchaux added the La Branche plantation to the original Reserve plantation property, and
then gradually added Belle Pointe, Comland, Diamond, La Place, New Era, and Star
Plantations, all located along the Mississippi River.
45
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Historian William E. Butler, adding to the story of the adult Leon Godchaux’s
coming to the aid of Mrs. Boudousquie by purchasing the deteriorating plantation at well
over its value, supplies this information gathered from interviews:
W. H. Jones, master mechanic and superintendent of [railroad]
transportation for Godchauxs, told of other widows in need being cared for.
Many times a load of coal or a supply of groceries would be delivered, and
even burial expenses were provided where there was no money for such an
emergency.
Etienne Cambre and his wife, historians of the LaPlace area, told of
Leon Godchaux serving as godfather to his [Etienne Cambre’s] grandfather in
the Catholic Church. Each year, his [Leon’s] godson was completely outfitted
with new clothes from the Godchaux Clothing Store in New Orleans.
Despite the hugeness of the operation, the elder Godchaux, his seven
sons, many grandsons, and great grandsons always maintained a big, happy,
family-like relationship between employer and employee. The Godchauxs
expended vast sums of money to make a good life for those who worked for
them. (90-91)
Twelve years after the end of the Civil War, Federal “Reconstruction” troops were
withdrawn, and the state entered the “Bourbon era,” a return to government by the
prosperous elite. State government rolled back economic and civil rights for former slaves.
Planters colluded to set wages and end competition for field workers. Sharecropping took
the place of slavery, ushering in a new era of disappointment and resentment among black
46
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. workers. Nevertheless, because he paid fair wages, trained his employees to be skilled
workers, and treated them with respect, Godchaux gained a reputation as a fair and generous
employer. Though conventional wisdom had it that former slaves made unenthusiastic
workers, Leon Godchaux’s talent for establishing loyalty among his employees extended to,
and beyond, the black workers who remained in the area. His growing reputation as a
desirable employer attracted new Sicilian workers and some Acadian employees as well
(Malpezzi and Clement 25). Sicilians, however, tended to save their money and leave after
they had accumulated a small stake. They became draymen, peddlers, and truck farmers.
Black workers remained the primary workforce for Godchaux Sugars.
The Godchaux family takes its place in New Orleans society
The years that saw such increases in Godchaux properties also brought additions to
the family. Edward Isaac, named for Leon’s uncle and Justine’s father, was bom on May 15,
1867, a week before Leon and Justine’s sixteenth wedding anniversary. Charles followed in
April of 1869, and in the following decade Justine gave birth every two years, producing
Jules in 1872, Emile in 1874, Albert in 1876, Walter in 1878, and Michelette Leonie in 1880.
At the birth of her last child, Justine was forty-five years old. During her first pregnancy,
Justine had been the wife of a newly prosperous immigrant who struggled to learn English
and worked most of his waking hours to support his bride and his mother and sisters. By the
time her last child was bom, Justine was the wealthiest matron in the city, raising ten children
and managing a large household of servants and a summer home in the country.
Though both Leon and Justine kept very busy tending to family and business
obligations, they made time for recreation as welL Like their Creole neighbors, the
47
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Godchaux family were passionate about music, dancing, fine food, and horses. Other than
private gatherings, opera and dancing were the primary social activities in Creole society.
Leon and Justine loved to attend performances at the French Opera House, on Bourbon and
Toulouse Streets; Leon was a financial sponsor of the Opera House. At some point, Leon
acquired a new violin. His children, like other affluent children, took music lessons. When
their talents were sufficiently developed, Leon took pride in assembling a chamber orchestra
of his own children, and in playing along with them. They played at home, for parties and
for their own amusement. Leon and Justine were very fond of horses and enjoyed riding, a
love they transmitted to all their children.
For a time, Mayer Godchaux owned shares in the fashionable St. Louis Exchange
Hotel. Except for the French Opera House, the St. Louis Exchange Hotel was the most
elegant public building in the French Quarter, rivaled only by the St. Charles Hotel in the
American sector of the city (Kemp 81-84). The ballroom of the St. Louis, it was generally
acknowledged, surpassed the glamour of every other dance palace in America (Kmen 20).
Leon and Justine would certainly have attended the large concerts and glittering balls still
held at the St. Louis, and would have enjoyed meals in its sumptuous dining room. The
couple likely also included the family in special meals at several o f the many fine dining
establishments in town, such as Antoine’s, Victor’s, or Moreau’s.
Often, the balls were masquerade affairs to which dancers wore elaborate and costly
costumes, beginning the dancing at dusk and breaking for dinner at two or three in the
morning, and finally ending with breakfast at eight a.m. (Kmen 12-16). Concerts typically
consisted often to twelve compositions, with a short intermission at the halfway point. Each
section of the musical program usually began with an orchestral piece such as an overture or
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. a symphony, and the orchestra might also play another selection or two during the program.
Other selections included “solos, duets, quartets, and various combinations o f voice and
instruments, some with orchestral accompaniment” (Kmen 216). As early as December 24,
1838, a concert at the St. Louis Hotel featured an orchestra of sixty musicians (Kmen 221).
At the French Opera House, there were two orchestras, one composed of white men and one
of black Creole musicians. All of these musicians were classically trained, and prided
themselves oil being able to play for any kind of dance.
As a wealthy matron, Justine was worlds away from her old position as a seamstress’
apprentice. Once a young girl who sewed for her living, she was now married to a man who
employed scores of tailors and seamstresses. In addition, the Godchauxs were well on their
way to becoming the wealthiest family in the city. After she was established on Esplanade
Avenue, she had her own seamstresses to create her clothing. For evening and special
occasions, her personal servants assisted her with her hair and toilette. It is even possible that
Justine used her position to satisfy her own curiosity about her former neighbor Marie
Laveau, who was one of the most highly sought-after hairdressers in the city among the
fashionable elite (Tallant 53-54).23
A New Orleans periodontist, Dr. Reeling, tells a story he remembers hearing from his
grandmother, who knew Justine Godchaux well. When his grandmother was a child, her
house was lost to a levee fire, and Leon Godchaux, a friend of her father, offered to take the
girl into his home. She functioned in the home as a children’s nurse, and was treated as a
governess—she attended school and religious services with the family, and took her meals
with them. Occasionally the girl helped Justine prepare for special occasions, and she told
49
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. her children and grandchildren one story that, to her, illustrated Justine Lamm Godchaux’s
personality.
Justine, aware of the 612 strictures guiding Jewish conduct, knew that Jewish persons
were traditionally forbidden to travel on the Sabbath. The one practical exception to this rule
is travel over water, to allow for sea voyages. The independent and unconventional Justine,
who loved to travel about town in her carriage, showed a playful creativity in her approach to
this problem. She had her maidservant install a basin under her carriage. Dr. Roeiing's
grandmother was charged with filling the basin on the Sabbath, so that Justine could adhere
to religious law while maintaining her social schedule. From her Esplanade Avenue home,
Justine and her washbasin traveled, unaccompanied, to the library and to lectures and
concerts, and to her friends’ homes.24
Godchaux develops and fine-tunes his businesses
The post-war era was a time of innovation in Louisiana’s sugar industry. In addition
to the necessary changes in the work force, some planters looked to alter the process of
production and refinement. In the antebellum era, each plantation grew its own cane and the
plantations that had their own sugar grinding house claimed special status. Most plantations
sought to build a sugarhouse that would service that plantation’s crops. John Dymond, a
friend of Leon Godchaux, led the way toward modem production practices when he
separated sugar cane growing from sugar manufacturing around 1871-73. Rather than
investing in the production process from planting to grinding, he had mature cane delivered
to the mills he operated (Sitterson 258).
50
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Secondary sources credit Leon Godchaux with a major revolution in sugar
processing. He enjoyed the prospect of planting and overseeing the growth of his own sugar
cane. He envisioned a “vertical organization,” one that would take the cane from planting to
grinding to granulation to point of delivery (Wall 60). Godchaux’s first major innovation
was one that he had been formulating since his days on the road. Though the sugarhouse
added prestige to a plantation, to Leon Godchaux the sugarhouse represented the crucial flaw
in the sugar economy. A sugarhouse on each plantation seemed wasteful. His purchase of
many plantations allowed him to consolidate the individual sugarhouses into one large
processing center. Not only could Godchaux’s substantial new sugar processing plant, which
boasted the most advanced technology seen in Louisiana to that time, handle all of the cane
grown on his own extensive property, but it could also process the cane of smaller planters
for a fee. In time, the Godchaux refinery processed raw sugar from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto
Rico, and the Philippines, which was shipped in and out of the Godchaux dock.
Though Godchaux never became active in the newly formed (1877) Louisiana Sugar
Planters’ Association, he avidly followed the research they sponsored and tried out the most
promising techniques on his own plantations. Eventually the sugar business absorbed all of
Godchaux’s professional time and energy, and he realized that the time had come to make
some changes. Between the years 1862 and 1880, Leon Godchaux
ran two retail stores, operated a wholesale house, continuously expanded his
clothing factory and supervised the development of the Reserve and Souvenir
plantations thirty miles away. He also ordered and supervised the installation
of machinery and in some cases showed workmen how to repair broken parts.
He seemed to be everywhere, yet at the same time hard to find. (Wall 60-1)
51
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In 1870 Leon Godchaux closed the original Frdres Godchaux store on Old Levee
Street. Tassin and Champagne, who had run the store with little supervision for years,
moved to the Canal Street Store. As recently as 1940, Godchaux customers recalled that
Tassin had fitted several generations of their families, and that the men of the family would
allow only Tassin to fit their sons for a first suit. Champagne also brought his own loyal
customers to the new store. Since the founding of “Leon Godchaux, French and American
Clothier,” Godchaux had cherished the hope that he might be successful enough to hand the
business down to his oldest son. When Paul Leon returned from the completion of his
education in Strasbourg in 1880, he took over the management of the Canal Street store. The
Book of the Chamber o f Commerce and Industry in Louisiana for 1894 described “Leon
Godchaux Men and Boys Outfitter” as “far and away the leading clothing house of the city.”
Godchaux’ is both a wholesale and a retail house, and nearly all its
goods are manufactured by it. It furnishes 300 employees with a livelihood
and has a reputation all over the Gulf States for the attention given by its
management to style, quality, and fit.
Men’s and boys’ ready-made clothing, gents’ furnishings and hats are
here to be found in endless variety. It is the popular house with the retail
trade.
It has a special tailoring department also, in which fine work is made
to order.
The property occupied by the house is owned by the head of it, Mr.
Leon Godchaux, one of the wealthiest and most progressive business men of
52
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the state. He is rated many times a millionaire, and is renowned as the
foremost individual sugar planter and sugar producer in Louisiana. He is the
owner of five plantations, all of them equipped with the latest devices for the
production of sugar, and his bounty last year for sugar produced was the
largest drawn by any single sugar man of the state. He has other important
investments also.
The clothing business has his attention, but its management is chiefly
in the hands of his son, Mr. Paul L. Godchaux, whose lifelong experience in
the business peculiarly fits him for the direction o f so extensive an
establishment—the most extensive, we may say, in the southern country, and
one of the most extensive in any city of the land. (Eberhardt 73-4)
Lest this seem that Leon Godchaux slowed down in order to turn his full attention to
sugaring, it must be added that Leon Godchaux built two general stores on plantations in
Assumption Parish, and others at Reserve, Raceland, Diamond, Belle Pointe, and Star.
Impressed with the small-scale success of Duncan Kenner’s plantation railway, he also
established a narrow-gauge railroad to deliver cane to his central plant at Reserve from his La
Branche, Belle Point, Diamond, St. Peter, and Roseland plantations. Afterward he pioneered
the use of standard gauge railroads that could take his cane to manufacture and also take the
sugar into New Orleans for sale. In those cases in which the railroad had to cross the
properties of his neighbors, Godchaux paid for the right-of-way with barrels of sugar, which
were delivered annually just after sugaring time. Remembering the isolation and hunger for
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. news felt by his rural “notions” customers, Godchaux published a newspaper for his
employees. It was called The Circle G, after the Godchaux railroad line.
In his book subtitled The Story o fLouisiana Sugar Plantations and Their Railroads,
William Butler reports, “Leon Godchaux, realizing the importance o f the plantation railroad
in bringing about the centralization of the grinding and refining on the many plantations he
purchased, built an amazing system of tramways. Of all the Louisiana plantation railroads,
these were in a class by themselves” (92).
At intervals along the main line, tracks led into the cane fields.
Smaller locomotives were used to assemble the loaded cars to be picked up by
the larger engines for delivery to the mill. The larger locomotives, with full-
size tenders, were used for the long trip to the end of the line in the LaPlace
and Belle Pointe areas.
At the factory, the cars would be dropped off on one of the five storage
tracks behind the refinery. From here, they would be shunted to the weighing
scales where each car was weighed and then pushed onto one of the seventeen
tracks leading to the mill crusher. (92,98-101)
This love of the railroad was inherited by Leon’s sons Walter and Edward, and by Edward’s
son Leon Gumbel Godchaux, who began his career on the Godchaux line and became vice-
president of the Illinois Central Railroad.
Leon Godchaux also founded Belle Pointe Dairy, which was operated as a subsidiary
of Godchaux Sugars. The enterprise was proposed by a young scientist and dairyman named
Davis. According to Leon Godchaux n, “Davis wanted to prove to the public that
unpasteurized milk could be safe for babies.” He and Godchaux established a herd of dairy
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. cattle at Belle Pointe Plantation, and a bottling plant in uptown New Orleans. The dairy
headquarters was on Calhoun Street between St. Charles Avenue and Freret Street. Belle
Pointe Dairy delivered milk all over the city until World War n, during which it closed.25
In Assumption Parish, Godchaux bought a number of plantations and grouped them
under the name Elm Hall. He used the same process by which he had made Reserve such a
success. In 1877 he purchased and renovated the badly dilapidated Elm Hall Plantation and
brought its sugarhouse to peak productivity. To this property he added Madewood
Plantation, and then Foley, Oceana, and Trinity plantations. These plantations functioned as
tributaries to the Elm Hall plant. The cane was delivered to Elm Hall by a railroad Godchaux
established, his second major innovation. The Southern Pacific Railroad built a spur there to
secure the freight from the prodigious sugar operation. Godchaux also bought properties in
Lafourche Parish, and consolidated them under the name Greater Raceland Plantation. To
the original Raceland Plantation, which operated on its own for a number of years, he
eventually added the adjacent plantations Utopia, Mary, and Upper Ten. These acquisitions
brought the number of Godchaux plantations to fourteen, with 68,000 acres of timberland
and 10,000 acres of sugar cane fields. Both groups of holdings, the Elm Hall plantations and
the Greater Raceland Plantation properties, had their own sugarhouses at the time of
purchase. These plantations were located along Bayou Lafourche.
Godchaux was able to process his cane at his own large sugar plants, and to eliminate
the need for shipping by steamboat by utilizing his own plantation railroad system. His
various enterprises earned Leon Godchaux the commonly acknowledged title, “The Sugar
King of Louisiana.”26 After the last of these acquisitions, Leon Godchaux incorporated his
sugar and mercantile business under the name “L. Godchaux Company, Ltd.” He named his
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. seven sons as directors and himself as president and executive officer. The only holding he
kept under his own name was the store building on Canal Street.
Butler writes, “In 1958, the Godchauxs sold the mill and refinery to the National
Sugar Refining Company. The new owners decided not only to discontinue the railroad, but
also to close the grinding mill and operate only the refinery. After ninety-eight years, one of
Louisiana’s most interesting sugar operations came to a close” (105).
Ten healthy Godchaux children grow and prosper
The first surviving child of Leon and Justine Godchaux, Paul Leon, was bom in 1857,
and their last child, Michelette Leonie, was bom in 1880. Though the age difference between
the eldest and the youngest was twenty-three years, Justine’s ten children were bom almost
exactly two years apart. As with many large families, the age differences resulted in some
interesting relationships. For example, Edward Godchaux’s daughter Elma, bom in 1886,
was closer in age to her aunt Leonie than to her first cousin Justine, Charles Godchaux’s
daughter, who was bom in 1909. Nevertheless, Leon and Justine’s children remained close,
and most of them lived near each other after marriage.
The years between 1875 and 1915, during which the Godchaux children came of age,
saw great changes in New Orleans. Reconstruction ushered in an era of massive government
disorder and corruption. The carpetbagger “Major” Edward A. Burke, State Treasurer and
agent for the infamous Louisiana Lottery, conceived of an exposition that would reduce the
city’s staggering public debt. The financially disastrous 1884 “World’s Industrial and Cotton
Centennial Exposition” brought the state further into debt, but also gave the city Audubon
Park and provided a boost in citizens’ morale. The “Cotton Exposition,” as it was called,
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. also brought many new visitors to the city. Among them were northern writers and
publishers who created, then fueled, a new public appetite for stories about New Orleans and
the Deep South. Magazines with large circulations, such as Scribner’s and Century
Magazine, began to feature stories about the South, and New Orleans writers began to find
expanded markets for their work. New Orleans writers were encouraged to submit more
pieces to local newspapers. Out of this era came George Washington Cable, Grace King, and
Lafcadio Hearn, each of whom described a different perspective on New Orleans. One result
of this increased visibility and scrutiny was the downfall of the embezzling Major Burke.
Just before the turn of the century, music from the Midwest began to filter south, and
New Orleanians played escapist ragtime songs with titles like “Dance of the Lunatics.”
Blues from the Delta region began to influence New Orleans musicians as well, with its
familiar elements of call-and-response, exhortation, and signifying. As musical forms
became more integrated, the city itself moved toward separatism, legislating the segregation
of streetcars and trains in 1900. The new laws meant that classically trained black Creole
musicians, who had formerly played “white” concert halls, were forced to play with black
musicians in black venues, giving rise to improvisational music which was not classical, not
spiritual, not blues, not ragtime, but a new form which began to be called ‘jazz.” The new
musical forms were eagerly embraced by black and white New Orleanians, and black
performers of the “new music” were the most sought-after musicians for youthful white
society and fraternity parties. Visitors to the city were often startled to see white youth of all
religious backgrounds enjoying the music of Sidney Bechet or Buddy Bolden, or dancing to
the Habaiiera-influenced rhythms of Jelly Roll Morton. After a time, white musicians like
‘Tapa” Jack Laine headed their own jazz bands; many white jazz musicians were Jewish or
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Italian. Ironically, the music that was bom of segregation became a bridge between races
and cultural groups. By the time Louis Armstrong began playing in public, the city was
ready to embrace him and his music. Until his death, he remained New Orleans’ most
beloved musician.
After marriage, most of the Godchaux children bought or built homes in Uptown New
Orleans, on St. Charles Avenue or one of its cross-streets. Here they were right down the
street from the Cotton Exposition, and after it closed in 1885 they enjoyed walking in the
park, which was further developed with contributions from their wealthy Jewish neighbors,
the Gumbels. At home, the siblings continued to play music together, and ensured that their
own children received quality musical training. They rode horses at the family plantations, in
the parks, or on their own properties; at least one of the second generation of Godchauxs had
stables on the grounds of his property. The siblings enjoyed discussing the rapid changes in
the city’s literary scene, particularly the differences between white Creole apologists and
social reformers. Around the turn of the century, English began to replace French as the
most spoken language in New Orleans, but the Godchauxs spoke French in their own homes.
PAUL LEON
The eldest of Leon and Justine’s ten children, Paul Leon Godchaux’s name is spelled
“Godchot” on his birth certificate. Some time after his birth, Leon Godchaux petitioned to
have the family name officially changed to “Godchaux,” and his own name spelled “Leon,” a
practice he had long since adopted. Paul attended grammar school in New Orleans, and then
attended Riverview Academy in Sing Sing (now Ossining), New York. He also went abroad
as a youth, to Strasbourg, Germany. He did not graduate from high school, because when
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Paul was sixteen Leon brought him home to apprentice in the Canal Street store. He learned
the clothing business from the ground up, beginning his days at 5 a.m. His son Paul L.
Godchaux, Jr. recalls that his father often returned to the store to keep up his correspondence,
which he wrote out in “his super Spencerian penmanship” (P. Godchaux 2).
After his father’s death, Paul became president of the Leon Godchaux Clothing
Company, Ltd., and his son Leon completed construction of the final six-story Godchaux’s
Department Store at 828 Canal Street. Paul Godchaux senior also served as treasurer of
Godchaux Sugars, Inc. In 1912 he instituted the New Orleans Retailers’ Credit Bureau. He
financed the initial organization himself until a group of New Orleans merchants, realizing
the need and potential for a credit clearing house, assumed its management. According to the
Chamber of Commerce, “Mr. (Paul) Godchaux is identified with most of the local Jewish
fraternal and charitable organizations. He belongs to the Young Men’s Hebrew Association,
to Touro Infirmary (as a director) and the Jewish Widows’ and Orphans’ Home. He is also a
member of the Godchaux Beneficial Association, and of the Progressive Union of New
Orleans, one of the liveliest of the city’s public bodies.”27
Family members remember that Paul Godchaux was “neat, methodical, conservative,
super courteous, imbued with a know-how for gracious customer hand-shaking.” Education,
fine maimers, love of the arts, and an appreciation of one’s continued opportunities and
responsibilities were important to him, and his descendants still look to him as a model in
these areas. Paul practiced the cello and took lessons even as an adult, and he began a study
of the Spanish language in his early fifties. His children recall that he drank claret mixed
with water with all his meals, even breakfast, and allowed each of his own five children to
join him if they wished. The story goes that when each child was but a few days old, “he
59
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. dipped his finger into the wine glass and placed it in the child’s mouth, saying, ‘You should
get used to the taste, even now’” (P. Godchaux 2).
With his intimate knowledge of fabrics and style, Paul Godchaux grew to be a dapper
man with distinctive personal preferences in clothing. Meticulous in his personal habits, he
had special tabs sewn on his socks so that they could always be mated. After he washed and
dried his hands, he also dried the basin. He reportedly had his suits tailored in the same style
summer and winter, varying only the fabric, and his ensembles were usually completed with
his signature blue bow tie. He married Henrietta Weis on November 6,1884.
Paul, like his father before him, had each of his children study music, and leam to
play a musical instrument. His son Paul, Jr. played the cello, and his daughters played the
piano. When Paul, Jr., was a grown man, he formed a chamber group with his brother Leon
Godchaux II, who played the violin, and his Mend JeffFeibleman (husband of his cousin
Lillian), who played the piano. At Paul and “Retta’s” home at 1238 Jackson Avenue (comer
Chestnut), they gave informal concerts every Wednesday evening.28
In 1859, the Henry Howard-designed Goldmith-Godchaux House was built for Paul
L. Godchaux and Henrietta Weis Godchaux. Significant for its painted interiors, it had more
fresco wall decoration and stenciling than probably any other mid-nineteenth century
residence in the south. While it was being built, Henrietta’s mother died and she and Paul
moved into her father’s Prytania Street residence, one block down the street, to help raise her
young brothers. They never lived in their custom-built home
EDWARD
Chapter 2 will include more information about Edward.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHARLES
Charles Godchaux graduated from Exeter in 1887, and then attended the University
of Louisiana (now Tulane University). At the age of twenty, he began rigorous training in all
aspects of his father’s businesses. Leon and Charles traveled from plantation to plantation as
Charles picked up an essential understanding of both production and management issues.
After thorough training in the sugar business, Charles began an education in the clothing
business. Ultimately, Charles was named president of the sugar company and director of the
clothing company. In 1895 he established the Central Trust and Savings Bank, but before it
opened for business it merged with the Whitney and Germania Banks to become the Whitney
Central Bank. When the new enterprise opened, Charles Godchaux was vice-president and
George Q. Whitney was its president. On March 4,1907, following the death of Mr.
Whitney, Charles became the second president of the bank. He resigned on January 13,
1914, in order to devote his full attention to the family sugar business. He planed to organize
a company or professional association that would study improved production and marketing
methods. This new sugar association was rendered unnecessary when the First World War
drastically increased sugar prices.
Charles was also active in community affairs. He served as a trustee of Touro
Infirmary and of the Jewish Children’s Home, and as president of the New Orleans
Community Chest, a civic improvement organization. He also helped to found New Orleans
Mid-Winter Sports Association and International House. Family remember him as one who
“had a courtly manner, a precise graciousness, a gentleman of the old school.” He married
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Bonita Hiller on May 24,1899, and their children are Charles, Jr., who died at the age of five
years, Lillian and Justine, named for her grandmother.
JULES
Jules Godchaux graduated from Exeter in 1888, and from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology in 1892, with an advanced degree in mechanical engineering. He served as a
vice-president of Godchaux Sugars, Inc., and was in charge of mechanical operations. His
special areas of expertise were the construction of sugar houses, as well as methods, layout
and management. He also built sugar installations for other companies, including an
enormous operation at Baragua, Cuba.
While Leon Godchaux was developing plantations across the Mississippi River,
several of his sons helped him to see the opportunity of development in the rich Teche area
of the Cypremort country. The Godchaux company initiated a new venture designed to move
cane, timber, and other products from points of harvest to sites of processing. The first line
for steam locomotives reached “from the St. James Parish line on the north, across the entire
parish of St. John the Baptist, through the town of LaPlace and into St. Charles Parish.” The
system “finally ended at his Diamond Plantation, which is now the Bonnet Carre Spillway
(flood control between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain)” (Butler 92). In
addition to assuming management of the Raceland sugar interests, Jules took over direction
of the railroad. The railway conveyed cane from sugar plantations and red cypress timber
from the bayou areas; after the enterprise grew still more, it was given the name “Raceland
Central.” The railroad helped the family businesses to purchase cane from smaller planters
further away from the main sugar processing plant, and to transport their timber. Eventually
62
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the Godchaux transportation system included the railroad, which was regularly modernized,
and a small shipping concern headquartered at Raceland. According to Butler,
The Raceland factory also received much of its cane by barge from
Godchaux’s Elm Hall Plantation, the latter located at Napoleonville in
Assumption Parish, thirty five miles up Bayou Lafourche. Used in hauling the
cane were twenty-four barges of 100-ton capacity and three tow boats.
During the early 1930s barge deliver)' was discontinued, the cane then being
delivered to Raceland via standard gauge railroad. (Butler 108)
Jules Godchaux founded, and remained a lifelong member of, the Louisiana
Engineering Society. He also served as chairman of the board of Raceland Bank and Trust
Company, and as director of the Louisiana Agriculture Credit Association. He married Cora
Dorothy Tanner on November 18,1901.
EMILE
Emile Godchaux graduated from Yale College in 1896, and from its Law School in
1898. Shortly after graduation, he became a member of the law firm of Homor and
Godchaux (later Milling, Godchaux, Saal, and Milling), through which he handled the
Godchaux legal interests. He went on to serve as judge of the Appeals Court of Orleans
Parish in 1910 and 1911. Emile resigned from the Court of Appeals in order to join the Red
Cross in France, after which he returned to New Orleans and to the practice of law. He
settled into a home at 836 St. Louis Street.
After his wartime service, he became secretary of Godchaux Sugars, Inc. He married
twice, eventually settling in Pass Christian, Mississippi, with his wife May Curtis. His home
63
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. was called “La Bas.” Emile had no children. After his retirement, he was able to relax
during time off from volunteer civic endeavors. Emile had a devilish sense of fun, and his
niece Justine Godchaux McCarthy recollects that during Prohibition Emile had a keg of
bourbon buried in his back yard. Paul Godchaux, Jr., in a memoir, remembers that his Uncle
Emile “loved fishing and ninth hole beverages.”
ALBERT
Albert Godchaux was lively and knew how to make the most of his time and
opportunities. He played on the football teams at both Exeter and the Boston Institute of
Technology, now M.I.T. Like his brothers Paul and Charles, Albert’s early business training
was conducted at the Godchaux’s Department Store, where he was supervised by Paul, with
the help of Rosamund Champagne, Carl Wedderlin, Charles Steidinger, and Joachim Tassin.
Eventually Albert became interested in the insurance business, and established the firm of
Godchaux and Mayer Insurance Agency.
A contemporary publication describes Albert thusly:
Reared amidst the elegant and refined influences of the Godchaux home on
Esplanade Avenue, enjoying every advantage that wealth can contribute, at an
early age Mr. (Albert) Godchaux was given opportunities rarely enjoyed to
acquire an education befitting his future prospects. When sufficiently
advanced he matriculated at Tulane University where he received a thorough
literary education. Proceeding thence to famous “Exeter,” located at Exeter,
N.H., he continued his studies, finally completing an extended course at the
Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass.
64
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Returning to New Orleans he was thoroughly prepared by the
advantages he enjoyed to enter a professional career, had he so desired, but
instead he entered active commercial life in the famous Godchaux
establishment and gave his attention to the upbuilding of this important New
Orleans establishment. In due time Mr. Godchaux became identified with the
various ramifications of industries and agriculture established by his father
and has aided in enhancing their importance.
Regardless of the multifarious duties of a civic, commercial and
fraternal character Mr. Godchaux is seen at his best with the precincts of his
home. There on April 4,1899, he brought his bride nee Aline Zodiag, one of
the most charming and intellectual ladies of Shreveport, La. There Love
reigns supreme; there business aside he enjoys the companionship of his
intimates. There too in idle moments he finds solace in his favorite literature.
For he is a student by temperament, in the wooing of the muses delighting
much.29
Albert, like the rest of the Godchaux family, was civic-minded and active. He helped
to establish the New Orleans Progressive Union, which ultimately became the New Orleans
Chamber of Commerce, of which he was president. He was also a Freemason, “a member of
the Chivalric Order of Pythias and an ardent member of the Elks.” Always athletic,
gregarious, and fun-loving, Albert assisted in establishing the Southern Athletic Club and
was president of the Harmony Club. He was also a member of New Orleans Public Belt
Commission, the Chess, Checkers, and Whist Club, the New Orleans Country Club, the
65
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Southern Yacht Club, the Young Men’s Hebrew Association, the Young Men’s Gymnastic
Club, and the Audubon Golf Club. Family members remember him as possessing “a genial
manner, an irresistible and unaffected charm—a favorite socially and civically.” He married
Aline Zodiag on April 4,1899, and their son was named Justin Albert Godchaux, after his
father and grandmother.30
WALTER
Walter Godchaux graduated from Exeter in 1894 and Yale in 1898. Along with his
brother Jules, he served as a vice-president of Godchaux Sugars, Inc., and was responsible
for the agricultural aspects of the business. His business was centered at Elm Hall. He
initiated a Research Department in the family sugar business, which resulted in several new
products that maximized the usefulness of sugar by-products. One of these was “Servall,” a
shredded bagasse product suitable for animal bedding, poultry litter and garden mulch. He
also developed a dried molasses called “Camola,” which was used in feed mixes. He was the
first to plant soybeans as a cover crop in sugar cane fields.
Walter was also interested in animal husbandry and plant propagation and cultivation.
He was an intuitive cattle breeder, and instituted tick eradication in his herds, which practice
was widely adopted. He was an active member of the New Orleans Horticultural Society,
and he developed rare species of azaleas and camellias. His friend, the writer Louis
Bromfield, founded Friends of the Soil in order to promote soil fertility, and Walter was an
enthusiastic member.
For several years, Walter served as president of the Louisiana Development League.
He was also a charter member of the Farm Chemurgic Council, and wrote many articles on
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. agricultural topics for professional journals. The family remember that he possessed “an
adventurous spirit, he pioneered with courage and boldness,” and that he was “assiduous in
his devotion to research.” He married Rosa Hyman on November 11,1902, and their
children were Adele, Rosa, and Walter, Jr.31
Not much is thus far known about Leon and Justine Godchaux’s daughters. Here is the bare
information provided by the Godchaux genealogy by Paul L. Godchaux, Jr.
ANNA
Anna was bom on July 19, 1862. She married David Danziger on August 19, 1884.
She died in New Orleans on October 30,1931.
BLANCHE
Blanche was bom July 15, 1864. She married Leon Fellman on February 10, 1886,
and they made their home in New York City. She died in New York on July 11,1941.
LEONIE
Michelette Leonie Godchaux, named for her paternal grandmother, was bom March
7, 1880. On March 12,1903, she married August “Gus” Frank Mayer. In 1927, Godchaux’s
Department Store ran advertisements welcoming its new Neighbor, Gus Mayer’s Department
Store, to Canal Street. Leonie died in New Orleans on July 4, 1957. Gus and Leonie left
their money to Tulane University, endowing scholarships to deserving high school students.
67
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Godchaux’s success internationally known
By the year 1892, Leon was renowned as a businessman nationally and
internationally. The New York Tribune, in June of that year, published a special supplement
called “American Millionaires,” listing the men who had amassed large fortunes through
various means, and Leon was included. By 1902, the New York World Almanac estimated
that Godchaux’s estate was worth a million dollars or more. The Times o f New Orleans, in
1899, set Godchaux’s fortune at six million dollars.
On May 8, 1899, Leon Godchaux left the Louisiana State Fair, at which he had been
admiring the horses with a group of friends, did a bit of family visiting, and headed home to
the Esplanade house. Shortly after his arrival home, he suffered a sudden and fatal heart
attack. Leon had not previously felt ill, nor did he have any history of heart trouble. He was
seventy-five years old.
At his death, the remarkable life of Leon Godchaux was discussed at length in every
French and English-language newspaper in the city of New Orleans, in New York papers, in
publications throughout Louisiana and some in Europe. Extensive memorial articles honored
his contributions to the state economy, his generosity to cultural and civic organizations
throughout the state, his personal and professional loyalty, and his kind and respectful
treatment of friends and employees. The obituary in the Times pointed out that Godchaux
never speculated, and noted that his oldest friend Joachim E. Tassin was one of the
pallbearers. It was widely reported that Leon had become “the largest tax payer in the state
of Louisiana, the largest sugar producer in the South, and the best plantation manager” (Wall
64). The full-page article in the Daily Picayune was headed “Leon Godchaux Dies
Suddenly: The Self-Made Man Who Achieved Large Fortune, Becoming the King Sugar
68
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Planter o f His Adopted State, And a Progressive Citizen, Who Believed in New Orleans,
Who Invested Largely in the Improvement of the Metropolis, Passes Peacefully Away.” It
began:
Leon Godchaux, the sugar king of Louisiana, and one of the most
prominent men in the south, a man who had lived and worked in this state
nearly all his life and displayed the most remarkable judgment and ability in
business matters, is dead. He passed away at 3:45 yesterday afternoon at iiis
residence at the comer of Esplanade and North Liberty Streets, where he had
lived happily with his family for so many years. He leaves ten children and a
devoted wife who had been his helpmate through all the years, all of whom
were at his bedside when he passed away peacefully and painlessly. He had
not been very sick, and had scarcely been confined to his bed, having been at
the state fair Wednesday and examined critically the horses on exhibition,
expressing his preference for the finest, as he was quite fond of fast horses,
though he did (illeg) fast ones at any time. He had relied on his immediate
relatives for only a few days, and had recently returned from a visit to his
plantations. He died like one who simply dropped (illeg), and said that if he
were ten years old and was to live over all his life, he would do just as he had
done, for he had nothing to regret and nothing that his conscience hurt him
with.32
This obituary, like all the others, pointed out that each of Leon’s sons was “a strong,
active business man, the daughters are all fine, active and useful women.” Some also
69
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. mentioned that, a week prior to his death, Leon had begun a campaign to beautify downtown
New Orleans, beginning by paving the streets and sidewalks. The Times-Democrat noted
that Leon Godchaux purchased several slaves and freed them because he believed that it is
wrong to possess other human beings. It also declared that he had “one of the most
remarkable, if not the most remarkable, careers that Louisiana financial circles afford.”33
The Daily Picayune, after a full-page obituary article, ended:
Mr. Godchaux, while never ostentatious about his charity, was a
helpful man in every way, and while insisting on strict business methods had
the kindest of hearts. He was a Patron of the Touro Infirmary and the Jewish
Oiphans’ Home, a life member of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association, and
contributed liberally to other good causes.34
Leon Godchaux, in fact, helped to instigate the drive that led to the construction of
Touro Infirmary’s present building (it had previously occupied a small building near the
downtown riverfront) and served on its Board of Directors. In 1870, Leon Godchaux, along
with his close friend Julius Weis, was one of a group who worked to establish Temple Sinai,
still one of the city’s leading congregations. He also served as a director of the Jewish
Children’s Home. He enjoyed attending the French Opera House, and he gave generously to
that organization and to other musical endeavors.
Continued recognition
At the 100* anniversary of the opening of Godchaux’s Department Store, the family
and the city staged a historical recreation of Leon Godchaux’s arrival at the New Orleans
70
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. docks. A young boy in period costume was escorted by antique carriage from the riverfront
to the store, where he was feted by store employees, all of whom were turned out in costume
for the celebration. One of Leon Godchaux’s favorite childhood treats, calas tout chaud, hot
rice cakes that taste similar to pralines, was distributed to store visitors on that day. The first
boy and girl babies bom in New Orleans on the day of the celebration were provided with a
complete new outfit to be given on each birthday until they were twenty-one years of age.
The female “centennial baby.” Gail Flynn Bauder, bom at midnight of March 1, 1940, states,
“It was a great honor. And since it happened during World War II, it helped out a great deal
with money. And I enjoyed it because I met many nice people. The nicest one of all was the
old gentleman himselfj Leon Godchaux. He really made you feel special.”35
Leon Godchaux’s prominence continued to be remembered for years after his death.
In 1941, the U.S. Maritime Commission embarked on a massive expansion of the merchant
marine fleet under the auspices of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. According to U.S.
Maritime Commission materials,
The standard Liberty ship, an all-welded cargo ship with a displacement of
7,000 tons, was the centerpiece of this program. The original plan was to
build no more than 60 such ships, contracted under a lend-lease program for
the British. On March 27,1941, Congress approved the Defense Aid
Supplemental Appropriations Act, which envisaged an additional 200 ships
for the lend lease program. By April, this number had risen to 306 vessels, of
which 112 would be Liberty ships. After Pearl Harbor, the US view of the
shipbuilding program was fundamentally revised. Several new programs were
initiated, first because of the US entry into the war, and second because of
71
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. German success in the Atlantic in early 1942, during which time losses were
substantially exceeding new construction. Eventually, 16 U.S. shipyards
delivered a total o f2,580 Liberty ships, by far the largest ever production run
of a single ship design.
The style of nomenclature adopted for the emergency vessels the
United States Maritime Commission used broad guidelines. Initially, the
ships—with certain military exceptions and in some of the variations to the
basic type—were, generally, named for eminent Americans from all walks of
life who had made notable contribution to the history or to the culture of the
United States of America—some famous, some forgotten, yet others heroic—
or even mythical.
On January 7, 1943, the U.S.S. Leon Godchaux was launched from the “yard” of the Delta
Shipbuilding Company of New Orleans—-just a short distance from the spot at which young
Leon Godchaux and Joachim Tassin had debarked at the age of thirteen one hundred and six
years before.
In the only published scholarly article about Leon Godchaux, which focuses on the
sugar business, Bennett H. Wall concludes:
Despite the paucity of information about Leon Godchaux, it is clearly
evident that he was an unusual person. His origins were humble and his
education limited. Using sheer physical drive, an engaging personality, and
sound judgment, he rose to become, in his lifetime, the best known citizen of
New Orleans. The element of chance (luck) attributed by many to have
operated in his favor may have affected his success; certainly, the records do
72
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. not reveal even a single error or miscalculation. Like many other financiers of
that day, he kept his money working for him; unlike them he used it in
agriculture—to demonstrate that sugar production in Louisiana could be made
profitable. His impact on Louisiana cannot be measured. Judging him on his
career, it is possible to say that he was the most important person in the
economy of that state in the nineteenth century. He established principles that
continue to serve his descendants well and to keep his name active in the
emerging South. (Wall 66)
Justine moves uptown
After Leon’s death, Justine left the Esplanade Avenue house and moved to the comer
of St. Charles Avenue and Constantinople Streets. By this time, several of her children lived
on “The Avenue,” as it is still called. The family remained close, as it has to this day. In
fact, Charles and Edward lived in the same block, separated by only one house, and their
youngest brother Walter lived nearby. In honor of her late husband, Justine contributed the
amount of money necessary to complete construction of the new addition to Touro Infirmary.
A plaque over one wing memorializes the time and money Godchaux spent to help organize
and operate the hospital. Justine had her husband’s name engraved on the handsome marble
plaque, which is roughly four by eight feet in size, and not her own. The final years of her
life were devoted to family and community service. Justine died December 29,1906, at the
age of seventy-one.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Notes
1 Eima Godchaux. Times-Picayune. March 1, 1940.
2Elliott Ashkenazi points out the similarities in lifestyles between the French Alsatian Jews and the German Jews across the Rhine; both groups were Ashkenazaic in background. The Sephardic Jews of Paris or Metz did not emigrate in significant numbers. Ashkenazi 6.
3 The American Jewish Yearbook 283.
4 I T C T " \ i-.t-._-l _ « - - n . - L i i f r.X' T — . o / - u . j . iy^oiuiiuiL Ui iiCd^Ujy oO*
5 North illustrates that postwar economic growth stemmed from organized prewar commerce that benefited from wartime conditions. North, Economic Growth, vii.
6 To later generations, though, religious distinctions became more important, probably as they were seen as an impediment or threat to social success. In 1896, the daughter-in-law of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, a contemporary of Edward Godchaux, wrote to The Jewish Ledger to protest the great New Orleans composer’s inclusion in an article entitled “Tribute to Talented Jews.” Edward Gottschalk, the son of Lezer and Shinah Gottschalk and the father of Louis Moreau, emigrated to New Orleans from London in 1822 or 1823, where he married the Catholic Marie Aimde Brusle. (As of this writing, no direct connection has been made between the Gottschalk and Godchaux families.) Edward and Marie Aimee were married in St. Louis Cathedral by Pdre Antoine on May 26,1828. Clara Peterson’s letter claims, “As Gottschalk’s parents were married in the Cathedral, it must follow that both were Roman Catholics, and, as the composer was baptized in the same church, as were all of his sisters and brothers, it would also appear that he was not of the Jewish faith.” In a post-script she adds, “Gottschalk’s grandfather may have been a Jew, but, if the father of the pianist was ever a member of the faith, it is quite clear that he must have renounced it when he married in the St. Louis Cathedral, and by dying a Roman Catholic and being buried in St. Louis Cemetery.” (Gottschalk collection, MSS 245, Folder 180, HNOC) Gottschalk scholar Willie Prophit notes that Edward Gottschalk, though not devout, nevertheless “subscribed to the weekly Occident and American Jewish Advocate, and he is identified as one of the Israelite Donors, ‘who were not members of the Congregation, but who contributed to the financing of a New Orleans Jewish religious venture.’” (Prophit 64) He adds that there is no evidence Edward Gottschalk renounced his faith in order to be married in the St. Louis Cathedral, and speculates that Edward’s burial in the prestigious St. Louis Cemetery was due to the influence of the Brusl£ family, in deference to Gottschalk’s social prominence, or that Gottschalk petitioned for burial in that cemetery. Apparently Edward Gottschalk felt no need to publicly convert to Christianity in order to achieve his goals, but at least one of his heirs felt that Judaism in the family might be seen as a social stigma.
7 A newspaper article celebrating the 48th anniversary of Godchaux’s Department Store gives a completely different description of Leon Godchaux’s earliest arrival in New Orleans. The article mentions that, on the occasion of the anniversary, the staff presented Godchaux with a “handsome crayon portrait,” and that a new building was expected to open March 10,1894. Godchaux “is regarded in the business community as one of the shrewdest financiers in the South, but he is at the same time very liberal. He is very considerate with his employees and popular among his fellow
74
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. merchants.” The article states that Leon Godchaux visited New Orleans with Ms parents at eight years of age, and stayed for four years. It claims that he then returned to establish himself in New Orleans at sixteen years of age. TMs account is not corroborated in any other published account, and though it has not been disproved, is not the account told by the family. Times Democrat. March 4, 1894.
8 Justine Godchaux McCarthy, personal interview, 11 June 1997.
9 Leon Godchaux II, in the documentary film Alsace to America, speculates that Jonas was a friend of the Godchot family before he emigrated to America. Tommy Godchaux, grandson of Paul Leon Godchaux, remembers hearing tMs story also (interview, December 13, 2000). Other sources claim that young Godchaux sought Jonas out simply because Jonas was the most successful merchant in New Orleans at the time (“From Rags to Riches: The Story' of Godchaux’s.” Burgoyne, J.E. Times- Picayune. Sunday, January 6, 1980.; Times-Picayune, 1840, sec.3, p. 6; “The Life and Times of Leon Godchaux, The Sugar King of Louisiana.” Typescript. St. John the Baptist Historical Society.). Bertram W. Korn, in The Early Jews of New Orleans, mentions a successful New Orleans Jonas family that emigrated to New Orleans from DevonsMre, England in the first two decades of the nineteenth century. (Kom 162) If tMs is the same Jonas family (the parents of the first Jonas immigrants had twenty-two cMldren), it would seem to argue against an Alsatian connection between the Godchot and Jonas families.
10 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 13 May 1998; Justine Godchaux McCarthy, personal interview, 11 June 1997; Leon Godchaux II, personal interview, 9 November 2000.
11 Godchaux, Justine. Handwritten manuscript signed “Justine Godchaux” and dated 1855, Justine Godchaux McCarthy collection.
12 Tallant, Robert. Voodoo in New Orleans. New York: Macmillan. 1946. p. 58.
13Godchaux, Paul L., Jr. “The Godchaux Family of New Orleans.” Typescript. Undated.
14 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 13 May 1998; Justine Godchaux McCarthy, personal interview, 11 June 1997; Leon Godchaux II, personal interview, 9 November 2000.
15 Much of the mythology of the neutral ground has been exploded by recent historians. Not only did Americans and Creoles socialize at functions such as balls and concerts, but they also intermarried and conducted business together. (See Reinders, Ashkenazi, Jackson, Kemp, Kmen.)
16 A number of Jews did enlist in the Confederate army as well as in the Union army. See Robert Rosen, The Jewish Confederates, U of South Carolina Press, 2000; Tony Horowitz, Confederates in the Attic; Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War, Random House, 2000; The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier, and Citizen, Simon Wolf; Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston Lichtenstein, The History of the Jews of Richmond from 1767 to 1917, 1917.
17 In a letter addressed to the “Reverend Sir,” Lee writes to Rabbi M.J. Michelbacher: I have just received your letter of the 23d inst: requesting that a furlough from the 2nd to the 15th Sept. be granted to the soldiers of the Jewish persuasion in the C.S. Army, that they may participate in the approaching holy services of the Synagogue.
75
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. It would give me great pleasure to comply with a request so earnestly urged by you, & which I know would be so highly appreciated by that class of our soldiers. But the necessities of war admit of no relaxation of the efforts requisite for its success, nor can it be known on what day the presence of every man may be required. I feel assured that neither you or any member of the Jewish congregation would wish to jeopardize a cause you have so much at heart by the withdrawal even for a season of a portion of its defenders. 1 cannot therefore grant the general furlough you desire, but must leave to individuals to make their own applications to their Several Commanders, in the hope that many will be able to enjoy the privilege you seek for them. Should any be deprived of the opportunity of offering up their prayers according to the rites of their Church that their penitence may nevertheless be accepted by the Most High, & their petitions answered. That your prayers for the success & welfare of our Cause may be granted by the Great Ruler of the universe is my ardent wish. I have the honor to be, with high esteem, Your obt’ servant, RE. Lee Gen’l Command Ezekiel and Lichtenstein 164-5
18 Diary of Major Alexander Hart, 5th Louisiana Infantry, July 6, 1864 - May 17, 1865. Typescript copy. Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio.
19 On December 28, 1864, Edwin I. Kursheedt writes that he has just visited with General Robert E. Lee and, regarding the holiday season, muses I have not been able to see the Hanucka (sic) lights this year. Last year I was with my Aunt and officiated in reading the service as I always did at home for in addition to lighting the lamps in Synagogue we always did so at home. That was our Christmas, as children and we always rec’d presents & enjoyed ourselves—but those times have passed and I only expect to see them again when I shall have a family of my own to hand down these ceremonies to. Don’t you say so too, my Pet?
20 Leon Godchaux II, personal interview, 11 January 2001.
21 This was correct when Korn was writing, but is not accurate for Rex since the 1991 ordinance banning discrimination by any krewe seeking a parade permit. See Joseph Roach’s “Carnival and the Law in New Orleans” in The Drama Review, volume 37, pages 42-75 (Fall 1993) for more information.
22 Ashkenazi, Elliott, ed. The Civil War Diary of Clara Solomon: Growing Up in New Orleans, 1861- 1862. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. 1995.
23 In her as-yet-unpublished research, University of New Orleans anthropologist Martha Ward disputes the commonly-held beliefs that Marie Laveau the first was a hairdresser and that she had fifteen children. She claims that there is only definite evidence that Marie Laveau’s oldest daughter (to whom she refers as “Marie 2”), bom Marie Heliose Glapion in 1827, was a hairdresser, and that Marie the first had only five children. According to Ward, “Marie 1” had three other daughters, Marie Louise Glapion in 1829, and Marie Philomene Glapion in 1835. Both Marie 1 and Marie 2, who looked strikingly similar, were voodoo priestesses, accounting for the stories that Marie Laveau could appear in two places at the same time. Both Maries cultivated the belief that there was only one 76
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ageless Marie Laveau. They also utilized their contacts, gained through the hairdresser’s access to the homes and servants of powerful New Orleans families, to discover valuable information that made it seem as though Marie Laveau divined every secret in the worlds of society and politics. It is unlikely that the many white ladies who had their hair dressed by “Marie Laveau” in the postwar period would have known about the consciously-created Laveau dynasty.
24Tommy Godchaux, personal interview, 13 December 2000.
25 Leon Godchaux II, personal interview, 11 January 2001.
26 This appellation appears in the Times Picayune (New Orleans), October 17, 1910, the Daily Picayune, (New Orleans) May 9, 1899, and several other contemporary sources.
27 The City of New Orleans: The Book of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Louisiana, And Other Public Bodies of the “Crescent City. ” First Edition. New Orleans: George Eberhardt. 1949.
“ Sources: unattributed article, probably from a Chamber of Commerce publication, from the Tommy Godchaux collection; typescript family history by Paul Godchaux, Jr.; Tommy Godchaux, personal interview 13 December 2000.
“ Source: unattributed article, probably from a Chamber of Commerce publication, from the Tommy Godchaux collection.
“ Source: typescript family history by Paul Godchaux, Jr.
31 ibid.
32 The Daily Picayune (New Orleans) May 9, 1899.
33 See obituaries in L ’Abeille de la Nouvelle-Orleans, Vendredi, 9 Mai 1899; The Times-Democrat (New Orleans) May 9,1899; The Daily Picayune (New Orleans) May 9,1899; The Daily States (New Orleans) May 9, 1899; The Daily Picayune (New Orleans) May 9,1899; The New Orleans Telegram (New Orleans) May 9, 1899.
34 Ibid.
35 Burke, John. “Godchaux’s Centennial Baby Dressed to the Nines.” Times-Picayune. February 11, 2001. E-12.
77
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER TWO
THE NEXT GENERATIONS:
EDWARD GODCHAUX AND ELMA GODCHAUX
The stems are faithful to the root... Wordsworth, “The Primrose of the Rock,” 1831
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Next Generations
Introduction
Both Edward Isaac Godchaux and his daughter Elma Godchaux were bom to
respected men who were regarded as heroes in their own times. Edward was raised in a
climate of popular reverence for his generous, thoughtful, and successful father, whom he
chose as his model of the courtly, responsible gentleman he wished to become. Leon
Godchaux reared his son with the expectation that he would be suited to ta k e over the family
sugar operation at the beloved Reserve Plantation. Edward was able to fulfill his father’s
hopes for him, to succeed within his father’s lifetime, and to realize his own abilities.
Like her father, Elma spent a great deal of her life on plantations. She relished the
sugar business, and understood it well. As a woman, however, Elma had no expectation of
becoming involved with the business to which her grandfather and father had dedicated so
much of their labors. Because she married a college professor who did not have her family’s
financial means, she also lacked opportunity for the sort of philanthropy that had so gratified
her grandfather Leon, her father Edward, and her maternal relatives, the Gumbels. However,
she shared with them a strong desire to pay homage to her family, and she sought her own
way in which to do so. Through her own inclinations, nurtured by the stimulation of ideas
and people she met through her cousin Paul, Elma Godchaux developed her talents as a
writer.
When Edward Godchaux died, Elma lived in New York City with her husband, and
the production of which she was most proud was her seven-year old daughter Charlotte.
Although she had trained as a writer and had practiced for years, she had not yet experienced
much success. Edward’s death was sudden, and Elma had not had the chance to justify his
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. hopes for her. This may account for the feet that her first novel takes her femily as its model,
and is dedicated to her father.
Edward continued a Godchaux legacy that had been established by his trail-blazing
father. In her own way, Elma paid her respects to that legacy, and claimed her place in it, by
writing about her family. History has allowed Elma to be overshadowed by her more famous
male relatives but her stories are still accessible, in a more immediate way, to modem
readers. F.lma’s writing has merit in its own right, her insights into the labors and characters
of her models provide a window to the legacy that Leon and Edward created, both in the state
of Louisiana and in the Godchaux femily.
Elma’s writing also reflects her life experiences in both the world of plantation
prosperity and the world of the working poor, while also revealing the concerns and
conditions of her class, locale, and era—New Orleans’ socially conscious intellectuals and
families of consequence in the South of the nineteen-twenties and -thirties.
Edward Isaac Godchaux
Edward Isaac Godchaux, the second of Leon and Justine’s sons, was bom in New
Orleans on May 15, 1867. He spent a great deal of his youth at various of his father’s
plantations, and learned the sugar business “from the ground up.” Throughout Edward’s
childhood, Leon made sure that Edward was intimately acquainted with even the most menial
sugaring jobs. He was always interested in the sugar business, and spent many of his school
breaks at the Reserve Plantation. At Reserve, he became known for his aptitude for the sugar
business and for his skilled horsemanship. Marie Pitre and Helen Luminais Williams, both
of Reserve, remember hearing their mothers and aunts talking about Edward Godchaux.
79
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Pitre further remarked that, in Reserve, stories about the Godchaux femily attained the status
of legend and that, “if a group of Reserve people didn’t have much to tell, they could always
talk about the Godchauxs. Of course, some of the stories, like Edward on his horse, or
certain generous acts, were told over and over.”1 They described him as a strikingly
handsome youth and man who caused quite a stir when he visited from New Orleans.
Children from throughout Reserve came out to watch him ride his horse along the levee,
from which he would observe the cane fields. In Edward’s teenaged years, they remember,
the constituency of Edward’s local admirers was primarily adolescent girls who hoped to
catch his eye during summer and holiday visits. In this, Pitre reports, they were consistently
disappointed. Edward received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisiana (now
Tulane University) in New Orleans and an advanced degree in agronomy from Louisiana
State University in Baton Rouge. After Edward’s graduation, Leon turned over the
management of his beloved Reserve refinery to his popular and competent second son.
Like his father and siblings, Edward Godchaux was a dapper man with a taste for
elegance and beautiful things, possessed of a keen appreciation for the fine arts. Edward’s
daughter and granddaughter kept a violin that they believe to have been played by both Leon
and Edward. The femily remember Edward, when at home, in a characteristic pose—sitting
upright at a beautifully-arranged table, often with stacks of reading material before him, and
sipping coffee from a glass in a silver holder. In addition, his well-known benevolence
caused him to be widely admired by both blacks and whites.2
Though Edward was a dignified man who enjoyed his quiet moments, he did not
isolate himself from the troubles and joys of those around him. Edward’s granddaughter
Charlotte Fraser remembers stories she heard about her grandfather from her mother Elma
80
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Godchaux. Edward Godchaux was so highly esteemed as a benefactor in Reserve’s black
community that he was thought to bring luck. When black women of Reserve went into
labor, they frequently asked for “Mr. Eddie” to be present in their front rooms, where he kept
company with nervous husbands as the childbirth proceeded in the bedrooms.3
Leon Godchaux had been inspired by the disinterested benevolence of Judah Touro,
who gave his assistance to New Orleans churches and public facilities based on need, and
regardless o f religious affiliations. Edward took as his models both Touro and his own
father. Though a member of Temple Sinai in New Orleans, Edward helped the black
community of Reserve to build Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church. He also built recreation
facilities for his black employees, and visited them there, as well as in their homes when he
was invited. Edward’s friendship with the black community is all the more remarkable
considering the time in which he was developing the town of Reserve. The system named
for Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice’s popular minstrel song “Jump Jim Crow” was then
becoming widely adopted throughout the South. These laws enforced racial segregation and
the term “Jim Crow” came to be a derogatory epithet for blacks and a designation for then-
segregated life. Though the Godchaux femily provided separate facilities for blacks and
whites, the facilities were equal in quality and Edward treated both groups with respect.
Edward was especially fond of the Godchaux railway line. Sidney Cambre, an
engineer who eventually became head of transportation for the Godchauxs, and W. H. Jones,
master mechanic and superintendent of transportation, both agreed that locomotive Number 5
was “the darling of the plantation,” and was Edward’s favorite. In an interview, they said
that it could “out-perform any engine with which they had ever worked,” and that “whenever
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the ‘5 Spot’ had to be taken out of service for a leaky flue or some other minor repair, the
train and yard crews would pout like small children until it was back in service” (Butler 93).
Historian William Butler conducted interviews with several Godchaux railroad
engineers, mechanics, and supervisors. He reports that
All of the Godchauxs were extremely proud of their railroad and
always insisted on their engines being kept in mint condition. Engineer
Cambre said that Edward Godchaux, son of the original Godchaux, many
times took his handkerchief and wiped over the headlight, bell, or locomotive
jacket to see that they were spotless. Cambre said Mr. Godchaux loved the
railroad so much he would usually ride with him in the cab out into the cane
fields about once a week. “Mr. Eddie” always rode on the fireman’s seat, and
on one occasion, his knee accidentally turned the valve under the water glass,
allowing boiling water to pour into his own shoe. He said it was a good thing
that they had a steel cab—otherwise, it would have come apart with all the
commotion. “Mr. Eddie” also had his own motor car on which he enjoyed
riding the plantation line. (Butler 104-5)
Edward is said to have taken after his father in that he was involved in every aspect of
the management of his business, and knew each of his employees, by whom he was respected
and beloved. Edward did much to build a town for the employees of the Reserve Plantation.
In 1920 he built the handsome Community Recreation House at Reserve and helped establish
athletic groups and playing fields. The Godchaux employee newspaper, The Blue Band,
described the facilities o f the impressive original building, which has since been updated and
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. is still in use. The original main building housed an indoor swimming pool, a billiard room,
a second floor art gallery, a well-stocked library, a dance pavilion, a confectionery and a
ladies’ lounge. On the landscaped grounds were tennis courts, an outdoor pool with “modem
bath houses,” and a baseball diamond. “Adjacent to the main building is a pavilion where
community activities take place, such as: adult and teen-age dances, bridal showers, card
parties, voting polls and civic meetings of all types.” The article noted the facility’s
centrality to community events in that most public occasions such as fairs, festivals, scouting
events and meetings took place on the grounds of the Club. “On February 27,1931, a
handsome Fountain, which stands in front of the Club building, was dedicated to the memory
of the Founder of the Club, Edward Godchaux.” The first manager of the club was a
Godchaux femily friend, the writer E. P. “Pat” O’Donnell (McFarland 1-2).
Edward contributed so heavily to St. Peter’s Church (attended by Reserve whites),
that after his death the congregation honored his name by dedicating a new stained glass
window to him. This gives Edward Godchaux the distinction, according to Ripley’s Believe
It or Not, as the only Jew permanently honored in a Catholic church. Edward’s children,
especially his oldest daughter Elma, were immensely proud of the window. Edward
Godchaux had two memorial services, both of which were conducted by his close friends.
The first was at Temple Sinai in New Orleans, presided over by the esteemed Rabbi Max
Heller, the political and social activist who presided over the reformed temple to which
Edward contributed. The second was in Reserve, and served as the unveiling ceremony of
the memorial windows.
At the dedication ceremony in the stunningly beautiful house of worship, Edward’s
dear friend Monsignor Jean Eyraud “referred to the three windows as a rdsumd o f the life of
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Edward Godchaux. The child Jesus among the doctors in the temple is depicted on one of
the glasses. Another represents the Good Shepherd, and the third pictures the marriage feast
of Cana” (Allen 1). The Times-Picayune reported “In keeping with the life of the deceased
philanthropist, creedal ties were withdrawn and men, women and children of all races and
religions—men, women and children who had known and loved Edward Godchaux—
crowded the church for the services. [... ] Women sobbed openly and men were frequently
seen dabbing their eyes with handkerchiefs as the rector brought back memories of their
departed friend and benefactor.” Reserve resident Frank C. Allen wrote,
When Edward Godchaux came here as a young man to take over the
reins and manage the plantation that was established by his father, St. Peter’s
Roman Catholic Church was much like the stable in Bethlehem. The interior
was badly in need of repairs and there was the lighting system. Edward
Godchaux gave that the people of Reserve might have a more adequate house
in which to worship.
Edward Godchaux gave for the improvement of Protestant and
parochial schools and he gave to individuals whom he found to be in need.
(Allen 4)
Monsignor Eyraud closed the ceremony, at which Elma Godchaux and her siblings
were present,4 with these words: “He loved his countryside. He was ever trying to be useful.
He was the bread-earning power of men and women of this community. These windows are
here to tell the future generations that Eddie Godchaux was their benefactor, and we hope
that the storms and the winds will spare them to speak for years to come of his kindness and
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. his goodness.”5 Though Edward enjoyed his role in the development of Reserve, a project
begun by his father, he was embarrassed by thanks and refused to have his own name
emblazoned on any public building. Ironically, because he dedicated many of the facilities
he built to the memory of his father, and often named them for him (Leon Godchaux
Grammar School, Leon Godchaux High School, Leon Godchaux Memorial Swimming Pool
[built by Jules Godchaux in 1937], etc.), Edward is largely forgotten in Reserve today, and
Godchaux legends in Reserve usually feature Leon as their sole protagonist. The memorial
windows were destroyed by Hurricane Betsy in 1965.
The Edward Isaac Godchaux and Ophelia Gumbel Godchaux family
Edward married Ophelia Gumbel on April 27, 1893, when Edward was 26 and
Ophelia was 19 years old. Ophelia was a daughter of the well-to-do New Orleans Gumbels
who lived at 2322 Prytania Street in the Garden District. She was the fifth child of Simon
Gumbel and Sophie Lengfield Gumbel, whose other children, in order of age, were Horace,
Florence, Henry, Cora, twins Joseph and Lester, Beulah, and Elsie. The Gumbels, like the
Godchauxs, were civic-minded public benefactors who supported Touro Infirmary and
helped develop Audubon Park. The statue in the front of Audubon Park is dedicated to the
Gumbel family's contributions to the city. Although the Gumbel family was Jewish, Ophelia
professed to be a Christian Scientist.
Ophelia’s younger brothers, the twins Joe and Lester, were well-known around town
for their escapades. “They were famous in New Orleans. Everyone called them ‘The
Gumbel Twins,’ and they were wild, too. They had all this money, and they’d get into all
sorts of outlandish situations, not anything salacious, but crazy.”6
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Those who remember her fondly refer to Ophelia as “a Mrs. Malaprop” (after the
character in Sheridan’s The Rivals, whose comments were often malapropos) because,
though she claimed to have no sense of humor herself, she had a knack for inadvertently
becoming the subject of absurd comedy.7 Her straight-faced remarks were the subject of
much family laughter, which doesn’t seem to have bothered Edward in the least. Though he
was the picture of propriety himself, he seems to have enjoyed having a wife who was a
constant source of amusement to him and others. In fact, he kept a journal in which he
recorded his wife’s observations. He may have referred to this volume when he had to be
away from his wife for business reasons.
Ophelia had a distinctive voice; it was very deep and those who remember her say
that she was frequently mistaken for a man on the telephone. Two family stories illustrate
the sorts of things Ophelia reportedly said on a daily basis. On one occasion Ophelia
remarked that she would like to travel to Europe so that she could have her portrait painted
by one of the “Old Masters.” Another time, Ophelia underwent a long and grueling eye test
at her doctor’s office. When the technician, for the umpteenth time, pointed to the eye chart
and quizzed her, “Which of these letters looks correct to you?” she blurted, “I’ll have to go
home and think it over. I’ll let you know later.”8 As an adult, Ophelia’s daughter Elma
loved to tell stories about her mother. Her friend Dick Whitten recalls two of them.
When Elma came home one day, there was a note from Ophelia on the
front door. It read, “Elma, I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to go. The door
is locked, and the key is under the doormat.”
Another time Ophelia returned from the Saenger Theatre, at that time
the most luxurious theatre in the South, and said, “You know, Elma, the
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. strangest thing happened in the theatre! I was sitting there, and this man next
to me put his hand right on my leg.” Elma asked, “Why didn’t you take it
off?” to which Ophelia blurted, “Well, I was too shocked, and I didn’t know
whether he knew what he was doing. So I didn’t move it because I wanted to
see what he would do!”
Edward Isaac Godchaux and Ophelia Gumbel Godchaux lived at 5726 St. Charles
Avenue, just one door down from brother Charles Godchaux’s family, whose address was
5700 St. Charles Avenue. The children—Edward’s Leon, Elma, and Lucille and Charles’
Lillian and Justine—played together more as brothers and sisters than as cousins. Not far
away were Justine, who was now called Grandmere, Edward’s brothers Emile, Walter, and
Paul and their families, and most of the Gumbel relatives.
Ophelia was 22 when she gave birth to her first child, Leon Gumbel Godchaux, on
January 26, 1896. She must have been amazed to find herself pregnant again one month
later. Nevertheless, she delivered her first daughter, Elma Godchaux, on November 30,
1896, the year of the “Plessy versus Ferguson” decision.9 Ophelia’s youngest child, Lucille
Godchaux, was bom on February 16, 1898. Some idea of the times into which Elma
Godchaux was bom can be gained from a look into carnival themes for that year. The
Phunny Phorty Phellows, known for satiric social commentary, chose as their themes the
“New Woman,” pictured in bloomers with a bicycle, the Salvation Army’s crusade against
liquor, and American imitation of English fashions.
Neither Edward nor Ophelia were particularly devout in their religious practices, and
the children did not consider themselves to be very religious. All three siblings
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. acknowledged their Jewish heritage, but none of them bothered to join a synagogue. In fact,
Elma Godchaux preferred to attend religious ceremonies in black Baptist churches, especially
ones with skilled, captivating preachers and rousing music. In subsequent generations,
Elma’s grandchildren would be raised in the Catholic faith, and Lucille’s children would be
Episcopalian, like their father.
jL^iiua d c tti iy m e
Elma Godchaux was bom at one of the family plantations, Elm Hall in Assumption
Parish, and was named for her birthplace. Her earliest years were divided between her
family home on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, Elm Hall, LaPlace, and Reserve. In
later childhood she primarily spent her time in New Orleans and at Reserve. Reserve was
important to her, in part because it meant so much to her father and grandfather, and in later
years she made sure that her own daughter became familiar with Reserve and its residents.
The majority of her year, however, was spent at the family home on St. Charles Avenue.
Many of her cousins lived nearby, as did her grandmother until Elma was ten years old. Both
Edward and Ophelia were very involved with their children, and taught their children to
speak in both French and English. French was often spoken at home, and the children had a
French governess.
The second generation of Godchauxs in America were members of Temple Sinai, as
were their parents, but did not celebrate traditional Jewish holidays. Edward had close
friends among the Jewish community, but also had strong friendships with members of other
faiths. He admired what he saw as the best aspects of a variety of religions, and embraced
many Christian notions. Elma’s younger cousin Justine, the daughter of her uncle and close
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. neighbor Charles, was a frequent visitor to Elma’s home. Tomboyish as a child, Justine
loved to “shin” trees and often climbed the fence separating the two yards so that she could
sneak through Edward and Ophelia’s kitchen door. Justine, now ninety-two years of age,
remembers that Edward’s family, like her own, did not celebrate Hanukah but did celebrate
Christmas. Like their Christian neighbors, Elma, Justine, and Lucille were “dragged”
downtown on shopping trips for new Easter dresses, shoes, gloves and hats once a year.10
At the time of Elma’s birth, according to historians Mark T. Carleion and William Ivy
Hair, sanitary and medical conditions had not changed much since well before Leon
Godchaux first arrived in America. “It seems reasonable to suggest,” they write, “that most
Louisianans were probably no more healthy in 1880 than the Spanish colonists had been a
century before” (Carleton and Hair 269-85). In 1897, when Elma was just eleven months
old, an epidemic o f dengue fever broke out in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, a popular resort
area for wealthy and middle-class New Orleanians.11 (One of the Godchaux’s Department
Stores was located in nearby Biloxi, Mississippi) Panic erupted as rumors o f yellow fever
spread among vacationers and reached their families in the city. After investigation by the
Louisiana State Board o f Health, yellow fever was ruled out and the cause was correctly
diagnosed. On September 6,1897, a provisional quarantine was declared against all Gulf
Coast towns. Medical historian John Duffy writes,
News of the quarantine literally panicked the thousands of New
Orleans residents who were vacationing on the Gulf Coast. At one resort a
mob of New Orleanians, largely women and children, seized a passenger train
and came on to the Louisiana state line. Here they were held up until the
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. health board, realizing the desperate and hungry state of the passengers,
reluctantly permitted them to enter New Orleans. (Duffy 430-31)
The board’s “act of mercy” was bitterly denounced by a horrified public and resulted
in the resignations of several board members. Spurred by public demand for action, the
board resorted to fumigating houses with formaldehyde, which had replaced sulphur as a
fumigation agent but was equally ineffective. When the city made plans to utilize
Beauregard School as a temporary hospital, a mob of anxious neighbors violently protested
and burned the school to the ground. When firefighters arrived, citizens cut their hoses,
resulting in a massive free-for-all between the mob, firemen and policemen. Dr. Ernest L.
Lewis told a reporter for the Daily Picayune that he was shocked that such a mild outbreak of
dengue could excite such widespread terror. “The panic which prevails,” he exclaimed, “is
out of all proportion to the actual condition of affairs.” (Daily Picayune. September 24,
1897.)
Eight years later, the dreaded event arrived. “When the New Orleans Board of Health
first announced the presence of yellow fever in the city on July 21,1905, the immediate
reaction was one of profound shock.” (Duffy 433) The president of the Orleans Parish
Medical Society, Dr. Louis G. LeBeuf wrote of it
When the first knowledge reached our city of the presence of this
dread disease in our midst, there was almost a panic—stocks and bonds went
begging, a pall seemed to be thrown on all things, a general exodus of those
who could afford it took place and the commercial interests seemed paralyzed.
The experience of former years was staring the uninitiated public in the face.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. [...] The public remembered the pitch barrels of 1878, the flags and
costumes of gruesome attendants of 1897, and nearly all were in mourning for
some dear friend or relative. (Augustin 1067.)
This time, however, New Orleanians were fighting an enemy they understood. This was the
first epidemic of yellow fever in which the agent of transmission had been identified. Efforts
were made to introduce a relatively modem drainage and sewer system, greatly reducing the
mosquito population. The last epidemic of yellow fever occurred in 1905, and by 1910, the
incidence of dengue and malaria was also greatly reduced.
Unfortunately, Elma and Lucille were not among those who were spared from
endemic disease. In 1874, Dr. Stanford E. Chailte determined that “swamp poison,” or
malaria, was a greater threat to the city’s population than yellow fever (Chaille 1-37). The
incidence of malaria, also spread by mosquitoes, decreased in the aftermath o f the yellow
fever panic of 1905. These changes came too late to protect the Godchaux sisters, who both
became seriously ill with the disease. After her early childhood bout with malaria, Elma
became quite hard of hearing, a common side-eflect of quinine, the customary treatment of
the day. Elma’s sister Lucille was also “tone-deaf’ from this treatment. Each girl’s reaction
to this permanent disability was to become extremely self-reliant, though this independence
manifested itself quite differently in each sibling.
Before vaccines and penicillin, New Orleans mothers lived in a constant state of
anxiety over their children’s health. At the turn of the century, children were commonly
given “mustard plasters” to “sweat out a fever.” Layers of wide bandages, each spread with a
hot mustard paste, were spread over the child’s chest to form what some called a “mustard
jacket.” New Orleanian Mary Lou Widmer recalls, “My brother Bob and I had these
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. applications when our fever was very high and nothing seemed to break it. I can remember a
time when Bob’s chest was afterwards nothing but one big blister.” Widmer reports that
people still commonly took laudanum, but this was of course not often given to children.
Any New Orleans child, however, would be painfully familiar with such remedies as
the turpentine wrap. Warm turpentine was spread on a child’s chest so that she could breathe
the vapors, believed to relieve congestion. Oil was added to the turpentine to reduce the
chances of its burning the skin. Children were commonly given cream of tartar in their
summer drinks “to cool the blood.” When their complaints could not be easily diagnosed,
children were often put to bed for extended periods of time in darkened rooms (Widmer 61-
3). Leon Godchaux II remembers the method used to force the Godchaux children to drink
castor oil. “They would put a spool in my mouth, and pour the oil through it, like a funnel.”
He also shudderingly recalls the family remedy for cough—a large spoonful of melted
Vaseline.12
Leon Godchaux II, now eighty-four years old, says that the best thing about growing
up just after the turn of the century was the freedom to “roam the streets” and play outside.
The Godchaux children spent relatively little time indoors, confirms Justine Godchaux
McCarthy. Favorite activities included hide-and-seek, climbing the giant oaks in their
uptown yards, and running through sprinklers in the summertime. Saturday matinees at the
Strand Theatre on Baronne Street often featured “scary movies,” to which the young
Godchauxs were partial In 1901 the family bought their first Victrola. The most popular
records that year were those of the tenor Enrico Caruso and of compositions by John Phillips
Sousa. During that time, jazz musicians played on street comers uptown as well as in the
French Quarter.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Mardi Gras Day was the high point of the year for the children, and the parades
passed right in front of Charles’ and Edward’s St. Charles Avenue homes. All of the
Godchaux men belonged to the Krewe of Rex, and every member of the family “dressed” for
Mardi Gras. Leon Godchaux II does not recall whether the Godchaux men rode in the Rex
parade, but he does remember the excitement the children felt on Mardi Gras morning, when
they awoke early, donned their costumes, and then raced around their houses waiting to hear
the distant music that signaled the coming parade.
When Elma began elementary school in 1902, Louisiana elementary and secondary
schools were still acutely pauperized from lack of attention during Reconstruction and
afterward. It wasn’t until 1904 that public schools for white children began to be somewhat
revitalized (Carleton and Hair 272). Most black children were still taught in rundown one-
room schools or church buildings, with no furniture or equipment provided by the parish or
the state. There were, however, quality private schools for privileged children and, as a small
girl, Elma traveled to a nearby elementary school in a pony cart. From all reports, Elma was
a happy child who exulted in activity and novelty. She always remembered how excited she
had been to see one of the first automobiles in New Orleans in 1908.
By 1935, automobiles were the preferred method of transportation on those roads that
allowed for them. As the number of cars rose and the number of horses decreased—along
with the droppings and attendant flies—the streets became much cleaner and less odiferous.
The improved roads allowed for rapid improvement in police services, garbage collection,
and fire protection. The administrations of governors Huey P. Long (1928-32) and Oscar K.
Allen (1932-36) saw the building of the first paved statewide highway system, making travel
from the city to rural areas much fester and more pleasant.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Before the children accompanied Ophelia on shopping trips to the family department
store on Canal Street, preparations had to be made. For most New Orleans families,
shopping trips were occasions for fine deportment and proper dress. Ophelia selected from
among her most fashionable daytime dresses and gloves, and the children dressed in their
“everyday best.” They were able to catch the streetcar right in front of their home, and the
highlight of the day might be lunch at one of the many fine restaurants downtown or in the
French Quarter. Godchaux’s Department Store was the finest store in tile state, and many
say it was the finest department store in the South. Constantino Christie of New York’s
Christie Brothers visited annually to teach New Orleans women how to wear his fashions,
available exclusively (in the South) at Godchaux’s. In addition to specialty items, such as
extravagant and costly hats and accessories, Godchaux’s was renowned for artistically
complex and beautiful window displays, often with stunning “fantasy” themes. One window
display featured a pair of black suede pumps decorated with diamonds, priced at $45,000
(Bourgoyne 3). Mary Lou Widmer reports, “Mother never shopped in Godchaux’s that I
remember. I think she was intimidated by the elegant &9ade and thought it was a sign of
elegant goods inside. Later in life, when I was working in town, I shopped in Godchaux’s
and found goods in many price ranges there, all of beautiful quality” (Widmer 103).
Elma was an excellent horsewoman who was proud of her riding skills from a young
age. Although her father would have been pleased for her to play the violin as he did, Elma
preferred outdoor recreation. Though she was always a very private person and avoided
large society functions as a rule, she was never shy and at times could be quite boisterous. In
early adolescence, she began to develop her skills as a writer as well as her imagination.
Lucille, on the other hand, overcame her slight hearing impediment by becoming gregarious
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and extremely sociable. While Elma chose writing as her creative medium, Lucille was
drawn to painting and design.
The two sisters shared a daring and mischievous streak with their brother Leon.
Growing up in a wealthy family with musical talent and literary connections, the girls,
especially, sought avenues through which to express their own creativity. While Leon
worked his way up in the railroad business from family enterprises to the Illinois Central,
Elma developed her writing skills, and Lucille studied painting in Paris, and eventually
became “far and away the most original and respected interior designer in New Orleans.”13
Eventually both sisters would assert their independence in unconventional ways that would
estrange them from their large and loving family.
Elma Godchaux and Reserve Plantation
As a very young girl, Elma spent a great deal of time at Elm Hall Plantation and also
at the family property at LaPlace. When she was an older child, the family “always went to
Reserve” on school holidays.14 During the bulk of the year, Elma attended day school and
spent evenings at the family home. Though Edward spent a great deal of time at Reserve, he
was usually home in the evenings. When the entire family, or just Edward and Elma, went to
Reserve, they never stayed in the plantation house. After the death of the widow
Boudousquie, the original plantation house was occupied by resident plant managers.
Godchaux had a family home built on the plantation, one that looked more like the modem
notion of a plantation home than did the relatively simple original structure, which they
called “the summer house.”
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. When Elma visited the plantation, she spent a good deal of her time getting to know
the sugar workers and their children. Inspired by the generosity of her father, and the feet
that his close working relationships with his workers gained him a great deal of respect, she
felt encouraged to befriend the children of black, Italian, and Cajun employees who lived
there. One of the Cajun foremen at Reserve and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Hypolite LeBlanc,
became fond of Elma and she visited them through adulthood, taking her daughter with her to
spend occasional weekends with them and their children.
Elma was especially close to Celeste White, the family cook at Reserve, and her
daughter Tootsie, who was Elma’s age. Tootsie stayed on Reserve all her life, and Elma’s
daughter Charlotte knew her as well.15 When Tootsie married and had a daughter of her
own, she named her Elma, after her friend. Elma Godchaux stood as godmother to Tootsie’s
daughter Elma Lapeyrolerie, who eventually became a teacher and moved to Chicago. These
connections were to provide much of the source material for her later writing. Additionally,
Elma felt that she had inherited a legacy that required her to call attention to the difficulties
faced by southern workers, and this is evident not only in her writing. Charlotte Godchaux
Fraser remembers her mother as one who was “passionate about the plight of the Negroes,”
adding, “Had she been alive during the Civil Rights movement, I am sure she would have
been involved.”16
Elma had an ear for dialogue, and used some of her time at Reserve to mentally
“record” mannerisms, slang words, pronunciation, and phrases. Elma chuckled over
something she heard at the wedding of a Cajun sugar worker. One of the guests exclaimed to
another, within Elma’s earshot, “Look at that gal there. That’s enough to turn a priest into a
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. man!” These were the types of things she liked to incorporate into her stories. This
particular comment found its way into her novel, Stubborn Roots (Godchaux 8).17
Elma enjoyed attending Baptist services with her friend Tootsie White’s family. She
delighted in the rhythms of the music and, especially, of the preachers. She mentally
recorded the mesmerizing call and response and the persuasive singsong cadences, and later
employed them in her own work. During the time Elma spent at Reserve, many fine local
jazz musicians honed their skills in the area before moving to the city to make names for
themselves; some, preferring private life, remained in the lower Mississippi Valley and
shared their music with neighbors and younger musicians. Among the musicians of nearby
Ascension Parish were Pops Foster, Claiborne Williams, and King Oliver. Closer to home,
Kid Ory attracted listeners both black and white to his home, Woodlands Plantation,
neighbor to Reserve in St. John the Baptist Parish. Ory, roughly the same age as Elma and
Tootsie, first organized a children’s “humming band” before learning to play music. Ory’s
music spoke of “living, spirit-possessed rivers,” as would Elma’s literature.18
When Elma was a child, residents of St. John the Baptist Parish celebrated Mardi
Gras along the levee. Children “paraded on the levee dressed in homemade costumes” and
formed chanting groups.19 Adults masked as well, and referred to their custom as “running
Mardi Gras,” as do the groups they resemble, such as the Mamou Mardi Gras runners. The
St. John Mardi Gras did not gather ingredients, such as the prized chicken, for a community
gumbo, but rather scared children.20 “Bad” children were prime targets, and these were made
to take to their knees in prayers for forgiveness. Because Elma’s father Edward was a
member of Rex, she might have been in New Orleans during most Mardi Gras, but because
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. she loved Reserve it is not difficult to imagine that she might have successfully inveigled her
father to allow her to witness a Reserve Mardi Gras.
According to family sources, Elma Godchaux’s family did celebrate Easter, probably
in the St. Peter’s Church presided over by Monsignor Eyraud, after which there would be a
delightful feast for family and friends. Each child had new clothes for the services and
festivities. Though Elma’s novel refers to the tradition of observing the Way of the Cross, it
is not known whether the Godchaux family made a habit of performing these Catholic
holiday ceremonies.
Because it happened during summer vacation from school, it is highly likely that the
Godchaux family took part in Reserve Fourth of July celebrations, which featured picnics,
rambles on the levee, and fireworks. The Fourth of July and Labor Day were also times for
fairs, usually fund-raising events hosted by schools or churches, with sweets and special food
in addition to quilts and items for sale and raffle. In the late summer, residents kept their ears
tuned to news of any weather disturbance that might signal a hurricane, as each hurricane
season carried with it the possibility of crop and property destruction.
Elma could not have avoided knowing about, and probably taking part in, La
Toussaint (All Saints Day) rituals. During her lifetime this day was one of the most
important family days of the year, in rural South Louisiana as well as in New Orleans. Most
o f Elma’s friends and acquaintances in Reserve observed the tradition of whitewashing the
graves of their ancestors and family members, and decorating them with couronnes (wreaths
made of flowers that are formed of paper and then waxed), fresh or artificial flowers. Some
people kept an overnight vigil with candles placed on the graves. Elma’s friend Lyle Saxon,
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. who grew up on a nearby plantation just outside Baton Rouge, later documented La
Toussaint traditions in his folklore collection Gumbo Ya-Ya.
At Reserve, Christmas trees were decorated with popcorn strings and ornaments, with
a big star at the top. The Godchaux family gave out presents on Christmas Eve night after
Midnight Mass. Another Christmas tradition in St. John was the lighting of the Christmas
bonfires, a practice that was well established by 1900, when Elma was four years old.
Originally a French New Years Eve tradition, the custom was altered in Louisiana and the
lights are still said to “light the way for Papa Noel.” The Jewish Godchaux family saw no
difficulty in celebrating Christian as well as Jewish holidays; they seemed to see special
celebrations as ways to honor, and strengthen a feeling of community with, their neighbors.
High school years
Elma entered H. Sophie Newcomb High School on Washington Avenue in 1908. The
rigorous curriculum included athletics, chemistry, drawing, English, French, German,
history, Latin, math, “physical geography,” and physiology. Elma, like her cousins Juliette
Godchaux and May Godchaux Fellman before her, played on the basketball team.21
In 1910, when Elma was a sophomore at Newcomb, the girls were thrown into a
dither at the news of the upcoming visit to New Orleans of “Lucky Lindy,” Charles
Lindbergh. Lindbergh, the most famous figure of his time, was feted and given a parade
down Canal Street. Like her classmates, Elma was delighted to get a peek at the handsome
adventurer. From a second-story window of the Godchaux’s Department Store, Elma would
have had a fine view of the parade and its guest of honor.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This same year saw some developments in New Orleans that signaled changing times,
and would themselves create changes in the lives and consciousness of New Orleanians.
Waves of Sicilian immigrants brought their energy, religious traditions, love of music, and
southern Italian cuisine. They grew and sold produce, adding their calls to those of other
pushcart vendors, and successful vendors opened grocery stores. In 1910 adults and
teenagers alike crowded into Salvatore Lupa’s Central Grocery on Decatur Street to sample
his new invention, the muffuleiia. French Creoles had long observed “saints’ days,” and the
Italian saints’ traditions were easily adapted to the new home. The display of artistic and
colorful St. Joseph’s Day offerings became a popular March event, and Elma and her friends
traveled around town with their families, viewing the elaborate ahar displays.
Other foreign traditions were peculiarly adaptable to existing New Orleans customs,
as well. In October of 1910, the young Carlos Marcello stepped off of the steamship Liguria
with his parents, and soon an organized crime syndicate haunted area businessmen and
changed the nature of corruption in the city.
This was also a period of artistic and educational progress. New Orleans had always
been the national leader in musical performance and dancing, but had not traditionally been
known for its production or appreciation of fine arts. In December of 1910 the Isaac Delgado
Museum of Art, now the New Orleans Museum of Art, in City Park, was constructed by
Jewish philanthropist Delgado, increasing awareness of the fine arts in New Orleans. Five
years later Katherine Drexel, founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, established
Xavier University, furthering opportunities for black students to obtain higher education.22
Elma’s high school years also brought new forms of amusement for local teenagers.
When Elma was fifteen, the new Spanish Fort Amusement Park opened on the site of an old
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. colonial fort that had been built by the French in 1701 and rebuilt by the Spanish in 1779. A
previous amusement park on that site had opened in 1883 but was abandoned in 1903. By its
re-opening in 1911, Elma would have been old enough occasionally to accompany her
friends and older cousins on unchaperoned trips. At this time, amusement parks were a
novelty, but they caught on in a big way in New Orleans. The last true amusement park in
the city, Ponchartrain Beach, opened in 1939 and closed in 1983.
A ride on the streetcar was a special treat. Elma and Lucille, like their cousins and
friends, liked to ride “around the belt”—to catch the streetcar at the comer nearest home and
ride it the length of its route. At that time, the streetcar traveled a circuit from the
Godchauxs’ St. Charles Avenue home to Canal Street, turning on Rampart and back along
Tulane and Carrollton Avenues to St. Charles.
As the city around her subtly changed, Elma’s favorite pastime remained horseback
riding. Her uncle Paul’s extensive grounds at the comer of Chestnut Street and Jackson
Avenue included a large stable, and Elma took every possible chance to develop her
equestrian skills. She also occasionally rode a horse that was stabled in Audubon Park.
Elma’s own horse was at Reserve, which gave her an incentive to visit the plantation on
weekends. It was sometimes a challenge to balance schoolwork with riding.
In addition to its stress on both academics and athletics, Sophie Newcomb High
School encouraged social responsibility among its students. In his commencement address
of 1907, Newcomb College president Brandt V. B. Dixon, after commenting on the
disparities between northern and southern academics (He thought Newcomb College superior
to many of the finest northern schools.), reminded the girls, “So while education gives you
moral force and character, remember that character has an end in service, and the purpose of
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. it all is that we may be instrumental in doing good to those around us.”23 In 1908, he
remarked, “Opportunities are broader for educated men and women, but at the same time
educators are coming to realize that culture, efficiency and power to do for one’s fellows
must go hand in hand with education.”24 This philosophy reiterated the lessons Elma had
absorbed from her father and grandfather.
Elma chose to attend college at Wellesley in Massachusetts, which did not include
Sophie Newcomb High School in its list of accredited schools. Newcomb had not gone to
great lengths to become accredited at many universities, because most o f its college-bound
students simply made the slight transition to Newcomb College. Letters between Edward
Godchaux and Dr. Dixon reveal the southern college’s animosity toward northern
institutions. Edward went to great lengths to get Newcomb accredited and, when the school
showed no inclination to pursue accreditation at the northern college, he helped to push
Elma’s application through.25
College
After graduating from H. Sophie Newcomb High School in 1912, Elma entered
college at Wellesley, just west of Boston. She was a popular young woman and enjoyed
spending time with small groups of friends. Like her grandmother Justine, she was tiny—
just five feet tall—pretty, and vivacious when she was comfortable in her surroundings. Her
friends called her “Sprite.” Nevertheless, “she had forceful opinions and expressed them.”26
Family members have preserved a story of Elma’s college years that captures one facet of her
adventurous nature. At some point during Elma’s second year at college, a traveling circus
temporarily established itself not far from the Wellesley campus, attracting a great many
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. students. During the performance attended by Elma and her friends, the ringmaster invited
any young woman who dared to come forward and join the circus bareback riders. Elma,
feeling giddy and pleased to show off her considerable riding skills, took the challenge, only
to face disciplinary action when word of her exploit reached the dean of students.27 During
this time Elma had many beaux, none of them serious, and she enjoyed the freedom of living
away from home, and her well-known family, for the first time. Based on a series of
interviews, Mary Lou Widmer gives this description of college life in this era:
The typical college male toted a flask on his hip, played his ukulele,
and slicked back his hair like Valentino. The typical female dispensed with
her girdle; wore her hair bobbed, her skirts short, her stockings sheer; and
experimented with liquor and cigarettes. Collegians were worldly. They were
sophisticates. They disdained social convention.
College dances were wild. “Cutting in,” which was considered daring,
originated in the South, but soon moved to the North. Girls with good figures
and flirty manners were “cut in on” the most. This encouraged all girls to
dress and talk like “flappers.” There were drinking binges and speeding
drivers taking coeds out to rowdy roadhouses to “crash” parties. Automobile
accidents were frequent. (Widmer 157)
In 1914, the tango then sweeping the nation was big in both New Orleans and New
York. Downtown New York clubs and speakeasies catered to the new craze. The
concentration of halls, cabarets, restaurants and cafes around New Orleans’ Iberville,
Bienville, and North Rampart Streets was called the Tango Belt. The new tighter skirts rose
above the ankle and sported “tango slits” to compensate for their restriction.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. While Elma was at Wellesley, her cousin Irving Gumbel, a Harvard student,
introduced her to one of his university friends, Walter Kahn. Walter, tall and athletically
built, was possessed of manners and intelligence that made an unshakable impression on
Elma. Walter Benjamin Kahn was bom on February 16, 1896, in Louisville, Kentucky and,
since the age of eight, he and his sister had been raised by his Cincinnati grandparents after
the deaths of his parents. As the friendship between Elma and Walter grew into a romantic
relationship. Elma transferred to Radcliffe, so that they might live nearer each other. It is
possible that her growing involvement with Walter contributed to her slumping grades.
Elma’s Wellesley records indicate that, at the time of her transfer in February of 1914, she
had foiled to meet her requirements in trigonometry, which prevented her readmission to that
institution.28
At Radcliffe, Elma studied under two professors who influenced her profoundly. The
first was the Harvard professor of English literature Dr. Charles Townsend Copeland,
nicknamed “Copey.” He “set on fire” a number of writers who attended Harvard at that time,
among them Elma and her classmate in Dr. Copeland’s course, Rachel Field. Some of those
in Elma’s circle who studied under Copeland included Oliver La Farge and John Dos Passos.
Poets T. S. Eliot and Conrad Aiken, historians Van Wyck Brooks and Bernard De Voto,
critics Gilbert Seldes, Brooks Atkinson, and Malcolm Cowley, and editor Max Perkins were
among his many later-to-be-famous students. Other students whom he influenced strongly
included Helen Keller, George Seldes, Heywood Broun, and Walter Lippman. In 1998,
Alice Furlaud remembers her fether’s (Frederick Nelson, class of 1916) assessment of the
“great Harvard teachers: Dean Briggs and Barrett Wendell and the famous, outrageous,
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Flandrau based the character of Fleetwood, in his novel Diary o f a Freshman, on Copey.
Copey assigned Meredith, Hardy, Howells, Stevenson, Mary E. Wilkins, and Sarah
Ome Jewett to freshmen and encouraged juniors to read Conrad and the newly discovered
Rudyard Kipling. His students so admired Copeland that they established an alumni
association for him in 1907, which remained active until 1937. His Monday evening socials
for students were enormously popular, and often featured unannounced guests such as John
Barrymore, Robert Frost, Ernest Hemingway, and Archibald MacLeish “Copey” remained a
lifelong friend. Elma later introduced him to her friend Lyle Saxon, and Saxon once took
Copey to Melrose Plantation in order that he might get a glimpse of the plantation life into
which both he and Elma were bom (Elma at Reserve and Elm Hall, Saxon near Baton
Rouge). Copey made a big hit with his hostess there, Cammie Garrett Henry.29
Elma also was very impressed by the historian Samuel Elliot Morison, another of her
professors at Harvard, who wrote a multi-volume work called The Growth o f the American
Republic. Morison’s meticulous attention to detail inspired Elma in her own writing.
Morison taught his students that the art of writing history was dying among American
writers, but might be revived by writer/craftspersons who utilized a combination of
experience, observation, and research. According to Richard M. Dorson, Morison advocated
folklore methodology in literary research, especially the collecting of oral histories and
personal narratives, such as “interviews with sailors and businessmen recounting events in
their own lives.” In American Folklore and the Historian Dorson writes, “Samuel Eliot
Morison has declared that such oral reports may give a sharpness and immediacy to the
historical account not otherwise obtainable from conventional documentary records” (146).
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To lend authenticity to his maritime stories, Morison embarked on many ocean
voyages himself and sailed the ocean routes followed by Columbus. During World War n,
Morison served on twelve ships as a commissioned officer in the Naval Reserves, and
reached the rank of rear admiral by his retirement in 1951. In 1943, Morison won a Pulitzer
Prize for Christopher Columbus: Admiral o f the Ocean.
Elma and Walter married in New Orleans on September 7,1916, and for their
honeymoon Walter took Elma on a romantic cruise. As he carried her over the threshold of
their honeymoon suite, Elma was delighted to see that the bed was covered with a blanket of
rosebuds that covered the bed like a quilt, which had been stitched together at Walter’s
instruction.30 Afterward the couple did the best they could to juggle social lives, married life,
and work. Walter’s dissertation topic was the Italian labor movement. After completing his
Ph.D. Walter became a lecturer, “which he loved doing, being an academic at heart.”31
The Wellesley student record book of 1917 reveals that Elma “is studying at
Radcliffe while her husband is doing graduate work and instructing at Harvard. She and her
husband and her husband’s three room-mates live on the top floor of a Cambridge house;” it
was during this period that her nickname “Sprite” really caught on with her friends (78).
Though it presented its challenges, especially in terms of privacy, their bohemian life suited
Elma. In April 1918, Elma’s former Wellesley classmates speculated, “What is this rumor
about Elma’s bobbed hair?’32
Elma’s grades were, once again, tepid. There is evidence to indicate that this was
partially due to distraction and also to Elma’s growing idea that her goals could best be
served by action rather than academics. She was initially an average student; her Radcliffe
records reflect that her declining grades parallel her growing attachment to Walter and her
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. increasing commitment to social and political causes. On October 1, 1917, Elma wrote the
secretary o f Radcliffe College asking for permission to reduce her course load from five to
“two or three” classes in order that she might devote more time to “important outside work in
connection with the war.”33 At this time, she was “taking a wireless course at Radcliffe,” and
may have served as a volunteer wireless operator for war-related correspondence.34 After
this semester, she abandoned the academy altogether.
There is some evidence that Charles Townsend Copeland may have influenced
Elma’s decision to devote the majority of her working time to the war effort, as he influenced
others to do the same. Former classmate Henry Sheahan dedicated his 1916 book A
Volunteer Poilu to Copey with this preface, printed in full:
Dear Copey,
At Verdun I thought of you, and the friendly hearth o f Hollis. It
seemed very far away from the deserted, snow-swept streets of the tragic city.
Then suddenly I remembered how you had encouraged me and many others to
go over and help in any way that we could; I remembered your keen
understanding of the Epic, and the deep sympathy with human beings which
you taught those whose privilege it was to be your pupils. And so you did not
seem so far away after all, but closer to the heart of the war than any other
friend I had. I dedicate this book to you with grateful affection after many
years of friendship.
Henry
Topsfield
September 1916
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Walter Kahn enlisted in the army, and was posted to France. Elma, several months
pregnant, went to live at Reserve while Walter was overseas. Her first and only child,
Charlotte Elma Kahn, was bom on March 23, 1919. Of this period she wrote, for the
Wellesley record book of 1921, “The war had our family pretty well scattered—one spouse
in France, the other on a Louisiana plantation. Now we have emerged in Cambridge,
teaching at Harvard, and lording it over an eleven-months-old daughter, who is beautiful, and
a prodigy” (83).
New York
When Walter returned from military service, the family returned to Cambridge and
settled into their first home at 125 Pleasant Street in Arlington, Massachusetts. In 1922,
when Charlotte was three years old and Elma was twenty-six, the family moved again—this
time to 31 West 81st Street in New York City. Charlotte suggests that Walter decided to
change careers “when it became clear he could not support Mother, who had a very relaxed
attitude to money, on an instructor’s pay.” There he reluctantly went into investment
banking with an international company called Lazard Freres, which necessitated extensive
travel to France and England. The job supported him well, but never allowed him to realize
his cherished hope—that he might retire early so that he could resume teaching.
This living situation never quite suited Elma either. Although, or perhaps because,
Walter found little personal satisfaction in his work, he turned more and more to New York
nightlife and dazzling social events. Elma greatly enjoyed accompanying Walter to the
theatre and to the ballet—they were both members of the New York Theatre Guild—but
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. preferred outdoor daytime activities to nightlife. Because of her poor sound discrimination,
she did not care to attend many large concerts or balls, however she did take Charlotte to the
Children’s Series of concerts given at Carnegie Hall on Saturday mornings. Always
comfortable with intimate gatherings, intellectual conversation, and modem ideas, she
couldn’t get used to the New York scene of huge nightclubs filled with fashionable socialites.
Historian Marianne Walker describes the mood of the “Roaring Twenties” :
The young intellectual men and women saw themselves as the
vanguard of the social revolution later called the Roaring Twenties, an era
right after World War I when Americans, weary o f reforms and crusades,
renounced Puritanism and busily engaged themselves in having fun and
making money. Automobiles, electricity, radios, “talking” motion pictures,
neon lights, Coca-Colas, dances like the Charleston, and orchestras like Duke
Ellington’s and Paul Whiteman’s—all popular items on the American scene—
gave great pleasure. Although religious fundamentalism took an aggressive
form, most Americans resisted Prohibition and any infringements on their
personal liberties. This was a period characterized by nonsense, light
heartedness, and a revolt from the Victorian principles of sexual morality.
(Walker 133-34)
The reckless rebellion against Prohibition, with its associated overindulgence, was not
limited to the large northern cities. In 1926, Margaret Mitchell, close in age and
temperament to Elma Godchaux, wrote her sister-in-law:
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. AH this Prohibition stuff makes me sick and I’m organizing my little
playmates to admit they are over twenty-one so that Atlanta can poll a big
drinking vote when the likker question comes up to the people’s vote again. I
feel very strongly on this subject because everyone in this office drinks
bootleg com and the smell in a close steam heated [newspaper] office is
beyond description. Lets all get together, girls, and bring back the good stuff!
(Walker 137)
For Elma, the same attributes that made the twenties an exciting time to be home in New
Orleans made it torturous to be among the “beautiful people” of Walter’s more sophisticated
and glamorous New York set. Walter longed to show off the fiery, sometimes caustic, wit,
and passionate conversation of the tiny southern spitfire with whom he had been so
enchanted, but these qualities were almost completely absent when she was in the company
of his chic friends and their willowy dates. Thomas Wolfe, whom Elma had befriended at
Harvard and who moved to New York the year after the Kahns did, also found the New York
nightlife distracting and moved to Brooklyn to avoid it.
There were, however, many aspects of New York life that greatly appealed to Elma
Godchaux during her years there, those between her twenty-sixth and thirty-seventh years.
Eudora Welty, who lived in the city during the same period, wrote about the experiences
available to a creative and adventurous woman in the New York of the late nineteen-twenties
and -thirties.
Everybody that was wonderful was then at their peak. People like
Noel Coward, all the wonderful music hall stars—Beatrice Lillie, Bert Lahr,
Fred Allen, both the Astaires, Jack Benny, Joe Cook, and Ed Wynn.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Wonderful dramatic stars, even Nazimova! Katharine Cornell, the Lunts—if I
sat down to it, I could make a list of everybody on God’s earth that was
playing. Martha Graham was dancing solo in a little cubbyhole somewhere. I
would go and watch her dance. And Shan-Kar! Everybody was there. For
somebody who had never, in a sustained manner, been to the theater or to the
Metropolitan Museum, where I went every Sunday, it was just a cornucopia.
We had a good group of people from Jackson there at Columbia to start with,
so we had company for everything we wanted to do. We could set forth
anywhere. We could go dancing in Harlem to Cab Calloway. We went a lot
to Small’s Paradise, a night-club in Harlem where all the great bands were
playing then; whites were welcome as anybody else. (Gretlund 199)
Moreover, Elma had several friends in New York who were very important to her.
Several of them were also interested in literature, in folklore, in theater, and in black music
and culture. Her two dearest friends were Lyle Saxon and Rachel Field. Saxon, a friend
from New Orleans who lived near Elma and Walter, was bom on a plantation near Baton
Rouge. He attended Louisiana State University before joining the staff of the Times-
Picayune newspaper in New Orleans, where he became a star reporter. He wrote free-lance
stories from 1924 until 1926, and then returned to the newspaper for several months until he
decided to quit and become a novelist. Like most southern writers, Saxon relied on New
York publishers, and hoped that he could do some o f his writing there. For a time, he seems
to have been able to do so, while also maintaining an amazingly full social schedule. He
attended the theatre quite often. Saxon divided his time between New York and New
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Orleans, and eventually spent about a third of each year at Melrose Plantation in
Natchitoches, which became his favorite retreat from which to write. Saxon’s books and
newspaper pieces had made him wildly popular in New Orleans, but he still managed to keep
some of his philanthropic activities quiet. He helped convert the “haunted house” of the
infamous Madame LaLurie,35 at 1140 Royal Street, into Warrington House, a halfway house
for newly-released convicts.36
While working for the Tirnes-Ficayune, Saxon met many of the writers who lived in
the city and contributed to the Double Dealer. He also, of course, knew its editors Julius
Weiss Friend, Albert Goldstein, Basil Thompson, and Paul Godchaux, Jr. A highly social
being, Saxon maintained his early friendships during his time away from South Louisiana,
whether in Natchitoches or New York. Saxon’s journals and scrapbooks from Melrose
reveal that Roark Bradford, Sherwood Anderson, John McClure, Pat O’Donnell, and many
others visited him there. Charlotte Godchaux Fraser recalls that “everyone who knew Lyle
was half in love with him,” and that her mother was no exception. Fortunately her warm
feelings were returned, and Elma and Lyle were able to see a great deal of each other
throughout Elma’s lifetime. The diaries of Lyle Saxon’s life in New York record their
frequent lunches and dinners, sometimes alone and sometimes with other friends such as
Rachel Field.
Rachel Field was another of Elma’s most valued friends. Elma’s daughter remembers
that her mother and Field usually visited in one home or the other, and that the two spent
most of their time together in conversation, though they did also attend social gatherings and
share other activities, such as shopping or seeing films. Elma’s relationships with both Field
and Saxon seem to have been very comfortable, “like family.” Both Field and Saxon were
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. interested in southern folklore and in fairytales, and the three discussed the use of these
motifs in their own work and in the literature of writers like Ellen Glasgow and Julia
Peterkin. In 1929, Field edited a book for Scribner’s called American Folk and Fairy Tales,
with which she was unsatisfied, and in 1945 Saxon compiled Gumbo Ya-Ya, a collection of
Louisiana folklore, as well as a host of previous shorter folklore pieces. Others in Elma’s
circle of New York friends included Doris Allman, Robert Cantwell, Theodore “Dr. Suess”
Oeisel, Ellen Glasgow, Weeks Hall, Anne Parrish, Julia Peterkin, William Spratling, and
illustrator Eddie Suydam.37 Elizabeth Prall, later to become the second Mrs. Sherwood
Anderson, lived just down the street from Rachel Field’s apartment, on E. 110th Street.
Elma and Walter lived just across from the Museum of Natural History. They
entertained at home a great deal, with the help of William and Pauline Ritz, the Kahns’ butler
and cook. This versatile couple “lived in,” and were close and reliable family retainers.
William also served as the family chauffeur, and helped Charlotte learn her way around the
city. Elma and Walter were justifiably proud of Pauline’s cooking. Charlotte remembers
Pauline as a “very grand cook”; she had been trained in Germany and had a large and
sophisticated repertoire. She specialized in “wonderful desserts” such as mocha cake and
fresh strawberry mousse. Dinner parties at the Kahn home often included Walter’s friend
Mortimer Lahm and his wife, the painter Ren6e Lahm, to whom Elma was close. From time
to time some of Elma’s friends from New Orleans, such as Lucy Benjamin Lehmann and her
husband, the mahogany merchant Jack Lehmann, visited the Kahns in New York. The
household was completed by Bridget, the family’s wire-haired fox terrier. Bridget’s special
friend was Spriggin, Rachel Field’s terrier.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Edward Godchaux’s death due to a sudden and unexpected heart attack on October
11,1926, devastated Elma. She felt that she never quite recovered from the horror she felt
when, at this funeral, she kissed her father for the last time and felt the coldness of his
forehead beneath her lips. The Godchauxs did not follow Jewish funerary traditions which
allow no embalming and no wake, and call for burial to take place as soon as possible, even
on the same day of the death, but no more than two nights after the death. They followed the
Catholic customs of the wake and burial ceremony, as did many New Orleans Jewish
families.38 All her life, Elma retained a fondness for Bay Rum cologne, which her father had
customarily worn.
The Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 seemed a second blow. Heavy rains
began on Good Friday (April 15) and dumped fourteen inches on the city of New Orleans in
the next twenty-four hours. Most of the streetcars were out o f commission that evening. The
entire city flooded. By Saturday morning the Broadmoor area was under six feet of water.
Two feet of water flooded the city’s highest points, Canal Street and the Vieux Carre,
damaging Godchaux’s Department Store and other businesses. Water covered the first floor
of the Godchaux home on St. Charles Avenue. The levees were holding but the waters were
dangerous for river vessels. On April 23rd the molasses tanker Inspector rammed a hole in
the levee at Junior Plantation forty miles downriver from Canal Street. The day before, nine
thousand square miles had been inundated by water due to a levee collapse ten miles upriver
from Greenville, Mississippi The Carrollton gauge recorded a river height of 20.4 feet and
predicted a rise to 24 feet by May. Water overflowed the banks along the river and drowned
crops. Boats were purchased or built, and canned foods stockpiled, by all citizens who could
afford to do so. A committee of civic leaders urged Governor Simpson to order the levee
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. dynamited to relieve pressure. Reporters from all over the country gathered at the levee and
several explosions at Caernarvon brought only a trickle o f water for the next twelve hours.
Forty-eight hours later a larger charge finally released the river. Herbert Hoover acted as
flood relief director in his capacity as United States Secretary of Commerce. The river
poured over its banks from Illinois to Louisiana and in some areas it was September before
the water receded. Though it was threatened by flood yet again, Reserve Plantation, Elma’s
primary’ link to her father, was spared. This national disaster prompted Congress to pass the
Flood Control Act in May of 1928.
Elma had few people with whom to discuss Edward because, other than Saxon, few
people in her New York circle had known her father well. Writing about him, and about
Louisiana, helped her to cope with her homesickness and her grief. Walter Kahn, recalls his
daughter, was “disinterested and even possibly dismissive about her [literary] career.” Elma,
who longed for a large family of her own, was so in need of comfort during this period that
she experienced a “psychological pregnancy.” Her daughter recalls that she became “over
loving, stiflingly so and I suppose, alas, that I rebuffed her.”39
After the couple purchased a second home in New Canaan, Connecticut, Elma usually
preferred to spend her weekends there. In New Canaan, she “developed a large and beautiful
garden” with the help of William Ritz, who showed great flair as a landscapes Though she
enjoyed her quiet time alone, Elma also frequently had houseguests. She was more
comfortable entertaining in Connecticut than in her New York apartment—her guests could
lounge, take long walks, and enjoy dinner conversations that might be resumed the next
morning. Her friend Rachel Field was often there too, at her weekend home in nearby
Farmington, which she named “Up the Lane.” In the country, Elma read, honed her writing
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. skills, and walked in the woods. It was during this period that Elma found her own style of
writing, and wrote her short stories. Charlotte recalls that her mother liked “positive,
committed writing—strong rather than wishy-washy or over-sentimental,” and that among
her favorite authors were Jane Austen, Hilaire Belloc, Willa Cather, Stephen Crane, Joseph
Conrad, Emily Dickinson, Edna Ferber, O. Henry, Joseph Hergesheimer, Aldoux Huxley,
Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, Somerset Maugham, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Charles
Morgan, John Steinbeck, Lyttcn Strachey, Edith Wharton, Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilue, and
Thornton Wilder. She also read both fiction and non-fiction about the Civil War period, and
enjoyed biographies.40
Elma never got over being self-conscious about her hearing, and noisy gatherings
were difficult for her. She also had little confidence in her appearance or her social persona,
and was uncomfortable meeting those with whom Walter increasingly socialized. Charlotte
remembers that her mother “was a bit of a rebel and anti-conventional,” and that her father
“spent a lot of time in England and France and had considerable acquaintance and
friendships, particularly in England. She was never involved in that part of his life, which
developed as they were growing apart—in large part due to her considerable deafness. . .
She never was part of his sophisticated international life, being herself a wide-eyed innocent
who never grew up in many respects.”41
Walter Kahn traveled a great deal for his work, often spending several months at a
time in Europe. On those occasions, Charlotte remembers, Elma would, “jerk [me] out of
school, and for three or four months I would attend the Country Day School in New
Orleans.”42 Charlotte’s experience resembled that of Lillian Heilman of which she writes, “I
learned early, in our strange life of living half in New York and half in New Orleans, that I
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. made my New Orleans teachers uncomfortable because I was too far ahead of my
schoolmates, and my New York teachers irritable because I was too far behind” (Heilman
17).
While in New Orleans, Elma cultivated relationships with a circle of writers and
artists, and continued to grow closer to her sister Lucille. Among her favorite things to do in
New Orleans was to attend, with groups of friends, Sunday afternoon entertainments in City
Park. Just after World War I and through the early 1920s, the Rosato Italian Brass Band was
the regular musical ensemble for Sunday concerts in the park. Antoinette Ancona, whose
father Mike Calli played the comet in the Rosato Band, recalls, can still remember sitting
on the big benches in front of the big bandstand and listening to great music—classical and
marches.” At that time, black and Italian brass bands usually performed in full military-style
uniform. “At sundown, a large white screen was lowered from the top of the bandstand and
silent movies were shown.”43
Elma and Walter shared a healthy disregard of the conventional, and in time it
communicated itself to their daughter and staff as well. In 1932, Walter’s job called for him
to be away from home for a longer time than usual. He was to live for almost six months in
Germany. Since Elma invariably spent these times in New Orleans, Pauline Ritz asked if she
and William might accompany Walter as for as their home in Frieburg, in the Black Forest.
At thirteen, Charlotte wished for more adventure than she could look forward to if she
returned for another stay at the Country Day School, and wondered whether she might be
allowed to live for a time with the Ritzes. Elma and Walter were aware of the affection
between their daughter and their staff. Neither they nor the Ritzes viewed it as inappropriate
or unusual for Charlotte to reside with their maid and butler. Their accession to her request
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where she learned German. Elma, after her stay in New Orleans, briefly visited Charlotte in
Germany and then the two of them traveled to Paris.
By 1933, Elma’s marriage to Walter had become quite fragile, and the couple agreed
to separate. Elma and Charlotte moved in for a time with Elma’s cousin Irving Gumbel, who
now resided in Paris, and his family. Some other family members lived in Paris as well.
Elma’s aunt Beulah Gumbel Joseph and her husband Eli Joseph occupied the top floor of the
Plaza AthenSe. Charlotte enrolled in school in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she learned to
translate her thoughts and speech from German to French. Elma hoped to remain in France
but, when the American economy fell, life in Paris became impractical. Elma and Charlotte
moved to New Orleans in 1934, and Charlotte spent her last year of high school at the Louise
S. McGehee School at 2343 Prytania Street. Charlotte left for Radcliffe in 1935, and Elma
remained in New Orleans until the end of her life.
Looking back, Charlotte surmises, “In the end, the marriage went wrong because
Daddy got more and more and more sophisticated . . . Mother was never very comfortable
with noisy parties because of her difficulties with hearing. Daddy was leading a very
cosmopolitan life, and Mother couldn’t keep up with it.” According to Charlotte, Elma
always felt displaced in New York. “She wasn’t sophisticated. She was a little girl who
never grew up. She was madly romantic. She was tiny, only five feet tall. I was really more
grown up as a child than she was. She never learned how to spell. She was full of
enthusiasm, and she had a great deal of childlike innocence. She never really stopped being
, , 4 4 an innocent.
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The decades between 1920 and 1950 have come to be called the “Southern
Renaissance”; during this time literary activity in America was dominated by the South.
From the French Quarter of New Orleans to the splendid Melrose Plantation of Natchitoches
Parish to the offices of the Southern Review in Baton Rouge, Louisiana writers established
themselves at the vanguard o f this movement. It was this Renaissance that gave rise to some
of the best-known writers to be associated with Louisiana, and New Orleans’ Double Dealer
was one of the leading forces at the forefront in this resurgence. Because of this journal,
Elma Godchaux was able to know many of the prominent writers of her lifetime.
During Elma’s high school years, her cousin Paul Godchaux, Jr., encouraged her to
attend gatherings at his French Quarter home. Paul’s closest friend was his maternal first
cousin, the social critic Julius Weis Friend, who was extremely interested in literature and
had many writer friends to whom he introduced Paul. Though Paul had no literary
aspirations himself he became caught up in Julius’ crusade to prove the literaiy merits of the
South, a region H.L. Mencken famously referred to as the “Sahara of the Bozart.” Mencken
argued that “for all its size and all its wealth and all the ‘progress’ it babbles o f it is almost
as sterile, artistically, intellectually, culturally, as the Sahara Desert. [... ] The South has
not only lost its old capacity for producing ideas; it has also taken on the worst intolerance of
ignorance and stupidity” (Mencken 70,79). Friend took these words as a personal challenge.
Thomas Bonner Jr., has written about the changes that took place in New Orleans
after World War I, as the “forces of Modernism began to displace the aura of the New
South.” He notes that, as Jews began to be excluded from the social life o f the city, “the
blossoming of literature at this time in the city had both the leadership and the financial
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possessing “the best in Hebraic tradition, its common sense, its vitality and love o f life, its
humanitarian and broad art tradition” (Bowen 589). Friend became the vitalizing force in
developing New Orleans into what Hamilton Basso termed “a Creole version of the Left
Bank,” and Anderson called “Greenwich Village South.” (Basso 11, Holditch 46, Long ix)
In 1921, when Elma Godchaux was twenty-five years old, Julius Friend, along with
his friends the poet Basil Thompson, writer Albert Goldstein and producer/manager Paul
Godchaux, Jr., instituted the Double Dealer, which began as “A Magazine for the
Discriminating,” and became “A National Magazine from the South.” The advisory council
comprised Olive Boullemet Lyons, Marguerite Samuels, Sam Gilmore, John McClure, W.
Weeks Haft, and Gideon Stanton. Toward the end of its run, Julius’ sister Lillian Friend
Marcus assumed publication activities. The influence o f the Double Dealer on New Orleans
as a literary Mecca, and on Elma Godchaux personally, cannot be overstated. Inspired by
Hemingway’s growing feme and Faulkner’s 1949 Nobel Prize for literature, one of the
magazine’s founders, Albert Goldstein, wrote these words in 1951 about the inception of the
journal that published their first works:
We conceived a serious literary magazine. Its chief aim was to
encourage budding writers; incidentally it would show critic H.L. Mencken, at
that time plagued with the notion that the South was culturally stagnant, that
he didn’t know what he was talking about. [... ] Curiously enough, our
venture not only reached the printed stage but became, early in its existence,
one of the nation’s leading “little” magazines.
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play of that title. Congreve’s hero managed to “deceive them both (that is,
conservatives and liberals alike) by speaking the truth.” (Goldstein 7)
The editorial salutation of the first volume gives the Teader a sense of what to expect
within its pages. The youthful editors (who were all in their early to mid-twenties) wrote that
the appeal cnee more is to that select audience for whom romance and irony lie not so many
leagues apart; whose veneration for art, music, and letters, is not so solemn that it cannot be
lightened by a sense of humor; whose opinions of society, economics, and politics are drawn,
not from the perusal of dusty books, but rather from the vision of tolerant eyes estimating the
devious ways of the world.”
If a primary goal was to prove the literary merit o f the South, another was to improve
the reputation of New Orleans in particular. Though the editors and contributors of the
magazine were as fond ofjazz and bathtub gin as their New York friends, they wished to
make New Orleans known for its blossoming arts scene, and its atmosphere that many
writers found inspiring.
There was a time when the fame o f New Orleans was based for the
most part on gin-fizzes and brothels. Now that the all-wise legislators have
thrown these things on the ash-heap, there is, happily, something else which
appears to be placing us apart from those other cities of soda-fountains and
workaday laws. We refer to the spirit that is now supporting the concerts, the
art associations, the Bridlegoose Club, Le Petit Theatre, and in the Quarter,
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traditions of the old ground. {Double Dealer, March 1921,2-5)
The first issue further declares, “To myopics, we desire to indicate the hills; to visionaries,
the unwashed dishes. [...] We mean to deal double, to show the other side, to throw open the
back windows stuck in their sills from misuse, smutted over long since against even a dim
beam’s penetration” (5). The Double Dealer's editorials were highly regarded; the editors
could be found after closing hours at the Pelican Book Shop at 407 Royal Street, with a
group of writers and friends, eating salami, drinking wine, laughing and arguing about
literature, music, and everything else.
Double Dealer editors were proud of the authors they encouraged and those they
“discovered.” However, its “discoveries” are not the most distinctive aspect of the journal or
its editorial policy. The editors demonstrated an awareness of other “little magazines” in
their astute assessments of other publications such as the Little Review and the Pagan. The
Double Dealer also participated in important literary developments, such as the recognition
of Gerard Manley Hopkins and the revival of appreciation for Herman Melville. It
introduced new writers as well to American audiences, such as Danko, a Nigerian poet, and
short story contributor Chang Chiu-Ling, whose works were translated from the Chinese
language for American publicatioa Marginalized social issues and writers were given space
in its pages. From volume to volume, its pages contained a running commentary on the state
of short fiction, about which its editors were fairly pessimistic.
This pessimism seems unwarranted when one considers that early volumes boast
contributors such as Richard Aldington, Mary Austin, Djuna Barnes, Hamilton Basso, Henry
Bellemann, Maxwell Bodenheim, Witter Bynner, Elizabeth Coatsworth, David Cohn, Hart
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Howard Mumford Jones, William Alexander Percy, Ezra Pound, Llewelyn Powys, Burton
Rascoe, John Crowe Ransom, Lola Ridge, Gilbert Seldes, Allen Tate, Jean Toomer, Louis
Untermeyer, Carl Van Vechten, Robert Penn Warren, Thornton Wilder, Edmund Wilson, and
many more. William Faulkner’s first published piece, a six-stanza poem about a pair of
young lovers called “Portrait,” appeared in the June 1922 issue. The “Notes on Contributors”
described him as “a young Oxford, Miss., poet of unusual promise.” In the same year, a
satirical sketch with “a celestial setting” called “A Divine Gesture” was attributed to “Ernest
M. Hemingway, a young writer who lives in Paris and enjoys the favor of Ezra Pound”
{Double Dealer, May 1922).
Bonner writes that the “tension between the local and the national found expression in
editorials and the material that the magazine published” (Bonner 29). Its first editorial
describes the magazine as “a movement, a protest, a rising against the intellectual tyranny of
New York, New England, and the Middle West” (126). The next (April 1921) argues against
the “tincture of the soil” as the defining quality of American literature and calls for
universality (171-2). The third editorial (June 1921) attacks sentimentality in southern
literature and argues for an examination of “the physical, mental and spiritual outlook of an
emerging people [southerners]—the soul-awakening of a hardy, torpid race, just becoming
reaware of itself’ (214). Rejecting the stigma attached to southerners, the Double Dealer
asserts that it “is high time [... ] for some doughty, clear-visioned pen man to emerge from
the sodden marshes of Southern literature. Declaring that they are “sick to death of the
treacly sentimentalities with which our well-intentioned lady fictioneers regale us,” the
editors ask that the old traditions and the Confederacy cease to dominate the minds of
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longer exists” (2).
This issue states its intention to take part in Modernism by emphasizing direct
experience, by what Bonner terms “the Emersonian rejection o f‘dusty books’” (Bonner 30).
This piece commends “the elemental” and argues for “crudity” as vital to American
literature. James Watson examines this editorial practice in operation when he describes
Faulkner’s contribution, “New Orleans,” as representing the “basics o f human life” (Watson
216). Later issues would continue to explore Modernism’s relationship to the literature of
the South.
In the March 1922 issue of the Double Dealer, Sherwood Anderson published an
article called “New Orleans, The Double Dealer, and the Modem Movement in America” in
which he delineates the magazine’s connection to Modernism in its emphasis on
individuality, imagination and concrete culture, all of which are to be found in the pages of
the Double Dealer and in New Orleans. He mentions the city’s black population as a vital
part of its distinct culture, and that awareness is somewhat reflected in the magazine’s
inclusion of poetry and fiction with themes of black life and in contributions by such writers
as Jean Toomer and Langston Hughes. The March 1922 issue also included a publisher’s
advertisement seeking literature by and/or about blacks. Though today some of the
references to blacks seem stereotypical and paternalistic, as they did to some black writers of
the time, the magazine was generally agreed to be part of a forward momentum for black
literature and marginalized writers.
This view of southern literature affected emerging writers. Hamilton Basso speaks
for many others when he rejects the “romantic emotionalism” of southern writers, and calls
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wallpaper” representations. His wish is to depict the “essential reality of the South” and “to
get rid of all the old sentimental truck and explain, by using facts instead o f poetry, what has
happened here in the South and why this romantic conception is so untrue.”45
Thirty years later, Albert Goldstein remembered the most important “established”
champion of the early journal, the man who did the most during this period to attract and
encourage new writers:
Another visitor—one of a long procession of down-at-the-heel
intellectuals, promoters of questionable schemes, panhandlers and, of course,
legitimate writers, was Sherwood Anderson. He materialized one afternoon,
wearing a baggy tweed suit, a battered hat, resplendent socks, and a walking
stick. He said he had heard of the Double Dealer and wanted to be its friend.
He became not only a friend but a contributor and drumbeater.
Anderson stayed on in New Orleans for many months, wrote his Many
Marriages in a Royal Street apartment, walked incessantly along the
riverfront. It was during his stay here that he met Faulkner, who had come to
live in the Vieux Carrd. Faulkner prodded Anderson to send the manuscript of
his (Faulkner’s) first novel to a publisher, and Anderson agreed with the
understanding that he “didn’t have to read it first.” That’s how Soldier’s Pay
came to be published. (Goldstein 7)
The Double Dealer was published for six years, a long run for a “little magazine.”
Godchaux and Friend were especially pleased with the notice given it by one critic in
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that the journal had admirably performed the task of “delivering Southerners” from what he
termed their “cultural swamp” (Goldstein 6-7).
The Double Dealer helped to establish New Orleans as a town that could attract and
support artists. Before and during the Depression, artists from all over the United States
came to New Orleans, because they could live for very little. Lodgings were cheap, and one
needn’t spend much on fuel, because it was warm. The company of other artists was an
added attraction. In 1919 Lyle Saxon had established a literary salon at 612 Royal Street
(sixteen rooms for sixteen dollars a month), and predicted that “in the trail of artists” who
had colonized the Quarter in the war years, “would come the writers and soon we would
boast of our own Place D’Armes as New York does her Washington Square” (Harvey 71).
In 1922 Anderson wrote, “I am in New Orleans and I am trying to proclaim something I have
found here and that I think America wants and needs.”
Perhaps if I can bring enough artists here they will turn out a ragtag
enough crew. [... ] However, I address these fellows. I want to tell them of
long quiet walks to be taken on the levee in back-of-town, where old ships,
retired from service, thrust their masts up into the evening sky. On the streets
here the crowds have a more leisurely stride, the Negro life issues a perpetual
challenge to the artists, sailors from many lands come up from the water’s
edge and idle on the street comers, in the evening soft voices, speaking
strange tongues, come drifting up to you out of the street.
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I am in New Orleans and have been so completely charmed by life in the
“Vieux Carr6,” I may have seemed to get off the track. (Anderson 126)
The Double Dealer, Lyle Saxon, and Sherwood Anderson were indeed magnets for
writers who visited or settled in the city. Many of the writers and other artists who spent
time in New Orleans during that period, such as O. Henry, John Steinbeck, Carl
Sandburg, moved on, or went back home when the economy became more stable. Others,
like Williams, Anderson, and Bradford, lived much or all of the time in New Orleans, and
remained great friends of the Godchaux family. By the time the Double Dealer went into
publication Elma Godchaux lived in New York much of the year, but she and her New York
friends enjoyed discussing the literature they found in its pages. Until she moved back to her
hometown, Elma spent several months each year with her family in New Orleans and clearly
enjoyed the “Modem Spirit” of artistic stimulation she found there.
New Orleans
Back in New Orleans, Elma’s life became much more lively. She and Charlotte
settled into a house on State Street in 1934, just off St. Charles Avenue. She lived there until
Charlotte went to college the following year. For a short time afterward, she lived in the
prestigious but somewhat stodgy Garden District, but was asked to leave by her landlord
after she painted her dining room a rich shade of red, with stark white woodwork. Friends
recall that her design sense was “striking and attractive, but bizarre in those days.” She
found that the French Quarter was a comfortable and stimulating environment, and settled
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three most successful short stories and her novel Stubborn Roots.46
Reports of Elma at this time are that she was invariably high-spirited and was
animated in conversation. “In feet,” remembers Dick Whitten, “I wondered if she might be
hypothalamic. You know, that can make people quite energetic.” He states that “she loved
to discuss art, literature, and politics. She was an excellent storyteller and she attracted
others who were good storytellers. She liked to fill her home with interesting, fun, and
charming people.”47
Because she had spent nearly half of every year in Louisiana throughout her marriage,
Elma was able to maintain friendships with the writers and artists who lived in the French
Quarter during the 1920s and 30s. Through her sister Lucille, who was her best friend and
greatest supporter, Elma made many new friends as well. Lucille Godchaux and Marc
Anthony, a New Orleanian whom Lucille met while they were both studying painting in
Paris, had cultivated a wide circle of friends that included a number of writers, artists, and
actors. Lucille was “a lively, liberated woman whose wealthy family had repudiated her
because she was living in the Quarter with Marc before marriage” (Rideout 18). Possessed
of a natural knack for friendship, Lucille was widely known as a gracious, witty, and
inventive hostess. In February 1935 Gertrude Stein visited after speaking at the Arts and
Crafts Club, located at 712 Royal Street. Other guests in their home included Thomas Wolfe,
Carl Sandburg, and other artists of the twenties and thirties (Holditch 46).
Looking back on that time, William Spratling described life among their set:
There were casual parties with wonderful conversation and with plenty
of grand, or later to be grand, people. Ben Huebsch would be down from New
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. York to visit his writer Sherwood Anderson, and Horace Liveright and Carl
Van Doren and Carl Sandburg and John Dos Passos and many others were
there from time to time and there was a constant stimulation of ideas. Roark
Bradford worked the city desk of the Times-Picayune along with the poet John
McClure, and Oliver La Farge was with Frans Blom in archaeology at Tulane
while he shared cooking expenses with me and Faulkner and told us with glee
of Ins most recent discoveries of the glories of sex, something new in the life
of Oliver at that time. Our wonderful Lyle Saxon would arrive at his house in
the quarter from slaving at the Picayune until midnight and one could always
find there a dozen or so writers and painters or musicians and actresses or
caricaturists and a big pitcher of absinthe and good conversation. (Spratling
12)
These parties frequently featured music and enthusiastic drinking. Genevieve Pitot, a
member of this group, states that they “all drank, perhaps because of rather than in spite of
Prohibition (‘that terrible, terrible dictation sort of thing: You can’t have liquor!’) or perhaps
because ‘everyone of us in those days had a sense of life, of joyousness; we were all looking
forward to something, and we celebrated that’” (Holditch 40-41). Though Elma was daring
and exhibited some of the “flapper” spirit, which prized “holding” one’s liquor, she did not
drink excessively and never developed problems with alcohol48 At area music clubs, the
group enjoyed listening to Jelly Roll Morton, Buddy Bolden, King Oliver, Bunk Johnson,
and Louis Armstrong. George “Georgia Boy” Boyd was a special favorite of Faulkner’s
(Bryan 85). Elma was familiar with some of these musicians before they came to New
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neighbor of the Reserve Plantation, just a few years before Elma’s birth, and was widely
known in the area, as were King Oliver, Pops Foster, and Claiborne Williams, who never
moved away from St. John the Baptist Parish but nevertheless attracted young musicians who
wished to learn from his musical expertise.
In 1926 William Faulkner and Bill Spratling took up residence in the attic apartment
of Lucille’s and Marc’s home at the comer of St. Peter Street and Cabildo Alley, which was
just down from the Pontalba Apartments and across from Le Petit Theatre. One small
window gave them a perfect vantage point from which to take pot shots with their BB gun at
passersby in the alley below. Here the men frequently drank together until late in the night,
often with guests, and they valued the talks they had at these times. One night during their
stay William and Bill, annoyed by the perpetual presence of Sherwood Anderson’s son
Bobby, stripped the youth, painted his penis blue, and locked him outside in the alley
(Holditch 49).
From this garret Spratling and Faulkner produced Sherwood Anderson and Other
Famous Creoles: A Gallery o f Contemporary New Orleans. The title was a parody on
Miguel Covarrubias’ The Prince o f Wales and other Famous Americans, which had recently
appeared. According to Spratling, “The thing consisted of a group of my caricatures of
various people who were then engaged (no matter how remotely) with the arts in New
Orleans. Faulkner did the editing and we paid old man Pfaff to print us four hundred copies,
which we then proceeded to unload on our friends at a dollar and a half a copy” (Spratling
13). This volume, the first publication of the Pelican Book Shop, was dedicated “To All the
Artful and Crafty Ones of the French Quarter.” Inside were a drawing of the view from
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Lucille and Marc’s upper window, a foreword that gently parodied Anderson’s writing style,
and drawings of a number of Spratling’s and Faulkner’s friends.
Those included were Anderson, architect Nathaniel C. Curtis, anthropologist Franz
Blom, Ellsworth Woodward, Meigs O. Frost, Nathalie Vivian Scott, anthropologist/writer
Oliver La Farge, Odiome, Mrs. James Oscar Nixon of Le Petit Theatre, Richard Kirk, Moise
Goldstein, Virginia Parker Nagle, dramatist Frederick Oechsner, photographer “Mr.”
Whitesell, Fannie Craig Ventadour, Roark Bradford and John McClure, Charles Bien, artists
Lucille Godchaux and Marc Antony, preservationist Elizabeth Weriein, Marian Draper,
Conrad Albrizio, publisher Lillian Friend Marcus, Daniel Whitney, Helen Pitkin Schertz of
Le Petit, political cartoonist Keith Temple, Emmet Kennedy, painter Ronald Hargrave,
Hamilton Basso, painter Louis Andrews Fischer, painter Alberta Kinsey, Lyle Saxon,
Double-Dealer co-founder and Le Petit musical director Harold Levy, Caroline Wogan
Durieux, pianist Genevieve Pitot, Tulane president Albert B. Dinwiddie, Samuel Louis
Gilmore, Grace King, Weeks Hall, and Faulkner and Spratling. With some exceptions—
Grace King, for instance—these were among the people who eventually constituted Elma
Godchaux’s circle o f friends.
One weekend, Sherwood Anderson chartered a yacht for a two-day trip on Lake
Pontchartrain. The guest of honor was to be Anita Loos, but she declined because she was in
the midst of writing Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. As Elizabeth Anderson recalled, “But the
trip was set to go and so it did. Ham Basso came, with a giddy young girl. Bill Faulkner,
Bill Spratling, Lillian Marcus Friend, and Marc and Lucille Antony were all on board, as
were several young girls Sherwood had casually asked along. The captain of the boat was a
professional sailor who seemed greatly amused by his motley load of passengers.” The
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. weather was bad, as was the food, and after two days it struck Elizabeth “that we might as
well have remained at home, for we all sat around the galley talking, just as we did every
night on our patio.” The ill-fated trip was memorialized, though fictionalized, in Faulkner’s
Mosquitoes. According to Elizabeth, “Most of the people in our group were satirized in the
book” (Anderson 168).
After Lucille and Marc married (at which the elder Godchauxs gratefully welcomed
her back to the fold), they operated a guide service, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce,
to introduce conventioneers to the Quarter. They had no stable roster of guides and relied on
their abilities to draft their friends into service at short notice. Of their experiment using the
irreverent Faulkner as a guide, Antony later recalled,
Well, there must have been eight or nine of us, each with a group, and
the groups spaced about half a block apart, you know, but before the thing was
over practically everybody was following Bill, because [... ] whenever
anybody would say, “Well, this is an interesting house. What happened
there?” Bill would go ahead and spiel something, so he was telling stories
everywhere and he had everybody in the whole convention practically
following him with his built-up stories. (Holditch 47-48)
Lucille and Marc were close to Sherwood Anderson for several decades. A frequent
visitor both before and after his years of residence, Anderson brought his third wife,
Elizabeth Prall Anderson, to live in the Pontalba Apartments, 540-B St. Peter Street, from
1924 until 1926. Writing about this longstanding friendship, Walter B. Rideout records that
“Lucille had gotten in the habit of taking long afternoon walks with him [Anderson] around
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the Quarter or sitting on the levee with him while he talked about the characters in Dark
Laughter as though they were living people” (Rideout 18). Marc Antony was responsible for
his fifteen-year old brother, who lived with him and Lucille after the deaths of their parents.
During a brief period of adolescent rebellion-related strain in the Antony household,
Anderson invited the boy to live with him and Elizabeth, much to Marc’s consternation.
Elizabeth Anderson, sometimes called “Miss Elizabeth” by her friends, went into
partnership with Lucille and Marc when they opened an interior design business, the
Leonardi Studios, at 520 St. Peter St. As had Lucille’s home, the studio became a gathering
place for artists of all types. A favorite client was friend Anita Loos. Despite Elizabeth
Anderson’s experience at bookselling and Lucille’s painting expertise and knowledge of art,
neither they nor Marc Antony had much “business sense,” and the studio was eventually
liquidated. The designs by Marc and Lucille, however, attained a kind of legendary status for
their modernity and elegance.
By the time Elma Godchaux arrived in New Orleans to stay, Lucille had opened a
fashionable art gallery at 331 Chartres Street called “Gallery 331.” The gallery, like her
home, became a meeting place for artists who worked in all mediums. Lucille employed her
young cousin Justine Godchaux, who remembers that the gallery was the most exciting place
to be in town. “Lucille and I laughed a lot; she loved people and they loved her. She was
always very interested in people; found them amusing and fascinating. She knew the most
talented people of her time, but she was more bohemian than most o f the people she knew.”
During this period Justine began dating Anderson’s reckless and energetic son from his first
marriage, the beleaguered aspiring painter Bobby Anderson.49
133
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Elma became friendly with many of the artists who exhibited at Gallery 331. Among
her favorites was the dashing and enormously successful sculptor Enrique “Ricky” Alferez.
Alferez had a studio in the Pontalba buildings, not far from Elma’s courtyard home. His
sculptures still stand in front of the building at Poydras and O’Keefe, and there are many of
his pieces in New Orleans’ City Park. He also created the Mardi Gras Fountain at the Lake
Pontchartrain lakefront. As a young boy, Alferez had been a drummer in Pancho Villa’s
army. He had always planned to write his life story, and became enraged when Herman 33.
Duetsch, a writer for the Item, published the story of Alferez’ life without his permission.
Elma was very sympathetic to his feelings about this situation. Elma and Enrique were “very
much smitten” with each other. Elma cherished a present Enrique made for her—a very
clever broach that took “Leda and the Swan,” inflagrante delicto, as its motif. Leda was
made of wood, and the swan was wrought of brass. The two sections were intertwined, and
the swan could be removed, so that Leda was revealed.50
The Antonys were both heavily involved in the Group Theatre. This collection of
talented and ambitious amateurs staged productions of Pirandello’s “Six Characters in Search
of an Author,” works by Clifford Odets, and other classical and contemporary intellectual
playwrights. Her niece Charlotte Godchaux Fraser fondly remembers Lucille during this
period as “immensely energetic and sociable and [she] loved parties and celebrations and had
a wide circle of friends in New Orleans. She was also intelligent, liberal-minded, and
outgoing and positive.” Elma found the atmosphere Lucille had created in her home, in
which she held frequent salons for her artist friends, immensely exciting, and she fit in very
well with Lucille’s circle. Elma and Lucille saw each other nearly every day, and frequently
had dinner together, either en fam ille or with friends.51
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Once established in New Orleans, Elma resumed the type of entertaining she had
enjoyed in Connecticut. She was pleased that Lyle Saxon, now fondly called “Mr. New
Orleans” by locals, visited the city regularly and that their friendship was uninterrupted. In
1936 Rachel Field reported to Cammie Henry at Melrose, “Elma writes that she sees Lyle
quite often and that he is well and busy with the job and eager to be writing again.” In
1937, Saxon purchased the house at 534 Madison Street, quite close to Elma’s home, where
he lived until after her death. Charlotte Godchaux Fraser reports that, after her book was
published, her mother frequently entertained visitor Thomas Wolfe. Wolfe, now divorced
and the author of the successful Look Homeward, Angel and O f Time and the River behind
him, took up residence at the Roosevelt Hotel and kept company with Elma during his stay.
The diminutive five-foot-tall Elma and Wolfe—he was six feet, seven inches tall—must have
made quite a sight entering a party or restaurant.
Dick Whitten remembers attending dinners with Alferez and his model, Tulane
librarian Claire Barr, and with Albert and Betty Goldstein, among others. Elma enjoyed
dinner parties, and appreciated fine cooking. She occasionally dined with an aunt who lived
in the Octavia Apartments. Whitten remembers, “Their food was just—you know, the
wealthy New Orleanians of that social level had a table that was just incomparable. You
couldn’t find it anyplace else.” At home, Elma had a very attractive black cook named
Helen, and the two women were very fond of each other. Elma especially loved a dish Helen
invented for her—fresh com cut off the cob, and fried in a black skillet with butter and diced
green peppers.
Elma apparently visited Melrose Plantation in North Louisiana’s Natchitoches Parish,
home of the legendary hostess Cammie Garrett Henry.53 Though there is no correspondence
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. between Elma and “Aunt Cammie,” as she was called by all who loved her, Elma is
mentioned several times in letters between Mrs. Henry and Rachel Field, and in letters
between Henry and Lyle Saxon. It is most likely that Elma accompanied Saxon on one of his
frequent visits to Melrose, or that she visited him there after he installed himself in the
adjoining small house called “the Cabin.” At Melrose, Saxon became a draw for tourists and
writers. When word got out that Saxon was “home” at Melrose, carloads of day-trippers
would not infrequently stop at the house hoping to catch a glimpse of the beloved writer. On
one occasion, a limousine-full of tourists offered Friend’s houseboy a bribe to let them see
Saxon’s cabin, which offer was declined.54 Many of the members of Elma’s circle visited
Melrose regularly, among them the Andersons, Roark Bradford, Lillian Friend, Moise
Goldstein, John McClure, and William Spratling.
Friends recall that Elma Godchaux was never interested in remarriage, and that she
preferred romantic relationships that were friendly and passionate, but not necessarily
“serious.” “Elma would report that she was madly in love with this one,” reports Dick
Whitten, “but her relationships weren’t usually of a long duration, and then after a while, she
was mad about that one. Elma was not interested in nursing heartbreak, and I don’t think her
heart was ever really broken; she always looked forward and approached everything with
enthusiasm.” Whitten remembers a ship captain, Captain Fag in, with whom Elma was very
impressed for a time. The man in Elma’s life with whom Whitten was most impressed,
though, was the charismatic Gerald L. K. Smith, a Disciples of Christ preacher who was
raised on doctrines of rural radicalism, and left the pulpit to become the “traveling organizer”
of Huey P. Long’s “Share Our Wealth” movement.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. According to Long biographer T. Harry Williams, Smith was “ a handsome figure of
a man, six feet in height, with wavy auburn hair and clear blue eyes. He had a magnificent
voice, he spoke effortlessly, and he drew huge crowds” to his speeches. All over the South,
Smith exhorted listeners to support Long’s program, which aimed to limit personal fortunes
and provide homes, educations, and jobs for all citizens—“not a little old sow-belly, black
eyed pea job but a real spending money, beefsteak and gravy, Chevrolet, Ford in the garage,
new suit, Thomas Jefferson, Jesus Christ, red, white, and blue job for every man!” Smith
closed every address with a prayer. “Rally us under this young man who came out of the
woods of north Louisiana, who leads us like a Moses out of the land of bondage into the land
of milk and honey where every man is a king but no man wears a crown. Amen.” (Williams
699-700)
Skilled at relating to rural and sophisticated voters, Smith was brilliant, shrewd,
amusing, and entertaining. On one occasion, Smith invited Elma and Dick Whitten to dinner
at the Roosevelt Hotel, the New Orleans headquarter for Long and his cronies. Whitten
remembers that Smith, with a twinkle in his eye, promised Elma he would ensure that Huey’s
visiting political rival, Norman Thomas, was shown every courtesy and would even be
provided with a motorcade. As the promises grew more and more extravagant, his listeners
became less and less able to control their laughter.
In 1938 Thomas Lanier Williams, calling himself “Tennessee” for the first time,
entered a batch of plays in the Group Theatre playwriting contest and won a “special prize”
and one hundred dollars. Encouraged to begin a writing career, Tennessee Williams moved
into a boarding house at 722 Toulouse Street in the French Quarter, very near Elma and the
Antonys. All three felt the impulse to adopt the shy novice writer, and their hospitality eased
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. his early poverty. He became a close friend, and Paul Godchaux, Jr. even kept up Williams’
insurance policy at no cost. Though her daughter was living up North, her father was lost to
her, and she was divorced from Walter, Elma had gradually developed a “family” of friends.
During Elma’s adulthood, the Godchauxs of her generation seemed to be scattered to
the winds. Most of her cousins went East to college but, unlike their parents, many did not
return. Both Elma and Lucille considered themselves close to their brother Leon but,
because he moved to Chicago when they were all relatively young, Elma and Lucille did not
get to see him as often as they wished. A reckless youth who “sampled” several preparatory
schools, he discovered an abiding love for the railroad and, after working on the family line,
took a job with the Illinois Central. Eventually Leon was named vice-president of the
railroad. His favorite “perk” was the private railway car in which he traveled, and he was
generous in allowing friends and family to use it.
All three siblings shared a love of life and a passion for fun, and delighted in
literature. Though Leon married Aline Balnette, he never shed his joy in riotous living, once
telling his nephew, “Whenever you go to a night spot, always turn your car around first in
case you need to get out in a huny!” He is remembered as a “wild, high-living guy who
loved life.” He had no children. In his quieter moments, he translated favorite volumes from
French into English. He collected rare books—his most valued collection was of the works
of Lafcadio Hearn.55 In a nod to her brother, and the Hearn, Elma named one of the
plantations in her novel Hard Times, both after Hearn’s Dryades Street restaurant and after a
real South Louisiana plantation of that name. She used Leon, especially drawing on his
rowdy qualities, as the model for her character Melville Shexnaydre in Stubborn Roots.
138
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Elma never let too much time go by without a visit to Reserve. When friends came to
visit from New York or elsewhere, she usually offered them a stay at the plantation. Before
departing New Orleans, Elma would call Celeste White and tell her that company was on the
way and ask Celeste to make up a batch of her famous Planters’ Punch. Elma valued
Reserve as a bridge to her own past and to that of her family. She felt that, if her friends
were to understand her, they must know Reserve. Her continued relationships with her
extended Reserve “family,” the black workers, allowed her to gain a mature understanding of
southern social issues that she would not have developed had she allowed those ties to lapse.
The move home affected Elma profoundly. Since her first teenaged efforts at writing,
she had attempted to capture the lives of the disenfranchised of Louisiana, to describe, as
Hamilton Basso said, “what has happened here in the South.” Several members of the New
Orleans artistic circle quietly performed acts of charity or did little-known volunteer work.
Lyle Saxon had his work with Warrington House. Elizabeth Anderson contributed some of
her time to a downtown shelter for families who had lost their homes and employment to the
crumbling economy. When Elma visited New Orleans during her marriage, she would
accompany “Miss Elizabeth,” and listen to stories of hardship, despair, and courage. She had
believed at the time that she was collecting material for her writing but, she later realized, she
had also revived her childhood determination to help those in need. Elma began casting
about for ways she could help to effect positive change in her home state.
Elma Godchaux the activist
Friends described Elma as “absolutely non-political” but, like most New Orleanians,
she became very involved in keeping up with the dynamic and entertaining political
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. personalities in Louisiana at that time. Elma had a number of friends among Huey P. Long’s
cronies and active supporters, and was also on good terms with those who opposed him.
Through her friend Dick Whitten, Elma became friendly with the Norman Thomas family.
Thomas was a perennial Socialist candidate for president who planned to use Long’s
campaign method, broadcasting his message from sound trucks, while he canvassed the
South speaking against Long’s “Share the Wealth” movement during the 1936 presidential
election, in which Long planned to challenge Roosevelt. Long was particularly vociferous in
his attacks on Thomas because he was anxious to separate his platform from Socialism in the
minds of voters.
Long, who felt that his election was certain enough that he published a book called
My First Days in the White House, made a ripe target for any opponent, and he was the
centerpiece of Thomas’ campaign. When Long was shot, Elma wrote Whitten, “You know I
find myself sorry about Long. It’s tragic for him and many others and his death removes
from the scene a person dynamic and exciting if dangerous, and makes living, it seems to me,
a little less exciting. I can’t help but see him, as I see all things, personally. I suppose
Thomas won’t make a tour?” Elma guessed correctly; the loss of his flamboyant opponent
curtailed Thomas’ campaign swing through Louisiana.
Dick Whitten remembers that Elma was also close to a woman, Mrs. Lloyd, whose
husband was an under-secretary in the State Department, and to a Mrs. Barton, the daughter
of the assassinated Arthur Garfield. When they visited New Orleans, Elma and Dick took
them to lunch at Antoine’s. Mrs. Lloyd entertained Dick and Elma with one of her favorite
experience stories. She had taken a sea voyage, as a young wife, aboard a cruiser to
Scandinavia, on which were Mrs. Roosevelt and her “young, Greek god son,” Franklin. Dick
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. remembers that the two visitors exclaimed over how “such a handsome young man could
turn out to be such a monster, because, you know, all those wealthy people couldn’t stand
Roosevelt.” Elma smiled but kept her own counsel.56
Though Elma didn’t discuss her political and societal convictions with her social
friends, her progressive views were well known among her family. Her cousin Justine
Godchaux McCarthy remembers Elma as an outspoken activist after whom she modeled
some of her own behavior as a girl. Like her cousin, Justine thought it right to protest roles
she believed to be unfair, and was “thrown off the streetcar” when she refused to sit in a
separate section from her beloved black nanny, Hennie Hyde.57
The mid- and late nineteen-thirties were a time of turbulence in much of the south—
and southern Louisiana saw its share. Plantation workers began to demand a greater share of
the profits that came from their labors, and threatened plant owners and managers resorted to
a variety of defensive tactics. Social historian Greta de Jong writes,
Widespread poverty accentuated by the Great Depression precipitated a
decade of experimentation by the federal government in an attempt to find
solutions to social problems. The limits of President Franklin Roosevelt’s
New Deal reforms were soon exposed in the South, where local elites’ control
over the administration of federal programs allowed for discrimination against
African Americans and the displacement of thousands of sharecroppers and
tenants from the land. In response to these developments, rural poor people
joined together in organizations like the LFU to fight planters abuses of the
New Deal and demand a fair share of federal aid. (de Jong 1)
141
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Louisiana Farmers’ Union organizer Gordon Mclntire was shot at as he addressed a
meeting of black sugar cane cutters in St. John the Baptist Parish.58 In the resulting hubbub,
two of the attending workers, Herman Scofield and Calis Anthony, were arrested and
charged with incitement to riot. When it became clear that union sympathizers would raise
the bonds of $250 each, their bail was increased to $5,000 each In another case in West
Feliciana Parish, a white mob surrounded the home of a black National Farmers’ Union (also
sometimes called by their former name, the Louisiana Fanners’ Union) organizer named
Willie Scott. When his terrified wife refused to tell them where her husband was, the men
beat her with the butt of a pistol. An article about the incident reports that “Mrs. Scott
pretending unconsciousness escaped into the woods while her attackers had gone to their car
to get a rope ‘to make her talk.’” For help with these cases, Mclntire appealed to Newcomb
College Associate Professor of Philosophy Dr. Harold N. Lee, who had established an
organization called The Louisiana League for the Preservation of Constitutional Rights.
Elma Godchaux, a friend of both Mclntire and Lee, and an active member of the League, got
involved.59
According to the League’s Statement o f Policy, the League was “formed for the
specific purpose of preserving to the people of Louisiana those liberties o f person and belief
which are guaranteed to them by the Constitution of the United States.” The League
publicized instances of brutality or harsh treatment toward citizens, and provided legal
representation for those who had been unfairly accused or jailed. They offered public
support to causes such as the efforts to free the “Scottsboro boys.”60 Often the attorney who
served the League was the renowned George Abel Dreyfous, founder of the Louisiana
affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union. Mr. And Mrs. Dreyfous were social friends
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of Elma Godchaux. Ruth Dreyfous was also an activist; her primary activities centered on
desegregation of southern schools and the League of Women Voters.
Like the American Civil Liberties Union, on which it was modeled, the League was
“not interested in, nor does it advocate any particular political philosophy aside from that
embodied in the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. It is
not interested in, nor does it advocate any particular political party nor any particular
politico-economic theory or movement.”61 Nevertheless, the League was the target of
hostility from planters and from those on both political extremes. They were denounced by
both conservatives and Communist groups.
Elma Godchaux, in addition to utilizing her writing talent in support of the League,
put herself in physical danger in order to promote understanding and tolerance between the
races. She wrote a narrative called “A Shot Was Heard,”62 about the Anthony and Scofield
case, and petitioned for a meeting for “discussion of the situations brought to light in these
cases [the Scofield and Anthony case, and the Scott situation]” (petition for meeting, October
12, 1937). She also occasionally accompanied Mclntire on his forays into plantation country.
Elma knew the trips could be dangerous, as she had documented the near-assassination of
Gordon Mclntire on one of his early trips. One letter summarizing such an excursion has
been preserved:
1416 Valmont St.
New Orleans, La.
October 17, 1937
The Louisiana League for the Preservation of Constitutional Rights,
New Orleans
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Gentlemen,
I wish to inform you that a few weeks after your committee went to
West Feliciana to investigate in the matter of the Farmers’ Union member,
Willie Scott, I was in St. Francisville with Gordon Mclntire, the organizer for
the Farmers’ Union.
I give the League these facts about my visit.
Gordon Mclntire and a schoolteacher, Calvin Claudel, and myself
arrived in St. Francisville in the afternoon, Saturday, and went to the
newspaper office of the St. Francisville Democrat and talked to Elrie
Robinson, the editor and proprietor. Mr. Mclntire’s object was to arrange for
a meeting with some of the white men of the parish in order to explain to them
the nature and aims of the Farmers’ Union, thinking that if the white men of
West Feliciana understood what the Union was about they might be less
intolerant of the Negro members of it. This was rather a dream of Mr.
Mclntire’s than a hope I believe. At any rate, it seemed to be his only way at
the time of combating the force used against Willie Scott. Mr. Claudel and
myself were there as sightseers and sympathizers of Negroes and Unions.
I wish you to bear in mind that Mr. Mclntire’s attitude throughout the
visit was most pacific toward the people. His manner was pacific in the
extreme. He wanted to talk things over. Mr. Robinson of the newspaper was
willing to. He seemed to regard the Union and the Negroes impersonally, was
a bit amused by us and the whites of St. Francisville. But he said to Mr.
Mclntire, “You could not have picked a worse parish for union activities than
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. West Feliciana. You better leave this parish alone.” He agreed, however, to
take Mr. Mclntire to see some of the planters so that he could have their
views. Mrs. Robinson was present during this interview and said several
times to us, “You know the white people of West Feliciana insist upon white
supremacy. They won’t let anything encroach upon white supremacy.” Mr.
Robinson turned to me and asked, “Why are you here? Haven’t you got
anything better to do? Are you interested in getting shot?” And Mr.
Robinson seemed to gradually loose [sic] his intention to take Mr. Mclntire
visiting. I asked him about the visits and he said it was getting late. (I use
quotes purposely to indicate exactly remembered words.)
At a point here, a man came into the office and Mr. Robinson said,
“Here’s one of the men now. Talk to him. Ask him.”
This man’s name is Cutrid I believe.
Mr. Mclntire then spoke of the Union, not mentioning Willie Scott or
his belief that a mob appeared at Willie Scott’s house and assaulted Mrs.
Scott. Mr. Cutrid became obviously furious and spoke bitterly to Mr.
Mclntire.
“You get out of this parish,” he said. “We don’t want a Union here.
We w on’t have it. We’ll keep it out of West Feliciana with our lives if we
have to. We don’t want people interfering with our niggers. We won’t have
it. You keep out of here. Our niggers are all right. They’re satisfied. We
take care of them when they’re sick and we bury them when they’re dead. We
don’t want people interfering with them. We won’t have it. We won’t have
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. our niggers in a union o f any kind. We don’t mind burying societies but we
won’t have a union.63 You all let the niggers alone.”
“But,” Mr. Mclntire put in, “what about my speaking to the people. I
want to put the union before them and show the people here what the union is
doing and what it means.”
Mr. Cutrie was white and furious. He said, “My advice to you is to get
out. Get out of this parish.” He walked to the door.
And I put in, “Mr. Cutrie, don’t leave yet. Let us talk the thing out
some more. It doesn’t hurt to talk.”
He leaned toward me and said, “I told you all I had to say.” And
beating his hands together he said, “I told that man there to get out. I’ll repeat
it.” Turning to Mclntire, “You get out. Get out of this parish and get out
before nightfall.”
He walked away.
Mrs. Robinson said, “They insist upon white supremacy.”
We did not have time for much further talk, for as we stood there at the
door of the newspaper office looking out the doorway, Mr. Cutrid returned in
an automobile with a tall man beside him. Both men were white and angry.
They got out of the automobile and walked past us without speaking to us but
motioning to Mr. Robinson who followed them quickly. They had a
conference in the back o f the office. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson were obviously
nervous and she, as she stood there beside us, was anxious to get us away.
We all three felt her nervousness and the tension of the men. We were scared.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. We felt that the Robinsons wanted to get us away, away from the newspaper
office. We feh it in Mr. Robinson’s quick turning away from us as Cutrte and
his companion came in. We felt it in Mrs. Robinson’s nervousness. We stood
outside and we were scared and we didn’t quite know what to do.
We got in our car and drove to the comer and drew up to the curb and
waited until Mr. Cutrie and his companion drove by with their stiff feces. We
followed their car and passed them They watched us with their angry feces
but didn’t speak. They turned into a garage at the end of the main street. We
turned in to the garage drive-way too. The two men went into the garage,
which was a saloon as well. We spoke to the garage attendant, asked him,
“Are those two men looking for us?” He said nothing. And I’m afraid we
drove quickly away.
That is the story. I submit it in the hope that it may be of some use for
your records.
Sincerely yours,
Elma Godchaux
Though her activities led to a brief estrangement from her family, Elma felt it her
duty to speak out and write against what she saw as injustice.64 Her relationship with her
family, particularly her uncles Charles, Jules, and Walter, suffered further after Jack W.
Adams, an organizer for the American Federation of Labor, approached workers at the
Godchaux-Reserve refinery. Though put in the uncomfortable position of supporting her
family or continuing her work, Elma was able to divine a course of action. She shocked her
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. family by taking the side of the workers, and argued the case for an organized workforce. In
response to this and pressure from workers and union organizers, Charles Godchaux had the
Reserve Parish newspaper, L ’Observateur, publish his open letter to all employees. It read,
in part:
The Godchaux Company, and particularly the Godchaux brothers, who
have always tried to govern the destinies of their Company, having in mind
the welfare of their employees, are greatly grieved at the present situation that
has arisen at the Reserve refinery.
It has always been our pride that the relations of our employees with
this Company founded by the Godchaux[s] and controlled by the Godchaux
interests, have always been close; in feet, like a big family. We have
endeavored to look after their interests in that manner, and if our employees
have any grievance in reference to wages, or of any kind, we have always felt
that they would be presented to us through proper channels. It has always
been the policy of the Godchaux Company to give a sympathetic ear to all of
our employees. [... ]
We have no objection whatsoever to our employees organizing for the
purpose of presenting their grievances, but they need not do this secretly, nor
by the [illeg] of outside efforts. [... ]
This is the first time that our employees have not met us openly and
frankly.65 (L ’Observateur, August 28,1937, p. 1)
Though a strike was averted and the issues between employers and employees were resolved,
the plantation system was forever gone and, though the Godchaux family continued their
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. benevolence toward the town of Reserve, it did so under a new system of “empowered”
workers.
The final years
Elma developed adult diabetes sometime in the late nineteen-thirties, and she moved
to 1420 Octavia Street in Uptown New Orleans in order to be nearer Touro Infirmary.
However, the disease seems to have affected her emotionally as well as physically. Dick
Whitten, who saw her almost daily during this period, reports that Elma went into an
uncharacteristic depression as her illness progressed, and speculates that the illness not only
caused but afFected her ability to treat the depression. In her altered psychological state,
Elma neglected to treat her diabetes, or to provide herself with adequate sustenance.
Although she remained a gracious, if weak, hostess, and Helen Johnson created tempting
dishes for her, Elma served guests but declined to join them in lunches or dinners. Gradually
Elma became weaker and thinner, and “she finally just disappeared.”66 Ironically, the
Godchaux sugar heiress died of diabetes on April 3,1941, at the age of forty-five. She was
buried next to her father in the family plot in Metairie Cemetery, where they were joined by
Ophelia in 1952 and Lucille in 1967.
Elma Godchaux’s attention to the black labor movement was stimulated by her
personal experience living on a plantation, and her resulting awareness of the hardships under
which working families labored. She was able to examine this period in the history of her
state from a number of other perspectives as well. It is interesting to note that Elma had
always associated with writers who were interested in folklore and Louisiana history. In
addition to Field and Saxon, and family friend Alc6e Fortier, Elma was close to Calvin
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Claudel, who accompanied her and Gordon Mclntire on the trip to West Feliciana Parish.
Claudel, a writer and poet, was one of the prominent early Louisiana folklorists, and
specialized in collecting folktales. Fortier was one of the few family friends included by the
Godchauxs at Reserve Plantation on the occasion of President Taft’s visit. He was a founder
of the New Orleans (later Louisiana) Association of the American Folklore Society in 1892,
and in 1894 became president of the national association. Elma Godchaux’s combined
interests in folklore and social justice can clearly be seen in her choice of associates as well
as in her writing.
Though it raises questions as well as answers them, in order to gain a deeper
understanding of Elma Godchaux’s feelings about southern literature, her family heritage,
and relations between the races, one must examine her writings. The following chapter will
examine those of Godchaux’s short stories that were most highly recognized during her
lifetime, and will discuss Godchaux’s interests in Louisiana history, race and gender
relations, and also her stylistic interests in classical, folktale and fairytale motifs.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Notes
1 Marie Pitre, personal interview, 17 September 2000
2 Justine Godchaux McCarthy, personal interview, 10 January 2001; Fraser, Charlotte Godchaux, personal interview, 11 December 2000.
3 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 11 December 2000.
4 In a letter, Rachel Field tells Cammie Henry that Elma will soon visit New Orleans. The trip from New York was in order to attend the dedication ceremony, in honor of her father, in Reserve. Rachel Field to Cammie G. Henry. November 12, 1928. Cammie G. Henry Collection, Melrose Papers, scrapbook 214.
5 Times-Picayune. April 7, 1930. p. 1-4.
6 Richard C. B. Whitten, personal interview, 17 August 1998.
7 A “malapropism” is “a verbal blunder in which one word is replaced by another similar in sound but different in meaning. Although William Shakespeare had used the device for comic effect, the term derives from Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s character Mrs. Malaprop, in his play The Rivals (1775). Her name is taken from the French term malapropos (inappropriate) and is typical of Sheridan’s practice of concocting names to indicate the essence of a character” (Encyclopedia Britannica). The soubriquet “Mrs. Malaprop” has come to refer to any person who frequently commits humorous verbal errors.
8 Tommy Godchaux, personal interview, 2 January 2001.
9 The Citizens’ Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law was organized in New Orleans on September 1, 1891, by a group of eighteen black activists including Louis A. Martinet, Rodolphe Desdunes, and Aristide Maiy. In the first test case, the courts struck down segregation of rail cars with regard to interstate passengers. Their second test case, set up in advance with the railroad and a cooperating white passenger, would be on a line within the state. Adolphe Plessy, a light-skinned black Creole, boarded the East Louisiana Railroad in New Orleans bound for Covington, Louisiana. When he refused to move to the Jim Crow coach, he was arrested. His lawyers argued that segregation by race was unconstitutional, but judge John H. Ferguson ruled against them. The case was heard in the State Supreme Court in November 1892, and the final decision was handed down by the United States Supreme Court in 1896. It upheld the law for separate accommodations on trains. This defeat demoralized activists and fostered further segregation throughout the South.
10 Justine Godchaux McCarthy, personal interview, 10 January 2001.
11 Dengue fever, also called breakbone fever, is excruciatingly painful. It is “an acute, infectious tropical disease caused by an arbovirus transmitted by mosquitoes, and characterized by high fever, rash, headache, and severe muscle and joint pain.” American Heritage Dictionary, Third Edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin. 1992.
12 Leon Godchaux II, personal interview, 11 January 2001.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 13 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 22 July 1998.
14 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 22 July 1998.
15 This spelling was provided by Charlotte Fraser, but is not absolute.
16 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 13 May 1998; Justine Godchaux McCarthy, personal interview, 17 July 1998.
17 Richard C. B. Whitten, personal interview, 17 August 1998.
18 Interview with Kid Ory. Hogan Jazz Archives. Tulane University.
19 For more about Mardi Gras and holiday customs in St John the Baptist Parish, see Chapter I of Marcia G. Gaudet’s Tales from the Levee: The Folklore o f St. John the Baptist Parish.
20 “Mardi Gras” is used as a noun to Tefer to maskers as well as to the day, which in English is called “Fat Tuesday.”
21 The Sophie Newcomb class poem (class of 1908) contained a one-line description of each girl in the graduating class. The line for Juliette was, “Juliette is loved wherever she goes.” Some of the other lines were also laudatory, but not all; one girl is criticized for her gossiping ways, and another's clothing is mocked. Josephine Janvier, in her 1807 diary, wrote that May Godchaux Fellman was “the most unselfish girl in my class. May is one of the pleasantest girls I ever met.” (Newcomb College Center For Research on Women, Tulane University.)
22 Katherine Drexel was the American founder of the Blessed Sacrament Sisters for Indians and Colored People (now Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament), a congregation of missionary nuns. Drexel was the daughter of the American financier and philanthropist Francis Anthony Drexel, from whom she inherited a vast fortune that she used to found and endow schools for African Americans and Native Americans. By the time of her death, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament had grown to some 500 members in 51 convents, and they had established 49 elementary schools, 12 high schools, and Xavier University. In March 2000 Pope John Paul II approved Drexel for sainthood, and she was canonized in October, becoming the second U.S.-born saint; Elizabeth Ann Seton was canonized in 1975.
23 “Newcomb High School Graduation Exercises: Fair Maids Being Welcomed into the College Ranks—College Senior Class Celebrates Poppy Day.” Clipping, no source. May 1907. Newcomb College Center For Research on Women, Tulane University.
24 “Twenty-nine Graduates at Newcomb High School: Exercises in Several Languages, and of High Order, Precede Award of Diplomas.” Clipping, no source. May 27, 1908. Newcomb College Center For Research on Women, Tulane University.
25 Godchaux, Edward. Letter to Hon. Brandt Dixon, President, Sophie Newcomb College. November 15,1911. Newcomb College Center For Research on Women, Tulane University.
“ Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 22 July 1998.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 27 Leon Godchaux n, personal interview, 9 November 2000.
28 Student file of Elma Godchaux Kahn. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
29 Cammie Garrett Henry. Diary. 1934. Henry Collection, Melrose papers. Item 182.
30 Richard C. B. Whitten, personal interview, 17 August 1998.
31 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 22 July 1998.
32 Wellesley Student Record Book, Class of 1916. April 1918. Wellesley college Archives.
33 Godchaux, Elma. Letter to Miss Buckingham. October 1, 1917. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
34 Wellesley Student Record Book, Class of 1916. 1917. Wellesley College Archives.
35 This house was notorious in the city of New Orleans, and was partially chosen because of the ironic historical twist that making the house a sanctuary for black convicts would provide. The first owner of the house, a Madame LaLurie, was a celebrated beauty who once played hostess to Lafayette. In 1834, a fire broke out in the house and neighbors rushed to douse the flames and assist its mistress and servants from the building. In the attic, they found her slaves in chains, some mutilated. Rumor had it that the fire was started by the cook, found chained in the kitchen, who preferred death by fire to further sadistic torture. Stanforth, Reens.
36 Dormon, Caroline. “The Fabulous Lyle Saxon.” Holland’s: The Magazine o f the South. January 1931. 26 & 65.
37 Lyle Saxon. Diary. 1934. Cammie G. Henry Collection.
38 For a brief description of Catholic burial traditions in St. John the Baptist Parish, see Chapter II, “Rites of Passage,” in Marcia Gaudet’s Tales From the Levee: The Folklore o f St. John the Baptist Parish.
39 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, correspondence, 14 October 1998; interview, Richard C. B. Whitten, personal interview, 17 August 1998.
40 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 27 January 2001.
41 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 22 July 1998.
42 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, telephone interview, 11 December 2000.
43 Burke, John. “Father Was Pride of the Family When He Played.” Times-Picayune. February 11, 2001. E-12.
44 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, telephone interview, 11 December 2000.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 45 Hamilton Basso. Letter to Maxwell Perkins. February 1,1930, November 30,1931, August 13, 1932. Scribner’s Archives, Firestone Library, Princeton University.
46 Richard C. B. Whitten, personal interview, 17 August 1998.
47 Richard C. B. Whitten, personal interview, 24 January 2001.
48 Richard C. B. Whitten, personal interview, 24 January 2001.
49 Justine Godchaux McCarthy, personal interview, 10 January 2001.
50 Richard C. B. Whitten, personal interview, 17 August 1998.
51 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 22 July 1998.
52 Lyle Saxon took an administrative position as State Supervisor of the Louisiana Writers’ Project, a project of the Works Projects Administration, and compiled one of a series of state guidebooks as well as volumes of works by area writers.
53 Cammie Henry was a voracious reader and took a special interest in those Louisiana writers she most preferred. She kept scrapbooks containing photographs, articles, and letters relating to her favorite writers; six voluminous albums are devoted to Lyle Saxon alone. Saxon and Henry had a very close relationship; early in their acquaintance they felt a connection that was as strong as a family bond, and they spent a good deal of each year together at Melrose. When Henry visited friends in New Orleans, Saxon remained at Melrose to care for her elderly mother, Mrs. Garrett.
54 Cammie Garrett Henry. Diary. 1934. Henry Collection, Melrose papers. Item 182.
55 Leon Godchaux II, personal interview, 11 January 2001.
56 Richard C. B. Whitten, personal interview, 17 August 1998.
57 Justine Godchaux McCarthy, personal interview, 10 January 2001.
58 Gordon Mclntire was bom of a family tom by a bigotry and prejudice His father was a Church of Christ preacher. In the 30’s and 40’s Gordon tirelessly urged southern farm workers to organize. He married Margeiy Mclntire in 1940. After losing a lung to TB he offered his administrative skills to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome until the wrath of Senator Joseph McCarthy had him unjustly fired in 1953. The entire Mclntire family was then stripped of their U.S. passports. After defending himself at great sacrifice, he finally won his suit against the U.S. Government and was reinstated. (From pamphlet for the Mclntire Peace and Education Fund, administered by Jo, Sally, and Margery Mclntire)
59 “Statement of Terror against Fanners’ Union Leaders in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.” Dateline New Orleans, Louisiana, July 2, 1937. In non-New Orleans newspaper; no source available.
60 Letter from Roger N. Baldwin, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, to Dr. Harold N. Lee. July 14, 1938.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 61 Statement of Policy. The Louisiana League for the Preservation of Constitutional Rights. Undated. Unsigned.
62 A Shot Was Heard Six shots were fired from the darkness at Gordon Mclntire as he rode on the principal highway to New Orleans from the North. On October nineteenth Mclntire went with W.C Irby to the seat of St John the Baptist Parish to conclude arrangements for the reduction of the bond under which two Negroes had been held in jail for more than a week, in order that they need not rot while they awaited trial. A meeting for the organization of cane cutters had been called by the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America, a C.I.O. (a Communist group) affiliate, at LaPlace, for Friday, October eighth. These cutters gather in the cane fields from outside parishes and from Mississippi during the harvest season. Numbers of them started for the meeting at LaPlace. The cane growers, small planters and farmers were imbued with white supremacy. They did not propose to bargain with “niggers.” Deputies, appointed by the sheriff, blocked roads and ordered the men to return to their cabins. About a hundred and fifty men reached the warehouse designated for the assembly. Shortly after the meeting began, someone outside fired a shot in the air with the purpose of intimidating the participants. Immediately following the shot, a man dashed into the hall shouting, “A man has been killed!” This maneuver was successful and the meeting broke up in confusion. The deputies arrested two Negroes, Herman Scofield and Calis Anthony, one of whom was an organizer. They were charged, under Louisiana’s version of World War “syndicalism” statutes, with inciting to riot, and placed in jail under bonds of $250 each. It soon appeared that the union people interested in the case would be able to make this bail, and it was consequently jerked up to $5,000 each. At this point, after the two Negroes had been in jail several days, Gordon Mclntire, who is a farm union organizer and had been present at the meeting, appealed to the Louisiana League for the Preservation of Constitutional Rights. The League is a young but active organization formed chiefly to assist the frequent victims of illegal police activity in New Orleans. Mclntire wished its assistance in his efforts to secure the release of Scofield and Anthony. The League promised to help in getting the bail reduced, and in pursuance of this object two members called on the judge for whose court the prisoners were held. The judge at first refused to lower the bail, but after a long conference he agreed that if the District Attorney would recommend such action, he would so order. The District Attorney did recommend it, with the result that the bail was reduced to the original $250 each. Shortly thereafter Mclntire and Irby, the latter of whom is also a farm union organizer, made the trip on October nineteenth to make the necessary arrangements. They were not on that trip successful in completing the arrangements for the release of the prisoners. At the end of the day they set out again for New Orleans. While on their way through the peaceful darkness, a car overtook them and pulled to the side of the road some distance ahead of them. As they passed this car in their normal course the shooting began. In all six shots were fired at them by the occupants of the mysterious parked vehicle. One of these bullets, a .38, lodged in the door of Mclntire’s car. Thus is illustrated the Louisiana custom of arguing with gunfire. A peaceful effort to organize migratory Negro labor and a simple attempt to conclude a judicial procedure provided for in our Constitution and statutes, were met not with legal and constitutional arguments, not with calmly thought out reasons in opposition, not with briefs, nor court procedures, nor any other of the many civilized methods of settlement, but with attempted assassination. Surely the cause must be weak, if such defense is necessary. Be it said in conclusion, however, that bail for Anthony and Scofield was in the end made, and they are now free, awaiting trial on the fantastic charge. At latest reports they are still alive.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (Typescript. Unsigned, but with Elma Godchaux’s handwritten corrections. Undated. File 7, box 1, Harold N. Lee Papers, Howard Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University).
63 Burial societies, also called Mutual Benevolent Associations, were (and still are) popular in southern Louisiana. These voluntary clubs, usually comprising members of a neighborhood, church, or other group, function as social and insurance organizations, assisting members with health care and burial expenses. The True Friends Mutual Benevolent Association of Donaldsonville had a social hall in which members played music and danced. The society also provided aid to members in need and raised money for funerals. LSU folklorist Joyce Jackson’s recent research shows that jazz funerals took place in rural areas of South Louisiana as well as in New Orleans. For some accounts of burying societies in St. John the Baptist Parish, see Chapter VII of Marcia G. Gaudet’s Tales from the Levee: The Folklore o f St John the Baptist Parish.
64 According to Justine Godchaux McCarthy, Elma became a “black sheep” with the family due to her union activities. (Justine Godchaux McCarthy, personal interview, 11 June 1997.)
65 “Laborers Form Union.” L ‘Observateur, August 28, 1937, p.l
66 Richard C. B. Whitten, personal interview, 24 January 2001.
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THE SHORT STORIES OF ELMA GODCHAUX:
“MICE IN THE SAME CAT’S PAWS”
This something is noted in the invisible nots, the pnfoundest meanings of that place, race, or nationality; and to absorb and again effuse it, uttering words andpnducts as from its midst, and carrying it into highest regions, is the work, or a main part of the work, of any country's true author, poet, historian, lecturer, andperhaps even priest andphilosopb. Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas, 1892.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Short Stories of Elma Godchaux: “Mice in the Same Cat’s Paws” 1
Introduction
Elma Godchaux’s character was very much formed by her family heritage. With her
grandfather and father, she shared a strong sense of obligation to the community, especially
those in need. While her grandfather, father, and uncles gave financial and administrative
assistance to hospitals, recreational and cultural institutions, Elma represented the
disenfranchised in her fiction and through her activities. Her literary use of history, folklore
and firsthand information-gathering, setting, and representations of a wide range of realistic
characters places her firmly in the “modem movement” of which many southern writers were
at the forefront, and also establishes her as an early literary folklorist in the tradition of
George Washington Cable, Kate Chopin, and William Faulkner.
Her life experiences informed her writing and her activities. In addition to her
formidable family background, Godchaux shared in the fast-disappearing lifestyle of a
plantation upbringing. Her friendships with the children of plantation workers made her
acutely aware of the differences in opportunity available to herself and to the friends of her
youth, with whom she forged some of her most meaningful childhood memories. This
allowed her to write about plantation life from an insider’s perspective. In her short stories,
she wrote about rural, powerless characters that she based on personal narratives and
observation. She shared with her characters a sense of dissatisfaction with expected roles,
but she was also intensely aware that her position of privilege gave her opportunities most of
her Reserve neighbors would never experience.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The household established by Edward Godchaux and Ophelia Gumbel Godchaux was
warm, witty, refined, and affectionate. Elma and her father had an especially loving
relationship, and it wasn’t until Edward’s death that Elma began to write for publication. She
claimed that her writing career resulted from her efforts to keep her father close after his
death. From childhood, her love of literature was encouraged by her family. Through them,
her teachers, and others, she met successful and inspiring artists who kept her in touch with
contemporary thought in literature. Elma Godchaux’s friends and family, who describe her
as “non-political” and her literature as “local color,” were surprised to learn of her political
involvement, which she kept relatively private. In the light of her background and activities,
her literature must be assessed with an eye toward her motivations for writing as well as for
its historical value and its artistry.
Early Louisiana literature
In the late 1800s, when Elma Godchaux was bom, a “golden age” of literary activity
was underway in New Orleans. This movement was partially due to such visitors as Edward
King of Scribner's, who spent time in New Orleans in 1873. The largest influx of men and
women of letters up to that date occurred in 1884, with the New Orleans World’s Fair, which
was officially called the “World’s Industrial and Cotton Exposition.” Joachin Miller reported
on the fair for the New York newspapers, Julia Ward Howe coordinated the fair’s Women’s
Department, and editors Richard Watson Gilder of Century magazine and Charles Dudley
Warner of Harper's explored the fair and the city. These and other visitors forged important
links to the larger literary world, especially to New York publishing circles. They also
helped to create reader demand for stories about New Orleans. Among the most prominent
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “New Orleans writers” to emerge from this period are George Washington Cable, Grace
King, and Lafcadio Hearn.
George Washington Cable (1844-1925) first came to national attention with his 1873
short story “’Sieur George,” which was published in Scribner’s magazine. Cable opened his
Uptown home on Eighth Street to many visiting writers—among them were Mark Twain,
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Dudley Warner, Joel Chandler Harris, William Dean
Howells, and Oscar Wilde—and enjoyed showing them the sights of liis native city, m nis
novels Old Creole Days, The Grandissimes, and Dr. Sevier, and his nonfiction work The
Creoles o f Louisiana, Cable described the city as he saw it—from the beauty of the
architecture and the gardens to the hypocrisy and injustice inherent in the culture. At first
beloved for his “local color” stories, his treatment of race relations and violence in The
Grandissimes (1880) was to influence such later southern writers as William Faulkner,
Robert Penn Warren, and Elma Godchaux. Dr. Sevier (1884) condemned the corruption of
New Orleans before the Civil War. His The Silent South, which made the case for better
treatment of blacks and for prison reform, turned his New Orleans public against him.
Ultimately his hometown rejected Cable, initially a favorite son—illustrator Joseph Pennell
once described Cable as “the most cordially hated little man in New Orleans, and all on
account of The Grandissimes—and he was compelled to move to Northampton,
Massachusetts (Larson 61). From his new home, he continued to write about social issues
with public statements such as The Negro Question (1888) and The Southern Struggle for
Pure Government (1890).
Grace King (1852-1932) was bom to a wealthy Creole family, and was one of the
New Orleanians who took objection to Cable’s descriptions of a decadent and often unjust
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Creole society. Her first efforts at writing were the result of her determination to rebut
Cable’s depiction of the Creole aristocracy. Portraits of a genteel Southern world of chivalry
and civility were very popular in her time, and fed a national appetite for “moonlight and
magnolias.” During her career as a Creole apologist, King produced such works as Balcony
Stories (1892), New Orleans: The Place and Its People (1895), and The Pleasant Ways o f St.
M edard (1916).
King began writing in response to a comment made to her by Scribner’s editor
Richard Watson Gilder during his 1885 visit to the Cotton Centennial. In hex Memories o f a
Southern Woman o f Letters, King recalled that Gilder asked her “about the inimical stand
taken by the People of New Orleans against George Cable and his works.” She answered
that it was because “Cable proclaimed his preference for colored people over white,” that he
“was a native of New Orleans and had been well treated by its people, and yet he stabbed the
city in the back, as we felt, in a dastardly way to please the Northern press.” His reply, after
a period of “icy indifference,” was “Why, if Cable is so false to you, do not some of you
write better?” (King 59-60). King immediately began work on her first short story,
“Monsieur Motte,” which described the deep devotion of a former slave to her mistress. In
it, the former slave voluntarily continues to support her former owner, who has no means of
support after the Civil War, with her own earnings, which she claims are sent by an uncle she
calls “Monsieur Motte” in order to spare her mistress’ pride. With the non-fiction New
Orleans: The Place and Its People, King focused on the history of the city, an unusual
subject for a woman writer of the time. Her book was well researched, was praised by
Edmund Wilson and William Dean Howells, and contributed to national awareness of the
distinctiveness of New Orleans. The Pleasant Ways of St. Medard, based on the King
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. family’s own post-war experience, portrays a loyal Confederate family who suffer in genteel
poverty, hoping for a restoration of the old order, while carpetbaggers and collaborators
thrive. Though women’s rights was not her primary concern, King did help to change the
image of the southern lady to one who numbered intelligence and learning among her
charms.
Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) wrote in New Orleans from 1878 to 1888. He was the
first literary' editor of the New Orleans Item and he also contributed “local color” pieces to
the Times-Democrat. Gombo Zhebes, Hearn’s collection of Creole proverbs, has recently
been re-issued by Temperance Hall Press. In addition to gathering insights on his walks
through the city, Hearn was able to observe diners in the restaurant he opened on Dryades
Street and called “Hard Times.” Though Hearn was dubbed a local colorist, his approach to
description has been seen as anthropological, in the vein of Frederick Erickson: he makes
“the strange familiar and the familiar strange to the larger culture” (Roskelly 19). Neither an
insider nor an outsider, his Creole Sketches attempted to make local readers aware of the
exotic elements of their own city, and more appreciative of people of lower socioeconomic
backgrounds. He does this with tales such as “Creole Servant Girls,” which points out that
“they do not like American or English speaking people;” “Why Crabs Are Boiled Alive,” in
which a knowledgeable Cajun mocks an outsider’s too-tender sensibilities; or “The Creole
Character,” in which the narrator, outraged at the distractibility of Creole workmen,
ironically makes the point that life is too short to worry about work. Though he looked on
his own writing as not political or philosophical but artistic, he disliked sentiment in
literature and wrote, in an article called “Local Color Writing,” that “art itself must be
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. founded on catholic principles—upon these touches of nature which make the whole world
kin. It must be independent of the nativity or nationality of the artist” (Hearn 68).
Kate Chopin (1851-1904) is often said to have transcended the local color genre.
Upon her graduation from high school, Kate O’Flaherty made a brief visit to New Orleans
from her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. She later moved to the city with her husband
Oscar Chopin, and lived there from 1870 to 1879, when the couple moved to Natchitoches
Parish. Three years later, Oscar died of malaria and Kate, back in St. Louis, began to write
stories with Louisiana settings. Her first collections of short stories, Bayou Folk (1894) and
A Night in Acadie (1897) followed local color convention, as they clearly connected setting
and character. Her novels broke new ground for women’s fiction. Her first novel, At Fault
(1890) dealt with the then-taboo subject of divorce. With her last novel The Awakening
(1899), Chopin used setting “not only to give color and texture to her novel but also to
develop characterization and plot within the novel metaphorically” (Rowe 32). Setting
becomes an extension and developer of character, almost functioning as a character. New
Orleans and Grand Isle serve as counterpoints for each other, with differing expectations and
standards of behavior. Careful attention is given to the most intimate settings as well;
descriptions of the homes of the Pontelliers, the Ratignolles, and Mademoiselle Reisz
indicate the priorities and philosophies of their residents. Though The Awakening was
roundly rejected in New Orleans and elsewhere, its description of the limited choices
available to women, and of female desire, nevertheless struck home with many readers.
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During a panel discussion o f‘The Louisiana Renaissance” at the fifteenth annual
Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival (2001), Tim Gautreaux posited that many
writers of that movement were not “homegrown writers” describing their own longstanding
experiences and observations. Those who can arguably be described as Elma Godchaux’s
predecessors, such as Hearn and Chopin, he pointed out, were not Louisiana writers writing
about Louisiana. During the height of the movement, writers describing Louisiana from an
insider’s perspective, such as Roark Bradford, Pat O’Donnell, or Thad St. Martin, were
relatively rare. Today, he said, those descriptions of Louisiana written by native writers are
less accessible than those written by writers who were attracted to the state, particularly New
Orleans, by its artistic atmosphere.
Violet Harrington Bryan points out that the authors mentioned in the previous section
share with Charles Chesnutt, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, and the next generation of writers their
treatments of “the color line” and take part in “the prevailing discourse of Social Darwinism
and ‘the woman question.’ Across race and gender, the images and themes of their literary
work reflect the historical moments of which they were a part and the influence that each had
on the other” (Biyan x). Though Elma Godchaux, like other Louisiana writers, was
interested in portraying the lives of its black citizens and questioning the roles into which
they were thrust, she also took part in the ongoing dialogue about marriage and the
restrictions of gender roles.
Louisiana writers, of course, were not impervious to literary trends, new ideological
movements, and larger shifts in societal attitudes. During the decade of the nineteen-twenties
and -thirties, American and European writers were influenced or affected by Marxist thought.
163
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the period is now seen as bereft of the personal, which is distinctive in her earlier writing.
Willa Cather, during the same decade, did not make a similar adjustment and it affected the
critical acceptance of her work, which has only recently been appreciatively reevaluated. In
her stories, most clearly in “The Horn that Called Bambine,” Elma Godchaux writes about
the personal but the story clearly indicts the economic and social system in which the
characters are trapped.
A.S. Byatt’s description of Willa Cather’s “middle period” novels might also be
applied to Elma Godchaux’s three anthologized short stories. “All these three novels are
compressed and brief. All these are grim, hermetic masterpieces. They are about the decay
of hope and the decay of life itself. ..” (Byatt 51). On the same subject, Joan Acocella’s
comments are equally appropriate to Godchaux’s naturalism. “Her austere style is part of
modernist classicism; her tragic vision, part of modem pessimism;” her real subject was “the
great subject of early twentieth-century literature, the gulf between the mind and the world”
(quoted in Byatt 51-52). Godchaux wrote about men and women whose discomfort with the
roles into which they had been bom, and whose lack of the wherewithal to adapt to or escape
from their stations, unfitted them for ordinary human relations.
The fiction of Elma Godchaux
If readers of Elma Godchaux’s novel Stubborn Roots are startled by its multiplicity of
voices—readers have access to the thoughts of children and senile adults, prosperous planters
and assassins, Catholic priests and folk preachers, shopkeepers and field hands—they will
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experimented with many diverse narrative perspectives.
Three of her short works of fiction were quite favorably reviewed during her lifetime.
They are “Wild Nigger,” which was anthologized in The Best Short Stories o f1935, “Chains”
for which Godchaux won the O. Henry Memorial Award Prize of 1936 and which was
anthologized in Louisiana in the Short Story, and “The Horn that Called Bambine,” which
has been anthoiogized three times. Her one novel, Stubborn Roots (1936), was published
both in the United States and in England. She was working on a manuscript when she died;
unfortunately, this manuscript seems to have been lost. Though she can’t be certain, her
daughter believes it to have been about the Revolutionary War.
All three of Godchaux’s anthologized short stories explore the lives of Louisiana’s
impoverished underclass who confront the economic and societal legacies of the Civil War
with determined, even stubborn, independence. Her characters’ struggles are portrayed as
timeless and universal; their personalities are unique and complex. Whether, like Zula of
“Wild Nigger,” they laughingly flout societal conventions or, like Bambine in “The Horn that
Called Bambine,” they run away from the rural South in a desperate attempt to shed the past,
they assert their meager abilities to control their domestic lives and as much of their social
lives as they realistically can. She portrays characters at personal crossroads, trying to
reconcile inner struggles and desires with the restraints and realities of place and society.
Like her contemporaries William Faulkner, Roark Bradford and Lyle Saxon,
Godchaux wrote about a region and a population that had experienced an enormous
disruption. One can speculate that these writers partially informed her taste in literature, as
she became a close literary observer of African American and “poor white” vernacular and
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. folkways. The character of Dulcy in Godchaux’s “Wild Nigger” may be the author’s
homage to Faulkner. Dulcy, like Faulkner’s Dilsey of The Sound and The Fury, is the calm
center of her household who relates the story of a family disaster. Although “Wild Nigger”
is related by an omniscient narrator, Dulcy is the one who continues to tell the story in her
own community. The Turners of “The Horn that Called Bambine” slightly resemble the
McCaslins of Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses, in that they are stained by their part in the bygone
otavv o y otV/i*i tuiu uiwu uiiupOtugvuo w iiuiiuui autgiaiiCc IU it.
During the 1930s, several writers of Elma Godchaux’s acquaintance, in addition to
Saxon and Field, were interested in Louisiana folktales. Alcee Fortier was a family friend for
whom Edward Godchaux had a particular fondness, and Elma knew him from childhood.
Teacher, writer and poet Calvin Claudel, like Fortier, collected and published folktales,
which he discussed with Godchaux. He was also interested in folklore for children. Claudel
wrote about “le crapaud et la princesse” and was particularly fond of the “Jean Sot” character
from French Louisiana folklore. In 1944 he wrote an article called “Louisiana Tales of Jean
Sot and Bouqui and Lapin,” and in 1948 he published another called “Foolish John Tales
from the French Folklore of Louisiana.” This character amused Elma and she utilized some
of his characteristics in her story “Chains.”
Claudel also shared Elma’s passion for social justice, and he accompanied her on
some of her “field trips” to investigate labor conditions in Louisiana. Some other writers in
her circle of acquaintance shared this concern. Sherwood Anderson, during the 1930s,
became interested in the plight of southern blacks; he also toured factories and studied labor
conditions in the South. Beyond Desire (1932) focused on a labor strike in a southern textile
mill. In this period he also wrote Death in the Woods and Other Stories (1933), Puzzled
166
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conditions of southern labor.
John Dos Passos was exactly Elma’s age and was a member of her New Orleans
circle. Like her, he explored the new movements that were gaining adherents in the south—
socialism, communism, unionization, and other efforts that adherents hoped would bring
about equality. His USA is about the individual’s relation to his or her time in history.
“Usually the relation is one of flotsam to raging river. Many times his characters find
themselves riding the crest of a wave of enormous change that they can only partly
comprehend. [ .. . ] Dos Passos doesn’t concern himself with any connection that his
characters have to a reality that is either beyond history or has nothing to do with the historic
moment” (Daniel 1). In her own work, Godchaux makes use of this type of imagery, almost
personifying the river as a force of inevitable change (Stubborn Roots) or as a paradigm of
man’s relative insignificance (Stubborn Roots, “Wild Nigger,” “Chains”).
John Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle (1936) is a story of Depression-era labor
relations. Steinbeck (who was married in Lyle Saxon’s French Quarter living room) wrote
about migrant farm workers who sought to protest wage cuts with a strike. The desperate
workers had no idea that the Communist Party strike organizers were not interested in
collective bargaining or improved correspondence, but rather in furthering party goals. In
Dubious Battle provides an effective analysis of group mentality, as well as an illuminating
portrait of the motivating factors of the radicals in Depression-era America and the extent to
which they were willing to sacrifice immediate gain for the advancement of their cause.
There is no evidence that Godchaux knew Erskine Caldwell personally, but his work
was the subject of debate among readers and writers around the country. Caldwell’s works
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the most controversial, and most censored, American writers of his time for his frank
depiction of sex and sarcastic treatment of religion with lines like Ty Ty Walden’s, “There
was a mean truth played on us somewhere. God put us in the bodies of animals and tried to
make us act like people.” When the New York Society for the Prevention of Vice tried to
ban God's Little Acre, Caldwell took the case to court. The testimonies of H.L. Mencken and
Sherwood Anderson helped him to win his case—a landmark in First Amendment litigation.
Caldwell’s portrayal of rural poverty in the South, in such works as God’s Little Acre and
Tobacco Road, was viewed as a betrayal by many southerners. Margaret Mitchell criticized
both Faulkner and Caldwell for betraying the South in exchange for Yankee dollars, and
pointed out that Gone with the Wind contained not a single sadist or degenerate.
Elma Godchaux’s sentiments reflected those expressed by many of her peers in that
her admiration for communist opposition to socioeconomic injustice was offset by skepticism
toward all ideological causes and commitments. The Louisiana League for the Preservation
of Constitutional Rights provided legal defense for Communist Party members when they
were jailed for their union activities, but never endorsed their views. Interestingly, though
Communist Party members were aided by League activities, the two groups seem to have
been generally antipathetic.
Elma Godchaux’s stories clearly show that the concerns that influenced her
contemporaries acted on her as well. But her work also shows other influences. Her stories
draw heavily on her own experience and observation of the southern scene. Her short stories
evoke people she knew or met at Reserve, and her novel incorporates much of the history of
her own family.
168
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Robert O. Stephens points out that the family saga, or the novel in which the story of
a family is illuminated by the period in which it is depicted, has a long lineage. He draws a
line of descent from the early eighteenth century, from Joseph Addison’s “Sir Roger de
Coverly” country-house sketches and the romances of Sir Walter Scott to Washington
Irving’s Sketch Book (1820) and John Pendleton Kennedy’s Swallow Bam (1852). Irving’s
Bracebridge Hall (1821) holds particular interest for the genealogist of southern literature,
because it diagramed the transformation from the English country-house mode of living to
life in a new commercial era. It also chronicled a family, and a way of life, at the brink of
inevitable decline. From there, he theorizes, Kennedy wrote the prototypical plantation
novel, incorporating several of what came to be conventional southern motifs: the impact of
the past on the present, displacement of the inheritance, and the family’s relationship with the
system of slavery.
From here he traces the lineage to Cable’s The Grandissimes (1880), which added a
dimension of Gothic description, southern legends of “witchlore and voodoo,” the
intertwining of the fates of blacks and whites. He also strengthened the motifs of the
importance of lineage, of the “dubious values associated with family pride,” and matriarchal-
patriarchal conflict. From biblical stories he borrowed motifs that would become standard in
southern fiction, especially family sagas, such as “talismanic objects and places and actions,
and moments of vision” (Stephens 30). Stephens argues that Cable is the first writer to fully
realize the family saga in the South. The early works of “southern fiction,” including those
of King and Chopin, “feature ‘coding rules’ that give the genre its identity and integrity. [ . . .
] The family sagas, reflecting values of the whole society rather than those of only the
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(Stephens 14).
While Godchaux’s stories do not specifically advocate the overthrow of the system as
her characters find it, her depictions of careworn sharecroppers, dazed newly-freed slaves,
and quickly-crumbling “old families” adhere to Stephens’ description of the southern genre.
She employs some Gothic description in her strong evocation of place and incorporates a
great deal of regional folklore in her stories, most of which concern the entangled histories of
the wealthy and the poor and the pressures placed on both classes by the changing times.
Elma Godchaux’s protagonists struggle to create new roles for themselves in a
defamiliarized landscape, and it is clear that the overthrow of an exploitive system has not
yet benefited her characters. These characters are defined not only by the southern roots of
their small, isolated communities, but they are more specifically products of South
Louisiana’s French- and Catholic-influenced culture, with its Napoleonic civil code, and its
“general tolerance of liquor, languor, and lewdness—within limits” (Ewell 10). Godchaux’s
characters recognize their relative isolation and struggle to preserve a sense of personal
integrity against the claims and assumptions of husbands, children, wealthy white bosses, and
those who represent societal pressures.
Godchaux’s stories incorporate Southern folkways, sense of place, and oral tradition,
along with legends and classical mythology. She models her writing on the vernacular
speech and commonplace events of the American South, and her anthologized fiction
involves quests, secular and religious ritual, and talismans. She uses motifs and styles from
fairy tales and folk tales, interests she shared with several of her friends such as Field, Saxon,
and Theodore Geisel.2 Godchaux’s short stories incorporate timeless elements, giving them a
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of mother figures, the house in the woods or on the outskirts of town, personification of
nature, and places or objects that function as talismans. She also mentions specific
occupational, ritual, and domestic customs, and she includes folk objects that reinforce the
positions of her characters, such as describing a prisoner as being helpless as a rag doll.
Godchaux’s fiction depicts women in a wide variety of roles: as siren; hardworking
wife and mother; sanctimonious churchgoer; unsuccessful seductress; poor man’s fantasy,
prematurely aged drug addict; cold-hearted plantation owner; and attempted escapee from the
legacy of slavery. These characters share a sense of alienation from their communities, their
husbands, and their families. Zula of “Wild Nigger” is unable to communicate with her aunts
Dulcy and Tootsie. Florie of “The Horn that Called Bambine” is as emotionally estranged
from her husband Dan as the runaway Bambine must have been from her husband Shoolie.
All of these women live in a world of economic, spiritual, and emotional impoverishment
and isolation. They all, even the beautiful Dena Larue of “Chains,” live on the fringes of
their communities. Working white women fill necessary economic roles in their
communities, but it is difficult for them to define themselves in these new roles—with men,
with their families, or in their communities. Florie is haunted by the knowledge that, a
generation ago, her mother had workers to do the jobs she now must do herself. Though
Bambine remains a mysterious character, the depiction of her as a quiet, sensible woman
leads the reader to believe that her departure to New Orleans was an escape rather than a
reckless adventure. Women like Dena and Florie are trivialized by men as conquests, if they
are beautiful, and by their communities as comic “characters” if, like Zula, they are not.
171
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. As a rule, men in Godchaux’s short stories represent the repressive and demeaning
systems in place in the post-Civil War, pre-industrial American South. They are most often
described as gathering on the porch of the community store, the hub o f information-sharing
and social and business interaction for rural men. They personify local attitudinal and
behavioral norms. However, Godchaux shows sympathy for specific male characters who
are unwilling to take their expected places. Lurie of “Chains” finds peace with his
disinclination to join the racist and domineering Acadian planters. Gentle Snooiie, the black
man who demonstrated deep and genuine devotion to his wife Bambine, is a doomed symbol
of unconditional love and of hope for the future.
One of the most striking aspects of Godchaux’s stories is her detailed depiction of the
South Louisiana landscape. The works of southern writers Godchaux knew casually,
especially Faulkner and Bradford, have been noted for what Barbara C. Ewell terms “an
ambiguity and resonance attached to place” (Ewell 4). The South, of course, has a celebrated
or notorious “sense of place” that is reflected in its fiction as well as in its statistics. Rural
isolation and a dramatic collective history have contributed much to what Richard Gray calls
southerners’ “belief in the power of environment, this feeling of attachment to the landscape
[which is] one of the structuring principles of Southern myth” (Gray 173).
In an interview, Shirley Ann Grau said that “If there’s a thread running through
Southern literature, it’s a sense of belonging to a particular place,” adding that “small
societies remind us of who our predecessors are, and punish those who don’t follow the
rules.”3 Godchaux’s characters, especially in her short stories, all grapple with their places in
small-town communities in which they exercise little control. Specifically, they struggle to
define themselves, and to carve places for themselves within the larger society, stretching the
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persons of consequence. Occasionally, as in “Chains,” her protagonists are able to rise above
this ambition in favor of a more private satisfaction that brings fulfillment. Other characters
are unable to reconcile individual expression with societal expectation, or with the heavy
burdens of ordinary life. In these cases, the past is always with the characters—as Faulkner
said of the South, “the past is not even past”—but the past brings reminders of past failures
and uncertainties, naive dreams and dashed plans, along with slim comfort.
Due largely to women’s relationships with place as definers of boundaries or
confinement, the female writers of southern literature often focus on the relationship of the
individual to those boundaries—whether they be social, legal, psychological, or physical.
The southern landscapes and farmsteads of Flannery O’Connor’s writing give her characters
both definition and limitations. The southern signifiers in Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”
make its setting, tone and message decidedly different from those implied by the sylvan
landscape of Sarah Ome Jewett’s “A White Heron.” Godchaux can be considered a
practitioner of regional, or local color, fiction, as these writers were, but like them she rises
above this designation as she infuses her work with timely socio-political messages
imbedded in her depictions of the historical realities of her time.
Like Welty writing in and about Mississippi, Godchaux uses classical and fairy tale
motifs to lend her stories universality, but firmly grounds them in the Louisiana countryside
with specific references to its unique features, such as swamps and bayous, cane and cotton
fields, and levees and battures. Naming the South “America’s most fertile imaginative site,
the scene of some of our most significant crises of identity,” Ewell states that Louisiana in
particular “mirrors the complex role that the South has played in the national consciousness.
173
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gender, race, religion, sexuality, ethnicity—is often more clearly demarcated than in the rest
of America,” a place where social boundaries are historically equated with precise physical
limits (Ewell 9).
For Godchaux, writing about Louisiana as a Louisiana woman implies “writing about
life at the margins—at the crossroads of dominant and muted cultures, of role definition and
identity, of race and class, of place and places” (Ewell 12). According to her daughter, “She
didn’t write about these things out of a sense of noblesse oblige. She simply couldn’t get
them out of her mind.” On the plantation, Godchaux was clearly aware of her position as a
wealthy, white “boss’s daughter” among poor workers, some of whom she counted among
her friends; additionally, she was Jewish among a population that was primarily Baptist
(some of the black workers) or Catholic (her white neighbors and some of their former
slaves). She was also thoroughly conversant in all aspects of sugaring at a time when women
were rarely included in agricultural or professional conversations. Her writing illustrates her
concerns with women’s places in Southern social and economic hierarchies of her time. In
her writing, the peculiar otherness of her experience is interlaced with the more familiar
threads of southern myth, social roles, and color prejudice.
Power, usually socioeconomic but also emotional, is a major theme of Elma
Godchaux’s stories. Power over others, she implies, is dangerous, whether it be held by a
man like Fred Turner (‘The Horn that Called Bambine”) or by a woman like Marie Elizabeth
Shexnaydre (Stubborn Roots). Godchaux concurred with Lord Acton’s observation that
“Every class is unfit to govern [...], and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” 4
Powerlessness, in her literature, is tantamount to hopelessness. Godchaux’s wish, expressed
174
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writer can be argued to parallel Judith Fetterly’s position as a reader and critic, that women
must re-examine texts in order to make meaning of them. Godchaux also re-examined
southern and family expectations in order to find meaning for herself as a liberal, politically
aware woman. Fetterly writes:
Consciousness is power. [. . . ] To expose and question that complex
ui iuUIo uilu uijuiGiu^ivd auuui W uiiiui atm tttul Wtiivit w/u2>i ut Uui oGcitij
and are confirmed in our literature is to make the system of power embodied
in the literature open not only to discussion but even to change. Such
questioning and exposure can, of course, be carried on only by a
consciousness radically different from the one that informs the literature. [. ..
] Clearly then, the first act of the feminist critic must be to become a resisting
reader rather than an assenting reader, (xx-xxiii)
One of those things Elma Godchaux resisted was the notion of benevolent exercise of
power. It is the unequal distribution of power that clearly dooms the relationships between
malicious, manipulative landowner Fred Turner and his wife, the morphine-addled Miss
Maime, and also destroyed the chances for a romantic future with the woman who “got
away,” Florie. Moreover, Turner’s wealth allows him to torture Florie and her husband Dan
for as long as he chooses, because wealth, in Godchaux’s observation, equals power, which
can be exercised at the whim of the holder. His position allows him to murder a gentle
human being without fear of reprimand. Godchaux’s adult experiences taught her that not all
powerful men were disinterested philanthropists like Leon Godchaux and Judah Touro, but
that control over others is more often precarious for all concerned. Lack of self-
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Marie Elizabeth has the power to deprive others of fuller realizations of their humanity, and
she exerts it to the utmost. Her household becomes a turmoil of fear and resentment that is
felt by her husband, her children, and also the workers—ex-slaves who struggle to build self-
worth from the rubble of their former lives.
Godchaux also opposed the growing schism between blacks and whites during the era
of Jim Crow. As a southern woman and the daughter and granddaughter of plantation
owners, she might have been expected to defer to societal expectation, express racial
prejudice, echo southern and Creole apologists, or advance those twentieth-century southern
justifications of the slave system described by Gary W. Gallagher and Alan T. Nolan in The
Myth o f the Lost Cause and Civil War History. She resists this expectation, to the point of
publicly confronting her own family when they were in danger of being seen, erroneously, as
exercising undue power over Godchaux employees. Godchaux treats those of her literary
characters who exult in their power over others, regardless of race or gender, with mistrust—
so much so that she distances even herself from them, and they do not become fully
developed individuals.
Elma’s stories reflect a skepticism toward marriage she shared with many of those
female writers she admired most—Austen, Cather, Dickinson, Eliot, Ferber, Freeman,
Jewett, Wharton. Her fictional wives turn to drugs, fantasy, or faithlessness; one of them
summons strength for an equivocal escape. (Interestingly, her one depiction of a happy
marriage, that of Stubborn Roots'1 Pierre and Rose Varret, seems based on those of Mr. and
Mrs. Hypolite LeBlanc and on her own parents.) For these writers, marriage was
complicated by social and economic factors that overbalanced personal relationships. In
176
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ferber’s case, perceptions and social relationships are colored by her own experience of anti-
Semitism. Ferber’s heroines are strengthened by adversity; Godchaux’s are more often
consumed by hopelessness or resigned to the status quo. Sarah Way Sherman’s words about
Sarah Ome Jewett come close to describing Elma Godchaux when she writes that Jewett’s
ties to her sister and female friends were strong,
[ .. . ] yet she was also drawn to the professional world of her father,
whose profession she at one point considered following. Placed at the
intersection of several cultures—female and male, rural and urban, past and
present, preindustrial folk and professional elite—she once wrote, “there is a
noble saying of Plato that the best thing that can be done for the people of a
state is to make them acquainted with one another.” It was this work of
cultural interpretation, ultimately cultural healing, which Sarah Jewett
undertook. (433)
It can be argued that this was among Godchaux’s intentions as well, and is one of the
aspects of her work that raises it above the designation “local color.” As Maijorie Pryse
writes about Mary Wilkins Freeman, her characters “struggle for social and economic self-
determination” (329). “Unlike the writers of local color who were her contemporaries—Bret
Harte, Hamlin Garland, and Mark Twain—Freeman wrote not in order to entertain an urban
Eastern audience, but to give regional characters voice and to portray the dignity of their
lives” (329). While one might take strong issue with Pryse’s assessments of Harte, Garland,
and Twain, Godchaux’s writings share with Freeman’s the design of bringing marginalized
or voiceless characters to the sympathetic attention of her readers.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Godchaux’s short stories and her novel explore human relationships with the southern
terrain and the effect that these close relationships (at times the land is almost personified)
can have in human lives. An example of this type of fiction, “Chains” looks at an incident in
the shared experience of two very different marginal characters who both find their salvation
with the intercession of the Mississippi River into the monotonous patterns of their lives.
Another marginal character, Zula of “Wild Nigger,” so identifies with the environment that
she imagines she can bid nature to do her will.
Perhaps Godchaux was describing two different human attitudes toward nature in
these two stories, written a year apart. The protagonists of “Chains” have reverential, almost
suppliant, attitudes toward nature. Zula, however, shows no reverence for anything, even
daring the Lord, embodied by a rainstorm, to “Beat me some more.” “Zula still faced the
storm. ‘Look, ole screechin’ nigger, Gawd ain’t doing me nothing. I ain’t scared’” (170).
As Godchaux writes it, Zula’s tragic misreading of the nature of God contributes to her
misunderstanding of her relationship to God, to nature, and to society. The lightning that she
finds lucky early in the story is actually predicting her downfall.
Included here are synopses of Godchaux’s three anthologized short stories, each
followed by an analysis and a short summary. Although the stories are very different in style
and subject, they share similar authorial concerns and techniques. With these three tales,
Godchaux attempts three different narrative points of view. The first, ‘Wild Nigger,” was
written in New Orleans shortly after Charlotte Godchaux left home for Radcliffe. Its primary
character is probably based on women Elma met and heard about at Reserve; she is a “wild”
young black woman named Zula. The second story included here, “Chains,” was written in
Godchaux’s French Quarter apartment, and its protagonist is a “Cajin” man named Lurie
178
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Webre. This story also features an escaped convict who tells Lurie of his experience as a
black man and as a hunted criminal. The third, ‘The Horn that Called Bambine,” includes
the voices of narrator Florie, whose family has been reduced from employing servants to
share-cropping, of the tyrannical landowner Fred Turner, and of the black share-cropper
Shoolie. These experiments in perspective clearly contribute to the evocation of the many
denizens of Donne Plantation in Godchaux’s novel Stubborn Roots. Godchaux’s insistence
on allowing her marginalized characters to speak for themselves helps readers gain insight
into the diversity of voices and perspectives—not only in the South, but on one plantation or
in one small community. In this her work, taken as a whole, “reflects the values of the whole
society rather than those of only the warrior class” and emphasizes “conciliation and restored
social balance over personal grandeur” (Stephens 14).
It should be noted that, though some of Godchaux’s black characters refer to
themselves as “niggers,” and unsympathetic or ignorant white characters use that term when
referring to people of color, Godchaux herself never uses that epithet, nor do her most
sympathetic protagonists. Godchaux prefers the terms “black” or “negro” (not capitalized),
which she uses interchangeably. For the discussions of Godchaux’s literature in this chapter
and the next, this author has adopted Godchaux’s designations rather than the currently
favored term “African American.”
“Wild Nigger” (1935)
Synopsis
“Wild Nigger” is told from the viewpoint of Zula, “a little humpback nigger girl”
with “blue gums” (168). Zula is smaller than other women, and her independent ideas and
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her story begins, Zula carries a work-basket on her head as she rushes home to prepare
herself for a Shrove Tuesday pancake supper at her church. As she walks she considers the
unity between the way she feels and the wildness of the gathering storm. When she spies a
shiny object, a straight-razor, in the mud of the levee she reflects that “blue gums is lucky”
(169).
Once at home, Zuia argues with her aunts footsie and Dulcy about whether the rain is
a curse or an agent of salvation, and about whether or not Zula has the “Devil in her,” and so
“ain’t fit to go inside a church” (171). Tootsie and Dulcy attempt to lock Zula inside the
house for the evening. After climbing out of the window, Zula meets a “yellow nigger” on
the levee, whom she takes with her to the “pancake eatin’.” A jealous Zula notices the man’s
interest in another woman whom she calls “Big-eyed.” Zula uses what she imagines to be
her “hoodoo” power to “fix” the man to herself, and for at least several days it seems to work
as they make off for the woods at night or go “sporting on the levee” (176).
One evening the Yellow Man does not arrive at the usual time. When he does appear,
he greets Zula’s desperate caresses with a blow that knocks her to the ground, and then he
runs off into the night. On a hunch, Zula looks for him, and finds him, at the general store
with Big-eyed. As she dances and capers for him, she prays to herself that her charms and
the luck of her blue gums will bring her man back to her. When the man laughs at her, Zula
stabs him in the heart with her new razor. As the story ends, Zula holds and rocks Yellow
Man as the others in the store look on, aghast.
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Zula’s physical description is significant to a reader’s understanding of her character
and her fate. The first six words of the story tell us that she is small, has a “humpback,” is
black, and female. The fact of her having a humpback would serve to make her both an
object of ridicule and of folk superstition. “Like all the niggers said, she didn’t look right”
(170). The device of the hunchback has been used by other, earlier female writers to describe
characters as suspect or misunderstood. Elizabeth Gaskeii's Ruth and George Eliot’s The
M ill on the Floss both contain descriptions of feminized male hunchbacks (Gaskell 70, Eliot
145). Eliot points out that this deformity was viewed by the majority with “superstitious
repugnance” (308).
Godchaux’s characters share this aversion, also viewing the hunchback with
superstitious belief in the powers she claims. Accounts and wood-cut illustrations dating
from as early as the sixteenth centuiy relate the folk belief that badly deformed offspring
were the result of devil-mating. Both literature and popular belief have been used to
illuminate many folk beliefs—in this case, a cause of birth defects. Dulcy reinforces this
interpretation of Zula’s character when she insists that Zula “ain’t fit to go inside church,”
and when she later tells her neighbors that God filled her with the strength to lock Zula away
from the church because the “Devil was in her sure” (170). When others witness Zula’s
behavior she feels “shamed like I ain’t brought her up good” (171). By showing Zula’s
loneliness and vulnerability, Godchaux somewhat distances her protagonist from these old
tales, while taking subtle advantage of the reader’s awareness of them.
Her appearance is connected to the occult and to witchery and evil. Such passages as
“But Zula gonna bum in hell fire an’ that ole hump gonna make a mighty blaze,” and “she
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(171,174). Yellow Nigger thought “she sure did look like a witch standing there between
two tall cypress trees” (176). He sees the trees framing her as naked, wrapped in mossy
winding sheets. Zula is associated with the bats that fly through the air while she makes love
with Yellow Man and with the moccasins that slide through her fingers. Prophetically, the
snake glides through her hands “sharp as a razor blade” (175). Perhaps Yellow Man is
correct to regard the snake as “bad luck” (175). Commonly regarded as ill omens, snakes
and bats have long been thought to be the “familiars” of witches. The modem reader’s
knowledge of the fates of women accused of witchery lends the story a developing sense of
impending disaster for Zula. This close association of a woman bent on self-gratification
with witchery would seem to reinforce the common notion that for a woman to give in to her
own inner urgings would be disastrous.
The very name Zula, so similar to “Zulu,” the capering New Orleans Mardi Gras
krewe that takes its name from an African tribe, conjures an image of mischievous wildness.
The early description of Zula walking through the rain evokes the image of a traditional
woodcarving of an African goddess: “she stood still as a carving, neck stiff and high, eyes
half closed” (168). The passage, “She looked naked, painted and let loose for the dance she
did; legs and arms were ebon colored and polished,” could also be intended to evoke Voodoo
imagery. In her final confrontation with Yellow Man, Zula says, “I is a witch for wildness”
(180). Yellow Man acknowledges the common feeling about Zula when he tells her he
doesn’t mind her appearance, “Baby, my mama was a witch” (174). This connection also
seems, in some way, to bind his fate to hers.
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Zula has her foot in more than one world. She socializes with a black community, but
works for whites. She believes in “Hoodoo,” and is also a Catholic, like other blacks who
adopted the religion of white slaveholders. Many of those who adopted Catholicism simply
adapted their existing beliefs to the new religion, a practice that was initially encouraged by
the church in its efforts to gain converts.
Another practice of the early church was the demonization of older, often naturalistic,
religions. As evidenced by her interpretations of rain, lightning, and animals, Zula’s
religious convictions seem more closely tied to the “old” religion, which holds that
individuals can intercede, on their own behalf, with vengeful or benevolent gods. In
“hoodoo,” or voodoo, priestesses enjoy higher status than do priests. This belief strongly
contrasts with the Catholic belief that one’s relationship with God must be navigated with the
guidance of officially sanctioned male church representatives. Zula represents the attempts
of African descendants to reconcile rapid changes in belief and religious practice as well as
those brought about by slavery and its aftermath.
The traditional Christian observation of Shrove Tuesday figures prominently in this
story.5 This day falls during a period during which penitents are “shriven” of their sins, as
they are defined by the church. After this ceremony, believers in some communities
celebrate with a traditional meal of pancakes. Zula has clearly committed many of the acts
and thoughts defined by the church as sinful, and just as clearly intends to go on in the same
manner. Perhaps it is this lack of penitence that superstitious Dulcy has in mind when she
declares Zula unfit for church on this particular day. “You ain’t goin’ to no Shrove Tuesday
pancake eatin,”’ Dulcy told her, “because you ain’t fit to go inside church let ’lone church
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societal taboo when she initiates a sexual relationship with a man in church.
The references to Christianity, folk superstition, and “hoodoo” are illustrative of the
blending of religious and folk belief common to South Louisiana. The argument between
Zula and her aunts reveals Tootsie’s view of a vengeful God, “Gawd, save us. Turn de storm
away,” Zula’s idea of God as a friend and sometime (welcome) punisher, “Oh, Lawd, Lawd
Jesus, beat. Beat me some more,” and Duicy's view of God as protector, “He gave her the
power to grab Zula and throw her down and He put the might in her arms to close the blinds
against the storm” (170, 171). It is both Tootsie’s and Duicy’s belief that Zula has been
influenced by the Devil. They believe that harm will come from Zula’s presence in the
church building. Another superstition mentioned is one that “if you don’t eat pancakes on
Shrove Tuesday night you gonna be scratchin’ wid de mange befo’ morning” (172). After
the rain, Zula believes her prayer to be answered when Yellow Man appears “surrounded by
the rainbow,” and she uses her hoodoo skills to “fix” him to her (172). When Zula
accidentally rouses a water moccasin, frightening Yellow Man by the ill omen, she laughs
that no harm can come to her, that “all hoodoo niggers had blue gums” (175).
Zula’s interests and appetites are very much of the earthly realm, yet she is described
as a minor goddess portending evil tidings. Zula is associated with both the sacred and the
natural. Her hair is described as looking like “a halo” and as “like lightning” (171). One can
almost imagine her as one of the many consorts of a destructive Zeus, as she “screamed and
laughed to hear her voice amid the tumult of the storm and the river’s going; it seemed to her
her shouts were the storm’s noises” (168). She observes the high and threatening river, and
allies herself to it, giggling as she thinks about “drawing” a man to herself. “Me an’ river,
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She calls aloud for a man to be revealed to her. “Lightning flashes made her laugh and shout.
‘What dat you tryin’ to show me? My man? Light de light again’” (168). In this scene, she
assumes the persona of the priestess rallying the forces of nature to her earthly cause.
The initial images of the turbulent storm and Zula’s strongly sexual identification
with the threatening river serve to give the reader a forewarning of violence to come,
probably violence which is related to her highly sexual nature. The discoveiy of the razor
itself is brought about by the action of the storm. “Wild Nigger” is full of references to
omens, luck, and hoodoo. From the beginning of the story, the unpredictability of nature is
stressed, as is Zula’s association with it. It is clear from the onset that Godchaux is
portraying a character whose ideology is confused, and the result of her misplaced faith is
disaster.
Godchaux’s use of geographical and regional markers
There are many references to the geography of South Louisiana which help to give
this story a sense of place. Early in the story, Zula seems to be gathering power as she
writhes joyfully in the torrential rain atop the levee. A highly energized Zula feels the wind
lashing her skirt about her, the willows on the batture “bent and tossed to the same dance that
Zula did” (168). The batture is the uncultivated land between the levee and the river.
Godchaux’s use of it in her stories serves to indicate marginal characters. The batture
traditionally served as a trysting-place for unmarried lovers, and is symbolic of a certain type
of sexuality. As the “naked”-looking Zula dances, ‘Thunder rumbled and the river’s rushing
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environment.
South Louisiana is also evoked in the regionalisms that are used in the speech of
Godchaux’s characters, and in the typical activities described. When Dulcy greets Zula at the
door, she shouts “Where you been at? I ain’t gonna rest, me, until I know where you been
at” (169). Zula tells her that she has been at the general store, where rural people
traditionally gather to catch up on community news and visit. Later, the store symbolizes her
sense of isolation as she approaches it, searching for her lover, “Zula knew that everybody
was crowded in the store and only she was left out in the lonesome darkness” (168). It is in
the store that Zula murders her lover, and her erroneous faith in her “powers” is revealed.
Fairy tale motifs
Zula, Dulcy and Tootsie live “in de cabin under de big oak tree, de one drippin’ wid
de most moss” (173). The description of the house on the outskirts of town, where two
elderly aunts raise a young woman whose parents are never mentioned, lends a fairy-tale
quality to the story. This has the effect of making the ending even more jarring.
One of the primary qualities of the fairy tale is timelessness. Godchaux evokes this
quality early when she has Zula remark to herself that she “ain’t had a bath in a million
years” (168). This also gives an early image of her as unclean, an image that is reinforced by
Dulcy’s claim that Zula is unfit to attend church.
As in traditional fairy tales, a girl who longs for a change in her life meets an
intrusive stranger, a handsome man from far away. It is interesting that his primary feature is
that he is yellow. “He stood out beside her blackness as if he were something better than a
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Implied is her assumption that this world is one that can only harm Zula and others like her.
Yellow Man’s difference from Zula and the black inhabitants of her community marks him
as something special in her eyes. By the time the reader encounters Yellow Man, however,
Zula’s judgment has been presented as unreliable.
Yellow Man’s sudden appearance seems all the more magical because “he came
surrounded by the rainbow,” that arched “like a bridge” (172). Perhaps it is the bridge from
the city he presumably comes from to Zula’s rural community; perhaps it is Yellow Man’s
bridge from this world to the next. Maybe the bridge foreshadows the permanent change he
will precipitate in Zula’s life. If this is the bridge between the male and female worlds, and
so from Zula’s raucous childhood to adulthood, the fact that it is revealed by Yellow Man is a
bad omen for her.
Sexuality
The reader cannot be sure whether Zula has had a lover before she meets Yellow
Man, but she has certainly never met anyone like him before. Her age is not given, but she is
described as a little girl in the first section of the story. Not only is he from away, but his
very appearance marks him as different, and so possibly a threat to her. It is clear from the
start that Yellow Man is more interested in Big-eyed than in Zula, and that he is only toying
with Zula because she has made herself so pitifully available to him.
This inappropriate attachment Zula has to Yellow Man may indicate that he is her
first real lover. At the church, she seems to be imitating the behavior of women who are part
of a couple, rather than relying on her own experience, and it is mentioned that there “She
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lies with him in the woods, it would seem that Zula is not. Perhaps her display of sexual
wildness is the bravado of a sexually precocious but uninitiated adolescent girl. If so, this
story would seem to follow the pattern in women’s literature of sexual initiation followed by
disappointment and disaster.
On the other hand, Zula’s sexuality marks her as a real woman and not the innocuous
clown ethers assume her to be. Though her peers do noi take her seriously (‘“Look who
here; wild nigger Zula.’ They couldn’t help laughing at her” [179].), Zula’s appearance
marks her as very different from Godchaux’s assumed reader, and even from her own
community. She is very poor, very black, and wears her hair in lots of small kinks “sticking
out in crazy ways.” “She went pushing folks aside, but nobody cared— old wild Zula” (179).
In the last episode people laugh at her, as they usually do, when she elbows her way into the
crowded store. “She was funny when she pouted; looking like a clown frowning” (179). The
intensity of her feelings shocks the community when she stabs Yellow Man in a jealous rage
and then rocks him as his life ebbs away.
Female relationships
Like Jewett’s Sylvie and Freeman’s Lily, Zula is raised in a woodland cabin by older
female relatives. Dulcy and Tootsie do not prepare Zula for contact with men in any way
that she can understand. Their child-rearing methods seem to involve after-the-fact
chastisement and criticism rather than self-revelation, encouragement and instruction. They
provide what they believe to be a good example, but are clearly out of touch with the social
and sexual confusion and upheaval of the post-slavery generation. For her part, Zula seems
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outmaneuvered than appealed to for wisdom.
Summary
“Wild Nigger” seems to be a story about one young woman’s crisis of identity, and
about its contributing causes—adolescence, racial inequities, gender differences,
estrangement from a supportive religious foundation or intergenerational communication,
and superstition.
Zula operates in a defamiliarized landscape on more than one level. She is one of a
generation of black women struggling to come to terms with the legacies of slavery. She
works in one world and lives in another. She lives with two out-of-touch old aunts, and must
negotiate a changing post-slavery social climate by herself. She embodies remnants of an
ancient inherited religion, yet on the surface she follows the “new” religion her family and
others adopted during slavery. Nevertheless, when she remains within the familiar confines
of her own community, she is safe, even free to act “wild.”
Yellow Man comes from outside Zula’s community representing possible
encroachment of the outside world on her rural one. He also is clearly part white; Godchaux
calls attention to this fact by giving him no other name than “Yellow Man.” The disaster that
her experience with this light-skinned man brings Zula indicates that Godchaux is
commenting on the harm whites bring to blacks. When he tells her “Baby, my mamma was a
witch,” we can assume that his father was the white parent and that possibly his mother was
branded a witch because of her association with him (174). That would make Zula the
second woman to be harmed by a white man and his faithless, or “easy,” son (177).
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accompanied by love and constancy, as in her fantasy, she cannot control her emotions like
an adult. Her inexperience and her confused belief in the powers of love and “hoodoo” leave
her with no solid sense of identity. “Now she was a wraith moving in a void” (179).
Because, for many reasons, she has no solid sense of self, she lashes out in violence that will
change her life forever.
“Chains” (1936)
Synopsis
The story “Chains,” set in southern Louisiana near the Mississippi River, recounts
two days in the life of Lurie Webre. Lurie is a small Acadian man with his own personal
dreams, which are vague and non-urgent. His age is not specified, but he is teased with the
nickname “Little Lurie.” He is thought by his neighbors to be mentally unexceptional, even
backward. He fantasizes about draining the unproductive swampland he inherited from his
father, who also never worked much, and turning it into a sugar cane field. He fantasizes
about gaining the respect of the men of his community and about winning the hand of Dena
Larue.
As the story opens, Lurie walks along the batture, the strip of land between the levee
and the river. He watches the busy ants and contemplates the heavy brick stacks of the
prison at Angola, a prison for blacks only at the time of this story. Watching the river curve
toward the stacks, he imagines himself a prisoner and thinks about what it might feel like to
let the river take him to another life, a “runaway” (277). He is described as seeking his
fortune from a maternal and comforting river. Joining the planters on the gallery of the local
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he is “lazy” (278). After eating a solitary dinner, he visits Dena Larue, who laughingly asks
him when he plans to drain his swampland. After she departs with his more successful
cousin Maxie, who greets him as “little Lurie,” he is again alone (282).
The next day, Lurie is roused from his daydreams by the commotion of men at the
community store. They have learned of a prisoner’s escape from Angola and have
determined to hunt for him, making it a sort of competition. WhwR Lurie declares his
intention to join in the search, he is jeeringly told to “look for the nigger in your own
swamp”—a preposterous prospect (289). The men mock him because he has no horse with
which to hunt. Lurie visits Dena on his way home to dinner and, in bed for the evening, he
imagines the river carrying him away from his troubles.
Near morning Lurie stumbles upon the escapee, who has washed into his swamp via
the river. They meet on the batture, where the convict awaits a chance to slip back into the
Mississippi. Lurie’s dreams of taking an honored place among the townsmen seem about to
come true. In order to kill time until he can march the “nigger murderer” to the store in front
of everyone, Lurie engages the man in conversation (294). The black man and the white man
speak together of their feelings about the swamp and about the river, and Lurie is struck by
their similarities. After marching his captive partway toward town at gunpoint, Lurie spies
one of the hunters on horseback and thinks that the man “looked sodden, without feelings.
Lurie knew he wasn’t jerked up and down without will. He was different from that thing on
horseback. He moved by himself. . . He had a mind of his own” (296). As the rash result of
his sudden realization that he doesn’t want to be like the men of his community, Lurie shoves
the escapee into the water, advising him to “make haste” (297). He waves as the black man
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surveys the prospect. Godchaux ends her story, “When he walked up the levee he was still
smiling and his heart kept beating thanks. He went slowly, a little man looking shriveled
under his loose clothes. He carried his head hanging in his usual way. But he didn't feel the
same. When men on horseback passed him he raised his head. He was as free as any of
them” (297).
The “anti-fairy tale”
Elma Godchaux spent a great many hours discussing children’s literature, folk
literature, and regionalism with writer friends. Rachel Field, especially, encouraged her to
think about traditional forms in children’s literature. While Godchaux lived in New York,
where she spent a great deal of her time with Field, Godchaux was just beginning to write
and Field was already an established author of children’s books. Before she wrote her most
famous novel All This and Heaven Too, which in 1940 was made into a popular film with
Bette Davis and Charles Boyer, her best known works were Hitty: Her First 100 Years
(1929) and Calico Bush (1931, a Newberry Honor Book). During the years she and Elma
spent the most time together, Field edited and adapted books of folk and fairy tales for
children, such as The White Cat and Other Fairy Tales (1927) and American Folk and Fairy
Tales (1929).
Interested in trying her hand at folk and fairy tale forms, but not inclined toward
child-oriented literature, Elma Godchaux incorporated some of the traditional motifs and
forms she enjoyed discussing with friends, such as Field, Saxon, and possibly Geisel, into her
own explorations of contemporary moral and social issues.
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contemporary subject matter, such as the issue of personal responsibility in racial justice.
Her use of fairy tale elements is so subtle as to be almost unnoticeable on first reading. The
use of comforting and familiar motifs in confronting skeptical modem readers with current
social problems nevertheless has the effect of placing her work in the genre that folklorist
Wolfgang Mieder has dubbed the “anti-fairy tale” (xiv). Godchaux’s work illustrates her
recognition of the contrast between the fairy tale world represented by the motifs she
incorporates and the racially divided actual world of the American South. Mieder gives
readers a useful framework for examining Godchaux’s “Chains” when he writes of the new
genre:
. . . if we interpret fairy tales as emancipatory tales for people of all ages, then
even the anti-fairy tales .. . take on deeper significance in a world that is
anything but a fairy tale. Tradition and innovation clearly complement each
other in these modem adaptations, and together they express a hope for a
better world in which injustice, cruelty, and other unfair practices may cease.
Fairy tales as well as anti-fairy tales are seen as universal expressions of the
human condition, and they are powerful comments on the continuous struggle
toward a better world (xiv).
Mieder writes that modem interpretations of fairy tales or stories which contain “segments”
of, or “allusions” to, the tales “gain in poignancy .. . when reality is juxtaposed with the
world of wishful thinking” (7).
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Ernst Bloch has written that some fairy tales contain emancipatory messages for
humankind, freeing people from oppression and guiding them to a society as it ought to be
(qtd. in Zipes 130). They do this by contrasting the powerful and the powerless, generating
sympathy for the vulnerable or for those who must earn their place in the world. Mieder
believes that many fairy tales, and many modem stories which incorporate fairy tale themes,
express “the ever-present conflict between the haves anu the have-nots, the desire for a fairer
political system and social order, and so on” (3). He writes that the plots of many fairy tales
are depictions of people on the path to a better life. Max Luthi also claims that faiiy tales
present people with “opportunities” for “purposeful motion” toward a more just world (Luthi
86). Jack Zipes describes this “emancipatory potential” as “chart[ing] ways for us to become
makers of history and our own destinies” (18). Although Lurie does not represent the ideal
social liberator, Godchaux’s tale raises questions and ideas within its fairy tale format that
could not be raised directly in popular fiction of the 1930s. Readers who identify with Lurie
rather than with the prisoner or the townsmen may feel motivated toward some “purposeful
motion” of their own—or at least toward more open minds on the subject of racial justice.
The story’s realism derives from the depiction of a plausible event—the search for an
escaped convict. The fairy tale aspects of the story lie in its overall form, its style, and in the
incorporation of traditional fairy tale elements. These include the wish; the quest in the
forest; the conquering of fear; the redemptive act of generosity aided by a personified,
maternal force of nature; the granting of the wish; the wish gone wrong; and the restoration
of social balance.
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writer, though she reports the thoughts of the hero, does not feel the need to comment on the
action of the story. Although it is clear to the reader that justice prevails in the end, it would
be difficult and unsatisfying to have the action explained by the summary of an intrusive
narrator. As Bettelheim points out, the effectiveness of a story is diminished when its central
point is made explicit (56-57).
The formal, symmetrical fairy tale structure is adhered to in tills story (David and
Meek xiv). Lurie is first compared to Maxie. Maxie is strong, successful, and unkind while
Lurie is weak, poor, and thoughtful. Later, Lurie is compared to the escaped convict. The
convict is a large, feared man who can make Lurie’s fantasy of public success a reality, and
Lurie is a frightened little man who wants to control him. Both of these comparisons get
turned upside down, however. The rich planters represented by Maxie are tricked when
Lurie helps the prisoner escape. Lurie asserts power over the convict by freeing him rather
than by reporting him. In each case, Lurie’s actions affect others. The arrogant are tricked,
the weak hero becomes strong, and the captive is freed.
Motifs and geographical markers in setting
The setting of the story, while specific to a region of this country, still remains vague
and symbolic. David and Meek’s description of the fairy tale setting applies as well to the
anti-fairy tale. They write, “Rivers, forests, and towns materialize when they are needed.
The places in fairy tales also have a symbolic function: the humble cottage or the open road
where we first encounter the hero tells us that he is poor and down on his luck; the dark
woods ... are typical places where evil awaits him” (xii). The hero who overcomes fear in
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also represents states of mind and issues with which the main character deals.
The batture particularly serves a double purpose. An in-between place which is
neither usable land nor river, it can stand as a symbol for Lurie’s station in his society.
Godchaux mentions more than once that Lurie identifies more with blacks, with whom he
cannot socialize, than the whites with whom he also fails socially. The batture, the shady
place tucked between the river and the ievee, represents a degree of freedom from the
workaday world on the other side of the levee. The very existence of the batture is tenuous,
however, since it is determined by the rise and fall of the river. The batture is a liminal space
that conveys a sense of possibility, danger, and anticipation. It is significant that Lurie and
the black man meet here.
The swamp is another major symbolic feature. Lurie must overcome his fear and
revulsion of this dark, wet forest in order to find his salvation. The swamp, changing in
significance within the story as it changes in meaning for Lurie, is evidence of a paltry
inheritance, and becomes a physical manifestation of the difference between himself and the
others in the area. The first mention of the swamp refers to “the desolation that hovered over
the sunken ground” (282-83). The reader teams that when Lurie was a child “he used to give
the swamp a wide berth. But now it had caught him. [. . . ] Sometimes he got to thinking he
was the swamp’s” (283). Although Lurie sometimes shrinks from the swamp, it is here that
he discovers the refugee. The convict is the gift of both the river and the swamp; the river
delivered the man from prison, and he kept safe by hiding in the swamp.
The Mississippi River, with its “cool and gentle mercy,” is the maternal focus o f
many of Lurie’s daydreams (277). “He wished the river would carry him off” (292). Lurie
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wished the river would hush” (285). When he discovers the convict, Lurie praises Jesus and
the river for bringing the fugitive to him. “The river was unchaining him like he knew it
could” (294). When the escaped prisoner says of his escape, “the river sho’ was nice lifting
me up by the arms and legs. I felt safe like I was in my mamma’s lap,” Lurie is struck with
the similarity of this man’s perceived experience to his own fantasies (295). The fact that the
black man has ine same experience of being “delivered” by a comforting river-mother
inspires a feeling of kinship in Lurie. The situation echoes the fairy tale motif described by
Bettelheim in which “two very different persons are actually ‘brothers under the skin,”’ and
so his gift of freedom to the black man, and of thanks to the river, is also a gift to himself
(85). This recognition of the “other” as human allows Lurie to overcome his fear, and it is
what moves Lurie to seek out the just response to his situation. When he makes up his mind,
Lurie feels “full of a burning assurance” that he has done what the river would have him do
(296).
The river is compared to both a mother and a lover, and, in thanking both Jesus and
the river both for bringing the two men together, Lurie conjures the image of the river as
baptismal font. Marcia Gaudet has documented the tradition of river baptism in St. John the
Baptist Parish among black Baptist residents, and Elma Godchaux had access to accounts of
them; perhaps she was able to witness these baptisms on her Sundays with Celeste and
Tootsie White’s family.6 South Louisiana readers in Godchaux’s time would have been very
familiar with river baptisms and with the idea of a renewed, rededicated life instilled in the
faithful during that particular intercourse with the river. Lurie, like those baptismal
candidates, comes away from his experience with the river a changed man.
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The characters in this story, like most fairy tale characters, lack great psychological or
moral dimension. The reader does share some of Lurie’s thoughts, but these are not
expanded upon by the author. The reader must draw his inferences from actions, facial
expressions, symbols, and limited dialogue. Even physical appearance is left rather abstract.
We know that the hero is physically unimposing, but that is all. His size is a major part of
Lurie’s motivation to succeed, “Sometimes little men did big things” (283). The other
characters exist only to jeer at Lurie and to present a picture of contrasting, unattainable
success. They have no names, or names that are largely symbolic. Dena is a representation
of the unattainable huntress Diana; her beauty is mentioned but not described. Her suitor,
Lurie’s cousin who represents the extreme in socially desirable (though not thoughtful, kind,
or virtuous) male traits is called Maxie.
Like Zula, Lurie is an outsider within his own community, and is not taken seriously
by his peers. People laugh at him, as they do her, when he tries to join in the visiting that
takes place in the country store. When Zula tries to take a place in her community as part of
an adult couple, others jeer at her. When Lurie joins in the men’s conversation about
protecting their community by taking up arms, his presence is seen only as comic relief to the
men, who vent some of their anxiety by taunting him.
Of the black man, the reader knows only that he is large and frightening. He is
portrayed with sensitivity, however, and the fact that his situation parallels Lurie’s indicates
that he is a sympathetic character. Godchaux also indirectly forces the reader to
acknowledge that blacks are often unjustly punished or treated harshly while imprisoned.
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The wisdom of freeing him is never questioned. In the context of the story, capturing him
would be unjust. Discovering the true reason for the man’s imprisonment does not seem to
cross Lurie’s mind and will not be a factor in his determination to free the fugitive. Lurie’s
predisposition to sympathize with the black people he meets is foreshadowed by his
observation of the black men painting the Labidet’s mule stable. Watching them, he thinks
that, “with their arms spread painling the wail they looked as if they were stretched on
crosses” (285).
Lurie is pointedly and repeatedly referred to as small, a trait that he has in common
with protagonists of fairy tales worldwide. These small people are not taken seriously, such
as the Cajun protagonist Jon Sot, or Foolish John, who does not think in the same way as
others, yet occasionally manages to outwit them. Jean Sot stories are similar to “Jack Tales”
of other southern cultures in their representations of the unpromising hero (Thompson LI 00).
At the end of this story, no longer feeling that he is the butt of some cosmic joke, Lurie
believes that he has chosen the role he occupies in his community.
The role of nature
The role of nature in this story is to help the hero, for in the fairy tale “ a mysterious
bond of sympathy links human virtue and the world of nature” (David and Meek xiii). Using
local terms for fauna, Godchaux writes that Lurie is kept company on his rambles by “skinny
cows and mules,” turkey-buzzards make his swamp their home; mosquitoes, horseflies and
mosquito-hawks fly through his house (279, 280). These creatures all fall into the general
category of “undesirable” along with Lurie, but his affection for and tolerance of them
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between nature and human nature. He envies the wealthy planters who urge him to drain and
conquer his land, but he is too much a part of the land to treat it so. Its mangy dignity and
impenetrable nature reflect his own. The planters see nature as a commodity to be used for
their benefit and do not seem to respect it. Lurie’s reaction to nature is variously described in
terms of fondness, awe, terror, love, and respect.
Nature, for him, can be benevolent and motheriy. The reader ieams early on that
Lurie is an orphan and that his father left him nothing but an apparently good-for-nothing
swamp. Lurie’s mother is never mentioned, perhaps because the river functions as a mother
to him—nagging him to make his way in the world and helping him to achieve his wishes.
The character of Lurie’s relationship to the river is not made as explicit as Cinderella’s to the
hazel tree that grows on her mother’s grave, but Godchaux does connect the river to
maternity and nurturing intervention several times. This intervention is not the same as
redemption, though. That comes with the recognition of the river’s gift and the moral
response to that gift. Thus Lurie’s triumph is not public but private. Only he and the river
know about his changed status; Dena and the community men are rendered unimportant.
Fairy tale elements
The plot of “Chains” echoes the fairy tale plot. The orphan, thought to be an
imbecile, overcomes a frightening encounter in the woods, wins a contest against all odds,
and establishes his place in society. As in traditional fairy tales, the “established order is not
stood on its head” (Opie and Opie 14). Lurie’s is a success story, but it is not so unrealistic
that he wins Dena in the end. She remains unattainable, “above him,” throughout. Also, she
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. is not what he wishes for. All he really wants is to know his place in his community and to
have respect—to “sit and jabber” with the men (277). He wants to feel equal to, not better
than, them. After all, he is also a landowner.
Godchaux also uses the familiar fairy tale device of the granted wish that does not
deliver the expected result. “He wished he could catch the nigger” (289). When he does
meet the convict and begins to identify with him, he realizes that this wish will not deliver
Lhe conieiiimeiil he truly desires. Doing the unexpected is a way to thwart the “successful”
men and triumph over them. The motif of the test that is, by extension, a test of manhood or
worthiness is a classic fairy tale motif. This theme is carried through in the expected way
until the last act of the story. The small and weak protagonist, against the odds, does what
those who regard themselves as more “able” are unable to do. It is only after Lurie surprises
himself by apprehending the prisoner that he is able to judge for himself the comparative
value of “march[ing] the nigger murderer to the store” against the justice (as it is presented in
the story) of setting the man free (289). It is clear that Lurie identifies with the black man as
an outsider, and he thinks to himself at the end of the story that in the act of setting the
convict free he has liberated himself.
In keeping with the fairy tale aspects of the story, it is fitting that the convict be a
large black man. A part of Lurie’s redemption lies in the fact that he shows mercy, not
simply to another person, but to a feared person of a different race. In addition to entering
the scary place—the swamp—Lurie must overcome his fear of a dehumanized “other.” Their
shared experience of this isolated place allows for revelations that would otherwise not be
possible for these two very different men, perhaps reminding readers of Twain’s Huck and
Jim on their raft. Lurie’s realization of the other man’s vulnerability and humanity prompts
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man’s imprisonment may have been unjust.
The recurrent image of chains establishes a connection between the feelings that
Lurie has about his situation in life to the very real chains that the prisoner would have
escaped from. They also symbolize a bond of sympathy between Lurie and the black man.
Once these associations are established in the reader's mind, and the reader also understands
the complex feelings that both men have about the river, it is easy to see how setting another
man free by means of the river would allow Lurie to loosen his own personal bonds.
Godchaux uses folk and classical elements to express sexuality
The motif of the test of manhood is a truly classical theme. The men who take part in
the hunt are proving themselves to be competent, virile men as well as searching for a
perceived threat to their community. Lurie notices Maxie’s sexual confidence with Dena,
and knows that he will never possess her because he doesn’t have the virility or the wealth
she requires. Maxie’s greeting him as “little Lurie” firmly puts him in his place in the male
hierarchy (282).
Another classical allusion is implicit in the description of Dena. Her name closely
resembles Diana, who like Dena is associated with the moon, the cypress, the hunt and
fertility. Dena possesses illuminating beauty, and Lurie imagines what she will look like as
she one day nurses another man’s baby. As he imagines Dena’s exposed breast, he feels his
own blood throbbing in his body and he experiences disordered mental images of trying to
keep back “the heavy flow” of the hot liquid brown sugar at Labidet’s and imagines the
river’s “cool stroking” of his body (286). In this passage the river becomes a sexual,
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realistic tone. Dena provides his motivation to join the hunt.
The traditional tale of the grasshopper and the ant is subtly referred to in the mention
of Lurie’s whiling away the time in watching the ants working. The ants “were fat as if they
all carried eggs” (276). This is another of the many references to fertility that run through
this work. An image of fertility is usually followed by a descriptive sentence about Lurie’s
comparatively barren life. Godchaux humorously includes an episode in which Lurie,
holding a stick that he has whittled to a nub, stands outside Zillah Boudreaux’s gate “where a
white rag was tied on a pole stuck into the roadside. Zillah Boudreaux was going to have a
baby and the white rag was the symbol of John Boudreaux’s manhood” (285). The white
flag traditionally signals that the doctor’s services are required within the house before which
it is raised.7 He reflects that “the flag would never fly for him” because he spends his time
“whittling by the river like a nigger” (285-86). The stick and the pole can also stand for the
relative positions of almost any aspect of Lurie’s public life with those of other white men in
his community.
Lurie is clearly not ready for any kind of romantic relationship. His sexual fantasies,
when they involve actual human beings rather than the cooly stroking river or the grinding of
the centrifugals against hotly flowing sugar, are of mother figures rather than o f available
women his own age.
Regional detail
The region is evoked in many ways. Godchaux incorporates details that give the
reader a general sense of the area of the country in which the story takes place, and also
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the men of the town is an indicator of the rural nature o f the community. The men trade
stories as they sit on the gallery chewing tobacco. Lurie is kept company on his rambles by
“skinny cows and mules,” turkey-buzzards make his swamp their home; mosquitoes,
horseflies and mosquito-hawks fly through his house (267). When Lurie tells the fugitive to
get into the river, the man’s eyes are described as bulging “like beads in a doll’s head” in his
fear that Lurie’s intention is to make an easier target of him (297). The reference to this type
of doll, a handmade folk toy constructed of rags, helps to create the overall effect of the
piece.
Folk belief, speech, and customs
A shared acknowledgement of superstitions about swamps allows the first link to be
forged between Lurie and the runaway. ‘“I know the woods is the first place they hunts a
man. I been in that swamp yonder. I knows folks steers clear of a big old swamp like that
one yonder.’ . . . ‘Wasn’t you scared of that swamp,’ Lurie asked, killing time. ‘No, boss’
the nigger answered, ‘I ain’t scared of no swamp. I ain’t scared of nothing ‘cept a gun’”
(295).
Godchaux’s knowledge of the sugar cane processing industry enables her to describe
the occupational skills Lurie develops at Labidet’s sugar house. She also includes mention of
traditional Louisiana housing styles as they relate to the environment. Dena lives in a house
with a “sheet-iron roof’ (281). The planters criticize Lurie for building his house on stilts, a
“lake front” style not appropriate for the plains of Acadiana (278).
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Her characters speak in French Louisiana accents. Dena says, ‘T come out, me, to see
if I can’t get a breath of air” (281), and the men complain, “you’re sho’ one lazy Cajin,
Lurie” (278).
There are also scattered, implied references to the life cycle of the rural South
Louisiana male. First, the white rag on a pole in the yard signals the imminent birth of a
baby. The baby will be nursed by its mother, as Lurie fantasizes Dena doing. Competence in
his work and comfort among the men earn the young man a place in male society, and he
proves himself on his first hunt. If he owns land, he plants it in cane and employs black men
to work it for him. Professional success allows him to win a choice woman and start a family
of his own, as the successful Maxie will do with Dena.
Godchaux’s purpose in using the fairy tale format
Godchaux’s use of fairy tale devices and styles subtly allay difficult contemporary
subject matter. The use of familiar fairy tale elements in confronting skeptical modem
readers with current social problems serves to soften a message of social justice, which might
have met with an indifferent audience if presented directly. Godchaux uses the “anti-fairy
tale” to draw on the reader’s subconscious emotional responses, while not alienating her
audience by an overly sentimental or naive rendering of the controversial and emotional issue
of personal responsibility in race relations.
Summary
It is obvious that Lurie is not literally chained to anything; in fact his connections are
quite limited. He has some relatives to whom he is not close and some swampland, a pitiful
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insignificance and powerlessness, usually experienced in the company of other men or when
he thinks of Dena and how he will never possess her. Godchaux’s use of the image of chains
is a way to establish a connection between the feelings Lurie has about his situation in life,
and the very real chains from which the prisoner would have escaped. Once these
associations are established in the reader’s mind, and the reader also understands the feelings
that Lurie has about the river, it is easy to see how setting another man free by means of the
Mississippi would allow Lurie vicariously to loosen his own personal bonds.
“The Horn that Called Bambine” (1937)
Synopsis
As Mary Dell Fletcher writes in the introduction to her 1986 collection A Century o f
the Short Story in Louisiana, “The plight of the white sharecropper during the Depression is
revealed in Elma Godchaux’s portrayal of a sensitive farm wife whose daily physical and
mental struggles convey an overwhelming sense of futility” (xxii).
“The Horn that Called Bambine” is written from the viewpoint of a white
sharecropper named Florie. As the story opens, Florie trudges along a dusty road, carrying a
heavy Lowell sack filled with the cotton she has just finished picking. With her skirt sticking
to her tired legs, she struggles up the hill from the field to the house she shares with her
husband Dan, their baby girl, and the boy, Toog. As she climbs, she thinks about the black
couple she knew in her youth, Shoolie and Bambine. They are Toog’s parents, but both are
gone and she supports Toog out of loyalty to them. She wonders whether, “if it hadn’t been
for Shoolie, maybe I wouldn’t be harnessed to a Lowell-sack like a nigger” (307).
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Florie imagines she hears Shoolie blowing a cow horn but, as she passes the home of
well-to-do Fred and Maime Turner, the local landowners, and notices that “Miss Maime” is
sitting on the porch, she ceases to think of Shoolie and concentrates only on moving on past
the Turner house. Miss Maime is said to be a morphine addict, and Florie believes that the
drug habit is Maime’s response to life with a hard man like Fred Turner. She notes that
“nothing grew” near the Turner house. Though Miss Maime “had it easy,” Florie reflects
that she “didn’t want to be her” (307).
Florie thinks about her own childhood, when Bambine used to help her mother with
household chores and Shoolie hung around the yard watching his young wife and their child,
Toog. When Bambine disappeared from the community, Shoolie took to blowing a cow horn
in the direction of New Orleans, where she was rumored to have gone—some said she left
with a “yellow man.” After chores were done, Florie and her siblings would walk to
Shoolie’s cabin to watch him blow his horn. She remembers riding the mule as it turned the
crusher at Turner’s sugar mill, and later being courted by Fred Turner. As she approaches
her house, she thinks of her baby and gives thanks that it is a girl. The reader learns that
Florie and Dan have sons who have run away from their father’s physical abuse.
Inside their house for the evening, Florie and Dan discuss their poor crop, and wonder
whether Fred Turner will allow them to “go shares” with him on the next year’s crops.
Thinking of Fred Turner, Florie remembers the incident that broke their unspoken
engagement. Fred, who maintains an antebellum feudal control over his tenants, shot and
killed Shoolie while a horrified Florie watched, because Shoolie’s horn annoyed him. That
incident had prompted Florie to take refuge in the arms of her other suitor, Dan, whom she
later married. She and Dan took in little Toog, who helps them with small chores.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The next morning Dan takes his year’s crop to market. When he returns Florie learns
that Fred Turner, after playing “cat and mouse” with them for a while, has agreed to allow
them to share-crop on his land another season. She sighs and stirs the steaming laundry in its
heavy black pot.
Godchaux’s descriptions
The reader is struck by the physicality of Godchaux’s details. Florie trudges up the
path, “feeling my heavy head and arms and the straight line of pain at the back of my neck as
I dragged along.” She feels “my skirt sticking to my legs when I bent my knees” as she
attempts to cough “the dry cotton dust out of my throat” (307). At one point, she describes
the intertwining of her thoughts and her demeanor: “I walked, slow, lugging my heavy
thoughts” (317). She pushes through her screeching gate into the yard in which the laundry
pot “swelled up, enormous, almost blocking the path to the house” (309). As Toog stirs the
grits on the stove, Florie notices that “the baby smelled hot” (311).
Shoolie is described as having “green eyes clear as glass” and Bambine “looked
polished all over like the fine piano the Turners kept in their house” (310). Toog’s eyes are
also “strange, light, not nigger eyes” and his profile looks “like a pencil line scratched on the
darkness” (311). Lamson is described as a “white nigger” (316).
The first thing the reader learns about Fred Turner’s appearance is “his hip pocket
bulging with the gun he always toted, his chest sticking out, tearing through the mist.” His
“eyes were two points.” His laughs, Florie thinks, “prickled up my back like icy fingers”
(315). When Fred courts Florie he twists her arm as they walk and grabs her wrist when he
picks up speed.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Even the descriptions of animals feel authentic. The mule that turns the Turners’
cane crusher gets dizzy after making the circuit too many times. Bees follow Florie home
when she carries buckets of cane syrup to her family. “Sometimes they bumped against the
hand that toted the bucket; but they didn’t sting me” (310). Florie sarcastically gives thanks
that her cow’s feed is so poor, otherwise “she’d have suffered not being milked” often
enough, and notices that one o f her hens is “too hungry to roost” (311, 313).
Sound plays a major part in “The Hom that Called Bambine” as well. Florie, as she
passes Maime Turner, hears her heels “clicking, sharp, rocking and never stopping” (317).
At night, the humming of the locusts drowns out other sounds. Even the absence of certain
sounds is telling, as Florie explains that she and Dan “never had enough chickens to make a
noise scuttling” (311). Of course, the most important sound in the story is Shoolie’s hom.
Turner’s objection to the sound is a sort of territoriality. “He said Shoolie didn’t have no
right blowing and sending the sound out over the Turners’ field” (317).
Godchaux’s descriptions ring true—the wooden laundry stick dripping with syrup as
Bambine stops for a taste from the new bucket, the smell of cotton on the air and on the
pickers, the way Florie goes still when Fred Turner tauntingly touches her with his whip.
Further, her details are almost always propelled by function—by work, in feet. The pain
Florie describes is due to prolonged leaning over low-growing cotton in order to pick fluffs
of cotton from the hard, sharp bolls. Her skirt sticks to her legs because they are sweaty, and
the sweat allows dust to cling to her body. The dust also clings to the inside of her throat
because she must lug the heavy Lowell sack, once she has filled it, up the dirt road to her
home. The laundry pot represents the domestic chores Florie must attend to; after a day of
picking and hauling cotton the pot seems to block her way back to her own home. Inside,
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heat—even the baby “smells hot.”
Some of Godchaux’s descriptions serve as allusions to the hardships faced by her
characters. Bambine looks “polished all over” because boiling the laundry is a hot, sweaty
job. The comparison to “the fine piano the Turners kept in their house” serves to contrast the
Turner lifestyle of comparative luxury to the lot of their sharecroppers. Shoolie’s eyes are
not brown but pale green, a sure indication that an ancestress was raped by a white man,
probably a slaveholder. Toog’s eyes are even paler than Shoolie’s, “not nigger eyes” (311).
Perhaps this is a trait inherited from Shoolie, perhaps Toog is the son of Fred Turner or
another white man; the reader will never know, and Shoolie wills himself not to know. The
ancestry of Lamson, the “white nigger,” is anyone’s guess. This “not knowing,” in
Godchaux’s depiction, is reflective o f the uncertainty with which many southern blacks lived.
In this story, all of Godchaux’s characters share the kind of self-absorption that comes
with poverty—both physical and spiritual—and constant work. Once Bambine, the family’s
economic support, is gone, Shoolie single-mindedly attempts to summon her back while he
tries, unsuccessfully, to raise Toog on his owa Florie and Dan both fall into bed at night in
states of exhaustion, barely speaking to each other. Details remain unattended—the gate
creaks because Dan cannot find the time to repair it, and sometimes it is impossible even to
manage a bath.
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“The Hom that Called Bambine” exhibits a strong connection between place,
heritage, and character. Godchaux’s imagery clearly correlates psychological states with
physical “markers.” As she thinks about the Turners, Florie thinks
I wish I could forget them. But some things nobody forgot, things that
marked lives the way trees and bushes marked roads and made them different
from other roads. Shoolie and Fred had marked my life. I wondered if all the
folks I knew had markers in their lives that I couldn’t see. (308)
All of the characters are reliant on agriculture for their livings. Florie and Dan are tied to the
land, but even that is not their own. Their tenuous connections are characterized by their
relation to the land that comprises “their” field and on which their house stands—it belongs
to the cruel and arbitrary Fred Turner, not to them.
As the story opens, Florie wearily lumbers up a dusty incline with a Lowell-sack on
her back. She passes the Turner house, the description of which is typical of numberless
small plantation houses. It is clear that Miss Maime’s marriage to the hated Fred Turner has
led to an estrangement from her neighbors. Nothing grows near the blighted house, and Miss
Maime “was perched up there like she was in a tower.” Hers is not a tower of luxury, but of
isolatioa
The house where “nothing would grow” is a recurrent image with Godchaux; she
used it in Stubborn Roots to describe the house in which the spiritualty sterile Marie
Elizabeth was raised. In semi-tropical Louisiana, land where nothing will grow is a strong
symbol of desolation and accursedness.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Miss Maime’s is not the only isolation. Florie is alienated, not only from her old
dreams, but also from the environment she sees around herself every day. The house Dan
provides for Florie fronts on Dead Bayou, which has “been choked for a long time with
matted hyacinths.”
I never did see any water in it. It looked under its flowers like the covered
coffin I saw once in an old newspaper, an enormous long coffin lying there
between the trees. Every summer and long into the fail, it was purple with
flowers. That summer when me and Dan got married, I used to pick big
bunches of the hyacinths. But they died in no time and we stopped picking
them. We never picked the blackeyed Susans that came later to the edges of
the bayou. We soon found out we didn’t have the time for flowers. (308-9)
Ordinarily a bayou near one’s house would be a desirable thing. The bayou serves as a
source o f water for chores, and of a variety of fish. This one, however, has had the vitality
slowly “choked” out of it, as have Florie and Dan. Dead Bayou becomes both a symbol of
the beauty that Florie can no longer enjoy, and of the living death to which she has become
resigned.
Fred Turner courts Florie by taking her for walks through the Scary Woods, a place in
which “the cypress trees and oaks and sycamores, reaching above us, looked like tall haunts,”
(318). He counts on Florie’s fear to bring her close to him, in the way that adolescent boys
take their dates to horror movies. With revulsion, Florie recollects that, as they walked,
“Fred would squeeze my arm and I’d feel his touch run through me. ‘You ain’t scared?’ he’d
whisper. I giggled, ‘I am and I ain’t.’ And wouldn’t know if it was fear or love that made
my skin creep” (318-9). The Scary Woods is an appropriate place for a man like Fred Turner
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what life with him would be like.
Women’s roles in the rural South
As Kate Chopin does for Creole society, Godchaux gives the reader several
depictions of women’s roles in rural Louisiana in the decades after the turn o f the century.
As in The A wakening, these options do not give ihe reader a sense of liberation because the
female protagonist has some choices, but instead allow the reader to share in the feeling of
oppression and hopelessness because each of the choices is so limiting. The four female
characters in “The Hom that Called Bambine” are Florie, Bambine, Maime Turner, and
Florie’s unnamed baby girl.
Florie is the character through whose eyes the story is told, and the reader is
compelled to empathize with her assessment of the inevitability of her life, and the
hopelessness she feels. Though her life is one of monotonous labor, Florie grew up in a
family that “never believed in sending their girls to the fields,” and that could afford some
household help. “When all o f us children were small, Bambine used to come over on
Mondays and help Mama with the wash. Papa never minded getting help. He didn’t expect
us girls to wash heavy clothes no more than Mama did. We had it easy. [... ] After I was
married to Dan, I could see how easy I’d had it” (309). Thinking of the difference between
life with her parents and life with Dan, Florie feels an overwhelming despair. “Oh God, I
thought, nobody couldn’t tell what he might come to. Mama and Papa would turn over in
their graves, seeing me drag the cotton” (307). Though she believes that she “couldn’t do
nothing” to change the circumstances of her life, she thinks often of the two women who
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. represent those paths not taken, Bambine and Maime Turner, and wonders what the future
holds for her child.
Maime Turner has the life Florie might have lived, had she overlooked Fred Turner’s
racism and cruelty and married him anyway. As she watches Miss Maime, Florie wonders
whether Maime’s eyes are “red from crying or because she ate morphine.” Though she is
well aware that Maime “had it easy,” Florie “didn’t want it like she had it. I didn’t want to
be her” (308). Florie knows that the Fred Turner who twisted her arm on dates and cruelly
teased her would be a poor, perhaps frightening, husband. Miss Maime has paid a psychic
price for her wealth by aligning herself with a man whose prejudice and cruel adherence to
bygone privilege rule his behavior. The feet that she has turned to drugs, and perhaps cries
often, hints that perhaps Maime is sensitive to these things but is helpless to change them.
Bambine is the only character who seems to determine her own fete. She represents
the febled freedom a woman might find in the city. Tellingly, the chore Florie most
associates with Bambine is the one she herself performs at the end of the story. Florie
wonders what her life might have been like if she, too, had chosen to leave her community
altogether after she turned her back on life with Fred Turner, rather than remaining with Dan,
whom she doesn’t seem to have ever really loved. The reader never learns anything about
Bambine herself except that she was beautiful, and so she is left to function as a symbol—
Florie’s fantasy of freedom, and of what might have been. Godchaux’s description of
Bambine is more complex than this, however, as she implies that Bambine’s flight may also
have been inevitable, and that life in New Orleans might be dangerous for any woman, black
or white, who “is too pretty for [her] own good” (312).
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The reader is left to wonder whether Florie’s baby girl will have more options from
which to choose when she becomes a young woman. In this story, at least, Godchaux does
not hold out much hope. Florie begs the baby to eat more, telling her, “Eat some more I want
you to grow up fine. I don’t want you picking cotton. I don’t want you having it hard”
(312). Growing up “fine,” though, is no guarantee against sharecropping, as both Bambine
and Florie, both healthy and beautiful, learn firsthand. Financial security, she seems to say,
does not guarantee happiness, and often requires (or results from) separating oneself from
one’s humanity. There is a slight chance for this child; Dan mentions that there is “a new
schoolteacher over in Cotton Port” (313). Whether the child is able to take advantage of her
limited educational opportunities, however, will be determined by her unreliable father.
Motifs and symbols
Like Godchaux’s other stories, “The Hom that Called Bambine” contains some fairy
tale motifs, such as the home on the edge of the community; the prophecy that comes true;
the “haunted” house; the Scary Woods; the beautiful female protagonist; the bestial, evil
antagonist; and the frightening crone. The pretty Florie must pass by the Turner home every
day. Its occupants are described in familiar fairy-tale language. Fred Turner, with his “cold
gray eyes,” “heavy hands,” and a “strong neck” that sits “in the middle of his square
shoulders,” “couldn’t help making folks scared of him” (318). Miss Maime, who is older
than Fred Turner and much older than Florie, is described as looking “like a ghost” “sitting in
a tower,” with eyes “red as blood” and “long black fingernails” (317, 308). Miss Maime
offers Florie the poisoned apple of her own life as a warning to foolish women who would
trade independence for wealth.
215
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Though Shoolie’s hom is the most prominent object in the story, it does not seem to
have special symbolic significance beyond its obvious function. The hom is a cow hom,
similar to the ram’s horn, or shophar, that in biblical times “announced the new moons and
Sabbaths, warned of approaching danger, and signaled the death of nobility” (Butler 996).
Elma did not belong to a synagogue, but she certainly would have seen a shophar in use at
some time. The shophar, the only ancient instrument still used in the synagogue today, is
similar in function to the trumpet, which was the instrument of priests. Though not credited
with second sight, Shoolie does prophesy that Florie’s attractiveness will attract the attention
of an unscrupulous man whose interest will bring her harm. His comments, comparing Florie
to his departed wife, also intimate that he fears Florie, like Bambine, may have too much
going for her to continue in the sharecroppers’ cabins. “You is like Bambine, I always said
it, too fine for your own self’ (318). While she is being courted by Fred Turner, Shoolie tells
her, “You better be watching out for yourself Miss Florie. Something tells me maybe I’m
going to be blowing for you someday like I’m blowing for Bambine now. You better be
watching out some yellow man don’t tote you off. He ain’t no nigger, but he’s yellow as
some niggers. You better watch out, Miss Florie” (312).
When Shoolie’s blowing annoys Fred Turner for the last time, he angrily “grabbed
[Florie’s] wrist and started down Shoolie’s lane.” When Florie says she doesn’t want to go,
Turner “gave me a funny look like he was seeing me for the first time.” He tells her, “when
we’re married, you ain’t going to be saying what you going to do and what you ain’t” (319).
As Shoolie lies dying in the road, he calls to Florie, “You better go on away from him. You
better go on. Go on. Run” (320). In the story’s final passage, Florie remembers how Turner
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. destroyed Shoolie and his hom. She stirs boiling laundry in the pot Bambine once tended
and imagines that she can hear Shoolie’s hom calling for her.
I never had heard his hom before in the broad daylight. The sound
was close to me, covering me and moaning, moaning words about me and
Dan. Me and Dan, we were mice in the same cat’s paws, the paws that had
killed Shoolie. We couldn’t do nothing. Me and Dan kept staring at each
other. And Shoolie was tired. The blowing laded. It spread out, thin, over
the fields and dropped down into the hollow where the bayou was. I pulled
my eyes away from Dan’s and lowered my head and stirred; he moved across
the yard; and I kept stirring. (321)
The black iron laundry pot in which Florie boils her laundry is one of the story’s
major symbols. The pot, once upon a time, was used by slaves who served Florie’s family.
In Florie’s childhood, the pot was Bambine’s province and Florie and her siblings enjoyed
visiting Bambine as she sweated over the simmering laundry. When Florie becomes an
adult, it is she who must tend the clothes in the boiling cauldron. The pot, a cherished token
of her mother, is a large, silent reminder of the decline in her family fortunes. It also
tauntingly challenges Florie to make a better future for her daughter—a seemingly
impossible task.
Childhood fantasies and economic realities
In this story, Godchaux describes a South in which the feudal sharecropping system is
devastating to those who work the land. Florie and Dan compete with the man Turner calls
217
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “that white nigger down the road named Lamson” for the right to work a share of Fred
Turner’s land (316).
Florie remembers a time, before Fred Turner had control of his family’s land, when
her parents protected her, Bambine and Shoolie were together, and she had dreams of a
happy future. It seems that Shoolie’s hom blows for the life he has lost, and Florie hears it as
blowing for the life she has lost as welL Florie wishes, not for Bambine to return, but for the
days before Bambine’s departure—the days before Florie realized that her own options just
would not allow the luxury of personal happiness.
Louise Westling writes that women writers “growing up in the 1920s inherited an
acute consciousness of what they could not be, of how the past had jilted their mothers and
grandmothers. They would take the more difficult next step to discover who they were”
(Westling 37). Godchaux, as a woman and as a writer, is deeply sensitive to the disparity in
opportunity between herself and a woman like Florie. Godchaux’s sojourn as a writer
follows those of other southern women writers in experimentations with a new voice, one
that was just finding its way. Women like Florie had no avenues for even the most modest
self-expression, let alone artistic creativity. Writing about these women, who had parallels in
Elma’s own life, seems to have helped the writer come to her own personal terms with these
disparities and also to help overcome them in a larger sense, perhaps, through her writing.
For that reason, as Elma’s daughter Charlotte comments, “she simply couldn’t write about
anything else.”
Florie’s inner life is consumed with thoughts of what might have been if she had
married Fred Turner, or at least not married Dan; if she had an intact family around her; if
she had remained at the socioeconomic level of her parents, or even surpassed it, as she had
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. thought she might as a girl. When these thoughts are too much to bear, they are transmuted
into thoughts of what might have been had Bambine not run offj or even if Shoolie were still
alive.
Summary
In this story, Godchaux is concerned with the changes that have occurred during her
own lifetime. The idealized plantation of her youth, remembered as a happy community
beneficently guided by a kind and philanthropic owner, here has become a system whose
members are not humanely connected, a system that causes depravity in the powerful and
engenders primarily fear in the powerless. Godchaux writes from a woman’s perspective,
but the system trapped men equally. Even years after Florie rejected Fred Turner as a
potential husband, Florie and Dan cannot escape his power; Turner owns the land they work
and thus controls their livelihood. He plays with his sharecroppers—black and white, male
and female—as a cat does mice. Florie’s emotional life replays the past, before she knew the
future was as choked of possibility as Dead Bayou.
The mournful music of Shoolie’s hom is almost an intercessory prayer—expressing
the inadequacy of the present, and the hope that the future will be better. It becomes Florie’s
prayer as well. Both Shoolie and Florie wish to call back a time in which they were happy.
For Florie, this time represents the better circumstances she was in as a child, but also the
expectation that life might get easier. Rather than doing as well as, or better than, her
parents, she has fallen in social rank. It could be that the lower one descends on the
socioeconomic ladder, the more important minor distinctions in rank become. This story
illustrates that it was very important to the poorest class of white laborers to be better, or at
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. least more secure, than someone else. Florie knows this not to be the case. The land she and
Dan work can easily be given away to a black family, and the Lamsons might well have more
success with it. Florie’s adult sadness is not for Shoolie—it is for herself. She feels this
most strongly when she is coming home from the field, dead tired, or working at some
repugnant task that would have been unthinkable for a woman like her mother.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Notes
1 This quote, from “The Hom that Called Bambine,” refers to the helplessness that the sharecropper couple feel in the face of their lack o f self-determination. The manipulative and malicious landowner Fred Turner is able to keep them emotionally and economically vulnerable at his whim. In the story’s last paragraph, the wife Florie muses that she and her husband, and all the powerless people over whom Turner has control, are “like mice in the same cat’s paws” (321). Disparity o f power, and people who are not taken seriously by their communities, are subjects of all three o f the short stories discussed here.
2 Godchaux’s connection to Geisel may have been casual, but Elma Godchaux and Lyle Saxon socialized frequently in New York, and shared the same social circles. Geisel’s name appears in Saxon’s date book several times, interspersed with Elma’s. I assume the two must have met each other at these engagements, as Elma frequently accompanied Saxon when he met other friends.
3 Shirley Ann Grau, personal interview, 31 March 2001.
4 This quote is attributed to Victorian historian Lord Acton (1834-1902). In part, one of his letters dated 5 April 1887, reads, “Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. [... ] liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition. [... ] The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
5 Shrove Tuesday is the day immediately preceding Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent in the Christian churches in the West). Shrove, derived from “shrive,” refers to the confession of sins usual in the European Middle Ages as a preparation for Lent. Shrove Tuesday eventually acquired the character of a carnival or festival in European countries. Traditionally pancakes were eaten on Shrove Tuesday, because eggs and fat, forbidden during the Lenten fast, were used. In Anglophone cultures the day is sometimes referred to as Pancake Day. It is unclear why the characters in “Wild Nigger” refer to Shrove Tuesday and not to Mardi Gras. It may be that their church is served by a priest with an English background, though this is not mentioned. In New Orleans and the river parishes, French Catholics traditionally ate croquinoles, fried beignet-type dough with two slits in the center, on Mardi Gras.
6 For an account o f a 1905 river baptism in St. John the Baptist Parish, see Chapter VII of Marcia G. Gaudet’s Tales from the Levee: The Folklore o f St. John the Baptist Parish.
7 Lillian Bourgeois’ Cabanocey describes the flag system as it was used in St. James Parish. A white flag attached to a pole before a house indicated that a doctor’s services were required within, a red flag signaled the coal oil man, etc.
221
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER FOUR
STUBBORN ROOTS
For him I sing, (As some perennial tree, out ofits roots, the present on the past) ... Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, 1900.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Stubborn Roots
Introduction
Elma Godchaux’s short stories make clear that she empathized with the powerless
regardless of race, gender, or economic status. Her novel Stubborn Roots makes equally
clear that she also holds her characters responsible for the generous exercise of what power
they do have. Godchaux seems to sympathize with the lack of options available to her
primary' female character, Marie Elizabeth Shexnayuie. Nevertheless, Marie Elizabeth’s
problems are those shared, to some extent, by most women. This character’s great sin is her
failure to recognize the humanity she shares with others, including the former slaves that
staff Donne Plantation, and her lack of respect for nature and the tradition of gentility that
Godchaux sees as among the most positive elements of her southern heritage.
Allen Tate has written that “With the war of 1914-18, the South re-entered the
world—but gave a backward glance as it stepped over the border: that backward glance gave
us the Southern renascence, a literature conscious of the past in the present” (Tate 272).
Louise Westling argues that “the old traditions were perhaps even more hollow for Southern
women than for men” and thus “the backward glance for women must have revealed a host
of ironies that could be exploited in literature” (Westling 37). Responding to the notion that
the “postbellum woman of the Old South comes in two versions—belle and matron, in which
belles are pleasing to men and matrons are “hard-working,” “feeble,” and “demure,” in which
category she places Grace King, Nina Baym locates southern women writers of Glasgow’s
and Godchaux’s generation, with their characterizations of realistically flawed men and
women from varied cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, within the modem literary
movement (187).
222
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Southern women after the Civil War certainly contributed novels to the
“new” tradition. But romanticized plantation fiction idealizing the earlier
South through narcissistic emphasis on women was hardly all that they wrote.
As practitioners of regional and “local color” modes, they dealt with elements
that had little to do with the plantation, whether it be “in the Tennessee
mountains” or in the resort colonies of upper-class New Orleans Creoles. In
so doing, they implicitly deconstructed the monolithic vision of the South that
was presented in the [antebellum] plantation novels, showing a South
variegated by locality and crosscut by differences of class, race, ethnicity, and
gender. They rejected a vision of the South which took the highest class for
the whole. Overall, they contributed to the democratization of Southern
literature while adding an important critical dimension to its treatment of
Southern privilege. These contributions have been minimized by the general
devaluation of local color as a minor literary form.
Additionally, some Southern women writers themselves identified the
myth as a myth and perceived the falseness of its pedigree. Among numerous
possible instances, let me single out Ellen Glasgow, whose attack on the myth
of Southern women involves both a dismantling of its substance and an
exposure of its phony historicism. (194)
Carson McCullers, who moved away from the South after her marriage, wrote, ‘No
matter what the politics, the degree or non-degree of liberalism in a Southern writer, he is
still bound to this peculiar regionalism of language and voices and foliage and memory”
223
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (279). There can be no doubt that the literary atmosphere in which she lived appealed greatly
to the young Elma Godchaux. She claims that she wanted to be a writer from adolescence
on, that writing was her only professional aspiration. Though she was never comfortable
meeting large groups of strangers, she welcomed most opportunities to listen to, and take part
in, the conversation of writers. Elma’s first efforts at writing drew on these conversations,
the women’s “local color” tradition, as exemplified by writers such as Mary E. Wilkins
Freeman and Sarah Ome Jewett, and gritty naturalist fiction, such as that by Jean Rhys.
Though Elma usually did not describe her literary ambitions in terms of social change, she
always focused on the conditions of the underclass. She wrote about what she knew, and her
early life allowed her to know a great deal about plantation life—the privilege, the planting
and work cycles, and also the concerns of those who lived in “the quarters” and served from
“back of stairs.”
Stubborn Roots is the story of one planter family of the late nineteenth century.
Drawn from frequently told family stories and from personal observation, the tale utilizes
elements from several generations of Godchaux family history and fuses them into one
fictional narrative. In so doing, Godchaux creates a multi-generational tale of the South, in
which elements of her own past, written from her contemporary viewpoint, are used to
address very modem concerns.
The writing and reception of Stubborn Roots
Elma Godchaux wrote a number of short stories in New York, but her most
successful writing was done in New Orleans on Chartres Street. There she wrote the three
stories that were most highly recognized during her lifetime. These were “Wild Nigger,”
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. which was anthologized in The Best Short Stones o f 1935; “Chains,” for which Godchaux
won an O. Henry Memorial Award Prize in 1936; and “The Hom that Called Bambine,”
which has been anthologized three times. Elma’s only published novel, Stubborn Roots may
have been begun in New York, but was completed in the Chartres Street apartment. She was
working on a second novel at the time of her death.
During this phase of her life in New Orleans, Elma relied on her close friends Lyle
Saxon and P.ache! Field for criticism and guidance. Some of her other friends at this time
were Katherine Anne Porter and her husband Albert Erskine, Robert Penn Warren, E.P. “Pat”
O’Donnell, Harriet Kaye, Robert Nathan, and newspaperman Charlie Campbell. According
to her daughter, she also “saw a lot of Thomas Wolfe when he passed through New Orleans
just after her book was sold to Macmillan.”1
Elma frequented the “writers’ hangout,” the Little Basement Book Shop, owned by
her friends Adeline Katz (the model for Jane Webster in Anderson’s Many Marriages) and
Tess Crager. Tess Crager opened the shop in 1928, in the 7700 block of St. Charles Avenue,
and in 1932 it moved to 7221 Zimple Street, where it remained for fifty years. Crager and
her husband, Robert, formed a publishing company, and among their projects was reprinting
the works of Lyle Saxon, for whom Tess acted as agent. She also represented others such as
Charles “Pie” Dufour, John Chase, and Robert Tallant. ‘The Basement” was a hub of
activity for many writers in Elma’s circle, and often gave parties for these writers when they
had a special occasion. It also threw book publication celebrations and parties in honor of
visiting authors. Over the years, these included W. H. Auden, Andre Maurois, Edna St.
Vincent Millay, Stephen Spender, Gertrude Stein, T. H. White, and Alexander Woolcott.
225
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Elma wrote all of her stories on a typewriter, which is still in Charlotte’s possession.
She began writing in the mornings, with her typewriter and writing tools on a card table in
the living room. Charlotte, who often felt like a captive audience, was the sole witness to
Elma’s early writing process. Elma preferred not to discuss her work with friends, with the
exceptions of Lyle Saxon, Rachel Field, and possibly a veiy few others. Otherwise, she read
her stories-in-progress to Charlotte, who remembers that
She wrote very slowly and painstakingly, polishing and revising as she
went along and polishing again at the end after leaving the work aside for a bit
and after criticism from such as Rachel Field. She was exceedingly self-
critical, and writing was a painful, slow process. She might spend a whole
morning working and re-working a paragraph or even a sentence. She revised
as she went along and again at the end.2
When Stubborn Roots was accepted by Macmillan, Elma was thrilled. She went to
New York to make the final arrangements, and from Rachel Field’s home there she wrote
Dick Whitten.
I l l East 10th St.
New York City
Sept. 12,1935
Dick dear,
You’ll be anxious to know—the novel’s sold! And there are very few
changes to be made and those at my discretion. That’s the best part. The tone
of the book is not to be changed, and there is much enthusiasm for it here.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. You can’t imagine! I was surprised. It made me feel funny and fine. You
would have felt proud to have seen me ushered into the innermost sanctum of
Macmillan’s where the vice-president sits in august lonely splendor. I almost
felt like George Sand! I had to pinch myself to turn into plain Elma
Godchaux. Then I was introduced to this one and that one on the staff—“This
is Miss Godchaux!” and much enthusiasm and “I’ve read your novel” and “I
think it’s better than Now in November.” I felt funny but fine and not
especially like Elma Godchaux.
I’m to have a $500 advance and good royalties and they promise to
push the book. And I can’t believe it’s just me. I know you’ll be glad with
me. . . ,3
Elma’s friend, and former Double Dealer editor, Albert Goldstein reviewed Stubborn
Roots for the Times-Picayune on April 5, 1936. In this essay, Goldstein directly tied the
novel to the realist “Modem Movement” the Double Dealer championed. He echoed
Hamilton Basso’s call to reject the “pretty wallpaper” images of the South, to describe “what
has happened here in the South and why this romantic conception is so untrue.”4
Rejecting the “old order” of “romantic tales in which lovely ladies, chivalrous
gentlemen and grinning negroes move about under perpetual moonlight, almost drugged by
the scent of magnolia blossoms,” Goldstein also criticizes the “somber” “Southern novels of
recent harvest” that react against the old order by presenting a “not very glorious past.” He
claims that
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. What present-day readers of Southern novels sigh most for, in this
reviewer’s opinion, is a kind of middle-ground group of tale-tellers who are
genuinely sensitive to both the past and the present of the Southern scene, yet
who have no patience with either the banalities or the grotesques that have
been worked into its literature because they know that these things, as creative
values, are false and shoddy. Such a group would know instinctively that it
could not adequately reconstruct the life of the South through the medium of
characters who stand out because they are morally degenerate, any more than
it could through such antiquated devices as mint-julep-sipping colonels or
swooning maidens in crinoline.
In a word, this reviewer’s belief is that the great reader mass has not
had a square deal from either the old or the new Southern fiction writers. If
that is true, as the evidence seems to warrant, they should welcome with
considerable enthusiasm a new book, “Stubborn Roots” (Macmillan), a first
novel by Elma Godchaux, New Orleans writer. [. .. ]
“Stubborn Roots” should take a front-line position in the rather
crowded files of Southern fiction, not only because it is a skillful piece of
writing and a beautifully told tale, but because it assumes an aloof air toward
the others which have been either absurd in their mawkishness or overdone by
their striving for fantastic or theatrical effects. Mrs. Godchaux has used the
same post-War Between the States agricultural background that has always
been so dear to the hearts of the romanticists, and she has even worked into
her pattern a few of the ideas of the neo-realists. But everything that she has
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. been touched by, not directly built into her story, she has subdued with
genuine artistry.
Though Goldstein feels that the writing, the evocation of setting, and the characters
are generally strong, he acknowledges that “there is something not quite real” about the
central female character, Marie Elizabeth Bougere Shexnaydre. Five years later Goldstein
championed Elma Godchaux as one of the “outstanding modems” “both famous and
obscure” writing in the South, along with “Hervey Allen, Barry Benefield, Hamilton Basso,
Roark Bradford, Gwen Bristow, Harris Dickson, Louise Guyol, Emmett Kennedy, Kenneth
Knobloch, Fannie Heaslip Lea, Doris Kent LeBlanc, Mary Barrow Linfield, Bruce Manning,
E. P. O’Donnell, Lyle Saxon, [and] Stark Young” (Goldstein 29).
Rachel Field, in a personal letter to Cammie Henry, reiterates the public critical
reception of the novel.
Have you read Elma Godchaux’s book “Stubborn Roots”? If not, I’d
love to send it to you for your Louisiana collection, but I imagine Lyle
[Saxon] may have provided you. The atmosphere and feel and color of the
plantation life and the studies of the negroes seem remarkably well-drawn to
me, but the book for me lost by not having a human heroine. Elma has fallen
over backwards to make her disagreeable and has managed in so doing not to
make her a flesh and blood person. At least Arthur [Field’s husband] and I
feel that way. We simply never could believe in her. She was not a person
making mistakes, as all of us do, but she was just a complete series of
unredeeming characteristics. Well, I’ll be interested to know how it strikes
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. you. As I say the plantation life and the negroes seemed amazingly done to
me.
In the end, perhaps the words of Louis D. Rubin, in his analysis of Thomas Nelson
Page’s “No Haid Pawn” might also apply to Godchaux’s work. He wrote that there are
stories and poems by southern writers that “are potential sources for better understanding of
the society and culture out of which they were written. Page’s fiction is not, perhaps, of the
first rank even of southern literature, but it is the work of an honest and dedicated artist who
wrote with skill and perception” (Rubin 19). C. Hugh Holman extends Rubin’s observation
to writers such as Elma Godchaux when he includes “a wide and important group of southern
writers, those who work in the realistic mode and produce social and social protest novels” as
well as the southern “novel of manners with a special emphasis on local characteristics and
customs” (Holman xx).
Martin Kich, in an unpublished doctoral thesis on “Hard-Core Naturalism” as a
movement including such southern writers as Erskine Caldwell and Harry Crews, and which
might arguably be extended to include Elma Godchaux, writes,
These writers have been ignored unfairly because what is relentless in their
visions has been read as remorseless, and because any limitations that they
have as craftsmen have been read as the result of their trying to depict too
little of what characterizes us, rather than as a result of their trying to depict
what so consistently prevents us from being more than ourselves. (Kich 1)
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No book published in 1936 can be fully discussed without acknowledging the effect
of Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind on its reception. There is a story that Godchaux family
members like to tell about the publication of Stubborn Roots, which is one of the few
surviving stories about Elma. It is only partially apocryphal. It is that Macmillan vice-
president Harold Latham, who had arranged to meet Elma in New Orleans to discuss her
book, called to tell her that he was on his way, and would make a stop in Atlanta before
arriving in New Orleans. He had shown real interest in Elma’s manuscript, and believed that
the time had come for a book that presented a realistic depiction of plantation life. Elma
could have had no way of knowing that the novice whom Latham would meet in Atlanta was
Margaret Mitchell, and that Stubborn Roots would never be able to move out from under the
colossal shadow cast by Gone With the Wind.
Southerners were intensely interested in books about the Civil War and its aftermath,
and in the ways in which they were portrayed to the larger world. Historian Marianne
Walker reminds us that “in the 1930s, the United States still divided itself up into Yankees
and southerners” (Walker 407). Responding to an article written by Helen and Clifford
Dowdey called “Are We Still Fighting the War?”, Margaret Mitchell sums up a southerner’s
view.
Ever since Roosevelt’s Bamesville speech Senator George [Georgia’s senator]
and his supporters have been on the air. I have heard so many yells of “states’
rights” and “Northern oppression” and “sinister centralization of power” and
so many bands playing “Dixie” that I have wondered whether this was 1938
or 1861. I feel that if I look out of the window I will see the Confederate
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. troops, headed by General John B. Gordon, marching toward Washington.
When I read Heywood Broun’s sneering remarks about Senator George
“arousing sectionalism” and his other remarks about some Southerners acting
as if Appomattox had never occurred I wondered if he was just plain dumb.
His ideas, and those of a number of Northern commentators of pinkish tinge,
seem to be that Appomattox settled beautifully and peacefully and justly all
the problems, economic and social, for which the South was fighting. Their
idea seems to be that might made right in 1865. Common sense should show
that many of the problems that sent us to war have never been settled, and the
same injustices persist—tariff, freight rates, et cetera. As far as I can see,
Appomattox didn’t settle anything. We just got licked.5
The two books had more in common than their settings. Elma’s dear friend Rachel
Field provided advice to Elma during her writing process. Rachel Field had written several
successful books and, by the time Stubborn Roots was published, Field was writing the best
selling AU This, and Heaven Too, which was made into a hit movie starring Bette Davis and
Charles Boyer in 1941. Macmillan editors often used outside readers—e.g., Charles Everett,
professor of English at Columbia University—or experienced, successful writers who
provided advice about manuscripts. Field was one of the writers Macmillan editor Lois Cole
approached for advice about Gone With the Wind. On October 31, 1935, Cole wrote
Margaret Mitchell during Mitchell’s revision process, “I am still worried about Scarlett.
Somebody said it sounds like a Good Housekeeping story, and Rachel Field says it is unwise.
[... ] If I wasn’t so worried about it, I wouldn’t mention it” (Walker 229). Whether Field
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hoping to steer Macmillan toward Stubborn Roots cannot be known. It is possible that, just
as Cole “put a bug in Latham’s ear” about her old friend Mitchell, Field may have suggested
that he visit Elma Godchaux.
The truth is that Latham was on his way to meet Elma in New Orleans, and that he
had planned a stop in Atlanta as part of what he called a “scouting tour” of the South, in
search of new writers. In Atlanta, he had to persuade Mitchell to show him her manuscript,
and it almost never happened. Latham asked to see her work several times, at the suggestion
of Lois Cole, who had befriended “Peggy” Mitchell Marsh while living in Atlanta but had
not read the manuscript. Mitchell only handed it over to Latham as he was about to board the
New Orleans train, after her friends ridiculed her chances to be a serious writer. He began
reading it that night, on the train. Latham was so enchanted with what he read that it was
difficult for him to concentrate on subsequent manuscripts for a little while, and he sent the
manuscript to New York from his New Orleans hotel.6 Gone With the Wind had romantic
elements that practically guaranteed its popular success. Stubborn Roots, on the other hand,
tended toward a stark Dreiserian naturalism that challenged readers to contemplate its lack of
resolution. On the best-seller list, Stubborn Roots didn’t stand a chance against Gone With
the Wind.
Elma’s was not the only book that was eclipsed by the enormous attention given to
Gone With the Wind. In her memoir, Elizabeth Anderson recalled that her friend Stark
Young “wrote a number of novels and one which at first seemed to have the best chance for
success was So R ed the Rose. It was a Civil War novel but unfortunately it was published the
same year as Gone With the Wind. Stark’s book was completely eclipsed, even though it was
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. a fine book, better, I think, than Mrs. Mitchell’s” (Anderson 47). Nevertheless Young, like
other influential southern writers D. S. Freeman, Thomas Dixon, and Julia Peterkin, sent
Mitchell letters of congratulations. Peterkin’s review in the Washington Post reads, ‘It
seems to me that Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell is the best novel that has ever
come out of the South. In fact, I believe it is unsurpassed in the whole of American
writing.”7 Macmillan used this quote in its early advertisements of the novel. It proved
impossible for any novel published in 1936 to compete with this kind of phenomenon.
Other books that saw publication in 1936 were George Santayana’s Last Puritan,
H.L. Mencken’s American Language, Walter D. Edmonds’ Drums Along the Mohawk, Pearl
S. Buck’s Exile, Daphne duMaurier’s Jamaica Inn, Corey Ford’s M y Ten Years in a
Quandary, John Gunther’s Inside Europe, MacKinlay Kantor’s Arouse and Beware,
Granville Hicks’ John Reed, Dorothea Brande’s Wake Up and Live, Aldous Huxley’s Eyeless
in Gaza, and John Dos Passos’ Big Money. The biggest seller, after Gone With the Wind,
was Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, which sold over 1,300,000
copies. By May 1946, Macmillan had sold 4,963,272 authorized copies of Gone With the
Wind,8
Stubborn Roots
Living full time in Louisiana after spending a great deal of time in New York and
abroad, Elma Godchaux was able to see the South through new eyes. Part New Yorker, part
New Orleanian, part rural plantation dweller; Jewish in a Catholic society; a woman writing
among a male-dominated literary world; a member of a prestigious family who spent much
of her time playing with poor children; a white child raised in part by black women in an
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. environment in which blacks far outnumbered whites; physically insecure in a society that
prized women for their beauty, Elma was formed by a multitude of (sometimes conflicting)
perspectives and she brought them all into her writing.
Time spent at Reserve brought back cherished memories of her father and her
grandfather, and also turned her attention to the conditions faced by the black plantation
laborers. It was at this time that Elma began to be actively involved with the Louisiana
Farmers’ Union and with the Louisiana League for the Preservation of Constitutional Rights,
which was established by a Newcomb professor of her acquaintance, Dr. Harold N. Lee.
Elma’s enthusiastic likening of herself to French revolutionary writer George Sand,
also bom to wealth, is revelatory. Belinda Jack, in a new biography of Sand entitled A
Woman's Life Writ Large, points out that Sand never had confidence in her appearance—“I
had merely the bloom of youth,” she wrote in an autobiography—but that, like Elma, she
kept company with several very interesting men after the failure of her marriage. David
Coward believes that Sand’s “attraction as a modem woman lies less in her feminism or
socialism and more in her acceptance of freewheeling ideas and her belief that the object of
life is to live fully and intensely” (31). This reputation may have initially attracted Elma
Godchaux to Sand’s literature and it certainly reflects, in some ways, the impression Elma
herself made on others, but the comparison extends more deeply than this. Jack points out
that Sand promoted extending the freedoms she claimed for herself to all of the citizens, male
and female, of the liberal, democratic republic she hoped would one day be established.
Elma must have found parallels between her own writing and Sand’s; Jack and Coward both
find that Sand’s primary literary “theme was liberation from wider tyrannies of class and
from economic and political injustice,” and, to a lesser extent, “of marriage as a prison for
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. women” (Coward 30). Both these themes are clear in her short fiction—her characters toil
under oppressive economic and paternalistic systems in which they feel themselves to be
pawns in someone else’s game, and her wives seek escape from the daily realities under
which they toil, through physical escape, drugs or fantasy. With the exception of Mrs.
Varret, the disconnected wives in Stubborn Roots become mentally disordered or otherwise
emotionally alienated from their communities.
Though she rarely discussed her activities, Gcdehaux’s views were supported by her
large circle of friends, many of whom were writers and artists. While her mother and uncles
did not quite understand Elma’s enthusiasm for mixing with poor people and controversial
figures, her sister Lucille and her cousin Justine admired Elma’s convictions and applauded
her efforts on behalf of southern laborers. Her political views, her convictions about the
literature of the South, and her feelings about her family all came together in Stubborn Roots.
The novel was largely inspired by the lives of Elma’s grandfather Leon Godchaux and her
father Edward, and based as well on the author’s own childhood recollections of plantation
life and her adult reflections on the plantation system and its legacy in the South.
A.S. Byatt warns that literary characters can be “diminished and flattened by being
given the referential life o f‘originals’” from an author’s own life (53). However, in
Godchaux’s work, the awareness that many of these characters, or people like them, actually
did live and work under the conditions depicted at the time during which it was published
lends her fiction much of its power.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Synopsis
Stubborn Roots is the story of the first two American generations of the Anton
Shexnaydre family. Anton Shexnaydre’s background is that he immigrated to New Orleans
alone as a young boy from Frieburg, at the edge of the Black Forest in Germany’s Rhine
Valley. After working as a peddler—first walking with a pack and later purchasing a cart
and mule—he eventually saved enough to buy a sugar plantation called Donne. Later he
purchased nearby Star Plantation and many other properties on which he grows sugar cane.
Though specific dates are not given, events and descriptions make it clear that Anton arrived
in New Orleans at about the same time as did Leon Godchaux, and that he established his
sugar operation near the end of the Civil War—like Leon, preferring a motivated free
workforce to slavery. Anton encourages promising young scientists to visit and develop their
progressive theories, no matter their race or background, and eventually develops a “linear
operation” incorporating the most advanced agricultural and sugaring methods. His own
major advancements are the centralization of sugar processing and the creation of a railroad
system that would move the cane from many plantations to the processing center, and on to
the distribution point.
After his marriage brings a child, Anton’s primary goal is the establishment of a
family business that will be carried on by his son Melville. Anton’s wish for Melville is that
the boy take as much satisfaction and joy from the sugar planter’s life as does Anton himself.
Anton is devastated that Melville, like his mother, takes no interest in the sugar business, and
is in fact openly hostile to the idea o f remaining on the plantation. Anton’s second child, a
daughter Vivienne, on the other hand, is the son he never had. She understands and enjoys
every aspect of the sugar industry, and wants nothing more than to stay on the plantation with
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the father she idolizes and the workers who have become her family. While Melville must be
coerced into assuming small duties, Vivienne must firmly insist that she be allowed to survey
the fields and plant operations with her father. Anton’s old-world notions prevent him from
realizing that Vivienne might be the true heir to the family business, and in the end Anton
loses both his business and his life.
Anton’s wife, Marie Elizabeth Bougere Shexnaydre, is a New Orleans girl whose
parents were both terribly affected by the Civil War. Her inoiner Ivloliie took to her bed to
avoid her creditors, remaining a voluntary invalid even after the family somewhat recovered
financially, and leaving the care of her daughter to her black maid, whom the girl terrorized.
Marie Elizabeth’s father Hypolite Bougere recovered financially by gambling and becoming
a public speaker, not by returning to work. His favored topics were the war and the problems
with Reconstruction, especially the influx of black Republicans into the state of Louisiana.
When Marie Elizabeth was thirteen, a Republican shot Hypolite dead in the middle of a
speech. After fading away for two years, Mollie Bougere died, leaving all her money to her
only child. The girl is left to her paternal uncle Jean Bougere, a spiritless, failing shopkeeper,
his wife Tina, and their faded daughters Emma, Metta, and Della. The six of them live
together above Jean Bougere’s dusty, understocked country store, which has long been
overshadowed by the more successful Donne store—even Jean whiles away his time
gossiping with other men at Donne store. Likewise, Jean’s sideline of “animal doctoring”
has been usurped by a negro healer who works for Anton Shexnaydre on Donne Plantation.
Taking the family finances into her own hands, Tina gambled Marie Elizabeth’s inheritance
in the Louisiana Lottery, and lost the entire sum. She lives in dread that the girl will find out
what she has done and bring her family into public dishonor.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. As the novel opens, Marie Elizabeth hopes to meet a man who will take her away
from the dullness of country living. She meets and marries the wealthiest planter around,
Anton Shexnaydre. Though she loves her privileges, the new bride quickly tires of the
sugaring life. She becomes bored and, in casting about for avenues for her abundant energy,
lights on the plantation workers and the cane itself as targets for her anger and resentment.
When Marie Elizabeth becomes pregnant she attempts to abort the fetus by enlisting the aid
of Zero, a free-born preacher and healer who manages Anton's workers and animais. He
refuses her demand because he dislikes her, and she vows to hurt him whenever she can.
Mr. and Mrs. Shexnaydre produce two children, Melville and Vivienne, though Marie
Elizabeth considers the option of termination at the outset of each pregnancy. Both children
love to ride and play outdoors, and Vivienne keeps a menagerie of animals that includes a
raccoon, a dog named Cindy and a cat that nurses on Cindy as a kitten after Cindy’s own
puppies are crushed by rotten porch timbers. Vivienne also has a set of surrogate parents,
Pierre and Rose Varret, who were allowed to remain on the St. Rose Plantation after hard
times forced them to sell it to Anton. The rest of the household includes Marie Elizabeth’s
personal maid Zanda, the children’s nursemaid Ginny, the cook Felicie, Felicie’s daughter
Sara, and handyman Squire Rose. Outdoor workers include the men Phanor and Brava, and
women Tootsie and Zero’s housemate Oolooah.
Melville develops a relationship with Pearla Naquin and leaves for New Orleans to be
with her. The loss of Melville throws Anton’s notions of family and property into new
perspective, one he is never adequately able to assimilate. Vivienne receives a marriage
proposal from Steven Renshaw, a candy maker’s son who shares her interest in the cane.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Though she loves Steven, she refuses to leave her father. Rose Varret counsels her to marry
Steven if he is still available when her father might no longer need her.
Marie Elizabeth twice toys with the idea of an affair, first with the visiting scientist
Benjamin Sutro and later with the insolent Cajun foreman John Montz. Montz, at Marie
Elizabeth’s insistence that she have retribution for an imagined slight, poisons the workers’
dogs, making Anton frantic with anger and disapproval. Unfazed, the two speculate about
how they might nan the plantation without Anton. Just as Anton realizes the extent of his
wife’s disloyalty, a storm arises which ruptures the Mississippi River levee and kills the men
who battle to mend the crevasse, among them Zero and Anton.
Elma Godchaux and Stubborn Roots
“My sister’s book is a true picture of life on a sugar plantation in
Louisiana, in the early twenties or at the turn of the century. The names she
uses for her characters are fictitious but the tale she narrates closely resembles
the people we all knew and loved in our childhood on the plantation.
-Leon [Gumble] Godchaux, October 11, 1948”
(inscription on a copy of Stubborn Roots donated by the Godchaux family to
the University of Louisiana at Lafayette)
Many of the characters in Stubborn Roots do indeed have counterparts in Elma
Godchaux’s own life, and the story itself draws heavily on family memorates, personal
narratives shared with the author by those close to her, and personal experience. In fact, the
novel can be seen as what Robert O. Stephens refers to as a family saga. The novel’s very
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. title reminds one of Eudora Welty’s insight that long-term knowledge of families and
communities is “what gives you a sense of narrative and a sense of the drama of life,” for
“everything has consequences, and everything has a root” (Rubin 76). One of the
predominant motifs in the novel, that of man struggling to harness nature, is informed by a
family story the Godchauxs used to tell each other during difficult times—the story of how
Leon Godchaux successfully contained the river during the flood of 1893. This story has
become a reference point for the family, and Elma uses it to illustrate her concept of changes
occurring in the South, changes that affect all families. Stephens writes that this “sense of
connection among family, community, and writer has made the family saga a principal
feature of southern writing in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries” (Stephens 2). He
goes on to explain that
the family has become the image of the South to its members and its
chroniclers. It has become “the enveloping action,” not merely background,
of individuals’ stories that takes place simultaneously and interactively with
the actions of individual members. Its hierarchies are the hierarchies of the
South, with ranks of patriarchs, matriarchs, aunts, uncles, and cousins forming
the outer circles of authority as well as of kinship. Its legends reflect the
larger legendary of the region, with extended family members reenacting the
fortunes of southern heroes and heroines. Its sense of place and of events
associated with particular locations finally makes place an index of history
more than of geography, so that place becomes “the present condition of a
scene that is modified through its having been inhabited in time.” (3)
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Stephens points out that in this type of writing the home place functions almost as a
character. In the case of Stubborn Roots, it could be argued that the plantation, the river, and
the community all function as different “characters,” with different meanings. The plantation
is the stage on which the family saga is enacted. It represents the South o f the recent past,
Anton’s and Vivienne’s dreams for the future, Marie Elizabeth’s rage, and the system that
chains the black workers and white family to a bygone system that serves neither well. The
river becomes the representation both of the unpredictable forces of nature and of the
inevitability of change. It is also the symbol of Marie Elizabeth’s indomitable will. The
community functions as extended family, Greek chorus, the judge of propriety, and the
personification of the limitations o f human understanding. In addition, New Orleans
becomes a fantasyland onto which Marie Elizabeth and Melville project their childish
dreams.
Cleanth Brooks notes that the finest “testimonies” of the South are distinguished by
“a sense of place; a special conception of time that would take account o f the past and of the
timeless; and an interest and aptitude for narrative that includes a vigorous oral tradition as
well as formal narration in stories and novels” (Brooks 5). Sense of place in Elma
Godchaux’s writing becomes more than the “crossroads of circumstance” Welty speaks of;
“place” is constantly interacting with, and illuminating, her characters (Welty 118).
Typical of Godchaux is a close alliance of place, sense o f the past, and
characterization. The description of Zero’s stroll through the woods is representative of
Godchaux’s style:
A quick sulphur-yellow bird cut across his path. Its vividness was
startling as a cry. But it made no flicker of change pass through Zero. His
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. aloofness to the wood was perfect and his identity with it was at the same time
perfect. It seemed certain that he must have been bom in this wood, made by
some secret agony [the rape of his mother by her white “master”] under these
trees. As he slid along silently with his thick black lips closed and his heavy
eyes motionless he was the alive expression of this dark wood. There was that
something of silence and sorrow in both. He circled round a bunch of big
fems and then some palmetto palms and Spanish daggers, passing at last
through a church aisle of bamboo and up the levee. (279)
In her novel as in her short stories, Godchaux’s writing explores “a psychic landscape
ruled by primal forces” (Waid 918). The raging storm of “Wild Nigger” that resonates with
Zula’s emotional turbulence; the comforting river that reassures Lurie to do what he believes
to be right; the Scary Woods through which Florie must daily pass; or the rising Mississippi
of Stubborn Roots that swells at the meeting of the two protagonists, and cannot be fought or
controlled—these elements represent the interior landscapes of, and deepest challenges to,
her characters.
Most of the characters are linked with settings that illuminate their characters. Anton
is associated with the orderly rows of cane waving in the clear sunlight. The Varrets, in their
genteel poverty and antiquated manners, are associated with their crumbling but immaculate
home, in which Rose and Black Mom tend the cozy hearth. Marie Elizabeth’s spiritual
poverty is symbolized as much by the squalid Bougere store in which Anton finds her as it is
by the house in which she grew up—just ofFPrytania (her parents could afford to move onto
the more fashionable Prytania Street, but the couple could never muster the energy), on a lot
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. where no grass would grow. These settings also serve as prophecies of her future, as she
moves to the dusty Bougere store and then to Donne, which she never thinks to improve with
landscaping or flower gardens.
In terms of setting, Brooks also remarks on “a pervasive religion that undergirds [the
southerner’s] whole cultural complex” (Brooks 10). It is interesting that Godchaux’s
observations of Catholicism are precise and astute, and that Christian symbols pervade her
novel just as Father Janine’s presence is palpable in the community around Donne Plantation.
A few disparaging remarks about Jews are made by the novel’s Catholics; Jewish symbols or
traditions are absent from the novel. Christmas plantation traditions such as purchasing and
distributing small gifts to the workers, and Catholic rituals such as the South Louisiana folk
tradition of “making (walking) the stations of the cross” and the recitation of the rosary,
permeate the novel. Other religious imagery includes the black candle and snakes associated
with the practice of voodoo. Godchaux also mentions folk superstitions such as the belief in
“second sight,” lucky signs (a white mule, visions interpreted for gambling purposes), and
omens of ill luck or death (a hat on the bed, a hooting owl). After Vivienne’s cat is killed by
the workers’ dogs, the plantation is deluged during a storm that blows down an ancient tree,
after the folk belief that ‘I f you kill a cat or a reptile, it will rain” {Gumbo Ya-Ya 548).
Noel Polk notes that, when Eudora Welty writes about place, she makes no
distinction between “regional literature,” a designation she deems “an outsider’s term,” and
other types. All writing, she says, is regional because each writer simply writes about life
from his own perspective (Polk 38-39). Place, Welty writes, lends validity and worth to that
which is written as it does to the writer: “place is where he has his roots, place is where he
stands; in his experience out of which he writes, it provides the base of reference; in his
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. work, the point of view” (Welty 117). Elma Godchaux would certainly agree with this
assessment. Though all of her stories and her novel are set in the South Louisiana she knew,
her purpose is not to record “folklore” or produce “local color,” but to examine the ways in
which place, heritage, and circumstance shape the motivations and destinies of human
beings.
Caroline Gordon, who grew up on a Kentucky plantation and was just one year older
than Elma, wrote of what she and her generation of southern writers believed about their
heritage: “I subscribed to the notion commonly held in my part of the country that we lived
the way we lived and suffered certain privations as the immediate result of a general
catastrophe—the Civil War, or as we called it, ‘the war.’ Things might have been different if
we had ‘won the war.”’ She explains the point of view of the “middle-ground group of tale
tellers who are genuinely sensitive to both the past and the present of the Southern scene”
called for by Albert Goldstein: “We had not won and they were as they were. An unfortunate
state of affairs but one that could not be mended by complaints. The examples of history are
grim. In this world the right does not always triumph. It is dangerous to expect that it will”
(Gordon 557). Though Elma Godchaux felt nostalgia for her family past, and was skeptical
of the changes brought by the Industrial Age, she did not believe that things would have been
better had the South “won the war.” One of Elma’s aims with her writings is to capture “the
heritage of a planter civilization whose antecedents stretched eastward toward the dynastic
preindustrial culture of the Old World.” As Philip Castille observes about William
Alexander Percy, Elma too is “more concerned with the worldwide disappearance of
hierarchic social structures than with fading images of the cotton [sugar] kingdom, and more
dedicated to the preservation of classical values than of sharecropping” (Castille 108).
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Though Elma’s Godchaux forebears did not fight in the Civil War, and did not wholly
subscribe to “the southern cause,” they faced the challenges of its aftermath along with their
neighbors. Gordon could almost be speaking for Elma when she states that her (Gordon’s)
ancestors “seem to have been cast in heroic mold,” and echoes Godchaux’s ambivalence and
longing for the past when she claims “the South of today has little of the Old South in it—we
have sold out, certainly” (Gordon 557). Elma, like her father, was classically educated and,
as such, learned to see her family story in terms of heroes, myths, and tragic flaws.
Like Gordon, Elma Godchaux clearly saw her agrarian inheritance as legend as much
as it was family history, and that this legacy was threatened not only by the failures of the
industrial and commercial world outside, but by its successes as well. As the world of her
renowned grandfather receded into the past, it came into focus for her in a new way. Like
other southern writers of the time, she faced the challenge of examining that time and relating
it to her own time and her own world. The family saga is a fitting form for this objective,
and this literary strategy illustrates that, as Stephens explains, “history is hierarchical and that
some periods or events keep their importance because of their ‘reverberation time’: they
retain meanings for the present when other times or events are closed out, their significance
is known, and they become the true ‘past’” (Stephens 41).
As has been remarked by Goldstein and Field, Elma’s ear for both dialog and
description is quite remarkable. Several snatches of conversation the writer actually heard at
Reserve—such as the comment that a beautiful woman “can turn a priest into a man”—are
reproduced, almost intact, in the novel (8). The dialog is readable because Godchaux has the
good sense not to render it unintelligible by writing phonetically or otherwise attempting to
catch exact intonations. Characters are recognizable by their speech patterns, and the
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. authorial voice is distinctive and straightforward. The descriptive passages are her best.
They not only draw for the reader pictures of natural settings or sugaring processes, they are
also informative without being pedantic.
The character of Marie Elizabeth is both distressing and puzzling. Though the
character of Anton Shexnaydre is clearly based on both Leon and Edward Godchaux, Marie
Elizabeth seems to be a purely literary creation. Numerous present-day Godchauxs insist that
she has no modei in the Godchaux family, which appears to be the case, and that they know
of no actual person on whom the character might be patterned. Andrew Lytle might almost
have been describing Marie Elizabeth Shexnaydre when he wrote of his own ancestor Julia
Searcy Lytle, who assumed unwonted authority after her husband was permanently
demoralized by “the war.” “She is the vessel of life. Hence substance is a familiar mystery
to her, its loss damaging. [ . . . ] She may do and be many things. One thing she will not do:
accept an abstraction as having anything to do with the business of living. Whatever life is,
she knows it manifests itself in and through substance” (4). Though Marie Elizabeth has no
interest in cane or in business, she resents any perceived threat to what she regards as her
property. An immediate post-war southerner, she tenaciously clings to any material thing she
perceives as rightfully hers. Her literal inheritance having been gambled and lost, she
jealously guards her marital possessions even as she allows her true wealth, her family, to
slip away. Because Marie Elizabeth does not step forward as a matriarch to be the
conservator of the family stories, she allows the heart to go out of the family.
‘'Displacement of the inheritance,” Stephens goes on, “became the crucial convention
of family sagas keyed to the Civil War.” In her novel, Elma Godchaux illustrates the ways in
which psychological factors, as well as economic ones, can lead to the downfall of a would-
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. be dynasty. The “diminished destiny” toward which the Shexnaydre family moves is not one
that cannot regain the glory of antebellum existence, but rather one that cannot sustain the
dream of its founder. The author mourns her own father and grandfather, and the world they
created and inhabited, and at the same time she realizes that the systems under which they
lived cannot, indeed should not, be recreated and must be replaced. Elma herself worked
toward the unionization of plantation workers even as she yearned for the plantation of her
childhood. The inheritance Elma Godchaux lost is not a financial one, but rather a more
personal loss of a larger-than-life family and its close, dependent community. Stephens
writes, “The past on the other side of the fault line took on legendary dimensions that
descendants had to reimagine for their austere purposes, and their speculations turned from
what might have been to what had to be.” (Stephens 73)
Elma, as a grown woman and a successful writer, described her early influences, and
efforts at writing, this way:
When I was fifteen, I wanted to write, hoped I could, without much
caring if I did or not. Youth is like that; that was the way I was.
I lived on a plantation. I wanted to be in the fields. I wanted to be on
horseback. I wanted to see the start of grinding. I wanted to write. But I
didn’t much care. I wanted to watch my father and be with him. He was a
kind of giant on the plantation and the life of the place revolved about him.
The possibility that the life of that place could go on without him was absurd,
the colossal negation of everything that was true. Everybody there needed
him, came to him for all sorts of things, when they were sick, when they were
broke, when the belt of the mill snapped, when there was not enough water in
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the vacuum pans. To my child’s eyes, he kept order on a tremendous scale. I
saw him always the central actor in great scenes. There was one, when a
young Negress came to him with her ear slashed off, her ear in her hand. I
couldn’t look at the blood. But my father could look at it. There were many
such fights in the quarters and often in the terrible night. But there was
always peace again and my father made it.
Such fights as these, gory as they were, were really minor happenings
in an order of things climaxed by grinding, the great event of the year, the
reason for and the crowning of all effort.
When I was a child, there was no refining of Philippine and Cuban raw
sugar, and the plantation was dead except for those three months of harvesting
and grinding. Now there is less drama. But then; imagine a monster that has
been sleeping and suddenly awakes and roars day and night and blows black
smoke through its nostrils while little men scamper feverishly to feed it. That
was grinding when I was young. My father used to kill the stillness and
awake the monster early on some winter morning. I never knew why he chose
the early bleak mornings. But so he did. I drove with him to the cold misty
morning to the sugarhouse and the lanterns of the men going to work spotted
the darkness and the headlights of the dummy engines looked enormous. Men
recognized my father and saluted him with quickened steps or with smiles in
some way, and it always seemed to me that they were glad to see him for
some reason, because the thing was about to be done; it was coming off, the
thing they had worked for, the end they all had marched to meet. My father
249
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. stationed himself in the sugarhouse on a little platform between the crushers,
between enormous shining wheels, and looked small and neat and perfectly
dressed and perfectly master of the great machines. He dropped a silk
handkerchief; that handkerchief was always silk; and the wheels everywhere
around him magically turned. There was a heavy thunder of noise. The cane
came sliding magically. It always seemed magic to me. I loved it, I loved it
the way children love fairy stories and happy endings. I watched everything.
My brain seemed a Kodak, and the pictures the Kodak of my brain took were
never developed. I was too young or too happy. Everything was too right. I
wrote occasionally little trashy things about the Negroes. It wasn’t until my
father was removed and the order that he alone seemed to me to keep was
smashed that I began to develop the pictures in my brain. I wanted so badly,
as everybody does, to keep my world and I couldn’t and that was the bitter
fact. I began suddenly, really suddenly, to write things that were all right.
(Godchaux, Flik Magazine, 8 & 31)
Elements from the life of Leon Godchaux
Though Elma Godchaux was only three years old when her grandfather Leon died,
she heard many recitations of his life story from her aunts and uncles and, in particular, from
her father Edward, who had adored both his parents. Stubborn Roots is dedicated to Edward
Godchaux, but the character of Anton Shexnaydre draws as much on the personality and life
history of Leon Godchaux as it does on Edward. Leon Godchaux emigrated from the
disputed territory of Alsace Lorraine; Anton Shexnaydre, as a young man, left his hometown
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of Frieburg, at the edge of the Black Forest. For Anton’s home, Elma chose an area she had
visited during Charlotte’s summer there in 1932, and about which she knew from her
household staff, William and Pauline Ritz. Though the models for Anton are Jewish, Elma
never explicitly states Anton’s religion. Marie Elizabeth’s family initially objects to the
marriage because, as Marie Elizabeth muses, “Why, he was not even Catholic” (30). At
another point Marie Elizabeth thinks, “God knows what he believed” (118). When Anton
asks Jean and Tina Bougere for permission to marry their niece, Madam Bougere baiks.
“You’re not Cath’lic,” she whispered. “Her mother wouldn’t want.”
Her voice trailed off into Anton’s. ‘That can be arranged to Marie
Elizabeth’s satisfaction,” he declared. “Our children will be Catholics.”
Madam Bougere fastened her glittering eyes on him. “It ain’t good,”
she repeated stubbornly. She didn’t know herself talking in this stubborn way
to Mr. Anton. But she continued, “It ain’t good with her Cath’lic and you not
Cath’lic.” (33)
Like the early Jews of New Orleans, Anton is more concerned with establishing and
supporting his family than in issues of religion. The implication that Anton has arranged
with Father Janine for a proper wedding is reminiscent of Edward Godchaux’s support of,
and close relationship with, the Catholic Church in Reserve.
Anton, like the Godchaux family, enjoys recounting stories of his family in Germany.
He remembers his roots and, again like the Godchauxs, acknowledges gratitude to his
forebears for the successes of the present. This attitude is much in the tradition of Jews
recounting the story of the Exodus and recalling the patriarchs. In the character of Anton, the
author has combined the men she admired and knew best. Elma Godchaux never specifies
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. that Anton is Jewish, probably because she does not wish to raise too many issues with her
novel, but perhaps by not giving Anton any other affiliation she is in some sense remaining
loyal to the memories of her Jewish forefathers.
Elma wrote Stubborn Roots during a time of gradually increasing anti-Semitism in
New Orleans and in America. By 1938, during the national discussion about opening
American borders to refugees from Nazi Germany, General George Van Home Moseley
opined, at a speech to medical reservists at Tulane University, that America should not allow
anyone termed “undesirable” to perpetuate their race in the United States. These immigrants
should be accepted only “with the distinct understanding that they all be sterilized before
being permitted to embark. Only that way can we properly protect our future” (quoted in
Craig 57). Historian and critic Gordon A. Craig comments, “Moseley did not use the word
‘Jew,’ but everyone knew that he meant it” (Craig 57). In this environment, Godchaux might
well gloss over her protagonist’s religious background if she did not intend it to be Christian.
Elma’s character Anton Shexnaydre tries to instill his ancestral values in his wife and
children. He had received permission to emigrate from his mother after the tragic death of
his sister Freda. Forbidden by her mother to marry and move away from home, the young
woman died and, in her grief, the mother allowed Anton to make his own decisions. ‘It
always seemed to him that his sister Freda had died to free him, that his cane had its far roots
in that grave in Germany and was watered by his mother’s tears. Mentally linking his
European family with his American wife and children, and to his adult accomplishments,
Anton frequently sees qualities in his daughter Vivienne that remind him of his own mother,
and he wonders how his mother would react to his success” (262, 307).
252
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The descriptions of Anton’s youth closely resemble descriptions of Leon’s life that
Elma wrote for the Times-Picayune on the hundredth anniversary of Godchaux’s Department
Store (see Chapter 1). Like Leon, Anton is drawn to Louisiana, where he can take advantage
of new opportunities while keeping his own language. Anton, like Leon, yearns for land of
his own and is thrilled by travelers’ tales of America. “He had seen men too who had been
beyond the mountains. They came to the village wirtschaft to drink beer and talk. His own
uncle, his father’s youngest brother, had sat against their stove and eaten their bread and
drunk their wine, and that same man had known the ocean and the wide spaces of America.
He said he had never seen a land so wide.” Just as Leon Godchaux had, young Anton
compares bringing forth music from a wooden instmment to bringing a harvest from the
earth. At sixteen Anton comforts his mother that “where he was going it was warm and easy
to live and he would be among his own people almost the same as here at home. The French
had called the place, she knew, Bayou des Allemands because so many Germans lived there.
She didn’t have to worry that he’d be alone where people couldn’t understand him” (42).
As an older man looking back on his first experience of America, Anton remembers
himself as a boy in “a short dark jacket buttoned to his neck and a round wool cap pulled
over his thick curly hair.”
He stood on the wharf with a rolled carpet bag beside him and a fat bundle
wrapped in one o f his mother’s checked tablecloths. He gazed over the flat
reaches of New Orleans. He wasn’t frightened. He drew in his breath to
smell deeply of the earth once more. The smells of the earth and steaming
horse flesh were smells he knew. He liked the sharp clatter of the mules’
shoes and the rattle of the wagons over the cobblestones. He was alive to the
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. thick shouts of the black men calling to the mules. Negroes moved on the
wharf, on the ships, among the cotton bales. The cotton bales were
everywhere, piled high on the wharf and in the mule wagons; nothing showed
of them but keel and smokestacks and the cotton they held. It was the time
before the war when cotton was king. From his height on the wharf Anton
looked down on New Orleans spreading flatly. On one side of the broad canal
houses clustered thickly. The street parallel to the wharves was, he supposed,
Levee Street where his uncle lived. His uncle had a store there and his own
name would be written along its front, Schexsneider, but spelled in the new
Creole way. [ . . . ] He was soon to know this country below the city, but
some miles away from the river. He would walk along the roads through the
dismal forests that separated the tiny villages. He would walk those roads in
the land of the free. (338-39)
Returning by riverboat from his honeymoon, Anton relates his experiences as a
teenaged peddler to his new bride.
It’s cool compared to the way it used to be for me on that road the other side
of the levee there. I used to eat dust, drown in it when carriages passed me. I
never walked that road it’s true so it wasn’t as hard as it could have been. By
the time I got this far from the Bayou Country I had a horse and wagon. But
they were slow.” He laughed and went on, “When folks wanted pins and
needles and things they hung a flag at the gate for me the same as they did for
the doctor. But even then, young as I was, I knew it wasn’t a store I wanted,
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. or selling things, but land.” He talked to her eagerly as if after years of silence
at last he had somebody to talk to. “I came for land. And got it, plenty of it.
Got more than I expected. It turned out that I was looking for it at a time
when land like a ripe apple was ready to fall in anybody’s lap. My lap was
handy, that’s about all it amounts to. Folks here were too worn out to hang on
any longer, worn out with the heat and fighting the river and frosts too that
killed the cane and then the war. Now we’ve got land,” he finished, “enough
to keep us and our children forever. Ain’t that so, sweetheart, ain’t it so?”
(47).
Marie Elizabeth observes, as had young Leon Godchaux in his peddling days, “Every man
was interested in the cane as if the fields belonged to him and not to Anton Shexnaydre.”
Interest in the crops serves as the focus for conversations between people of different races
and social classes. At Donne Store, which closely resembles Leon Godchaux’s Convent
store, Anton keeps up acquaintances with the Cajuns, black and Italian workers, and other
planters and neighbors, all of whom share some stake in the success of each year’s sugar
crops. In order to thank his neighbors for kindnesses performed during the year, and to
maintain good relationships with his neighbors, Anton distributes gifts of sugar at
Christmastime. For some, such as Emma Bougere, this gift was a tremendous financial help
(248). This practice had been instituted by Leon Godchaux. Edward Godchaux continued
this tradition, and his daughter Elma came to look forward to the distribution of the sugar
each year.
Echoing Leon Godchaux’s first experience of Souvenir Plantation, the fictional Anton
Shexnaydre, as a young peddler, was “ordered off Donne Plantation.”
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. He smiled now thinking of it. The overseer told him to get out. No peddlers
were allowed. His face had burned. He grinned now thinking of the young
peddler with the burning face and a lump in his throat. His contempt for the
man who ordered him could not be uttered; it was contempt that burned and
choked him. [... ] With his face red and the pain in his throat he cried out in
his labored English, “I will own this one day.” He stood up in his wagon and
pointed at Donne. ‘Donne. These fields. That sugarhouse. This house. I
will be back. I will own it.” [... ] Anton knew he would stick his fierce roots
into the earth. (342-3)
Though Souvenir becomes Donne Plantation, another of Leon Godchaux’s plantations, Belle
Pointe, becomes the property of Anton Shexnaydre with its name unchanged.
In the novel, Donne Plantation becomes a literary combination of Reserve, Leon’s
first plantation, and Souvenir, in that it allows for the inclusion of the above episode. Donne
Plantation, however, clearly takes Reserve as its model. The plantation’s name may be a
variation on the name “Reserve,” in that it resembles in meaning the French “donee”—that
which is given. Reserve Plantation was the favorite of Leon Godchaux’s properties, it was
beloved by Edward and Elma Godchaux as well, and has attained talismanic significance in
the Godchaux family. The incident in which Leon worked with farmers and convicts to save
Reserve from the flood of 1893 is echoed twice in Stubborn Roots. Anton remembers that
“in ’seventy-one he and his negroes had held it [the river] to its appointed place between the
levees. [ .. . ] He would never relinquish his land” (41). The novel’s final incident makes
clear that Leon’s story was the subject of repeated tellings to his Godchaux grandchildren.
256
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Beneath the torches the stripes of the convict suits made a pattern of
moving lines, light and dark. The noise of the river eclipsed the movements
of the men, making everything they did trivial. [ . . . ] [The men] worked
quickly shoveling up the heavy mud. The lights showed the carriers moving
off with the bags. The men never stopped going and returning, weaving in
and out of the glow, the convicts manifest like the theme in a song of
movement. [... ] The water above them seemed about to fall on their heads.
But still they fought. The earth that was battleground might slump away.
Anton watched. Shouted a command. It was drowned by the river. Only the
raised pistol in his hand pierced the roaring. Zero answered the shot from
somewhere, standing beside him.
“Start bracing the levee,” Anton cried. “Set posts for the wall in
middle of the road. Fill in with moss and trash. Save bags for top. Not
enough earth.” The roaring like a hand over his mouth muffled his voice.
(401-2)
Anton’s close, almost instinctive, relationship with Zero, the only free-born black
man on the plantation, seems to be loosely patterned on Leon Godchaux’s friendship with
Joachim Tassin. Despite Marie Elizabeth’s antipathy, Anton cannot imagine managing his
operations without Zero. The character of Zero, however, is not intended as a picture of
Tassin, but is based on a story Elma and her cousins heard as children. Zero’s attire is
problematic in terms of interpretation. Zero’s mother, who had hoped for a girl after giving
birth to nineteen boys, dressed him in skirts and put ribbons in his hair. According to Justine
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Godchaux McCarthy, there had been a slave woman in Reserve who had given birth to many
babies by her white master. The master told her that her twentieth child, should she live and
“produce” long enough, would be bom free. This story becomes Zero’s background, but
McCarthy doesn’t remember anything about the son’s being dressed in girl’s clothing and
continuing to wear skirts into adulthood. The six foot-five inches tall Zero’s attire is not
associated with sexuality in any way, and seems to function as a means o f setting him apart.
To others he seems a powerful man/woman who knows so many things, which adds to his
authority as a healer and preacher.
Anton’s admiration o f progressive ideas, and appreciation of thinkers no matter their
color or background, echoes Leon Godchaux’s. In fact, an engineer for whom Leon had a
high regard almost makes an appearance in his granddaughter’s novel. The engineer Norbert
Rillieux, a free man of color whose cousins once owned Reserve Plantation, revolutionized
the refining of raw sugar by introducing the multiple effect vacuum pan process. Rillieux
was bom in New Orleans and went to Paris for his education, becoming an engineer,
scientist, and inventor. His innovative technique represented a great advance in sugar
refining, making the processing of cane less wasteful and more profitable. In Stubborn Roots
he becomes “Vascon Rillieux,” and Anton honors him for his brilliance. The fictional
Rillieux, no doubt like the man on whom he is modeled, became a symbol of pride and hope
for the black workers of Donne Plantation.
Like Leon Godchaux, Anton Shexnaydre does not take part in the Civil War, and
Elma Godchaux gives us his reason. “He was founding a dynasty by rooting his feet deep in
the soil instead of fighting wars” (76). Perhaps this passage provides some insight into
Leon’s decision not to enlist. Anton’s decision to avoid warfare does not estrange him from
258
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. his neighbors, but they do not forget that he is not fully “one of them.” Marie Elizabeth’s
father Hypolite Bougere died a business failure because he spent most of his time talking to
anyone who would listen about his favorite subjects—the war, the cowards who hadn’t
joined up, and running the black Republicans out of the state of Louisiana. When Marie
Elizabeth decries Anton’s generous treatment of the “niggers,” she shrieks, “You ain’t no
southerner!” (203).
The character of Ilypohte Bougere allows Godchaux to skewer what James ivl.
McPherson calls the “revisionist” school of historians led by Avery Craven, which held sway
from the 1930s to the 1950s. Their position was that “the war was brought on not by genuine
issues but by extremists on both sides, especially abolitionists and radical Republicans, who
whipped up emotions and hatreds for their own self-serving partisan purposes.” These
emotions got out of control in 1861 and erupted into a terrible, needless war that
“accomplished nothing that could not have been achieved by negotiations and compromise.”
“Any such compromise in 1861,” he writes, “would have left slavery in place” and would
have reinforced the rights of slave owners (McPherson 28). Elma’s position, that “genuine”
misery resulted from the slave system and its agrarian sequel, sharecropping, refutes the
position of the revisionist historians that slavery and its legacy, to quote Craven, “played a
rather minor part in the life of the South and the Negro” (Craven 93).
As did Leon Godchaux, Anton Shexnaydre must forge new methods of relating to his
workers, newly freed slaves. Anton bought his plantations after the war, and treats his
workers fairly. The workers, however, still face entrenched southern bigotry and cruelty in
the person of Marie Elizabeth Bougere Shexnaydre. Marie Elizabeth begrudges any license
granted the former slaves, and resents any generosity toward them. “She was furious with
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Anton; the idea of his letting the niggers out at night up to whatever they pleased to be.
Anton was always saying they were free. Free to steal sugar cane and to scare her to death.
Anton and his niggers made her sick.” Her stubborn adherence to the old order allows her to
mistreat her servants to the point where they sometimes become unsure of their own status.
After Marie Elizabeth strikes her daughter’s maid Ginny, Ginny asks Zero, a leader among
the black workers, to explain to her exactly what rights she now has. “Marie Elizabeth hit
me, she screamed, “and I wants to ask you, Zero, is we free?” (287)
Marie Elizabeth, determined that Abolition should change nothing, exercises her
power over the black workers in malicious and arbitrary ways. Convinced that Vivienne’s
affection for her nursemaid Ginny has led the girl to prefer the company of blacks, Marie
Elizabeth torments and eventually fires Ginny.
Vivienne was sobbing. “She left because you were so mean to her.
That’s why she left.”
“Oh, for God sakes,” burst from Marie Elizabeth, “stop carrying on.
And over a nigger.”
“I loved her,” cried Vivienne, “I loved her if you want to know.” She
faced her mother, trembling, her face wet.
“Well, you ought to be ashamed,” stormed Marie Elizabeth.
Felicie listened from the kitchen. (282)
Elina’s memories of Reserve and Edward
Despite Marie Elizabeth’s callousness, Anton does forge close relationships with his
neighbors and workers. Anton’s friendship with Pierre and Rose Varret mirrors the
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. connection between Edward Godchaux and Mr. and Mrs. Hypolite LeBlanc. LeBlanc was a
Cajun foreman with whom Edward had a close working relationship. Just as Leon Godchaux
had encouraged Mrs. Boudousquie to remain in her home after he purchased it, Edward
invited the LeBlancs to remain in their home, which had been purchased by the Godchaux
family. The LeBlancs lived there throughout both Edward’s and Elma’s lifetimes. Elma
spent a great deal of time in their home when she was growing up, coming to see Mrs.
LeBlanc almost as an aunt. The descriptions of the Varret home and the feelings between
Rose Varret and Vivienne likely are taken from Elma’s own experience with Mrs. LeBlanc.
This close relationship later extended to Elma’s daughter Charlotte, who joined her mother
on weekend visits to their home.
There are other ways in which Stubborn Roots is suggestive of its author’s own life,
and of family stories she heard from older relatives. Vivienne Shexnaydre is repeatedly
compared to her Shexnaydre grandmother, just as Elma’s quick wit and diminutive size
reminded family members of her paternal grandmother Justine Lamm Godchaux (307). The
character Marie Elizabeth Bougere grew up off Prytania Street, on which Elma Godchaux’s
mother Ophelia Gumbel Godchaux was raised. Marie Elizabeth enjoyed the feeling of
superiority she got from playing there with other girls, especially the Jewish ones. “Certainly
she was superior to the little Jewish girl who played with her sometimes. The little Jewess
seemed a visiting stranger in Marie Elizabeth’s world of Catholics. Marie Elizabeth and all
her other friends went every day to the Convent of the Sacred Heart where Marie Elizabeth
got on very well with the nuns.” This passage leads one to wonder about Elma’s own
experiences with non-Jewish children. It is significant that the author never ascribes these
types of sentiments to Vivienne Shexnaydre. Vivienne expresses many of the feelings and
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. thoughts articulated by Elma herself, and the descriptions of Vivienne’s life may give readers
some insight into the author’s own experience.
Vivienne’s relationship with Anton, given that the models for these characters are
Edward Godchaux and Elma Godchaux, must shed some light on the author’s relationship to
her own father. The child Vivienne sees her father as a larger-than-life figure of legend.
“She saw him standing above her head on the gallery between the two mills. All the
enormous black and shiny wheels were motionless waiting on him. He stood in a breathless
pause. He moved and the wheels turned feeling his will. Yes, he was like God making life.”
Her father’s knowledge of the cane and the workers is something of which Vivienne is
enormously proud. When young Steven Renshaw comments on the large number of workers
on the plantation, Vivienne comes close to boasting when she responds, “Yes, and my father
knows them all.”
Anton, in his turn, is grateful to Vivienne for her love of the land. Only with her can
he share his reminiscences of life on the farm with his own mother, and his speculation about
what she might make of his enterprises. He also tells her about his childhood, his early
experiences in America, and about the extended European family she will never meet. Anton
and Vivienne also discuss Anton’s business—the land, the cane, the sugaring processes.
With his daughter he shares his feelings about the lack of interest his wife and son show in
his way of life. Their mutual love of the land gives them a bond that includes no other family
member.
The depictions of the sugaring process reveal Elma Godchaux’s own impressive
understanding of the family business, as well as her descriptive powers. Early in chapter
eighteen the reader is treated to a lesson on the differences between the old-fashioned Batavia
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ribbon cane, the newer hardy purple variety, and the striped and white varieties that are
vulnerable to frostbite. After the harvest, the cane is transported by wagon to the sugarhouse.
Anton Shexnaydre stations himself facing the mills and “there reigned in the sugarhouse a
breathless pause.” “No matter how long it lasted he knew he could break it. By such a
simple gesture as this, raising his arm and letting his handkerchief fall from his hand. The
wheels, his obedient servants, moved. Their movement filled everybody” (137-8).
In the sugarhouse the machines beat. Heat from the furnaces and the
boiling and the filter presses and the friction of the machines swung
everywhere like a heavy mantle. Molasses from the first boiling, heavy and
dark brown, [. .. ] slid slowly from the stubby snout of a big pipe into the
tank. Two half-naked negroes who had just cleaned a trough stood against the
tank dumping into it the stuff from the pan with their hands. It moved slowly
as glue. It clung to the fingers of the negroes and spread half way up their
forearms; it was blacker than their skins. Anton passed on his way to the
vacuum pans just beyond. The two closed tanks towered up enormous and
black; they stuck up high above the men into the raftered ceiling. The men
moved about their bases dwarfed and apparently ineffectual, but busy, tending
giants that stood phlegmatic and tyrannical. (3 SO)
The passage in which Vivienne dreams about talking with her father reminds one of
Elma’s description of remembering, and writing about, Edward after his death as she “began
to develop the pictures in [her] brain.” “He had broken from her. But now, alone, her
thoughts brought him close to her again. Together they inhabited this blackness. They were
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. as private as if they were married.” When Vivienne wakes, she “tried to remember. What
had happened? Then she knew. She walked with her father in the darkness; they two were
locked within the darkness” (306).
It is interesting that, just as Vivienne has this dream, a giant tree outside her window
crashes to earth with a sound “like water rushing,” almost as if the author were remembering
the devastation she had experienced with her own father’s death and preparing Vivienne for a
similar separation with the coming flood (306). As he and Vivienne discuss their love of
sugaring, Anton says, “But your mother and Melville don’t like it.”
She tried to laugh. ‘Well, Melville, Melville’s still a child. He seems
years younger than me. He’ll like it,” she laughed, “when he’s older.
Shexnaydres all like it.”
‘W e’ve all been farmers, it’s true,” he returned, “far back as anybody
knows. I don’t know. We belong to the land. We seem to. No matter where
it is.”
She nodded.
“Here we Shexnaydres are in America, roots in.” He hesitated. “But I
don’t know how deep.”
She looked at him. She thought of the pecan tree. Its roots hadn’t
been deep enough.
“People change,” he observed, “maybe we ain’t as deep rooted as we
used to be.” (309)
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Anton goes on to tell Vivian about the creolization of his name. “Even our name
changed. It’s not the name my mother used. The Creoles couldn’t seem to spell it or say it
when it was spelled ‘Sneider.’ But when it was changed to ‘Snaydre’ they could use it
easily. They got to thinking it was a good Creole name” (309). With this passage Elma
implies both the importance and the fragility of the immigrant’s connection to his far-off
family and homeplace. She also acknowledges that any break in the family tradition may
iiroll r«cnH in ifc 1/tee V l W U AWkJWAAb AAA A ltl IV /J>J.
Although Anton ultimately realizes that his fondest dreams will not be fulfilled, he is
incapable of disabling depression. He is possessed of a self-sufficiency that borders on
egoism. What can Anton do about his wife’s unhappiness? As she refuses to enter into a
dialog with him about this, he concludes that he must go on living, working his land, and
perhaps a solution will come. He takes pleasure in the rituals of planting, the cycles of
nature, discussing the crops with his workers and other planters, and grinding.
Elma’s observations, perhaps experiences, of life beyond the plantation gates are
included in her novel as well. Courtship rituals “began on the levee, since this was the main
meeting place, especially in the summer. [. .. ] In fact, the levee was nicknamed le chemin
d amour (the road of love)” (Gaudet 18). Marcia Gaudet writes, ‘The levee was an
important part of the social life along the river. Many property owners built platforms with
benches along the levee, with stairs going to the platform. It was there that most of the
visiting and socializing took place, especially in the summer months” (28).
Because of her own bout with the disease, Elma Godchaux is well-equipped to
describe Benjamin Sutro’s brush with malaria. Readers get some idea of the author’s
memories of that experience by her description of malarial symptoms:
265
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. As he went about his ordinary activities chills would suddenly crawl up his
back. He shook with an intolerable inward cold. Not even blankets could
thwart the icy fingers invading him. When fever’s sleep chained him chills
would shake him awake. He shivered under his blankets, half conscious,
unable to remember where he was as if his body were pulled here and there
dark distances that his mind couldn’t follow. He groaned and tried to raise
himself from the black pit in which he lay. But height of the grave was above
him and earth’s weight upon his chest pinned him down. (226)
Stubborn Roots’ descriptions of plantation life mesh closely with family recollections
of Elma’s youth.9 Her friendships with the LeBlancs, especially Mrs. LeBlanc, were an
important part of her childhood. The description of Rose Varret could almost be a
description of Mrs. LeBlanc. Justine Godchaux McCarthy remembers Mrs. LeBlanc as a
maternal, generous and loving woman. Like the Varrets, the LeBlancs had suffered losses
after the war, and they lived in their own home, which had become Godchaux property, until
the end of their lives. Elma continued to visit the LeBlancs throughout her life; after
Charlotte’s birth she joined her mother on many weekend visits.
Sara, the fictional Donne cook Felicie’s daughter, is based on Tootsie, daughter of the
Reserve cook Celeste White. The author actually names another of the house servants
Tootsie, honoring her friend but keeping the novel from seeming too autobiographical. (A
character in her previous short story “Wild Nigger” is also named Tootsie.) Sara, Vivienne,
and Melville play together as friends, daring each other to do silly things like eat a slice of
mud pie, and sneaking off to peek at forbidden sights, like the calving which horrifies and
266
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. delights the children. At Christmastime, Vivienne delights in shopping for small gifts for the
workers. Just before Christmas day, the Shexnaydres decorate a tree in the yard especially
for the workers, with a beautiful star of Bethlehem at the top, and on Christmas day Vivienne
is allowed to host a party for the workers. She chooses Sara to be her co-hostess, and the two
girls form a receiving line for greeting and gifting the workers. “Sara and Vivienne were
having a fine time. This was play like playing ladies, but grander. It had a real grown-up
purpose to it. They acted just like ladies stooping over the children and wishing everybody a
Merry Christmas” (268). Privately, Sara speaks with complete freedom to her friend.
“[Sara] turned to Vivienne. ‘Vivienne, don’t you give no more present to this here Pirow.
He been here befo’. What you done with your present, Pirow? You done hide it in the
violets, hunh? Well, get out of this line, you hear me?”’
Tellingly, the relationship between the friends changes when adults are present.
Felicie worries aloud that Sara may lead Vivienne and Melville into trouble, which might in
turn be visited on herself and her child. When Marie Elizabeth sends for Sara to come fan
her during dinner,
Sara came into the room on her bare feet. She moved round the table
passing Melville. He tried to wink at her. But she didn’t look at him. She
took a station beside Marie Elizabeth and waved the big palm leaf fan. She
pouted seriously not paying the least attention to Vivienne and Melville as if
she didn’t know them. (242)
In this and many other instances, the author illustrates the “double-thinking” necessary to the
black workers on the plantation, and compares this to the relative naivete of the white
children.
267
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Vivienne’s nursemaid Ginny also had a counterpart in the author’s own life.
Godchaux describes the genuine happiness this relationship gives to both Vivienne and
Ginny, and also the delicacy of the bond that can be altered or broken at any time by a white
adult.
Ginny was standing close to Vivienne, looking at the child and grinning.
Sometimes she spoke to Vivienne, touching her, and they looked at each other
and both laughed. It made Marie Elizabeth mad to see Ginny standing as big
as she pleased before the white folks and shaking with laughter. And she
knew Ginny wasn’t teaching Vivienne nothing good. Marie Elizabeth never
did like Ginny. (269)
With the White family, Elma attended gospel services in Reserve. Elma was partial
to dynamic speakers, and reveled in the rhythms of charismatic black preachers. In her
novel, Elma attributes the compelling speech patterns of the black preacher to Zero. A folk
preacher who believes that “his people were his children,” Zero holds regular meetings at the
home he shares with Oolooah, meetings that serve religious, motivational, disciplinary, and
community-making functions (289). The author hints that the services incorporate voodoo
rituals when she mentions the caged snake for which Oolooah is responsible, but does not
describe the nature of these rituals. Zero employs a lulling call-and-response speech style in
which he repeats a litany that demands not only attention, but agreement. Zero positions
himself as the Christ figure who redeems his chosen people and as the righteous preacher
who shepherds his flock from damnation to salvation.10 In the following passage, the giant
Zero has traveled by train to a nearby station, where he intends to save some former slaves
268
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. from their habit of “hanging round the railroad junctions [... ] satisfied with whatever they
were thrown in the way of stale bread or pennies” and take them to work on Donne
Plantation (184).
Yamba, with his eyes on the ground, answered, “I done heard folks say
niggers can get forty cents in the city.”
“Niggers in the city is hungry,” Zero announced heavily. “Them folks
that knows carpentry’ and bricklaying I needs.” Nobody dared look on his
face. “And what I comes for I gets. Yamba, you going to come. You going
to get a free ride in the cars. But that ain’t why you coming. You coming
’cause Zero says you got to work. You got to work to live. You hear me,
niggers? You got to work to live.”
Somebody raised his head and chanced a look at Zero’s face. The old
darky who had been fooling with the man in the car called out suddenly, “Yes.
Yes, huh-hunh, that’s right, yes.”
“You got to work, niggers,” Zero cried, “you ain’t going last long like
you is living now. You going be screaming in hell. That’s what you all going
be doing, screaming in hell.”
The old darky clapped his hands and shouted, “Huh-hunh, that’s so,
yes.”
The woman with the baby cried out, “Yes. Yes. Yes, Zero.”
Negroes looked at each other mournfully, crying out and clapping their hands.
“I done come for you all,” shouted Zero, “and you is coming.” (186)
269
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Zero has assumed responsibility for the former slaves who inhabit Donne Plantation,
as well as for those who live nearby. He hopes to do more than ensure their general well
being; he hopes to encourage them toward some degree of self-fulfillment, or at least toward
ancestral awareness and personal pride. At a meeting, Zero tells “his people” about the
upcoming visit of Vascon Rillieux, the European-trained Negro scientist who will work with
Anton to develop innovative sugaring techniques.
“You all going io be proud of this nigger. You ail going to be giad you is
niggers ’cause he is a nigger too. You all going know a nigger can raise
himself up does he want to learn. You all going to hold up your heads. [ . . . ]
Vascon Rillieux. He going to be the reason for you all to hold up your heads.
He going show you what a nigger can do is he willing to learn like this here
snake was willing to learn. You all going hear plenty about this Vascon
Rillieux. White folks is talking about him. White folks can’t do him no harm.
White folks need him. He learned plenty white folks don’t know theirselves. [
. .. ] Learn why you going hold up your heads.” Zero’s shouts seemed to
burst through the thin walls. “Hold up your heads!”
[ . . . ] The chant swung out from the cabin and seemed to spread over
the dark swamp and the fields. “Hold. Yes, Lord. Hold up our heads.” (195-
97)
Zero himself serves as an example to all Donne workers, including Anton, because of
his knowledge o f sugaring as well as his leadership. Anton relies on him and freely admits
that he and his business need Zero’s talents. Marie Elizabeth’s awareness of their bond leads
270
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. her into jealousy: “I can’t understand, me, a white man loving a nigger like that” (66). Zero,
like Leon Godchaux’s friend Tassin, is capable of managing the sugarhouse on his own when
Anton is called away. One can’t help thinking of Elma Godchaux’s efforts on behalf of
black workers when one reads the passages about the expertise black sugar workers bring to
their jobs, and the impossibility of carrying on a successful business without these workers
who bring necessary competence and knowledge, gathered over several generations, of the
cane. In the following passage, she pokes gentle fun at the narrow thinking exliibiied by
even some of the most “liberal” people in her experience, even as she raises the issue of
racial equality.
Zero was foreman and stood like a captain watching. The men moved about
him. Anton passed and his eyes and Zero’s met. The white man was
conscious of a sudden quick feeling of gratitude to the negro as a faithful
partner, as if for a moment the black man wasn’t a negro at all. Anton’s
conscious gratitude, fleeting as a breath quickly taken, raised the negro to
equality. (138)
Elma Godchaux is careful to illustrate some of the problems inherent in plantation
life, both for the black workers and the white family. One incident illustrating the dangers of
plantation life for isolated and vulnerable black women comes directly from Elma’s own
experience (see Chapter 2).
A scream sudden and wild interrupted her. [. . . ] A woman came running
from the quarters. She followed the path to the house. She stumbled up the steps.
Her kinks stuck out in crazy ways and blood was streaming down her cheek.
271
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ‘"Look, Mr. Anton,” she cried coming up on the gallery, “look! Look what he
done me, that nigger Fontain.” She turned her head so Anton could see how her ear
was slit. (79)
Marcia Gaudet, in Tales From the Levee: The Folklore o f St. John the Baptist Parish,
makes clear that, as late as the 1980s, black residents of the parish preserve stories of harsh
treatment endured under slavery, and were willing to share their stories with interested and
trustworthy white listeners. Elma Godchaux is aware that hard times did not end with
emancipation, and the stories to which she had access, along with her own observations,
provided her with rich resources for her depictions of life “in the cabins.”
As Godchaux makes clear with the characters of Marie Elizabeth and John Montz, the
plantation system can twist the psyche and strain the humanity of those who live in the “big
house” and those who occupy positions of authority. Though both characters are monstrous
in their behaviors toward the blacks over whom they hold such power, Godchaux is careful to
illustrate some of the societal strictures that contribute to Marie Elizabeth’s perpetual
frustration.
With her first pregnancy, Marie Elizabeth realizes that the price of privilege is the
production of an heir. Appalled at the prospect of maternity, she views the baby growing
inside her as “a malignant growth” (100). Marie Elizabeth knows that there is no solution to
her dilemma through traditional medicine. She turns to the local healer, because it is
common knowledge that his tonics can induce abortion. Zero turns down her request,
Melville is bom, and Marie Elizabeth considers that her “duty” is done for good. When she
becomes aware o f her second pregnancy she turns to Father Janine for permission to
272
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. terminate the pregnancy. “Ain’t there no way?” she begs the priest. ‘“No way but sin.’
Father Janine presented to her that bare face with shut eyes. ‘Sin’” (213). He advises her to
“follow the sufferings of the Virgin” and adhere to the teachings of the church, causing Marie
Elizabeth to feel that the Catholic Church holds no solace for her real-world difficulties.
After this conversation, and the birth of Vivienne, her relationship with the priest is reduced
primarily to a social one.
In this and other situations in which Marie Elizabeth’s ideas or energies prove counter
to those of the men in her life, she is consistently advised to “lie down,” to “go to bed and get
some rest” (86,213). Because there is no creative outlet for her—she is not drawn to
domestic pleasures like parenting, gardening or entertaining, or to imaginative ones such as
reading, writing, playing music, or painting—she is reduced to sitting “all day not raising a
finger.” As she sits very still, she thinks that, “No matter what happened she’d be warmed by
these fires in winter and protected by awnings and blinds from summer sun. No matter what
happened these things would be. If only something could change” (133). This image, and
that of the robust Marie Elizabeth wasting away on her white bed because neither she nor
anyone can envisage an outlet for her energies, reminds one of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s
‘The Yellow Wallpaper,” with which Godchaux was familiar. Marie Elizabeth’s lack of
options, combined with her unfortunate paucity of creative thinking, condemn her to a sort of
living death from which she occasionally emerges with a burst of furious energy. Her
vindictive wrath is usually directed against those less powerful than herself, causing her to be
the object of great fear in “the cabins.”
Marie Elizabeth’s anger is partially explained by her disappointment at the loss of her
inheritance, and partially by her unwilling state of motherhood, but these things alone are not
273
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. enough to account for her arbitrary fury. Critics have noted the author’s lack of explanation
for Marie Elizabeth’s unsympathetic persona. She seems to function more as a symbol than
as a fully drawn character. When Anton first meets his future bride, he remembers another
time he felt such happiness and love—when he successfully fought the river to protect his
cane. “He was foolhardy with love and courage then. The river. Crevasse. That was
something to send his heart tripping over itself’ (26). Interestingly, the river is his love as
well as his foe. When Anton concludes his reverie about “that girl Marie Elizabeth,” he and
his horse, appropriately named Dulcinea, arrive at Donne where they are greeted by Zero,
who has intuited Anton’s interest in the girl.
In the stableyard a negro held her bridle. “Done been a long time
away,” the negro said standing quietly at the mare’s head, one enormous hand
on the bit. The negro regarded Anton with serious intentness, forehead drawn
in wrinkles under the wooly cap of his hair. “Done hear river rising, done
hear her in my sleep. Ain’t going to be no good. Going to be trouble.
Trouble.”
Anton didn’t pay attention. He was used to Zero who was supposed
by all to have hoodooing powers.
“Neme mind now but you going pay mind later on.” (26)
On their honeymoon, Anton and Marie Elizabeth take a cruise home on the
Mississippi River. Contemplating his bride as “she lay lazily finishing her toddy and
enjoying the cool sound of ice clinking,” Anton begins to connect his wife with the river in
his thoughts. ‘The mild soft gaze of his eyes returned to the river. ‘There ought to be some
274
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. way of keeping her tame the way she is this minute so she can’t rob me of my land,”’ he
thinks, and for a moment the reader may believe Anton is still thinking of his bride rather
than of the river (47). This is clearly intentional on the part of the author. Later, when the
deranged Tante Tina Bougere attempts to escape Marie Elizabeth’s impossible demands for
repayment of her inheritance, Tina slips into the river and confusedly believes that Marie
Elizabeth is pulling her to her death. ‘The river tugged. It wouldn’t loose her. Christ, it was
strong, like Nlanc Elizabeth s hands righting to have her. But she fought, clinging to ail her
strength. Christ Jesus. Marie Elizabeth’s hands would thrust her down into the choking
depths of hell” (179). Like the river, Marie Elizabeth appears calm for long periods of time,
and then unaccountably unleashes a torrent of energy, often abuse, toward those near her, and
they are helpless to control her. In another passage, Anton becomes enraged when he learns
of his wife’s duplicity with Benjamin Sutro. When he notices that her breathing pattern
doesn’t even quicken in response to his anger, he reflects that her breasts “would move that
way with the give and take of her breath long after he was gone. For a moment they
presented to him the irrepressible and timeless quality of life itself. He turned wearily away
from her and left the room” (118).
Marie Elizabeth also seems to represent the transition from the economic systems in
place under slavery. As Anton represents the paternalistic fantasy of the benevolent master
who protects and provides for his workers, who in turn respond with adoration, his wife
symbolizes the displacement felt by those whites who no longer have clear or comfortable
roles. When she defends Melville’s decision to leave the plantation, Marie Elizabeth tells her
husband, “It ain’t slave times, and there’s other things besides this place.” Like the
“outsider” plantation owners who moved South after the war, Marie Elizabeth has no
275
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. connection to the land she owns and no comprehension of the finely balanced mutual
dependency between planters and laborers. She frequently threatens to “let all my niggers
go, every one, and get a whole new batch,” demonstrating her ignorance that many of her
“niggers” are highly skilled and irreplaceable employees (80). Her fantasy is that she and
John Montz might run the place together if her husband weren’t around, but her vision is
entirely of the power that her income could bring her if her husband had no control of it.
jLfiivc uig uig guuidg ui uuui^c uuuiui uc uivciicQ.
It is fitting that the name of Anton’s mare, Dulcinea, is introduced during the episode
in which Anton meets Marie Elizabeth. Just as the well-intentioned Don Quixote is unable to
see the true nature of his beloved, Anton is unable to discern the temperament of the woman
with whom he has fallen passionately in love. Her beauty blinds other men to her true
character as well. After Father Janine sends a sobbing Marie Elizabeth, distraught over her
second pregnancy, “home and to bed,” he watches her with a look that “gave the impression
of exalting her.” “His eyes took her in, devouring her with a curious manifest child-like joy.
‘You’re good, Marie Elizabeth. You’re good. Like always. I’ll come to you. Often,’ he
breathed, ‘good-bye’” (214-25). Anton and Father Janine seem to be reassuring themselves
of the fitness of their passion for Marie Elizabeth, as these reassurances of her goodness are
usually private thoughts they have after she has behaved especially badly. After she
threatens her Tante Tina; after she storms at Anton because Benjamin Sutro, in a fit of
conscience, leaves Donne; or after she unjustly punishes others, Anton repeats the futile
litany that “she has a good heart. She has a good heart and she’s just a child.” “What could
he do? But he knew she had a good heart.” “But he knew Marie Elizabeth’s heart. It was
good. She didn’t know of course that she had them all by the string. How could she guess
276
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. it? When she pulled that string they twitched with pain so bad it reached the heart.” (183,
231, 334-5) Anton and Father Janine are blind to the truth that the women of Donne see
clearly—the power to injure is the only power Marie Elizabeth understands.
Elma had a model of unconditional marital love in her parents. The comparison
between Edward and Ophelia’s marriage to that of Anton and Marie Elizabeth seems to carry
only so far as this: Both women’s dialogue might have caused their husbands’ discomfort,
and both the mode! and the literary creation remained loving nevertheless. Ophelia Gumbei
Godchaux was renowned for her inadvertently comical sayings and, as has been noted
previously, Edward’s response was not mortification, but the recording of her amusing quips
in a special journal. Ophelia’s banter may have embarrassed her children when they were
young, but their father’s acceptance of her was an unspoken reproof.
Though the novel’s most sympathetic characters agree with Ginny’s observation that,
‘Nvhite skin and black skin, they ain’t much difference,” there is no such allowance for the
possibility of equality between the sexes (141). As Anton ponders the things that threaten his
dream of a family dynasty—Melville’s resemblance to Marie Elizabeth and the threat from
the river—he comforts himself by strolling through his beloved fields.
He smiled. The cane gave him confidence. Marie Elizabeth was
strong. But she couldn’t conquer, not the cane and himself. Himself and the
cane. How stubborn were their roots. His own stubborn as the roots of the
cane. [... ] He was fulfilled with the cane. He knew no flowering as men
know it often, chapleted by the children sprung from them. In some strange
way he felt his family alien to him. (336)
277
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. After Melville leaves for New Orleans, Anton struggles with the plantation’s future. His
“roots like strong fingers holding on” are giving way to “thoughts of futility.” Thinking of
his children, he sees only his son as the potential inheritor of his estate. “Some day he would
die. What then? He could read no further than himself. The future faded from him. He
missed it” (370). The reader can only conclude that what Anton has missed is a possible
solution—one that Anton cannot grasp because of his conventional notions of gender roles.
Though Sara, Vivienne and Melville debate the girls’ theory that “men ain’t no better
than ladies,” the Shexnaydres are all blind to the idea that Vivienne is the logical heir to
assume the responsibility of Donne Plantation (233). Anton’s death releases Vivienne from
her self-imposed vow never to leave her father, freeing her to marry sugar businessman
Steven Renshaw. The reader is forced to contemplate the obvious fitness of this couple as
operators of the plantation. However, Anton’s entrenched notion that “Melville Shexnaydre
was himself, was Anton Shexnaydre of the future generations” means that he probably has
left everything to his son, even though he knows it is his daughter who has inherited his
passion for the land and the family business (322).
Summary
Stubborn Roots is not merely a reminiscence of a plantation childhood; it employs a
setting quickly fading from memory in order to draw conclusions about Elma’s own time.
Though she clearly does not long for a return to slavery, and in fact actively agitates for
unionization and workers’ rights, Godchaux evinces nostalgia for the classical values of her
father and grandfather. At the same time, she questions the methods by which authorities
seek to bring about equality.
278
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Stubborn Roots represents a bleak view of personal development, as its characters do
not grow and change; the dominant characters merely outlast those characters who cannot
withstand the harsh and inevitable developments brought into their lives. The novel also
reflects its author’s nostalgia for the past, and uneasiness about the future. Her
apprehensions about the future include changes occurring throughout the South as well as in
her own family. The well-defined roles of planter and longstanding family retainer were
gone, replaced by open tensions between workers and employers; Elma herself was divorced
from Walter and her daughter Charlotte lived far from her. With traditional “women’s roles”
unappealing and unnecessary in her life, and with no interest in remarriage, Elma’s thoughts
turned increasingly to the past and to the countryside—specifically her family’s story and the
stories of those who lived on and near Reserve Plantation. Because the family, who had
previously lived within five miles of each other, has largely scattered since Elma Godchaux’s
generation, she remains the primary interpreter of these stories.
In an essay entitled “Personal Narratives: The Family Novel,” William A. Wilson
writes of a visit he made with his mother to her hometown of Riddyville, around which all of
his mother’s stories, told to him many times, revolved.
Nothing remained, except one old house that would soon join the
others in ruin. I left my mother in the car briefly and walked over to it,
startling out a deer taking shade under a decaying roof from the afternoon sun.
As I walked back to the car through sagebrush and weeds grown higher than
my head, across fields rutted by erosion, I could almost feel all the life that
had once been there—children playing “Fox and Geese,” teenagers racing
their horses down the road, men sharing labor during threshing, women
279
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. scrubbing plank floors until they were white, young homesteading couples
tilling their fields and dreaming of independence.
Now only the stories remain. But they do remain. And that family
novel developed from these stories, created first by my mother as she shaped
her life and then re-created by me as I have shaped mine, persists in my mind
as powerful and as artistically moving as the works of literature that line my
library' shelf.
[ .. . ] William Faulkner tells us that it is the poet’s duty to write
about these things, to lift our hearts by reminding us of the “courage and
honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have
been the glory” of our lives. Too long we have looked for the expressions of
this glory only in the canonized works of received literary tradition. It is time
now to realize our democratic ideals by listening finally to all the voices in our
great land. Especially it is time to seek in our own family stories the
Riddyvilles that have created, expressed, and given direction to our own lives.
It is time at last to celebrate ourselves; we all have stories to tell. (Wilson 147-
48)
Reserve, then, has become Elma Godchaux’s Riddyville; as it enters and is changed
by her fiction, her Yoknapatawpha County. Though Elma’s fiction may never reach a
prominent place on many library shelves, may never become one of “the canonized works of
received literary tradition,” Elma Godchaux has a story to tell. As her brother Leon
Godchaux wrote in 1948, “My sister’s book is a true picture o f life on a sugar plantation in
280
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Louisiana, in the early twenties or at the turn of the century. The [... ] tale she narrates
closely resembles the people we all knew and loved in our childhood on the plantation.”
Elma Godchaux gives her readers views of plantation, Cajun and black cultures at that time
to which readers have little access, especially from knowledgeable writers who lived within,
or whose lives overlapped, those cultures.
The Godchaux house at Reserve, which inspired Elma Godchaux with its memories
and stories, has a great advantage over that decaying house in Riddyville. It is just possible
that this house has stories yet to tell, memories yet to be made. The next chapter will briefly
outline the recent rekindling of interest in the Godchaux family story that is, appropriately,
spurred by a renewal of interest in Reserve Plantation.
281
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Notes
1 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 22 July 1998.
2 Charlotte Godchaux Fraser, personal interview, 22 July 1998.
3 Godchaux, Elma. Letter to Richard C.B. Whitten. Sept. 12, 1935. Richard C.B. Whitten collection.
4 Hamilton Basso. Letter to Maxwell Perkins. February 1,1930, November 30,1931, August 13, 1932. Scribner’s Archives, Firestone Library, Princeton University.
5 Margaret Mitchell. Letter to Helen and Clifford Dowdey. 22 August 1938. University of Georgia Libraries, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
6 Walker, Marianne. Margaret Mitchell and John Marsh: The Love Story Behind Gone With the Wind. Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers, Ltd. 1993. 195-99.
7 Peterkin, Julia. Washington Post. 12 July 1936.
8 Walker, Marianne. Margaret Mitchell and John Marsh: The Love Story Behind Gone With the Wind. Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers, Ltd. 1993. 275 & 486.
9 Justine Godchaux McCarthy, personal interview, 10 January 2001.
10 For more about the folk sermon as oral formulaic tradition, see Bruce Rosenberg’s The Art o f the American Folk Preacher.
282
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THE STORY OF RESERVE
Reserve embodies the history ofLouisiana itsef. Jonathan Flicker, Director, State Historic Preservation Office
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Story of Reserve
Introduction
In addition to the rich history of the Godchaux family and the contributions of Paul
Godchaux, Jr. and Elma Godchaux to southern literature, the house that was most important
to the family—Reserve Plantation—presents an opportunity for further service to the public.
The stories of Reserve Plantation, the surrounding area, and her own family, were the
primary inspirations for Elma Godchaux’s fiction, and the Reserve-Godchaux House, as it
has come to be called, still has many stories to tell.
This chapter presents what is known thus far about the house most beloved by the
Godchaux family and those who once called it home. Reserve Plantation was not built by
Leon Godchaux, nor by the Boudousquies, from whom the property was purchased. The
house, in one form or another, has existed almost as long as Europeans have lived in the area.
After this summary of the history of La Reserve, this dissertation will conclude with a short
examination of the public programming possibilities offered by this house. The structure’s
complex history, the variety of occupants of the house, even the evidence of changes and the
wealth of architectural detail, give this structure a unique position in the lower Mississippi
Valley and argue for its preservation.
The German Coast’s La Reserve
The Godchaux family has been an important part of Louisiana history. The life story
of Leon Godchaux, the development of Godchaux’s Department Stores and Godchaux’s
Sugars, the support of such important institutions as the French Opera House, the St. Louis
Hotel, Touro Infirmary, and the majority of public facilities in Reserve, remain just a few of
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the contributions o f this family to the state of Louisiana. With Stubborn Roots, Elma
Godchaux gives modem readers a glimpse into the values and priorities of three generations
of Godchauxs, though they are fictionalized in her novel. In it, she describes conditions that
led up to the labor controversies of the 1930s, into which the Godchaux refineries were
reluctantly drawn. More recently, the Godchaux family has again found itself involved in
controversy; the issue in question is the fate of Leon’s, Edward’s, and Elma’s most beloved
property—Reserve Plantation.
The house, however, is much more than a monument to the Godchaux family.
Though it has long been locally known as “the Godchaux house,” after its most prominent
occupants, the structure’s existence encompasses a broad swath of Louisiana history of
which the Godchauxs are only the best-known part. The first owners of the property were
among the area’s first European settlers, who found an environment completely foreign to
any modem experience of Louisiana’s flora and fauna. The builder of this house likely
fought with Andrew Jackson against Pakenham in 1814.
Though, as of 1975, it has fallen into a state of neglect, recent research into the house
as a cultural and material artifact has led to its inclusion on the National Register of Historic
Places. This has resulted in some limited efforts to shore up the structure, but there are no
definite plans for the building and it is still very much in danger. The two groups that have
shown the most interest in the house, the River Road Historical Society and the St. John the
Baptist Historical Society, are badly in need of funding and leadership. Both groups would
like to see the house restored and developed as a museum. Some efforts have been made
toward that end, but without clear vision, someone to manage the project full-time, and
appropriate funding the project is flagging.
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Reserve Plantation House is of state significance as an unusually large
and important example of the French Creole architectural tradition.
The principal story of any Creole house, the premier etage, was from
the owner’s standpoint the most important place. It was here that the family
lived. It was also the focus of whatever architectural refinement the house
may have had. Among the fcwr hundred Creole residences that remain in the
state, Reserve is conspicuous because of the size of its premier etage. As far
as the State Historic Preservation Office is aware, there are only eleven
premier etages in the state of comparable size and only two that are larger.
Thus the house is important for its sheer magnitude as an example of the
Creole tradition.
Reserve is especially important because of its early decorative
detailing. Although the Creole tradition dates to the earliest days of the
Louisiana colony, most of the extant examples are from the mid-nineteenth
century. As far as the State Historic Preservation Office is aware, Reserve is
one of only about 20 Creole houses in the state which feature significant pre-
Greek Revival decorative details. These include four exceptional Federal
wraparound mantels and various window and door surrounds.
Finally, three of the four mantels at Reserve make conspicuous use of
the French lozenge motif. This French Renaissance detail is important, but it
appears only on a very small minority of relatively early Creole houses (the
NHL Madame John’s Legacy, for instance). (Flicker 3)
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. For these reasons, and for the scope of Louisiana’s history represented by the house,
the Historic Preservation Office urges that the structure be preserved. Included here is a
somewhat edited description of the house from the above-mentioned source:
Reserve Plantation House is a large colombage raised Creole house
located in the town of Reserve behind the Mississippi River levee. The
architectural evidence indicates that it was built in several stages, attaining its
present appearance by c.1850. Despite two moves and some alteration, the
house retains its National Register eligibility. [. .. ]
As was previously mentioned, during the period when the Reserve
house was located on the Godchaux mill site, its principal story was raised a
full story above grade. Because the house undoubtedly had been moved to the
site and moving such a house generally involves demolition and
reconstruction of the brick supporting base, the question arises as to what the
original supporting base looked like prior to this early move. Was the house
fully raised in its original location? It is very reasonable to assume that it was.
Indeed, it is unreasonable to suspect that it was not. Firstly, the principal story
of the Reserve house is very large, being four rooms wide and two rooms deep
with a rear cabinet/loggia range and galleries on three sides. Based upon
pictorial evidence of Creole houses that no longer exist and SHPO [State
Historic Preservation Office] staff knowledge of surviving examples, it is
clear that Creole houses of this magnitude were almost invariably fully raised.
Secondly, throughout history houses have been routinely moved on the River
Road, generally not very far. If in the course of a move the height of the
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. principal story was changed, it was generally lowered. Sometimes the owner
simply did not want to take the trouble to rebuild the high basement. Thus the
general trend has been for lowering not raising houses after a move.
At the time of the 1993 move the house on its Godchaux mill site
rested on high brick pillars. However, one assumes that on its original site it
had a brick basement. Such a treatment for fully raised houses was the norm
in Creole Louisiana. Tn fact, the Division of Historic Preservation knows of
extremely few large folly raised Creole houses that rested on high brick pillars
rather than a brick basement.
On Creole houses the living space is raised several feet above grade.
On the grandest examples the family living space is raised a foil story creating
what amounts to a two-story structure. In cases such as this the second floor
was where the family lived and thus received significant architectural
treatment. The brick lower story more often than not was used only for
storage and thus received little in the way of architectural treatment. The only
exception was the dining room, which was sometimes located on the lower
story. For the record, this is not the case at Reserve. All of the timbers under
the principal story are rough, indicating that such low brick rooms which
undoubtedly existed under the principal story were entirely for utilitarian
purposes. (Flicker 1)
Because of its history, which is both representative of the history of the German
Coast and unique because very few extant structures reflect this scope of Louisiana history,
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structure dates to very early European settlement and was continuously occupied for two
hundred years, while most plantations that are now open to the public were built in the
nineteenth century. There is a multitude of possibilities for public folklore exhibits at the
Godchaux-Reserve House. Using only the material mentioned in the previous chapters of
this dissertation, a number of topics suggest themselves. Each of these topics requires
thorough research and documentation. This account of the house and its surroundings, based
on studies conducted by Eugene Cizek, Jonathan Flicker, Michael Maurin, William Reeves,
Jean Westbrook, and others, should help prove the viability of these topics and justify the
need for further research.
The earliest descriptions of the area
Toward the end of the fifteenth century, Europeans began to hear of immeasurable
new lands across the Atlantic Ocean. After a rush to build ships, the early expeditions
expected to find vast riches and wonders of nature—“cities of gold”, or the imaginary
“fountain of youth”. It was not until 1684 that the French, their hopes for gold giving way to
interest in trade and colonies, claimed Louisiana and explored the territory around the Gulf.
Records left by these early explorers provides the majority of what we know about Louisiana
as it was then.1
Only 1% of the earth’s water is both fresh and available, and Louisiana has it in
abundance.2 The first Europeans found a land that had been sculpted by flowing, fresh water
and where, in the lush semi-tropic of south Louisiana, vegetation sprang from the earth in
astonishing variety. One of LaSalle’s commanders was moved to write of this area that, “We
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. may admire Nature in its beautiful simplicity as it came from the hand of the Creator, without
having been altered or depraved by Ambition or Art” (Westbrook 8).3
Above the coastal reaches, dense forests blanketed Louisiana. In 1720 Jesuit
missionary and historian Father Pierre de Charlevoix reported of the region near Barataria
Bay that “the finest oaks in the world might be cut there, the whole coast being covered with
them” (Westbrook 8)4 As late as 1816 journalist William Darby wrote, ‘It is almost
impossible to conceive the abundance of the forests. From Manchac to the seashore, [except]
only in the island of Orleans, there are one hundred square miles of cypress trees which are
as thick as the hair on the head, and the same on the other side of the river, where the number
of these trees, as of the live oaks is wonderful. On the shores of Lake Pontchartrain and of
Lake Barataria there are so many pines that, without exaggeration, they could furnish pitch
and tar to the whole world” (Westbrook 8).5
Near the coast, where numerous bayous received water from the Mississippi
whenever the river rose, the banks were thickly overgrown with Roseau cane. Early
Europeans regarded the density of these immense canebrakes as a deterrent to settlement.
Beyond the canebrake the land sloped off to river forests of hardwoods, then to the watery
swamps with their vine-covered trees and saw-edged palmettos.
According to Westbrook’s They Called it Paradise,
The bayous flowed through chains of shallow lakes bordered by
freshwater marsh. At the Gulf of Mexico, salt marsh extended across the
entire Louisiana coast. These marshes are a part of the most productive
ecosystem on earth, but they gained no praise from Europeans of the 17th and
18th centuries. They shared the common view that “swamps”, as they called
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. all perpetually wet land, put out “miasmas” which were poisonous to health.
Moreover, “swamps” were believed to be worthless lands that should be
drained, if possible, and avoided if not. This negative view of wetlands would
persist and would affect public policy even throughout the 20th century.
(Westbrook 7)
South Louisiana’s varied habitats, lightly used by the small Indian population, were
home to flourishing populations of large and small animals. Deer were numerous; many
bears lived in the bottomland forests near watercourses; there were wolves that had not yet
learned to fear man. The French, with an eye toward future trade in furs, particularly noted
the fur-bearing animals—beaver, otter, mink, muskrat, and raccoon. Buffaloes were
abundant and occupied virtually every possible habitat. In a 1697 report to his patron in
France, M. De Remenville wrote that “the plains and forests are filled with those animals.”
In 1699 Iberville encountered a herd of 200 buffaloes at the conjunction of Pass Manchac
and Lake Maurepas. Martin’s History o f LoM/j/awa^.published in 1827, states that in the
bayou country below New Orleans “even large droves of buffalo are met with in the great
cane brakes of that fine country, which has remained so long unsettled only on account of the
difficulty of penetrating through them” (Westbrook 9). From local Indians, Europeans
learned of the many uses that could be made of the various buffalo parts.
Alligators especially interested early explorers and settlers. John Bernard Bossu
described alligators successfully attacking buffaloes that had come to the water’s edge to
drink. Bossu himself barely escaped being dragged into the Mississippi River by a twenty-
foot alligator. The alligator crept into the sleeping Bossu’s campsite to steal a large catfish
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. from the explorer’s tent. The alligator dragged off the fish—and with it the tent and M.
Bossu, who was entangled in it. Bossu managed to free himself just before the alligator et al
slid down the riverbank.
Westbrook notes that, in the early eighteenth century,
There was abundant birdlife. Millions upon millions of ducks and
geese wintered in the state’s coastal marshes. Located on a major flyway,
Louisiana’s marshes were, and are, critical habitat for waterfowl. Swans and
cranes were recorded in the early 18th century. Egrets, herons, cormorants,
gull, terns, and peeps, all species of birds that fish in the shallows, probe along
mud flats, or dive after their meal into deep waters, were well fed. A member
of d’Iberville’s party described a night’s encampment when a large flock of
turkeys flew in, filling the trees above the camp. He reported that they shot
what they wanted and the sound of the muskets did not disturb the remaining
turkeys.6 There was a very large bird the French called a Royal Eagle. Native
Americans of the area valued their feathers but reserved hunting them for old
men because it did not require much valor. The French missionary to
Louisiana, Father DuRu, wrote, “There are parrots by the thousands; their
plumage is marvelous, but they are far from being as good (to eat) as they are
beautiful.” (10)
This is the environment in which Jean Baptiste Laurent built the house that was to become
Reserve Plantation.
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The remarkable history of Reserve Plantation made the property especially attractive
to Leon Godchaux, and has continued to fire the imaginations of his descendants. The area
around Reserve was first settled by Europeans in the eighteenth centuiy. At that time the
surrounding area, today’s St. Charles and the lower part of St. John the Baptist Parishes, was
known as the German Coast. German villages with names like Augsburg, Hoffsn, and
Mariental, were populated by families named Himmel, Zweig, and Shexnaydre. These west
bank settlements were downriver and across the Mississippi from Reserve because the
location was most strategic for fending off Choctaw and Chickasaw attacks from the east.
The settler population was driven off after two attacks in 1748, and another wave of German
settlers followed the establishment of a French fort operated by an officer and a dozen men.
The fort and the new settlements were on the east bank of the Mississippi. Families named
Conrad, Jacob, and Kammer settled this area, and a third wave of German immigration after
the 1770s brought families named Kleinpeter, Ory, and Rein.
In 1719, the Company of the West, which held the French royal charter for the
development of Louisiana, recruited hundreds of German families who settled upriver from
New Orleans along a section of the Mississippi River that is still called the Cote des
Allemands (German Coast). Comprising “coastal” St. John the Baptist and St. Charles
parishes, the German Coast begins about twenty-five miles above New Orleans and stretches
for about forty miles on both banks of the Mississippi River. At a distance of about one to
three miles from the river, the land becomes significantly lower. On each side of the
Mississippi, only a two to three mile strip could be farmed. For this reason, the land was
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. measured in arpents along the riverfront. Each property front typically had a depth of about
forty arpents.
The upper German coast was also home to a number of French families, as it
bordered on the Acadian St. James Parish. The preponderance of Louisiana Acadians settled
“near the coast along Bayou Lafourche or other bayous of the delta; some headed west to the
Atchafalaya, or beyond to the southwestern prairies in the area called Attakapas after the
Native American of that area”7 (Westbrook 14). Hundreds of Acadians were settled on the
upper section of the Isle of Orleans by the Spanish governing authorities, in order to counter
English encroachment. The pattern of Cajun settlement was very similar to that of their
Native American neighbors. Both groups lived in small villages made up of several extended
families and with some distance between settlements. These settlers supported themselves
through agriculture, and were largely weather-dependent. By 1776 St. John the Baptist
Parish’s east bank included sixty farms, eleven of which utilized slave labor.
Commercial agriculture in Louisiana began with the encouragement of Spanish
administrators who replaced the French in 1763 and were charged with making their new
possession profitable.8 Like the French, the Spanish required owners of riverfront property
to build and maintain levees. To achieve continuous levees the Spanish were willing to make
larger land grants than had the French, and were more interested in bringing in slaves. “More
land, more labor, and government encouragement to grow crops for export were the genesis
of the plantation system in Louisiana”:
Some decided to try sugar cane. Sugar was already being grown on a
small scale. Cane syrup was being produced, but attempts at granulation had
produced only small amounts of crude, raw sugar. To make sugar, cane juice
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. is boiled until the exact right moment. Then a catalyst is added and
granulation begins. Sugar had been granulated for centuries in the equatorial
regions where sugar cane is native and where it has a twelve to fourteen-
month growing season. In Louisiana, cane must be harvested after nine or ten
months because of the potential for a crop-destroying winter freeze. The
immature cane at first defied granulation. The breakthrough came in 1795,
just when a new money crop was wanted to replace indigo. On the plantation
of Etienne Bore, Antoine Morin, an experienced sugar maker from Haiti,
succeeded in granulating commercial quantities of sugar. With the
exclamation “It granulates!,” Louisiana’s sugar industry was bom.
After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, sugar cane cultivation spread
rapidly across South Louisiana. Now that the Louisiana territory was part of
the United States, American growers poured in bringing with them slaves,
capital, and new farming techniques. More labor became available as slave
owners in the upper south found a market for unneeded slaves in the new
territory. Important impetus was given the sugar industry by the thousands of
Haitians with experience in sugar production who fled to Louisiana during the
1809 revolution in their country. Elsewhere in the South, cotton would
become king. In South Louisiana the crown would belong to “white gold.”
(Westbrook 26-27)
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Early Alsatian settlers purchase the house from its German builders
The earliest recorded title to the land that would become Reserve states that Alsatian
immigrant Jean Baptiste Laubel purchased six arpents’ front (just over five acres) of
riverfront property in 1764 from Jacques Hofmann, the son of the first owner Andreas
Hofmann who had settled the land in 1722 9 That purchase most likely included the small
structure of two rooms, which shared a common fireplace, that over time would be expanded
upon to create La Reserve. As reported by William Reeves, “All of these first generation
farms along the river were small in width and reflected the policy of individual land
ownership. The large plantations that later appeared along the Mississippi were products of
later acquisition and consolidation during the American period” (Reeves 4). Louisiana’s
German settlers principally concentrated on growing rice and com, and also supplied the area
with other vegetables and beef. A survey following a 1780 hurricane asked what residents
expected to produce barring further natural disasters. It reveals that the Laubels expected the
following year to bring no rice and fifty quarts of com, the smallest projected production of
any German Coast family (Reeves 4). However, in later years she purchased a number of
slaves. Jean Baptiste Laubel died in 1774, and his widow and young sons continued to
operate the plantation. On Mrs. Laubel’s death forty years later the property was divided
between her sons Jean Baptiste and Louis. Louis Laubel’s section included the house.
Thus far, there is no known account of the Jean Baptiste Laubel family’s experiences
of the German Coast. However, among the Laubels’ neighbors was the Poche family, and
some of their story has been documented by their descendants. This account states that
Indian raids of 1747-1748 forced seventeen-year old Francis Poche and his mother to leave
their home on the east bank of the Mississippi River and move across it to the west bank with
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the Nikolaus Mayr family. Eventually Francis and Agnes Mayr married and by 1763 the
family, which now included two sons, Fran?ois Junior and Jacques, kept three slaves, eight
cows, seven sheep, and two muskets. The census of 1763, the year before Laubel settled
there, noted that thirty German Coast families owned the two hundred and forty-one slaves in
the community. At that time there were one hundred and twenty families living on the
German Coast, which indicates that ninety of these families worked their own land.
In 1770 the Poche family, now numbering five children, kept ten slaves and produced
twenty-five quarts of rice and one hundred quarts of com. The census of January 17, 1770,
reveals that Franfois Poche, age 40, was a member of the First Company o f Militia on the
German Coast. On June 22,1785, Francis is again listed as a militiaman and the name of
his eldest son, Francois, Jr., was added to the rolls. The hurricane of October 1780 caused a
great deal of damage along the German Coast, destroying the church at St. Charles des
Allemands. Following this devastation, many residents moved upriver.
The Montz family history provides some insight to life on the east bank of the
German Coast during the Laubels’ years there. Antoine Montz, who had traveled to the
German Coast from Alsace at the age of ten years in 1759, married his Alsatian neighbor
Sivile Bischof on November 24, 1772. Theirs was the first marriage recorded in the registers
of St John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edgard. Their farm comprised two adjourning
tracts of land in the future community of Laplace in St. John the Baptist Parish, located about
twenty-seven miles above New Orleans on the east bank of the Mississippi. Of their eight
children, five survived to adulthood.
The French and Spanish inhabitants shared a religion, and worked together when
necessary. St. John the Parish received its name in 1770, when the Capuchin religious order
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. established a new church parish. That same year, Antoine Montz served in the colonial
Spanish Militia. After the Louisiana Purchase, during the War of 1812, his sons served in the
militia as well. During the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815, the Montz brothers and
other German Coast men served in the Militia forces with Jean Lafitte’s buccaneers under
General Andrew Jackson, defending New Orleans, and Louisiana, from General Pakenham’s
invading forces. The seasoned British troops were defeated at a plantation just east of the
city. Joseph Savary, a free man of color, was given a field commission for his marksmanship
in killing British commanding general Edward Packenham.
Because the Laubel family lived on the east bank of the Mississippi in Louisiana’s
German Coast, it is safe to assume that they shared the most common experiences with these
close neighbors. It is likely that Louis and Jean Baptiste served in the militia and attended
the Church of St. John the Baptist, which was served by the Capuchins. Tulane professor of
architecture Eugene D. Cizek’s analysis of the Reserve plantation house suggests that the
central section of the present Reserve was the house occupied by the Laubels for forty years
or more. Inspired by Cizek’s rudimentary 1992-93 research, the River Road Historical
Society asked Jonathan Fricker of the State Historic Preservation Office to document the
house so that it might be included in the National Register of Historic Places. Concurring
with Cizek’s estimation that the house may date to 1760, his report states, in part, that
Reserve’s premier etage (principal story) is the product of three major
periods of construction. Architectural evidence does not present a clear
picture of the house’s growth and evolution. The best one can do at this time
is make the following general statement. The sill, beam and plate structure
under the principal story and in the attic indicates an early house of three or so
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. rooms built sometime prior to the Federal period. This first phase of
construction could well be eighteenth century. How much of this early
structure survives is difficult to say because the aforementioned plate, sill and
beam structure does not coincide with the present room arrangement.
Precisely, it encompasses three and a half of the present four front rooms. (1)
HTLa n f I*avm*Kat a lie |ikaiiiauvu itv ivt uvvuiuw uiw pi upvi ij vi laiiimva ui v v i v i
When Louis Laubel sold his property to German Christome Borne in 1810, it
included the house, a courtyard (a fenced area at the rear of the house which held small
animals), a French-style garden at the front of the house, a backyard garden for more
extensive crop production, and miscellaneous outbuildings such as a kitchen building, slave
cabins, and a bam (Reeve 5).
Bome lived on the property during the largest slave uprising in United States history.
In 1811 “about five hundred slaves participated and at least one hundred were killed in a
failed rebellion in St. John the Baptist Parish” (Encyclopedia Louisiana). The revolt of the
enslaved black people was organized at Woodland Plantation near LaPlace, the home of
Colonel Manuel Andiy. The insurgents were repulsed after a bloody battle in which Gilbert,
Andry’s oldest son, was the first man killed. Colonel Andry was able to crush the rebellion a
few days later with the help of other plantation owners. The revolutionaries, marching
toward New Orleans, were stopped twenty miles from the city. That same year, in
Connecticut, novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe was bom. (In 1886, Woodlands was the
birthplace of famed jazz musician and composer Edward ‘Rid” Ory.)
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. After five years, Borne sold the property to Jean Baptiste Fleming and Jeanette
Teinter, free persons of color. To this Fleming and Teinter added the adjoining two-arpents’-
front tract, which included a rice mill. Fleming and Teinter had purchased the bulk of their
property for $3,500, and in 1821 they were offered $12,300 for it by two prominent free men
of color, brothers Fran?ois and Elisee Rillieux.10
Throughout this period, slaves worked the ever-expending plantation. The subject of
free black slaveholders in the United States has been given insufficient scholarly attention.
Writing about free black slaveholders in North Carolina, historian Larry Koger gives some
basic facts about the diversity among slaveholders of color:
Domestic slavery was quite common in West Africa, although the
Europeans organized the trade to a much greater magnitude and value.
Free black slaveowners resided in states as north as New York and as
far south as Florida, extending westward into Kentucky, Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Missouri. According to the federal census of 1830, free blacks
owned more than 10,000 slaves in Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina, and
Virginia. The majority of black slaveowners lived in Louisiana and planted
sugar cane. The majority of black masters had not been slaves themselves.
Yet, the ranks of black slave masters were diverse: some acquired slaves as
soon as they had accumulated enough capital after their own freedom, others
received slaves with their own freedom from their white masters, and others
had been free for several generations.
Free black masters used slaves to work their farms as skilled and
unskilled workers in urban centers and as hired workers to other employers.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Although some black masters, such as those in Louisiana, owned scores of
slaves and large tracts of land, most were small slaveholders who owned one
or two slaves. (11)
A 1993 article in L ’Observateur states that the Rillieux brothers are among “the
largest black landowners in Louisiana history,” and notes Jonathan Flicker’s assessment that
The brothers are also credited with seme of the largest expansions of the house. Tins article
cites the belief of several historians that “the brothers may have come as free men of color
from Haiti. In fact, it is possible that when they came to this country they already owned
slaves, bringing them to work in the sugar cane fields.” The article also reminds readers that
“while the Rillieuxs owned one of the largest black plantations, they were not alone in
Louisiana” because “there were significant black-owned plantations in St. Mary Parish, as
well as plantations owned by Creole people in Natchitoches Parish” (Hoeschen 1-3).
Little is known about the lifestyles of the Rillieuxs, or indeed about any slaveholders
of color, but one may assume that this family lived quite well. Of this period of the
development of the house, Flicker writes,
The placement of four exceptional Federal mantels indicates a c.1825
remodeling and enlargement in which Reserve became a substantial plantation
house two rooms deep. This supposition is supported by the fact that two of
the mantels are set in the rear range of rooms. The beam structure under these
rooms is obviously an addition to the original sill and beam structure. The
extent of the c. 1825 enlargement is not known precisely. However, because
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the colombage wall construction seems fairly old and consistent, it may well
be that the house attained much of its present size at this time. (1-2)
In a section of his report entitled “A Note on the Columbage Construction,” he explains:
The colombage features French angle braces and very heavy studs
placed unusually close together. The size of the studs and their close
placement suggests an early date (i.e., that one would expect all of the
colombage construction to date well before the mid nineteenth century).
Curiously, some of the walls are bousillage while others are brick between
post. One would think that if a house had both bousillage and brick between
post walls that one or the other of them would represent a later period of
construction. This may be the case at Reserve, but it is not certain. The
configuration of mud versus brick walls does not fit any clear or obvious
house expansion scenario. (2)
After their initial purchase of the house and the immediately-surrounding property,
the Rillieuxs bought up all the adjacent land, amassing a single property with a 14 V2 arpent
front by 1825. In addition to the house originally built by Hofmann, the Rillieux property
included several other houses, such as that on the upper end purchased from a free woman of
color named Celeste. Francis and his family lived in the house, and Elisee’s family lived
elsewhere. They turned this sizeable estate to the planting of sugar cane, and operated a large
sugar business from 1822 until Francois’ death in 1833. The Rillieuxs were developing a
sugar plantation just as their first cousin, the engineer Norbert Rillieux, was revolutionizing
the refining of raw sugar by introducing the multiple effect vacuum pan process. This
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. process linked several vessels by a series of steam chambers so that each vessel after the first
was heated by the vapor from the preceding one, significantly reducing fuel consumption.
Unfortunately, Francis’ death left the sugar mill incompletely developed.
Norbert Rillieux seems destined to have played a part in the history of Reserve,
however. The freebom “natural son” of French Creole Vincent Rillieux and the quadroon
Constance Vivant, he was baptized in the St. Louis Cathedral by Pere Antoine in March of
1806. The fact of Norbert’s being given his father’s name indicates that there was a close
relationship or “understanding” between the parents. Vincent Rillieux was an engineer and
inventor who developed a steam cotton-baling press. Recognizing his son’s ability, Vincent
Rillieux sent his son to Paris for his education, as did many white parents of quadroon sons.
(At that time the word quadroon designated persons said to be “one quarter” or “one-eighth”
black.) Norbert became an engineer, scientist, and inventor. His most well-known
innovation represented a great advance in sugar refining, making the processing of cane less
wasteful and more profitable. His patented sugar processing innovations have been
documented by imminent scholars such as London’s J. G. McIntosh and Dutch researcher
Edward Koppeschaar, and a plaque honoring his work was installed and dedicated at the
Louisiana State Museum in 1934. Eugene Cizek speculates that Norbert Rillieux must have
developed his inventions on the plantation of his cousins Franfois and Elisee Rillieux. He
was drawn back to the plantation by a later owner who wished to gain his expertise, Leon
Godchaux.
In the 1894 Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer, P. Horsin-Deon reports that
Rillieux then turned his attention to “the drainage of the low lands of New Orleans.” A
disapproving legislator, appropriately named Forstall, blocked the project. “[Thus] Rillieux,
302
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. who benefited the land of his birth and the entire sugar world [ .. . ] this superior spirit, who
so readily surpassed all others, had to battle without cessation against the jealousy,
dishonesty, and mediocrity that overshadowed him” (331). After this experience, a disgusted
Rillieux returned to Paris and studied Egyptology.
By 1829, many improvements had been made to the Rillieux property, and new
properties were being acquired. An inventory discloses that the 14 lA arpent plantation
included the main house, a kitchen building, a storage house, a hospital, a carriage house,
slave quarters, a purgerie, a sugar house, and a stone mill, which was likely the former rice
mill. During the development of the plantation at Reserve, Elisee was building other
plantations as he and his brother had done earlier, assembling adjacent properties to form
large sugar plantations. San Francisco Plantation now occupies land that was once part of
one of Elisee Rillieux’s sugar plantations.
Though they were not the only free men of color to own a successful working
plantation, or to employ slave labor in its operation, the Rillieux family seems to have
possessed a special aptitude for sugar processing. Moreover, Leon Godchaux was later to
utilize the new vacuum process for sugar production, and he also acquired several
conglomerate sugar plantations in three parishes. More than once, Leon told his children and
grandchildren about the Rillieux family and their accomplishments.
The Boudousquies name the property La Reserve
After the death of Francois Rillieux left his widow with six children under the age of
fifteen, the estate, which included thirty-nine slaves, was auctioned on January 5, 1833, and
purchased by brothers-in-law Antoine Boudousquie and Michel T. Andry for $40,500, $500
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. over the appraisal price (Ellis 6). It is not known why the plantation was sold rather than
incorporated into Elisee Rillieux’s real estate holdings; Reeves’ study suggests that it was
sold in order to provide a dowry for Francois and Amelia’s fourteen year old daughter after a
partition proved impractical.
Antoine Boudousquie and his wife Sophie Andry Boudousquie operated the property,
which they named “La Reserve,” as a sugar plantation until Antoine’s death in 1855.
DAn^AiicAiiio^pi^uuuuuo^uiv o nrron/lfniUor uiiuiuuivi 9 (iijO oln/x luiinwu i AnfAma uilUiiiv9 iifowoor uiv onlvoiiij U«Atim xuiU vvii *«*» ill +L UiLa aiLd
since Denis Braud left for France in 1773. In 1777 he produced ten known publications
including the Spanish version of the Code Noir. Antoine Boudousquie II, the son of Norbert
Boudousquie, was the oldest of eight children. Norbert and two brothers, Godeffoi and
Zenon, fought in the battle of New Orleans in January 1815.
Antoine married Sophy Andry, the daughter of Gilbert Andry and the granddaughter
of Colonel Manuel Andry, one of the German Coast’s, indeed Louisiana’s, most prominent
citizens. A former coroner and justice of the peace of St. John the Baptist Parish, he refused
reappointment as Commandant of the German Coast and joined the Louisiana Militia’s Fifth
Regiment at the rank of Major. In four years he was promoted to the rank of General. After
resigning from the military, he became a member of the territorial House of Representatives
and was nominated for an appointment to the legislative council. In 1811 Manuel Andry’s
Woodland Plantation was the site of the largest slave uprising in United States history.
Sophie Andry’s father Gilbert, Colonel Andry’s oldest son, was the first man killed by the
revolutionaries.
Under Boudousquie ownership the plantation was again enlarged, with the purchase
of the adjacent five arpents frontage from free man of color George Deslondes, to include
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 19V* arpents along the river and all of the property extending back to the point at which it
was too low (wet) to be usable—a wide “ribbon” indeed. The property began to take the
shape for which it is best remembered. “One of the finest plantations in the parish [was] that
of Mr. Antoine Boudousquie, a gentleman who made fine crops and lived well. Everything
on the plantation was kept in the best order. The place resembled a little village” (Barnett
12). The house also underwent many “improvements.” The Louisiana Historic Preservation
Office’s application for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places notes that
Reserve was modified again about 1850, at which time it received its
present galleries and roofline. The roof structure is fairly simple and looks
mid-nineteenth centuiy. In addition, the gallery columns are paneled with a
bolection molding whose profile is very typical of the late 1840s and the
1850s. This modification must have been very extensive, as evidenced by the
fact that mid-nineteenth century moldings are found throughout the house, and
by the fact that all of the present flooring appears to date from this period.
(Fricker 2)
Sophie Andry Boudousquie continued to operate the plantation for five years after her
husband’s death, but in 1860 was forced to take out a mortgage on the property for a loan of
$35,000. Leon Godchaux purchased the note from Sophie’s creditor Louis Generes. The
loan was refinanced in 1862, adding to the debt.
Leon Godchaux and Valcour Labarre each owned 50% of the note on Reserve, and
both men agreed to cut the interest rate and extend the payment schedule. When the annual
305
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. payments of $10,000 could not be met, it seemed that the property would once again go to
auction. Reeves writes:
The conclusion of the Boudousquie ownership was generous. Instead
of forcing an auction of the property, Godchaux purchased it from the
Boudousquies, actually paying them $20,000 in cash. Godchaux liquidated
numerous other judgments against the Boudousquies. Family legend records
that Godchaux permitted Mrs. Boudousquie to remain at Reserve for as long
as she wished. She died in 1894. (8)
He conjectures that Mrs. Boudousquie moved from the house in the early 1880s in order to
be nearer family in her final years.
Near the end of Antoine Boudousquie’s life another plantation of note was completed
in nearby Napoleonville of Assumption Parish. Begun in 1846 and completed in 1854,
Madewood Plantation house was constructed of timber hewn on the plantation itself and of
sixty thousand bricks baked by the plantation’s slaves. This Greek Revival mansion is the
first major building designed by noted architect Henry Howard for North Carolinian Colonel
Thomas Pugh, one of many who moved to the area during this period to enjoy the life of a
wealthy planter. Its brick walls—exterior two feet thick and interior a foot and a half—rest
on eight-foot underground brick foundations and support fourteen-inch square beams in the
attic. Steamboats carried trade to Madewood and other plantations along Bayou Lafourche.
Restored in 1964 by Mr. Harold K. Marshall, it is now open to the public and is a center for
the arts in the South Louisiana area.
La Reserve becomes Leon Godchaux’s first sugar plantation
306
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Because it had not been operational for several years, La Reserve had fallen into
disrepair. Godchaux had to clear and enrich the soil, recondition machinery, and find a
source for “starter” shoots of cane—no small task in wartime. He also had to assemble work
crews. In 1862, relying on his ability to assess good workers, Godchaux hired black and
white workers rather than utilizing slave labor, which he believed to be inefficient as well as
distasteful. In time any unproductive workers were replaced and good workers were
rewarded. After emancipation, most of them remained in their positions during the time
when newly freed workers fled other plantations in droves for mythical good jobs “in the
city” that “get forty cents” a day (Godchaux 184). La Reserve plantation enjoyed a good
reputation among its workers. Leon Godchaux’s grandchildren recall that he could greet
every one of his employees by name.
In an 1894 article, the Daily States reported that the plantation “will grind the product
of 100,000 acres of cane” and “as this is not sufficient to feed the works an additional ten
thousand tons will be purchased for grinding and made into the sweet saccharine matter that
forms the chief component of our famous French candies, confections, and innumerable
sweet stuffs.” La Reserve, the article went on, “is almost a city of itself and does its own
butchering. Of the three hundred fifty hands employed on the place, one hundred fifty dine
daily in the refectory, which is a marvel of cleanliness. [. . . ] These one hundred and fifty
employees have been provided by nature with a most hearty appetite which has been
cultivated by them to such a degree that it has been found necessary to kill two large beeves
[beef cattle] and four lambs every week for their tables alone” (Flicker 7).
Leon Godchaux went on to purchase fourteen plantations, which he consolidated in
three clusters. One of these was the beautiful Madewood Plantation. Unlike Reserve, most
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of these plantation homes, Madewood among them, were less than thirty years old when he
acquired them. Though the Elm Hall operation proved the most financially successful, Leon
Godchaux’s heart remained with his first plantation, Reserve. After Mrs. Boudousquie, who
had been allowed to remain in her home as long as she chose, moved, Leon and his family
stayed in the main house on school breaks and during the hottest parts of the summer.
Eventually the main plantation house was reserved for the plantation overseer, and Godchaux
had a smaller family house, sometimes called the “summer house,” built on the property' to
accommodate his frequent visits.
During the 1880s Leon Godchaux established his own railway in order to transport
sugar to the mills and on to points of distribution. At first the railroad constituted narrow-
gauge rails and “dummy” cars, so called because they were provided with covers made to
resemble streetcars in order not to spook the horses that helped to pull them along the early
tracks. In 1895 Godchaux purchased two Baldwin steam engines, and eventually seven
engines were used by what came to be called the Mississippi River Sugar Belt Railroad. This
line was operational between 1885 and 1958, inclusive of the narrow-gauge years. Not long
after they ceased to run, some of these were purchased by Walt Disney for his California
theme park. Another of the Baldwin engines, “Engine Number 3,” has been restored and is
on display in front of La Reserve.
It was Reserve Plantation that it delighted Leon to show to visitors. When United
States Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson asked for a tour of Godchaux’s sugar
operation, he was taken to Reserve rather than to the imposing factory at Elm Hall. Shortly
after Leon’s death, president-to-be William Howard Taft, in the company of 117 senators and
congressmen and twenty four governors, docked at the house on the way to New Orleans.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. There he was feted by Godchaux family members and friends, among them AJcee Fortier and
Edward Godchaux. Taft, who was on an inspection trip to assess possible waterways
improvements, addressed the gathered crown from the gallery of the family residence at
Reserve, the Summer House.
Under Godchaux’s auspices, Godchaux Sugar enterprises “was considered the largest
sugar producer from sugar cane in the United States. Besides the Louisiana sugar refined, at
various times raw sugar from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Philippines was brought to
its docks by steamship to be run through the Reserve Refinery” (Butler 90).
Godchaux nearly lost Reserve to the great Mississippi River flood of 1893, when a
break in the levee threatened to wipe out both Reserve Plantation and the town that had
sprung up around it. Most of the public buildings in the town had been built by Godchaux
for the use of his employees, as had the workers’ houses. Godchaux notified the United
States Army Corps of Engineers that he was willing to spend as much as $100,000 to repair
the break. Working alongside his sons Edward, Charles, and Walter, other landowners, and
crews of convicts, the now sixty-nine-year-old Leon and the engineers slung wet, heavy sand
bags into the chasm. Working around the clock for a week—at night, under the light of a
steamboat hired by Leon for the purpose—they were able to reinforce the levee and save the
threatened properties. The Times Picayune reported that this fight had indeed cost Leon
Godchaux the entire sum he had offered (Times Picayune March 1, 1940).
In his report on the main house, Jonathan Flicker notes that
[. . . ] architectural evidence supports the conclusion that in the mid
nineteenth century the Reserve house looked much as it does today—i.e., a
fully raised Creole plantation house four rooms wide and two rooms deep with
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. front and side galleries. There was also a cabinet and loggia range on the rear,
but these features were severely impacted by a late nineteenth/early twentieth
century rear renovation. (There were very probably two cabinets, but physical
evidence survives for only one.) At this time (late nineteenth/early twentieth
century) the west end of the rear elevation received a small projecting wing
with a separate porch and a hip roof. This created a full size room where a
cabinet had presumably been. The east end received an extension without a
porch under a shed roof. In addition, some of the central portion of the rear
loggia (gallery) and a section of the east gallery were enclosed. Finally, a pair
of French doors on the front gallery was replaced by a single leaf glass and
paneled door in the Italianate style. (2)
Among the other significant “surviving features that existed by the mid-nineteenth
century,” Flicker includes the exterior design of the principal story, which includes stucco
scored to resemble cut stone. At one time the stucco may have been painted to resemble
granite. He also notes the four-panel doors and dormers with side pilasters; ‘Tederal
wraparound mantels which feature paneled pilasters and entablatures, intricate multi-layer
denticular cornices, sunburst motifs, elaborate molding profiles, lozenges and side panels”;
“the elegant molded entablatures found around the ceilings in several of the principal
rooms”; the headboard ceilings found in several of the rooms; and the “various door and
window surrounds and the baseboards.”
The house does not seem to have been much damaged by the flood of 1927, which
inundated lands along the Mississippi River from Illinois to Louisiana. Some areas were
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. flooded from April to September of that year. With the river at twenty-four feet in May, and
a frightened citizenry obtaining boats and stockpiles of canned foods, Governor Simpson
ordered the levee at Caernarvon dynamited to relieve pressure, destroying that area but
saving New Orleans and the surrounding area, including Reserve.
In 1975, the property was sold to the famously wealthy Hunt brothers of Texas.
When they declared bankruptcy in 1985, Barry Silverton and Pacific Malibu Development
Corporation of California bought the site and converted it into a bulk cargo shipping
terminal. In 1992, the Port of South Louisiana purchased the property and renamed it
GlobalPlex.
In 1993, the River Road Historical Society preserved the house by moving it from the
GlobalPlex site before it was razed as part of a planned expansion of the GlobalPlex facility.
The House was relocated to the comer of West 10th Street and River Road, a site
approximately one hundred yards from its original location. The Port of South Louisiana
conveyed ownership of the structure to the River Road Historical Society in September of
1993. The lot on which the house now stands was once part of Reserve Plantation.
The fight to save Reserve Plantation
The twentieth century fight to save Reserve Plantation is, in its way, every bit as
dramatic as that waged by Leon Godchaux in 1893. Whereas in the past a group of strong
men fought for an entire week to stave off encroachment from the flooding Mississippi
River, modem preservationists have fought industrialists and government officials for a
decade in order to save the house from complete destruction.
311
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Urging that serious attention be paid to the significance of Reserve Plantation,
Jonathan Flicker, Director of the Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation, wrote, “This is
an ongoing story of a titanic struggle to preserve an enormous Creole Plantation house. The
house is one o f Louisiana’s oldest structures and in some ways embodies the state’s unique
history.” The house, he affirms, “speaks not only of the wealth and importance of the
historic sugar industry but also of the prominence of free people of color in the decades prior
to the Civil War Restoring the massive house remains a challenge, to put it mildly, but the
situation is much improved since 1992 when the house was all but lost” (Flicker 7).
The home has been the subject of a series of locally publicized disputes for the past
decade. In 1990 a few members of the River Road Historical Society began discussing the
possibility of restoring the building, thought to be the oldest structure in the parish. The
building was in extreme peril because the owners of the property on which it stood, the South
Louisiana Port Commission, wanted to raze the crumbling structure because it stood on a
spot marked for development by GlobalPlex. GlobalPlex is the name under which the port
operates the site as a multi-cargo facility and industrial park.
From the first, efforts to prove the historic and architectural value of the property
have been an uphill struggle. In August of 1992 appraiser Hank Tatje of LaPlace reinforced
the opinion of Port Commission officials who contended that “besides being in the way of
GlobalPlex, the house is an eyesore and safety hazard.” Tatje reported that he couldn’t see
much of a future for the building “because of its condition, its location amid an industrial
plant and the cost of moving and restoring it. ‘You’ve got a historic property in an area it
doesn’t fit,’ he said. ‘I don’t think it’s worth much of anything to anybody other than a
historical society.’” To this, port deputy director Larry LeBeouf added, “We have no
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. documentation to that building having historical significance” (Warren 8). Plans were made
to raze the building and materials were ordered for new development but, before they could
be carried out, Lieutenant Governor Melinda Schwegmann barred any actions pending
further investigation by the Office of Facility Planning and Control, a branch of the
Governor’s Office. Gerry Hobdy, of the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and
Tourism, sent a letter to the port commission making them aware of Act 537 of the 1982
Legislature that prohibits the demolition of historic state buildings without due process.
An article published in the Summer 1992 Preservation Progress: The Newsdigest of
the Louisiana Preservation Alliance entitled “Godchaux House Threatened” urged readers to
write Governor Edwin Edwards, “urging that permission for demolition be denied, and to the
Port Commission’s Director [Richard Clements], urging continued compromise and
cooperation” (2). Research done up to this time indicated that “the house was built around
1800 by Norbert Boudesquie’s slaves” further stating that “hardly anyone can remember the
last family to live in it” (Warren 2).
In September 1992 Norman Marmillion, head of the German-Acadian Coast
Historical Society, wrote a letter to the editor of Preservation in Print, the publication of the
New Orleans Preservation Resource Center. It read, in part, “Even when the issue involves
one of our greatest historical resources, [. .. ] until recently interest in the building’s
protection was miniscule, and there exists little or no understanding of its value, either
culturally or economically, even in a parish blessed with such rich history and burdened by
continued economic distress” (Marmillion 16). The editor’s summary of the situation
appeared alongside the letter:
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The future of the 200 year old Godchaux House in St. John the Baptist
Parish has recently been the subject of great concern among preservationists
all over south Louisiana. Its plight is typical of the rapidly deteriorating
environment of the River Road, which has caused the National Trust to place
a seventy-mile stretch on its list of endangered places.
The building’s owner, the South Louisiana Port Commission, has
voted to donate the structure to the River Road Historical Society after first
discussing razing the building. Lieutenant Governor Melinda Schwegmann
and other preservationists urged the Commission to consider the tourist
attraction possibilities of the house. Though the donation by no means insures
the building’s future, it does buy six months, during which time it is hoped
that historic preservation grants can be obtained to restore the house. These
grants, however, only become available after the building is situated in a
permanent location and has been added to the National Register of Historic
Places.
Many preservation-minded individuals and groups recognize the
importance of the early plantation house, which is a tangible record of early
nineteenth-century culture. (.Preservation in Print September 1992 16)
With the Port Commission’s pledge to donate the house to the River Road Historical
Society, preservationists felt that the house itself had been secured. The next step was to
locate an affordable site for the structure, and find a company that would be willing to
transport the unstable old building. Late in the month, however, State Attorney General
314
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Richard Ieyoub warned the South Louisiana Port Commission not to donate the “Godchaux-
Reserve House,” as it was then called, to the historic preservation group. In the opinion,
Assistant Attorney General Gary Keyser wrote that the state constitution forbids government
agencies from making loans, pledges r donations of assets to or ‘Tor any person, association
or corporation, public or private.” This meant that the Port Commission could neither tear
down the house nor give it to the Historic Society. The Historic Society now had to raise
funds with which to purchase the house. They were given six months to find the money.
In February 1993, an exultant article entitled, “Godchaux House More Ancient Than
First Believed” reported Tulane University professor of architecture Eugene D. Cizek’s
revelation that the house might have originally been constructed in the 1760s, making it one
of the oldest houses in Louisiana. As part of a series of articles on Black History Month
(February), L ’Observateur’s Brad Hoeschen reported that Cizek’s research at that time
supported the theory that brothers Fran9oise and Elisee Rillieux probably emigrated from
Haiti as free men of color. Until Dr. Cizek, and later Jonathan Flicker, examined the
structure, the best scholarship agreed with this entry from the Encyclopedia Louisiana.
The Greek Revival house known as Destrehan Plantation is the oldest
plantation house remaining in the lower Mississippi Valley. It was built by
Charles Paquet, a free man of color, for M. Robin de Logny whose daughter
later married into the Destrehan family. It is finished in 1790 and twelve
years later the garconierres are added by Jean Noel Destrehan de Beaupre. In
1972 the River Road Historical Society acquired the title and began
restoration. It is open for tours by guides in ante-bellum gowns.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The St. John the Baptist Parish Council voted to give the Society $30,000 toward
purchase of the house. While gathering the funds, they learned that public tax revenues
could not legally be donated to a private organization. Dispirited but determined, they
organized a fund-raiser toward the purchase of the house.
On February 27th, 1993, New Orleans pianist Ronnie Kole performed a benefit
concert at the St. John Theatre in Reserve, and some funds were taken in by this means. On
March 1, 1993, the deadline by which the house must be purchased passed unmet. That
month, however, the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. This
designation brought a $30,000 state grant, which would be administered through the state
Division of Historic Preservation if matching funds could be produced. A ninety-day
extension provided time for the money to be raised. Leon Godchaux’s descendants provided
this amount through a trust they established and called the Greater New Orleans
Foundation’s Godchaux-Reserve Plantation Fund.
The next challenge was moving and restoring the house. The St. John the Baptist
Parish School Board agreed to sell the land at the comer of West 10th Street and River Road
in Reserve to the historical society for five dollars over its appraisal price of $20,000.
Finally, on September 25th through 27th, 1993, the house was moved to this location by
Capital City Housemovers of Greenwell Springs. By July 1994, plans were developed to
“brick the home’s lower story interior and exterior columns; lay new brick flooring and
gallery flooring throughout the house; and to add doors, windows and shutters,” according to
Alfred Donaldson, restoration committee chairman and project manager. Irene Tastet, of the
River Road Historical Society, was very active in developing these plans. A local newspaper
316
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. reported that, “Eventually, the lower stoiy will house committee offices, a tourist information
center and a gift shop” (River Parishes Picayune, July 17, 1994, p. 1).
By May 26, 1996, the above improvements were completed and an open house was
held. The day began with a blessing of the house and a private reunion of former Godchaux
employees, followed by a flag-raising ceremony and a driving tour of the old refinery.
Admissions of one and two dollars and charges for food and crafts went toward the
restoration fund. A “Second Annual Sugar House Soiree” was held at the Belle Terre
Country Club in LaPlace, Louisiana on Saturday, June 19, 1999, with live music from Joe
Simon’s Jazz Band and donations of foods by restaurants such as Antoine’s and Amaud’s.
Organizers have been unable to raise sufficient funds to further the restoration, and support
for the project has dwindled. Lamenting the lack of a designated leader with the proper
background for such an enterprise, the Godchaux family has lost most of their enthusiasm for
the project.
Jonathan Fricker, in publicity materials for the St. John the Baptist Historical
Society’s museum plans, sums up the status of the house thusly:
“This is an ongoing story of a titanic struggle to preserve an enormous Creole
Plantation house. The house is one of Louisiana’s oldest structures and in
some ways embodies the state’s unique history. It speaks not only of the
wealth and importance of the historic sugar industry but also of the
prominence of free people of color in the decades prior to the Civil War.
Restoring the massive house remains a challenge, to put it mildly, but the
situation is much improved since 1992 when the house was all but lost.”
317
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Notes
1 The Spaniard, Hernando de Soto, is credited with being the first European to discover the Mississippi River. His expedition is believed to have entered Louisiana in 1542. Exploration of Louisiana thereafter languished until 1682 when Rene' Robert Cavelier, Sieur DeLaSalle led a French expedition which altered the state from the north cm the Mississippi River and traveled to the Gulf. La Salle claimed Louisiana for France. La Salle's attempt to return and found a colony was unsuccessful. In 1698 a French expedition led by Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville entered Louisiana from the mouth o f the River. Further explorations were conducted by French fiur traders and missionaries. The first permanent settlement was at Natchitoches in 1714. In 1718 a permanent settlement was placed at New Orleans in order to guard French territory from incursions from the Spanish.
2 Only 3% of the earth’s water is fresh and 2/3 of that is frozen in ice caps or glaciers.
3 Joutel’s Historical Journal o f Monsieur De La Salle’s Last Voyage. (1684), Historical Collections of Louisiana
4 The Historical Journal o f Father Charlevoix. 1721, Historical Collections of Louisiana and Florida, Vol. Ill
5 From William Darby A Geographical History o f the State o f Louisiana, 1816
6 From Annals o f Louisiana, M. Penicaut, 1697
7 The word “attakapas” means flesh-eater, and was a contemptuous designation given Native Americans o f southwestern Louisiana by the other tribes in the state.
* The transfer of Louisiana from France to Spain was part of the Treaty o f Paris signed in 1763. The treaty marked the end of nine years o f warfare which began with rivalry between Britain and France, but which ultimately drew in other European powers. At the beginning o f the conflict France was well-positioned in North America with possession of Canada and the Louisiana territory. At the conflict’s end Great Britain took possession o f Canada and the French settlements east of the Mississippi River except for New Orleans. Spain received New Orleans and the former French territories west of the Mississippi River.
9 An arpent is a linear land measurement. Arpents measured land along the riverfront, and properties extended from the high land on the natural levee of the river back to the point at which the increasingly low, undrained land became too soggy to be utilized agriculturally. According to J. Hanno Deiler’s The Settlement of the German Coast o f Louisiana, the proper term for describing the size of a riverfront property is in “arpents’ front.”
10 Sale Jean Baptiste Fleming and Jeanette Teinser, gel, to Francois and Elisee Rillieux, hcl, November 10,1821, before Terrence Leblanc, Judge St. Charles Parish, COB c/384, cited in Ellis 5.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER SIX
SHARING THE STORIES:
THE FUTURE OF THE GODCHAUX STORY AND RESERVE
In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we m il love only what we understand, we will understand only what we are taught. Baba Dioum, International Union for Conservation o f Nature and Natural Resources 1968
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Sharing the Stories: The Future of the Godchaux Story and La Reserve
Introduction
Under Godchaux ownership, Reserve Plantation (along with Elm Hall and Greater
Raceland Plantation) reached its zenith as a leading force in Louisiana industry and in the
development of the surrounding community. The Godchaux family has made a significant
contribution to “sugar culture,” elite culture, and literary culture. Through the preservation
of the Reserve Plantation home, there now exists the opportunity for continued contribution
to Louisiana’s material culture and appreciation of the structure’s part in the Louisiana
history that began well before Leon Godchaux’s arrival—almost to the beginning of
Louisiana’s European settlement. The house, loved by the Godchauxs and residents of
Reserve, has the potential to stand as a locus for interpretation of Louisiana history and
folklore—as it can be interpreted and represented in literature, occupational culture, and the
diverse backgrounds of those who share a part in its story—for generations to come.
The experience of having lived on Reserve Plantation, and the application of folklore
methods such as the collection of oral histories and the recording of folk sayings and
customs, greatly enriched Elma Godchaux’s writing. These techniques were valued and
utilized by many writers of the southern renascence. Folklore training and methods can
benefit the development of the plantation house as well. As an educational facility, the
Godchaux-Reserve House holds enormous promise. Not only does it hold a very important
place in the stories of all of the Godchauxs mentioned in the previous chapters, but it is the
provider of the “sense of place” in Elma Godchaux’s fiction. That fiction can now be
utilized for interpretation of the house and the period of which she wrote. This chapter will
present some of the current thinking in public historical-cultural interpretation, and will
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. outline a few of the many possibilities for programming at the proposed Godchaux-Reserve
House Museum.
Folklore’s relationship to public programming and historical/cultural tourism
In American Folklore and the Historian, Richard Dorson writes that the study of
history, especially the recording of local history, “is naturally and inescapably linked with the
study of folklore. One of the great attractions indeed of such research in local history7 is the
opportunity to record folk traditions and employ them for the enrichment of the historical
narrative” (146). Later scholars from varied orientations, such as Benjamin Botkin and
David Hufford, have expanded Dorson’s ideas about the applications to which trained
folklorists can direct their skills.
Michael Owen Jones, in Putting Folklore to Use, offers a basic definition of the
activities of public sector folklorists:
Folklorists interpret these traditional, expressive forms and examples
according to one or more of several perspectives. Viewing folklore as an
index of historical processes, some researchers use examples of folklore to
reconstruct the past or to examine historical events and movements. Others
treat folklore as an aspect or manifestation of culture, and as an index to
cultural processes. [... ] Increasingly, more researchers conceptualize
folklore as a behavioral phenomenon. They explore traditional, symbolic
forms as expressions of psychological states and processes (e.g., projection or
transference, wish fulfillment, an aspect of the grieving process, a means of
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. coping or adjustment), or examine such cognitive and interactional processes
as learning, communication, and social dynamics.
In addition to documenting and interpreting examples of traditional,
symbolic behavior in people’s everyday lives, many folklorists also present
these examples and their interpretation in museum exhibits, films, festivals,
phonographic recordings, and radio programs. Some folklorists attempt to
help a people perpetuate some of their traditions, acting as “stewards” and
“cultural conservationists” on their behalf by documenting the traditions,
making them public, trying to get others to appreciate them, assisting in the
development of apprenticeship programs, and so on. Other folklorists apply
their training in yet other ways to help solve problems related to education,
aging, urban design, and cultural pluralism. (3-4)
To this list, Jones might have added environmental deterioration and tourism. Both
Jo Farb Hernandez’s discussions of museum development and Benita Howell’s essays
relating folklife, cultural conservation, and environmental planning make clear the
researcher/presenter’s responsibility to the subjects, as well as the viewers, of public
presentations. Whenever possible, the words and priorities of those presented must be taken
into account. Current research in the field of tourism indicates that the desirable upscale
tourist is looking for “authenticity” rather than those myths of the South so objectionable to
writers of the southern literary renascence. Programmers in the Reserve area are fortunate to
have access to many trustworthy resources such as historical accounts recorded by early
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. explorers, architectural research and historical records, census reports, and even literary
interpretations of plantation life written by those who lived on plantations.
Folklorist Elke Dettmer warns against the dangers of modeling any tourist attraction
on another. Each site must be developed with an eye toward its own unique potential. In the
case of the Godchaux-Reserve House, this is determined by the varied stories of the
inhabitants of the German Coast—their histories, their concerns and skills, their occupations,
their songs, tales and creations. Because there are already a number of plantation homes
open to tourism in the area, the majority of which interpret the antebellum luxury
experienced by plantation owners, it will be wise to investigate new avenues for historical-
cultural interpretation to which this house is peculiarly suited.
Any list of possible topics for public interpretation might well be prefaced by
Dettmer’s words to museum curators, festival and exhibit coordinators, and other
programmers of public presentations of history and culture:
With the knowledge acquired by training in folklore combined with
additional social and political skills, folklorists can help to change
stereotypical perceptions, encouraging tolerance and cultural appreciation
instead. Because of their training, values, and orientation, folklorists should
be able to bring a different perspective to tourism and, hopefully, a more
sensitive approach. As consultants, interpreters, writers, or tour guides, we
can provide specialized advice and expertise in regard to traditional cultures
and symbolic behavior. This is an important task, given the tremendous
impact tourism has everywhere. (Dettmer 196)
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At the 1998 conference “American House Museums in the Twenty-first Century: An
Athenaeum of Philadelphia Symposium,” Frank E. Sanchis HI, Vice-president of the
National Trust for Historic Preservation, delivered a presentation entitled “Looking Back or
Looking Forward?: House Museums in the Twenty-first Century.” He spoke of historic sites
as offering matchless opportunities for furthering public education and public involvement
with historical preservation.
Historic sites have the quality of authenticity. Better stated, they have
the inherent quality of authenticity, if it isn’t destroyed. In an increasingly
virtual world, historic sites may be the best remaining places for the public to
come to understand the value of the authentic versus the reproduction, the
value of the original versus the recreation, the value of balancing the
preservation with new construction, of keeping a progression o f our built
heritage in our towns and cities rather than wiping the slate clean every
generation. And historic sites have the quality of being able to inspire.
Through their authenticity, their tangibility, and the stories of the people who
lived and worked in them, historic sites can rivet the attention, fire the
imagination, inspire people to think thoughts that would not occur in ordinary
settings, open eyes and open minds. (2-3)
He pointed out that, though preservationists today are increasingly turning their
attention to a wider variety of projects, the public still thinks of historic preservation in terms
of house museums. Studies show that house museums are perceived as places for tourism
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and recreation, and that the typical house museum visitor is over fifty years old, financially
comfortable, and possessed of a college degree. House museums, however, trail far behind
art museums in numbers of visitors.
One reason for this, he states, is that because “dealing with the preservation of the
artifact [house] can be such an egregiously evident necessity, education often gets the short
end of the financial support stick, resulting in less-than-cogent interpretations by either
volunteer or underpaid guides” (4). Most house museums, he points out, “suffer from
inadequate research, both documentary and physical, on which to base their interpretations
and programming, which is consequently off the point and riddled with inaccuracies and
errors” (4).
Sanchis asserts that house museums are often perceived as looking backward rather
than forward, “that house museums, while fun to visit, are somehow at least superficial, and
perhaps, at worst, irrelevant” and are “looked upon as exclusionary, so protective of their
content that they are unwelcoming of the public, especially children, who could damage
them” (4). House museum staffs, “narrowly focused on their particular, and somewhat
esoteric, subjects,” do not encourage broader interpretation that might serve to connect their
topics to current or ongoing trends and issues (4).
On the other hand, many house museums blunt their impact as interpretive sites by
such means as advertising as commercial venues, representing themselves as party and
wedding sites. John M. Groff writes,
Rental income and the selling of services, and decorating workshops,
and face painting for kids on a Saturday afternoon are great ways to involve a
broader audience but we must be sure our historic houses don’t simply
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. become attractive backdrops for these events with little connection to their
history or purpose. We are not Disney World—we are not stage sets. We are
the authentic product for an audience who desires it and I believe it is an
expanding audience. (Groff 8)
Sanchis advocates that historic house museum directors should have strong
backgrounds in education, research, administration, programming, planning, writing,
exhibit/demonstration layout, and community relations or budgeting/fundraising:
House museums must acquire planning skills, for without them the
intelligent expenditure of funds, however meager, cannot occur. Historic
structure and landscape reports, furnishing plans, collections conservation
plans, interpretive pans, and based on all of them, master plans, are essential
planning documents that must be produced to create a vision and a path to
achieve it. Without them, it is next to impossible to develop rational
preservation plans or to assure that funds will be allocated for educational
programming. Without strong educational programming, I would suggest, the
use of an historic building as an historic site may not be the best choice.
Good programming, including the basic interpretive tour, school
programs, and written and visual educational materials and publications, are
not possible without sound in-service training for staff and guides, and that
training must look beyond the historic site to include the larger picture into
which it fits. We must also examine the formal education of site
administrators.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. [ . . . ] It is crucial to rethink the kinds of houses that become house
museums and ensure that more houses representing cultural and economic
diversity are preserved and interpreted. If historic preservation is
fundamentally about memory, it is always important to ask the question:
Whose memory? Unless the composition of house museums is diversified,
how can we hope to attract the broad audience who must, in the end, embrace
the ethic of preservation? (5)
In an excellent, and complementary, presentation called “To Thine Own Self Be
True: The Small Historic House Museum in the Twenty-first Century,” John M. Groff,
Executive Director of the Wyck Association, provided an overview of the development of
Wyck House (circa 1689) as a museum in the 1970s through his hire in 1990 to the current
time. He feels that the approach to interpretation was “well ahead of its time” in its focus on
the stories of the families that inhabited Wyck rather than on artifacts. Wyck was lucky to
have over 10,000 original family furnishings and 100,000 letters, diaries, bills of sale, and
other manuscript items.
Rather than gear interpretation to these items, the items are used to supplement
interpretation that focuses on individual stories. Being true to oneself, for a house museum,
means telling of “real people, real things and the real past—not an imagined and glorified
image of ancestral virtue and elegance” (4). Clearly, there is a place for folklorists in house
museum interpretation, especially those with backgrounds in education and public
presentation.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. While the majority of plantation tours focus on ghost stories, antebellum luxury, or
comparisons to houses from the film Gone With the Wind, a growing number of Louisiana
plantation tours have looked beyond this much-harvested terrain. Kathe Hambrick, founder
of the River Road African-American Museum and Gallery at Tezcuco Plantation, recalls that
in the early nineties “I visited every sugar cane and rice plantation between Baton Rouge and
New Orleans. Not one of the tour guides ever mentioned enslaved people or talked about the
rich contributions African-Americans made to plantation culture. There were only vague
references to ‘servants.’” The museum features her brother Harold’s collection of African-
American memorabilia, and area families have donated records from nearby plantations; a
registry of Black Civil War veterans; original documents from Frederick Douglas and Booker
T. Washington; and photographs of early Black professionals, artists, entertainers, and sports
legends.1 The museum also sells artwork by African-American artists. The antebellum
documents in the museum focus primarily on slavery, and so leave room for other historic
homes to develop interpretation of free plantation owners of color.
Southdown Plantation, while it does not interpret Louisiana’s artistic and literary
history, maintains the Art and Literature from Terrebonne Gallery. This facility houses
collections of paintings by Terrebonne artist Charles Baiher Gilbert and original manuscripts
of novels by Thaddeus I. “Thad” St. Martin. In this way, Southdown has found a means by
which to make itself unique and to capitalize on local assets.
Laura Plantation in Vacherie has the valuable resource of “Laura Locoul’s Memories
o f My Ole Plantation Home, the two hundred-year account of daily life on the plantation”
(plantation brochure). With twelve buildings on the National Register of Historic Places,
including some slave quarters, the plantation tour includes interpretation of plantation
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. slavery. Another tour focuses on women who operated plantations, because Laura Plantation
was female operated for a number of years. The tours mention French, German, Canadian,
and African influences on the area. Because the Creole owners of the property spoke French,
French-language tours are offered three days a week.
Evergreen Plantation in Wallace, with its twenty-two extant slave quarters and many
other outbuildings in relatively good shape, seeks to provide an inclusive picture of
plantation life as it was lived by owners, slaves, skilled workers, and the many others whose
efforts contributed to the operations of the Louisiana plantation. As a working sugar
plantation, Evergreen allows for further interpretation of sugar culture, as visitors can see the
sugaring operations firsthand.
Tours at Evergreen, available only through a New Orleans agency, are based on
research and archaeological evidence. The first round of archaeological fieldwork, called the
Evergreen Plantation Archaeology Project, was completed on November 19, 1999, according
to Southeastern Louisiana University professor and project coordinator Scott Simmons. The
digs continue, and will undoubtedly provide information that can be used, not only at
Evergreen, but at other plantation homes that offer historical and cultural interpretation to the
public.
Like Sanchis, Groff cautions against “cashing in on the latest trend, expending our
resource in a way counter to our preservation missions, and letting the entertainment side of
our presentation too fully overwhelm the educational” (7). To help would-be museums find
the proper niche, he offers a reality check that forces programmers to consider questions a
visitor might ask before choosing to take a tour. Among them are:
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about the Persian carpets or the significance of the former owner, whose
contribution to history may have been a discerning eye for fine cabinetmaking
and a large pocketbook rather than a lasting contribution to the community?”
“Will I, as the visitor, have to work hard to extract some meaning from the
tour?” “Will the guide ask about my interests, welcome me cordially, make
me feel part of the story—not just a wall for projecting a pre-craft ed script?”
When these questions can be answered, the marketing can begin. (7)
Groff offers three types of classification for house museums that, in part, “should help
define what is appropriate in the way they are used and interpreted”:
Type One are sites of the highest integrity—a completeness of well
documented and preserved historical buildings, at least partial furnishings that
are original to the house, some survival of the historic landscapes, and
documentation whether from family papers or local histories. Type Two sites
have some of these elements, but not all—for example, The Highlands in Fort
Washington [Pennsylvania]—a significant example of late Georgian
architecture that is unfurnished, but has noteworthy arts and crafts-era gardens
and good documentation. Or the Grange in Haverford Township—a
fascinating evolution of a gentleman’s country seat, or Maxwell Mansion in
Germantown—one of only a handful o f Victorian sites in what is a very
Victorian city, that are open to the public. Again, neither has extensive
original furnishings. And finally Type Three sites may be of marginal
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. historical importance or integrity, or like Loudoun Mansion, have lost much
of their original fabric to fire or change. (7-8)
Given these criteria, Godchaux-Reserve House could be considered a Type Two site,
meriting interpretation but requiring both creativity and integrity in programming. For these
sites Groff proposes several “ingredients” for a “recipe for success”:
Having a well-defined mission and goals which are revisited regularly is
critical. Next, follow the adage “To thine own self be true.” First you must
be well documented—know your history, your strengths and weaknesses.
Look for non-traditional opportunities for interpretation— especially focused
on family lives, women’s roles, childhood and the current interests of your
audience, whether it is local or national. But don’t jump on bandwagons,
contrive story lines with no basis for support, or make assumptions about your
audience just because of their background. If your house was an Underground
Railroad stop, you have a compelling story to tell. If it was owned by wealthy
people of refined taste but little social consciousness, don’t try to talk about
the abolition movement when there is no connection at all, but talk about how
that family lived, and the story that may today be of more interest is their
servants—where they lived, what their daily routine was like and what their
relationship was with the family. (8)
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Godchaux-Reserve House Historical Society
A group called the Godchaux-Reserve House Historical Society, established in 1992
and headed by Julia Remondet, has formulated a “Proposed Development Plan.” Its stated
mission is to “develop an interpretive complex which will attract tourists and encourage them
to explore the history of the river region; and show how the economy and various cultures
contributed to the growth and development of the river corridor” and to “provide a central
facility to be used by the public for the production of various area-wide cultural events.” It
lists as its goals the restoration of the Reserve plantation house, the acquisition of the Leon
Godchaux Grammar School building for use as a museum, the development of a “Riverwalk”
on the levee across River Road from the house, and the securing of docking facilities for
riverboats.
Restoration plans call for ‘“windows’ in the walls to allow for viewing of brick
between post, and mud and moss construction, and early framing techniques.” The plan
states, in bulleted form, that:
• The house will be furnished with articles from the 18th and 19th century [sic].
The Historical Society will attempt to locate and purchase furnishings original
to the house.
• A gift shop will be located on the lower floor, as will a coffee shop, until other
accommodations become available.
• Exhibits on lower floor will consist of drawings of the construction and
evolution of the house, and purchase and expansion of the plantation property.
• Sugar cane will be grown on the grounds and a “cutting” demonstration will
be held for tours.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. • Entertainment in the form of Cajun music and singing will be performed at
various times throughout the day.
• Tours of the house will be accompanied by knowledgeable guides.
Though the Leon Godchaux Grammar School has not been purchased as yet, the
society hopes that the school “will be transformed to a multifaceted interpretive sugar
museum which will trace the history of the sugar industry in general, and the Reserve
plantation and its individual families in particular.” These are the six exhibit descriptions
from the Godchaux-Reserve House Historical Society’s development proposal:
• “Francois and Elisee Rillieux,” first owners of Reserve—free people of color,
and entrepreneurs of the first order, whose cousin, Norbert, invented the
multiple effect vacuum process which revolutionized the processing of sugar
cane.
• “Leon Godchaux,” third owner of the plantation, a Jewish immigrant who
initiated centralized refining, turned the private plantation into a major public
holding.
• “Women of the Louisiana,” focusing on the widow Boudousquie, second
owner, who struggled to maintain the plantation and raise a family during the
depressed agricultural and economic period of the Civil War in Louisiana.
This exhibit will detail the legal and social status of plantation, slave, and
middle class women in 19th century Louisiana.
• ‘Tree People of Color” exhibit will emphasize their unique status in society,
and their technological and economic contributions to antebellum Louisiana.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. • “Jewish Immigrants in the River Region” [is planned as a] permanent exhibit
on the Jewish impact on the growth and development of the river corridor,
social and cultural influence, [and] contributions to the community.
• “History of Sugar Cane Growing in Louisiana” [is planned as a] primary
exhibit extensively documenting the history of the sugar cane industry in
Louisiana, from growing to refining and marketing.
Plans call for the school to house “African-American genealogy [records], Reserve
plantation slave records [which] will be housed on site, with capabilities to perform
genealogy studies” and also to be “a first-class meeting facility capable of supporting catered
events for use by businesses, industries and individuals who wish to utilize our facilities for
their functions.”
With a few hundred dollars in its account, the group sees its most pressing needs as
corporate sponsorship, parking facilities, and a dock. Though there seem to be no immediate
plans for further research on which to base interpretation, this will have to be done before the
house can be opened to the public. Some of the most recent research has already created a
need for updating the society’s plans, and the group has eagerly welcomed new information
as it has been provided by scholars and preservationists. As more research is done, the above
plans for interpretation will probably change.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Developing the potential of the Godchaux-Reserve House:
Alternatives to the Historic House Museum
Maida Owens, interim Executive Director of the Louisiana Division of the Arts,
distinguishes between a museum, which implies a collection, a cultural center, which is
geared to activities and exhibits, and a tourist attraction, the primary focus of which is to
generate profits. “The Louisiana tourism market,” she says, “does not need another house
museum. The major means of getting visitors, bus tours, is already well-established. Any
new attraction would have to be really unique or do something very different to gain a place
in that market.”2
She points out that any facility that opens itself to the public must be clear about who
comprises the target population to be reached by the new enterprise. Is a museum or cultural
center designed to attract primarily tourists or people from the surrounding areas? Of course,
a site can function both as a cultural center and a tourist attraction. “A cultural center,” says
Owens, “generally should have a local market.” A prime example of a successful community
center is the Liberty Theatre in Eunice, Louisiana. "Local support is what keeps the doors to
the Liberty Theatre open. Though a lot of tourists make the trip to Eunice, part of the
attraction is seeing the local people at this theatre in their own community. If locals don’t
turn out, it loses its value as a tourist attraction. Often, locals provide the bulk of the ticket-
sale revenue.”
Given the predisposition of the historical society, it seems that the cultural center may
be the best option for the Godchaux-Reserve House. Cultural programming may include a
wider range of interpretive subjects than can be offered through a museum. Presentations
may run the gamut from slave rebellions to book discussion groups to interpretive jazz
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. programs. Owens emphasizes, “A cultural center can present programs that are classical,
historical, or folk in nature. The most important thing to consider before making those
determinations is: Who are we hoping to attract, and what is our market?” She urges any
group thinking of opening a historic house museum, cultural center, or tourist attraction to
appoint a team to visit every other historic home and related tourist attraction in order to
determine ways in which to carve out a unique niche. “Without some new angle, a new
enterprise of this type is destined for failure.”
Owens reiterates the suggestions of Sanchis and Groff when she urges that any group
planning to develop a historic site first decide exactly what their purpose will be. The most
successful enterprises of this type are those that begin with the most specific self-definition.
These should be made clear in a realistic statement of purpose and long-range plan. “Any
group that tries to be all things to all people, or all funders, is courting failure,” warns Owens.
Second, consider whether local resources will support the long-range plan, and what can be
done with the existing funds and manpower. For example, if there is not enough money to
pay interpreters, can the facility support one person who will train and manage a volunteer
corps? Owens agrees with Groff that reliance on volunteers makes any enterprise vulnerable
to understaffing and, consequently, falling short of funding requirements.
Another thing to think about, cites Owens, “is the quality of interpretation. Norman
Marmilion of Laura Plantation spends massive amounts of time and funds on research for the
substance of his presentations and training of his presenters.” The result, she asserts, greatly
enriches the experience of visiting Laura because the knowledgeable guides have more to
offer than the standard plantation tour. “Today’s tourists,” says Sharon Calcote of the
Louisiana Office of Tourism, “want authenticity. They don’t want to feel that they’re
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. hearing a ‘party line.’ If possible, they want to participate in something that they can touch,
smell, hear, or even taste.”
Calcote stresses that the Louisiana Office of Tourism, with its new emphasis on
heritage tourism, is interested in finding out about things that are unique to various Louisiana
locations, and in developing non-destructive “organic” tourism in rural towns. She says she
is frustrated with the “Cajun-ization” of the state beyond the boundaries of Acadiana, and
wants to discover what resources for tourism might exist other than the standard attractions.
Calcote has developed what she calls the ‘‘fruitcake theory” of tourism consultancy. She has
hired numerous consultants over the years, who all gave her what she calls “the same old
ideas.” She says she has come to the conclusion that there is actually one state tourism plan
that gets passed around regardless of varying resources or populations. Her goal, and her
challenge to communities, is to create new models for tourism that will elicit approval from
state funding agencies.3
Sustaining a program necessitates connecting an administrator with appropriate
funding sources and museum support services from such agencies as the Louisiana State
Museum or the Louisiana Association of Museums’ “Quickstart” program for community
planning of small museums and cultural centers. It can also mean setting systems in place
for local financial support of ongoing events. The Louisiana Heritage Initiative, a unique
group effort of folklorists, the National Parks Service, and the Louisiana Office of Tourism,
stresses the following questions, among others, to communities planning public programs.
These decisions require thought and time, and it is essential to include community members
in this process.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. What type of facility are we? In this case, are we a collection-based museum, a cultural
center, or a tourist attraction?
Which traditions and topics will be presented? Which are unique to our project, and set it
apart from others?
What is the focus of presentation or interpretation? Do we focus on diversity or
homogeneity? That is, do we present one cultural group or time period, or a variety?
Which plans are most practical for long-term programming, and which are unrealistic?
What is the best use of our funds? Which funding options best foster long-term
planning?
Who will conduct our fieldwork, our documentation?
What outcomes do we want to realize? (educational programming, generation of
revenues, community spirit, long-term tourism, etc.)
Who is the target audience, and how do we bring them to our facility?
Which community members can help develop a project and eventually help to coordinate
future, similar projects?
The nature of some of the crafts and skills that might be included in a cultural center
makes small-scale tourism—in which visitors see and experience already-existing or ongoing
activities and sights—more appropriate than, for example, larger-scale special events.
Presentation of crafts such as the creation of Job’s Tears rosaries or All Saints’ Day
couronnes (waxed-flower wreaths used for grave decoration) provide opportunities to
interpret the spiritual traditions and customs of the community, but would be inappropriate
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. for very large events. Some practitioners of these crafts object to sharing these very personal
customs at large or festive public events.
The type of tourism that can be achieved through a cultural center, in order to thrive
without constant intervention and exorbitant maintenance, benefit the target community, and
attract desirable visitors, must utilize those traditions that are already active in the community
in a way that will most seamlessly fit the existing life of the community. Highly-orchestrated
ventures that rely on exhibitions played to large groups of day-trippers necessitate a type of
planning that may be hard to replicate, because they require organizers to train new
participants for each whirlwind event. The tourist who is “bussed in” for a special event does
not contribute significantly to the economy of the town, as she/he often does not patronize
local shops, restaurants, or lodging facilities. These types of exhibitions can be draining in
the long run, making participants feel more like performers than like individuals who are
sharing meaningful aspects of their culture with respectful, interested visitors. When these
ventures fail, they are rarely replaced, discouraging locals who may have invested hope
and/or money in the prospect of an influx of tourists.
The history of the house itself speaks to some of the questions presented above. The
changes in ownership give interpreters discrete periods for interpretation, and also variety.
Diversity in programming, with the Godchaux-Reserve House, need not rely on stretching
the truth for the purposes of “diversity,” nor need it rely on duplicating topics for
interpretation that are being well-developed elsewhere.
Though the Godchaux-Reserve House has no wealth o f artifacts and documents as
does Wyck House, the transitions of the house from one owner to another, and the great
diversity of experience these exchanges brought into the house’s history, gives interpreters an
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. unprecedented variety of stories to tell. Interpretation at Wyck relies heavily on letters and
personal reminiscences of Wyck owners and their visitors, who have left detailed and lively
descriptions of the house and grounds. Interpretation at La Reserve will require, as Sanchis
calls for, ingenuity and, as Groff suggests, a judicious utilization of assets.
Both men proffer injunctions against inauthenticity and trendiness, such as
background music that would never have been played in the house during its use as a home.
Tt has heen documented that the Godchaux family listened to, played, and supported classical
music and opera, which were, in fact, popular with music-lovers of all socioeconomic levels,
and certainly any socially ambitious person or anyone able to own a plantation would have
listened to this rather than to, say, folk music, in the home. Interpretations of plantation
workers could include music of the Baptist church, blues and work songs, and possibly some
early Cajun and Italian songs (Cajun songs did not combine instrumentation with sung lyrics
until about 1928). More modem music could be interpreted if well-documented
contextualization stressed the continuum of musical trends and influences.
While research may reveal letters, journals, bills, or other manuscript items relating to
the Hofmanns, Bomes, Laubels, Flemings, Teinters, Rillieuxs, Boudousquies, and
Godchauxs, there are some manuscript materials presently available that can enrich
interpretation. In addition to business records of the various Godchaux businesses, the
fiction of Elma Godchaux is a rich resource for potential programmers of the Godchaux-
Reserve House Museum. Unfortunately the Godchaux-Reserve has no document such as the
rare resource used as the basis for interpretation at Laura Plantation—Laura Locoul’s
Memories o fMy Ole Plantation Home. It does, however, have access to Elma Godchaux’s
fiction, which is based on her experiences at Reserve. Stubborn Roots, in particular,
339
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. describes some of the routines of childhood on the plantation, including some holiday
customs.
Because of the complex and varied history of the house, it would be both appropriate
and commercially advantageous to structure any tour of the place differently than those of
other nearby plantation homes. Most public plantations choose one historic period to which
the house is restored and tours are directed. Rather than choosing one of the families that
owned Reserve and interpreting the period in which they lived, it might be more creative and
informative to devote one room in the house to each of the families that lived in it. The
original two rooms, for example, could be restored to the periods of the earliest German
Settlement, using the Hofmanns as the focus of interpretation, and the early Alsatian settlers,
using the Laubel family as examples. The two most luxurious rooms in the house could be
devoted to those residents that lived the most extravagantly—the Rillieux and the
Boudousquies. A room focusing on sugar culture and/or Louisiana’s literary history should
focus on the Godchauxs. This room, or another if one is available, might also house
changing exhibits and demonstrations.
As Groff says, interpreters of local history “have a new opportunity with the birth of
this century to be more inclusive,” especially when a house museum, like Reserve, is the
legitimate locus for a multiplicity of stories—not just of the owners and the workers, but of a
diversity of owners with widely varied backgrounds and lifestyles. “In 1900 much of the
historical and preservation activity was reactionary—it was about ratifying the values of the
elite and creating a security blanket to deal with rapid change,” he declares, and this can be
seen in museum tours that stress the fabled luxury of the “plantation lifestyle” without
interpreting ancillary realities and stories, such as the struggle to make plantations
340
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. economically self-sufficient, or the cultural histories, occupational skills, and routines of the
numerous plantation residents. Groff urges, “Rather than circling the wagons let us this time
provide as much access as possible to the past with the historic house museums in the lead”
( 11).
Plans for the future
Development of the house as a museum must follow guidelines for museum
accreditation, which define a museum as “an organization and permanent non-profit
institution, essentially educational or aesthetic in purpose, with professional staff, which
owns and utilizes tangible objects, cares for them, and exhibits them to the public on some
regular schedule” (Fitzgerald 8). A folk museum differs from an art museum “in its attention
to the common man and its comparative approach in the interpretation of regional cultures. [.
. . ] In the United States, [this concept] has been combined with historical restoration, historic
site interpretation, and local historiography to the point that folk character is often
overlooked in American open-air museums” (Loomis 499).
Clearly this is not the intention of Godchaux-Reserve House organizers. Plans call
for inclusive interpretation of many of the cultures that share the history of the plantation.
Keeping the historical society’s limited budget in mind, tours might be developed that rely
more heavily on content than on artifacts. Of course, it will ultimately be desirable to have
both, but research can be done more quickly and economically than can the acquisition of
artifacts. Any acquisitions must be very carefully planned and geared toward specific
interpretive content. After restoration, after research and planning, funding strategies and
boards of directors are established, decisions must be made about staffing.
341
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ormond H. Loomis instructs first-time organizers that:
Staffing is a decisive factor in creating an effective museum. Over the
phone, in guided tours, through exhibits, with prospective donors, the staff
communicates what the museum is. [... ] That roughly sixty-six to seventy-
five percent of the budgets of established museums goes to salaries indicates
the magnitude of the staffs contribution. Organization should be along clear,
reasonable lines o f authority, and fair, businesslike personnel practices should
be established. The background of employees is equally important. [ .. . ]
Volunteers are a mixed blessing. While the value of their labor cannot be
ignored, this labor has its costs. Their unbridled enthusiasm must be bridled,
or at least supervised, and often the cost of supervision exceeds the value of
the work or the generous spirit in which it is offered.
{... ] Many small museums function with only a secretary and a
director. The board, or trustees, choose the director to represent them in
running the museum. They give this individual the responsibility and
authority to implement the policies and achieve the goals of the organization.
For a small folk museum, a generalist with training in folklore makes the best
director, one who can put together exhibits, catalog artifacts, coordinate
volunteers, and supervise an office. As a museum grows, the board will add
positions for a general assistant and, if not provided by a parent organization,
maintenance.
342
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acquisitions, site development, and staffing are exciting to think about. However,
before any concrete planning can take place, a museum or interpretive site must have a solid
body of documentation on which to base interpretation. Research can take a great deal of
time and effort, and should be conducted by professionals. The Godchaux-Reserve House,
with its rich history, has many stories to tell, and all of them need not be presented at once.
Given two or three fully researched aspects of the Reserve history with which to vary a basic
tour, a museum can operate while conducting further fieldwork and research.
Writing about museum organization, Loomis outlines problems inherent in museum
establishment and explains guidelines for charters, mission statements, and bylaws as they
affect funding and mandates for operation. He distinguishes between museums that interpret
a specific culture and a specific time period. Not surprisingly, he classes these the “specific”
type of museum. Another museum that he terms one of the “holistic” type interprets “the
major ethnic groups which settled the state during the period from white settlement to the
early twentieth century” (499). He describes various educational possibilities for the small
museum, and outlines the basics of curatorial work.
Clearly, any programming of Godchaux-Reserve House will require extensive
research, but the history of the house clearly supports development of all of the topics listed
below for interpretation through stationary exhibit, photos and signage, artifacts, and/or live
demonstrations.
• The Godchaux-Reserve House should feature local literary culture, and could feature
Elma Godchaux’s literary portraits of plantation, black and Cajun culture of the post-
Civil War era, and of the nineteen-twenties and -thirties. This exhibit could discuss
those aspects of folk culture that enriched her depictions of plantation life. A
343
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. collection of Elma Godchaux’s works, such as the collection of Thad St. Martin’s
literature at Southdown Plantation, would make a suitable basis for an exhibit. The
exhibit should include information about the importance of the Double-Dealer and
Paul Godchaux, Jr.,’s role in its development. An exhibit should focus not only on
Elma and Paul themselves and their places in the family, but also on their places in
southern and national literature and on the content of the literature. Such an exhibit
could include those literary artists who lived in the area such as Pat O’Donell, who
managed the Reserve Community Center for Edward Godchaux.
• Evolution of the house as material culture (exhibits could illustrate columbage,
bousillage, French and Federal architectural styles, why the kitchens were placed as
they were, why the houses were raised, etc.). Some of this information, of course,
will include information already presented at other house museums but, with careful
thought, information can be presented in interesting new ways. If the original layout
of the Reserve Plantation can be determined, much will be revealed about the day-to-
day operation of the plantation. Perhaps an exhibit might feature the changes in the
way the household, and the plantation, was run over time.
• Plantation life during and immediately after the Civil War. This aspect of plantation
life is not generally addressed at plantation museums, which prefer to interpret
antebellum luxury. The fate of Reserve Plantation’s third owners, the Antoine
Boudousquie family—is similar to those of the majority of antebellum southern
planters, in that plantations were seldom self-supporting. This presentation might
appropriately focus on the women who oversaw plantations without husbands due to
the war or other reasons. Tezcuco Plantation and Laura Plantation include some
344
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. interpretation of slavery in their tours, but there is much more research and
interpretation to be done about free planters and slaveholders of color—an interesting
area of inquiry and presentation that is much neglected.
• Plantation life: myths and realities as seen through Stubborn Roots, Elizabeth Fox-
Genovese’s Within the Plantation Household, and numerous other sources: slave
culture on plantations and in New Orleans; isolation, especially of women, felt by
plantation residents; interactions among cultural groups (F.Ima Godchaux’s works
often include culture clashes—both within and between cultural groups—on the
plantation and in post-bellum Louisiana); etc.
• Sugar culture (Stubborn Roots and “Chains” are about sugar culture, and can be used
to contextualize exhibits and tie them to Godchaux family in an interesting way.)
Any presentation of sugar culture should be more than a collection of Godchaux
artifacts, and should be checked against interpretation already in use at Evergreen
Plantation.
• Ecological changes that have taken place during the existence of the house
• The immigrant experience (ship voyage, assimilation, various cultural groups and
their reasons for coming to Louisiana, etc.)
• Cultural groups that live in the Reserve area: presentation of various folkways
• Music (that would have been favored by various owners of the house)
• The country store and its importance in rural Louisiana society (such as Leon
Godchaux’s first store in Convent, Louisiana, which was taken as the model for the
store which is a central motif in Elma Godchaux’s short story “Chains” and in her
novel Stubborn Roots). The Lacour Store in Point Coupee Parish was built around
345
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1870 and was operated by the family until 1975. Any research and documentation
that has been done there might help with interpretation.
• How a town is built (i.e. Reserve, which was essentially developed by the Godchaux
family for sugar workers and their families)
• Separate exhibits, based on the periods during which families of different cultures
owned the house, could feature: the German history of this area called the German
Coast (focusing on the Hofmann family, 1722-1764, and/or the Christome Borne
family, 1810-1815);
o the Spanish influence in the area;
o the military service of German Coast residents, since many of these men—black and
white, German and French—served with Jean Lafitte’s buccaneers alongside Andrew
Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans;
o the French history of the area (focusing on the Jean Baptiste Laubel family, 1764-
1822)
o the stories of black residents of Reserve (focusing on owners who were free persons
of color— Jean Baptiste Fleming and Jeanette Teinter and/or Francois and Elisee
Rillieux—who operated a plantation that utilized slave labor) Such an exhibit should
also mention Norbert Rillieux’s contributions to sugar processing and the slave
insurrection at nearby Woodlands Plantation, which directly affected owner Sophie
Andry Boudousquie, as her father was the first to be killed. Dormon’s scholarship on
the Woodlands slave uprising will be valuable here.
o Jewish history in Louisiana (with primary focus on the Godchaux family, who were
among Louisiana’s first Jewish families, and operated Reserve Plantation from 1862-
346
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1956). Two documentaries, Brian Cohen’s “Pushcarts and Plantations: Jewish Life in
Louisiana” and “Alsace to America: Discovering a Southern Jewish Heritage”
developed through the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, feature
interviews with members of the Godchaux family and others describing contemporary
and historical Jewish experience in Louisiana.
Conclusion
Just as Elma Godchaux’s life brought her back to Reserve—at times of trouble or to
find inspiration for her most important work—this dissertation has come back to Reserve.
It will be clear to any reader that any of the preceding chapters, or any of the topics
for proposed interpretation, could be developed into a full-length dissertation. It is hoped
that the research presented here will illustrate (in some cases, remind readers of) the value of
the Godchaux family’s contribution to Louisiana history, economy and literary culture, and
will bolster efforts to preserve their story. The literature of Elma Godchaux gives readers a
multi-faceted picture of South Louisiana life as experienced and interpreted by one who grew
up in New Orleans and at Reserve. The Godchaux story touches on many others, as well—
stories that are equally important and equally demanding of interpretation. Through the
Godchaux-Reserve House Museum, because of the history of the structure, many stories
become available and many muted voices may be brought to life.
347
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Notes
1 From publicity materials provided by Kathe Hambrick.
2MaidaOwens. Personal interview. 9 April 2001.
3 Sharon Calcote. Personal interview. June 1997.
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368
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Timeline
1699 Iberville encounters a herd of 200 buffaloes at the conjunction of Pass Manchac and Lake Maurepas
1719 The Company of the West recruits hundreds of German families who settle upriver from New Orleans along a section of the Mississippi River that is still called the Cote des Allemands (German Coast).
1748 Choctaw and Chickasaw attacks from the east prompt German Coast residents to establish a fort, manned by French forces
1722 Andreas Hofmann settles on property that would eventually become Reserve Plantation Prominent composers: Bach, Handel
1764 Jean Baptiste Laubel purchases Hofmann’s six arpents (just over five acres) of riverfront property, which includes a small two-room structure with a common chimney. Mozart writes his first symphony Benjamin Franklin’s new invention, the practical harmonica, gains popularity
1795 After expulsion upon discovery of his unfulfilled appointment as Grand Inquisitor, Pere Antoine returns to New Orleans and is eventually named vicar-general of St. Louis Cathedral
1803 Louisiana territory purchased from France, explored by Lewis and Clark expedition 1804-6. Prominent composers: Beethoven, Haydn
1809 Thousands of Haitians with experience in sugar production flee to Louisiana during the 1809 revolution in their country James Madison becomes 4th president of the United States
1810 German Christome Borne purchases the property, which has been greatly improved by Laubel By Decree of Rambouillet, Napoleon orders sale of seized U.S. ships
1811 Nearby Woodlands Plantation is the site of the largest slave revolt in U.S. history. Manuel Andry, son of the plantation owner, is the first to be killed. William Henry Harrison defeats Indians under Tecumseh at Tippecanoe, Indiana Luddites destroy industrial machines in North England
1815 Borne sells the property to Jean Baptiste Fleming and Jeanette Teinter, free persons of color In January many German Coast men serve with Jean Lafitte’s buccaneers under General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans. Joseph Savary, a free man of color, is given a field commission after killing British commanding general Edward Packenham. 369
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1821 Prominent free brothers of color Francois and Elisee Rillieux purchase, enlarge and improve the property. Utilizing slave labor, they operate a large sugar business from 1822 through 1833. Prominent composers: Donizetti, Rossini, Schubert
1824 Leon Godchaux born June 10 in Herbeviller, France Joachim Tassin bom in West Indies U.S. House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as president when none of the four candidates wins a majority in the national election
1833 Antoine Boudousquie and Michel T. Andry purchase property. Antoine and Sophie Andry Boudousquie live in the house, now a luxurious plantation home, and continue to enlarge and improve the property. They name it La Reserve. Bestseller: Davy Crockett’s autobiography Prominent composers: Chopin, Mendelssohn
1835 Justine Lamm born in Aie, France P.T. Bamum begins his career
1836 Lion Godchaux departs Le Havre October 18 on packet ship Indus Published: Ralph Waldo Emerson “Nature”
1837 Lion Godchaux and Joachim Tassin debark in New Orleans on February 20 Martin Van Buren is inaugurated as 8th president of the United States Victoria becomes Queen of Great Britain Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales is the nation’s best-seller Thomas Carlyle writes “The French Revolution” Gag Law, aimed at suppressing debate on slavery, passed by U.S. Congress New Orleans experienced economic depression called “The Panic” New Orleans experiences terrible Yellow Fever epidemic First official Mardi Gras parade rolls in New Orleans Vendor “Old Com Meal” gives concert of folk songs at St. Charles Hotel Godchaux and Tassin go into business as peddlers
1838 New Orleans best-sellers: Jared Sparks Life o f Washington, Longfellow Hyperion and Voices o f the Night, Poe Fall o f the House o f Usher, Stendahl La Chartreuse de Parme A concert at the St. Louis Hotel features an orchestra of sixty musicians
1839 Leon Godchaux opens his first store in Convent, Louisiana
1841 U.S.S. Creole, carrying slaves from Virginia to Louisiana, is seized by its passengers and sails into Nassau where they become free 370
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1842 Published: Balzac La Comedie Humaine, Longfellow Poems ofSlavery, Eugene Scribe Le Verre d ’eau, Eugene Sue The Mysteries o f Paris The polka comes into fashion in New Orleans
1843 Jefferson Davis alters politics as delegate to Democratic State Convention in Alabama D.D. Emmet produces the first minstrel show William Wordsworth appointed English poet laureate Published: Dickens A Christmas Carol, Robert Browning A Blot in the Scutcheon-, Alfred Lord Tennyson Morte d Arthur, Locksley Hall; John Stuart Mill “Logic” Arts: John Ruskin’s paintings, Donizetti “Don Pasquale,” Mendelssohn “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
1844 “Leon Godchaux, French and American Clothier” opened at 107-8 Old Levee Street. New Orleans bestseller: Alexandre Dumas Le Comte de Monte Cristo Published: Elizabeth Barrett Browning Poems
1845 Leon’s mother, two brothers and two sisters arrive from Herbeviller via Le Havre Texas and Florida become U.S. states Published: Friedrich Engels The Condition o f the Working Class in England
1846 Mexican-American War breaks out in New Mexico Free man of color Norbert Rillieux invents process that revolutionizes manufacture of sugar Iowa becomes a U.S. state Published: Balzac La Cousine Bette Sewing machine patented by Elias Howe (improved in 1851 by I.M. Singer) Famine in Ireland caused by failure of potato crop, many emigrate to U.S. Construction begins on Madewood Plantation house in Napoleonville of Assumption Parish
1847 Godchaux moves into 213,215, & 217 Old Levee Street, takes brother Mayer into business, renamed “Godchaux Freres, French and American Store” Baroness Pontalba renovates Jackson Square area Judah Touro buys church at Canal and Bourbon to open New Orleans’ first synagogue U.S. Forces capture Mexico City Published: George Sand Le Peche deM. Antoine, C. Bronte Jane Eyre, E. Bronte Wuthering Heights
1848 Mexican-American War aids in February Wisconsin becomes a U.S. state Communist Manifesto issued by Marx and Engels Spiritualism becomes popular in U.S. New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s “La Bamboula” incorporates themes heard in Congo Square dance of that name Walt Whitman lives in New Orleans’ Fremont Hotel and writes for local papers for several months
371
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1849 Leon’s brother Lazard Godchaux joins the gold rush and heads for California
1850 Jenny Lind, “The Swedish Nightingale,” tours the U.S., including an extended stay in New Orleans, under the management of P.T. Bamum Mule car service begins in New Orleans Population of U.S.: 23 million, including 3.2 million slaves
1851 Leon Godchaux and Justine Lamm married on May 24 Published: Herman Melville: Moby Dick Arts: Verdi “Rigoletto” Isaac Singer devises the continuous stitch sewing machine
1852 Published: Harriet Beecher Stowe Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Theophile Gautier’s Emaux et Camees
1853 Published: Hippolyte Taine Essai sur les fables de la Fontaine Arts: Verdi “U Trovatore” and “La Traviata,” Vagner “Der Ring des Nibelungen”
1854 Leon and Justine Godchaux’s first child, August, dies in infancy New Orleans experiences the worst Yellow Fever epidemic in history Published: Coventry Patmore “Angel in the House,” Thoreau Walden, or Life in the Woods Newspaper Le Figaro begins publication in Paris and becomes popular in New Orleans
1857 Paul Leon Godchaux born Mark Twain visits New Orleans the first of many times between 1857 and 1910
1858 Leon Godchaux establishes a clothing manufacturing operation in New York City William Makepeace Thackeray visits New Orleans in March
1859 French Opera House (Bourbon and Toulouse) opens with a production of “William Tell” The Henry Howard-designed Goldmith-Godchaux House is built for Paul L. Godchaux and Henrietta Weis Godchaux. Significant for its painted interiors, it has more fresco wall decoration and stenciling than probably any other mid-nineteenth century residence in the south. While it is being built, Henrietta’s mother dies and she and Paul move into her father’s Prytania Street residence to help raise her young brothers. They never live in their custom-built home. Published: Charles Darwin On the Origin o fSpecies by Natural Selection
1860 Abraham Lincoln elected 16* president of the U.S.; SC secedes from the Union in protest Published: George Eliot The Mill on the Floss
372
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1861 The Louisiana state legislature votes to join the Confederate States of America in March April 12 - outbreak of Civil War
1862 Union Forces capture New Orleans New Orleans flooded with slaves fleeing their plantation quarters Leon Godchaux purchases La Reserve Plantation, eventually owns fourteen plantations Anna Godchaux born Benjamin Butler removed as military governor of New Orleans by President Lincoln Jewish businessman Louis J. Salomon reigns as first King of Rex; Leon Godchaux among the organization’s first members
1863 Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation January 1 Godchaux family moves from French Quarter to 840 Esplanade Avenue Roller skating becomes popular in U.S.
1864 Abraham Lincoln re-elected President of the United States Blanche Godchaux born
1865 Abraham Lincoln assassinated April 14 Civil War ends May 26 (surrender of last Confederate army at Shreveport, Louisiana) Leon Godchaux establishes Godchaux Department Store at 81,83, and 85 Canal Street
1866 Leon establishes clothing manufacturing plant on Elysian Fields Avenue Mayer Godchaux leaves business
1867 Edward Isaac Godchaux born Published: Emile Zola Therese Raquin
1869 Charles Godchaux born Published: John Stuart Mill “On the Subjection of Women”
1870 Kate Chopin lives in New Orleans until 1879 George Washington Cable and Lafcadio Heam write for New Orleans newspapers
1872 Jules Godchaux born Spanish Civil War breaks out Edgar Germain Hilaire Degas stays at his family’s home at 1206 Esplanade for five months
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1873 Mayer Godchaux dies
1874 Emile Godchaux born Ophelia Gumbel bora First exhibition of impressionist painting in Paris
1876 Albert Godchaux bora Godchaux establishes Belle Pointe Dairy on Calhoun Street in New Orleans (date approximate)
1878 Walter Godchaux bora Arts: Gilbert and Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore” First bicycles are manufactured in America
1879 Alsace-Lorraine is declared an integral part of Germany
1880 Michelette Leonie Godchaux bora Leon Godchaux establishes narrow-gauge railroad on plantations Published: Joel Chandler Harris Uncle Remus, George Washington Cable The Grandissimes Sarah Bernhardt visits New Orleans for die first time
1881 Marie Laveau the elder dies
1882 Oscar Wilde visits New Orleans
1884 “World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition” held in New Orleans, whets national appetite for Southern literature
1885 Godchaux steam engine railroad line operational until 1958 Congo Square is closed to dancing, moves to North Broad Street (later named Lincoln Park) Crescent City Skating Rink built at 2727 Prytania Street Published: Lafcadio Hearn Gombo Zhebes: Little Dictionary o f Creole Proverbs
1886 Edward “Kid” Ory bom at Woodlands Plantation in St. John the Baptist Parish
1890 Canal Street nicknamed “The Street of Ten Thousand Smells” French Quarter slum-like; inhabited primarily by new Italian immigrants Idaho and Wyoming become U.S. states
374
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1891 Lyle Saxon born c h i plantation near Baton Rouge
1892 Alcee Fortier establishes New Orleans Cater Louisiana) Association of the American Folklore Society
1893 Edward Godchaux marries Ophelia Gumbel on April 27 La Reserve threatened by flood “Art Nouveau” appears in Europe Hairy Ford builds his first car Ragtime takes New Orleans by storm
1895 Published: Alcee Fortier Louisiana Folk-Tales
1896 Leon Gumble Godchaux born to Edward and Ophelia Godchaux on January 26 Walter Benjamin Kahn born on February 16 Elma Godchaux bom atEhn Hall Plantation on November 30 Plessy v. Ferguson decision affirms legality of segregation O. Hairy writes for New Orleans papers Nobel Prizes established for physics, physiology & medicine, chemistry, literature, and peace Arts: Puccini “La Boheme,” Strauss “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” Buddy Bolden at peak of his career
1898 Lucille Godchaux born to Edward and Ophelia Godchaux on February 16 Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson visits Reserve (year not certain, between 1897-99)
1899 Leon Godchaux dies on May 18, at the age of 75. The aged Tassin is a pallbearer. Published: Kate Chopin The Awakening
1900 Margaret Mitchell bom in Atlanta
1902 Elma Godchaux begins elementary school Published: Beatrix Potter’s children’s stories
1904 Published: Sigmund Freud The Psychopathology o f Everyday Life
1905 Elma and Lucille Godchaux are stricken with malaria
1907 President Theodore Roosevelt goes bear-hunting in East Carroll Parish in northern Louisiana Nobel Prize for Literature: Rudyard Kipling First “Ziegfeld Follies” staged in New York
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1908 Elma sees one of the first automobiles in New Orleans Touro Synagogue is built at 4330 St. Charles by Emile Weil in the Beaux Arts style Elma enters H. Sophie Newcomb High School on Washington Avenue
1909 “Summer House” built on Reserve Plantation for use of Godchaux family and visitors William Howard Taft visits Reserve Plantation
1910 French Quarter begins to become more fashionable due to efforts of locals like Elizabeth Werlein Lindberg visits New Orleans Salvatore Lupa invents the muffuletta at Central Grocery on Decatur Street Carlos Marcello arrives in New Orleans aboard the steamship Liguria South American tango becomes immensely popular in U.S. and Europe
1911 Spanish Fort Amusement Park re-opened Mahalia Jackson bom Nobel Prize for Chemistry: Marie Curie
1912 Elma enters college at Wellesley Published: Carl G. Jung The Theory o f Psychoanalysis Films become popular entertainment in U.S.
1913 Elma Godchaux meets Walter Kahn The foxtrot becomes popular Published: Willa Cather O Pioneers! Irene and Vemon Castle make New York debut First Charlie Chaplin films
1914 World War I begins in Europe Elma Godchaux transfers to Radcliffe
1915 Hurricane damages French Quarter, part of the French market collapses New Orleans jazz becomes nationally popular
1916 Elma Godchaux and Walter Kahn are married on September 7
1917 Elma engages in volunteer war work
1918 Walter enlists in military, posted to France; Elma goes to Reserve until 1920 Published: Ellen Key Women in the World War Louis Armstrong joins Kid Ory’s band. For the next few decades they, with skilled musicians such
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ferdinand Joseph “Jelly Roll” Morton and Joseph “King” Oliver, set a high standard for New Orleans jazz
1919 Charlotte Kahn born to Elma Godchaux Kahn and Walter Kahn on March 23 Lyle Saxon establishes a literary salon at 612 Royal Street Prohibition affects Louisiana as 18th Amendment and Volstead Act go into effect Edgar Varese conducts New York New Symphony Orchestra’s first concert of modem music Clothing zipper comes into common use
1920 Elma, Walter, and Charlotte settle at 125 Pleasant Street in Arlington, Massachusetts F. Scott Fitzgerald rents rooms at 2900 Prytania Street in New Orleans Telephones and electricity arc installed in many wealthy hemes in Nsw Orleans
1921 Julius Friend, Basil Thompson, Albert Goldstein, and Paul Godchaux, Jr., found Double Dealer Pulitzer Prize: Edith Wharton The Age o fInnocence Nobel Prize for physics: Albert Einstein
1922 Godchaux-Kahn family moves to 31 West 81“ Street in New York City William Faulkner’s and Ernest Hemingway’s first published pieces in the Double Dealer Double Dealer publishes “New Orleans, The Double Dealer, and the Modem Movement in America” by Sherwood Anderson Arts and Crafts Club at 712 Royal Street in the French Quarter is focal point for artists, writers, musicians and art patrons until 1941 Po’ Boy sandwich invented during streetcar strike at Martin’s Restaurant at Ursulines and North Peters (N.O.) Pulitzer Prize: drama-Eugene O’Neill Anna Christie, novel-Booth Tarkington Alice Adams
1924 Sherwood and Elizabeth Anderson live at 540-B St. Peter Street from 1924 until 1926 Elizabeth Anderson, Lucille Godchaux and Marc Antony go into partnership, establishing Leonardi Studios at 520 St. Peter Street Most New Orleans streetcars in use today are 1923 and 1924 models by the Perley Thomas Car Co. John Dos Passos lives at 510 Esplanade in February and March
1925 Major raids of New Orleans speakeasies cause closings of several more; they are quickly replaced
1926 Edward Godchaux dies on October 11 William Faulkner and Bill Spratling move into the home of Lucille Godchaux and Marc Antony at the comer of St. Peter Street and Cabildo Alley, where they write Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles Jelly Roll Morton’s and Duke Ellington’s first records appear
1927 Great Mississippi River Flood begins on Good Friday (April 15) Saenger Theatre opens 377
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Popular Songs: “01’ Man River,” “My Blue Heaven,” “Blue Skies”
1928 Huey P. Long elected Governor of Louisiana Pulitzer Prize: Thornton Wilder The Bridge o f San Luis Rey George Bernard Shaw “The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism” Arturo Toscanini named conductor of the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra Popular Songs: “Makin’ Whoopee,” ‘You’re the Cream in My Coffee,” “Button Up Your Overcoat”
1929 Rachel Field edits American Folk and Fairy Tales Pulitzer Prize: Julia Peterkin Scarlet Sister Mary “ a t> — r v — ” a uuuouwu. i iigrnio ** vA/ii i w j s j i i L u i u iiL o Museum of Modem Art in New York opens with works by Cezanne, Gaugin, Seurat, and Van Gogh New Orleans’ Canal Street renovated completely with terrazzo paving and new light standards
1930 The first radio station in New Orleans helps discourage use of spoken “everyday” French New Orleans is no longer the largest banking center in the United States Pulitzer Prize: Oliver LaFarge Laughing Boy
1932 Elma returns to New Orleans; Charlotte joins Walter and Pauline Ritz in Frieburg
1933 Elma Godchaux and Walter Kahn divorce Elma and Charlotte move to Paris Prohibition ends at exactly 5:23 p.m. on December 5
1934 Elma and Charlotte settle in New Orleans on State Street Lucille Godchaux Antony operates Gallery 331 at 331 Chartres Street Most New Orleans homes have electricity and private telephones John and Alan Lomax obtain pardon that releases Hudie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter from Angola State Penitentiary in West Feliciana Parish; begin recording and touring with the blues musician Published: Ruth Benedict Patterns o f Culture Academy Award: “It Happened One Night” Popular songs: “Blue Moon,” “Stars Fell on Alabama,” songs from Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes”
1935 Charlotte enters Radcliffe; Elma moves to Chartres Street in the French Quarter Elma publishes “Wild Nigger” WPA is formed; Lyle Saxon director of Louisiana Project with offices in Canal Bank Building (N.O.) Gertrude Stein visits Marc Anthony and Lucille Godchaux in February Huey P. Long assassinated in September “Swing” music develops from jazz Popular songs: “Begin the Beguine,” songs from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess Published: Zora Neale Hurston Mules and Men
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1936 Elma Godchaux’s novel Stubborn Roots published Godchaux wins an O. Henry Memorial Award Prize of 1936 for “Chains” Pulitzer Prize: Margaret Mitchell Gone With the Wind
1937 “The Horn that Called Bambine” published in A Southern Harvest Elma Godchaux records experiences with National Farmers’ TJnion Godchaux Sugars, Inc. forced to address union activists Thomas Wolfe spends time with Elma Godchaux Katherine Anne Porter moves to 543 St. Ann Street
1938 Published: Rachel Field All This, and Heaven Too Nobel prize for Literature: Pearl S. Buck Benny Goodman popular Tennessee Williams moves to New Orleans, befriends Elma, Lucille and Marc Thomas Wolfe dies Popular songs: “Flat Foot Floogie with a Floy Floy,” “A Tisket, A Tasket”
1939 World War II Published: Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf (English trans.), Irene Whitfield Louisiana French Folk Songs Sinclair Lewis visits New Orleans, calls it “the place where people are buried above ground and the politics are conducted below ground”
1940 New Orleans is the 4th largest city in the United States Pulitzer Prize: John Steinbeck The Grapes o f Wrath Duke Ellington at height of popularity
1941 Elma Godchaux dies April 3 Sherwood Anderson dies Virginia Woolf dies Roy Harris’ “Folk Song Symphony” conducted in Boston Popular songs: “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire,” “I Got it Bad and That Ain’t Good”
1943 U.S. S. Leon Godchaux is launched from the shipyard of the Delta Shipbuilding Company of New Orleans on January 7
1956 National Sugar Company purchases Godchaux’s refinery
1961 Under Federal Trade Commission order to divest, National sells refinery to Julio Lobo
1965 Lobo goes into debt, David Bintliff forecloses and assumes refinery operations
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1966 Henderson Sugar Refinery, a subsidiary of Southern Industries Corporation, purchases Godchaux Refinery, renaming it Godchaux-Henderson Sugar Company, Incorporated
1975 The Texas Hunt brothers’ Great Western Sugar Company purchases all Godchaux-Henderson Sugar Company stock
1985 Hunts declare bankruptcy and refinery closes its doors
1988 Barry Silverton and Pacific Malibu Development Corporation of California purchase the site and rnnvATt it intn a hiillr raron chinnino term inal — ------“ T r “*© **“***••
1992 The Port of South Louisiana purchased the property and renamed it Globalplex
1993 The River Road Historical Society preserves Reserve Plantation house by moving it approximately 100 yards from Globalplex site to the comer of West 10th Street and River Road. The Port of South Louisiana conveys house ownership to the River Road Historical Society in September.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. GLOSSARY
Arpent. A French unit of linear land measurement, one arpent equaled about 0.85 acre.
Ashkenazi. A member of the branch of European Jews, historically Yiddish-speaking, who settled in central and northern Europe.
Bagasse. The dry, fibrous residue remaining after the extraction of juice from the crushed stalks of sugar cane, used as a source of cellulose for some paper products. [The American Heritage Dictionary of die English Language, Third Edition]
Batture. The strip of land between the river and the levee, subject to flooding when the river rises.
Factor. One who acts for someone else; an agent, also A person or firm that accepts accounts receivable as security for short-term loans.
Faubourg. A district of metropolitan New Orleans lying outside the original city limits.
Garconierre. Section of a home, usually the upper floor or a separate building, set aside as living space for the young men of the household.
Laissez faire. Noninterference in the affairs of others.
M uffaletta. A large sandwich of an Italian bread loaf filled with ham, salami and provolone cheese and garnished with an olive relish.
Purgerie.
Sephardi. A descendant of the Jews who lived in Spain and Portugal during the Middle Ages until persecution culminating in expulsion in 1492 forced them to leave.
Shophar. Ram’s hom that, in biblical times, “announced the new moons and Sabbaths, warned of approaching danger, and signaled the death of nobility” (Butler 996), the shophar is the only ancient instrument still used in the synagogue today.
Tignon. Govemon Miro issued a decree ordering black women to wear their hair in tignons, or kerchiefs, in order to stifle their freedom of expression, which he saw as dangerous. They fought this by dressing their heads with brilliantly colored and elaborately tied tignons.
Yellow Jack. Yellow fever
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abstract
Common Roots: The Godchaux Family in Louisiana History, Literature, and Public Folklore
Laura Renee Westbrook
Bachelor of Science, Education - Loyola University, 1986
Pages in dissertation: 402
Words in abslracl: 344
This dissertation explores the connections between historical research, literary
studies, and the presentation of resultant information through public folklore programming.
The Godchaux family of New Orleans provides ample materials for such a study.
A writer who has had neither a wide influence nor a place in histories of American
literature, Elma Godchaux was highly regarded in her own lifetime and associated with many
of the most important writers of her day. In her lifetime, Godchaux won a prestigious
national literary award and several of her short stories were anthologized. Her work provides
a valuable insider’s perspective into plantation life in the post-Reconstruction era.
Discarding conventions of “local color” in exploring her generation’s “woman question,” the
growing “Negro question,” the notion of social Darwinism, and psychological issues relating
to life in Louisiana’s rural agrarian culture, Godchaux’s naturalist style has its own artistic
power.
The study of Godchaux’s literature led to research into Godchaux’s remarkable
family. Godchaux’s novel Stubborn Roots is based on the lives of Elma’s grandfather Leon
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Godchaux, a Jewish immigrant who began as a backpack peddler and became a wealthy
planter known as “Louisiana’s Sugar King,” and her father Edward Godchaux, who
continued his father’s philanthropy and work at Reserve Plantation. Further examination of
the family revealed their importance to Louisiana’s economic and artistic development.
Elma’s sister Lucille Godchaux Antony was a great supporter of those writers that gathered
in the French Quarter in the first decades of the twentieth century, and their cousin Paul
Godchaux, Jr., was one of the founders of the important “little magazine” the Double Dealer.
Elma Godchaux’s life and literature reveal that she fully took part in the southern literary
renascence.
The first two chapters of this dissertation focus on Godchaux family history. The
second two examine Elma Godchaux’s short stories and novel, taking into account then-
heavy reliance on family lore and Louisiana history. The final chapters outline the history of
the Godchaux family’s primary plantation house, Reserve, and the implications of the
Godchaux story and the house—the oldest extant plantation house in the lower Mississippi
Valley—for public folklore programming.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Biographical Sketch
Laura Renee Westbrook is past president of the Louisiana Folklore Society, the only
graduate student so elected, and Board of Regents Fellow at the University of Louisiana at
Lafayette. Her professional experience includes serving as Folklife Coordinator, New
Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival; cultural programming consultant to communities and
public agencies, Director of Penaieton County Public Libraries (WV); Director of Education,
Hermann-Grima Historic House; and classroom teacher. She has spoken at the American
Folklore Society Annual Meeting and was keynote speaker at the 2000 Delmarva Folklife
Project conference. Volunteer activities include environmental conservation efforts. She
enjoys performance, music and dance.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.