Lawrence Cain

Lawrence Cain (1844–1884) was a lawyer, state representative, state senator, and public official in various offices during the Reconstruction era.

In his youth he was owned as a slave by Zachariah W. Carwile.[1] He served a body servant of Confederate officer Thomas W. Carwile during the American Civil War.[2] He was emancipated after the American Civil War.[3]

He was elected to the South Carolina House in 1868 and the state senate in 1872. In 1876, he lost his re-election campaign to Martin Witherspoon Gary, who served as a general in the Confederate Army[2] and later a leader among the Red Shirts, which reduced African American voter participation through intimidation and assaults.

Cain was in the first graduating class of African American lawyers from the University of South Carolina. The end of the Reconstruction era resegregated it and other educational institutions in South Carolina closing them off to African Americans.

One of Cain's descendants wrote a biography about him: Virtue of Cain: From Slave to Senator.[3][4]

References
  1. Cherry, Sr., Kevin M. (July 20, 2019). Virtue of Cain: From Slave to Senator - Biography of Lawrence Cain. Rocky Pond Press. ISBN 978-0-9992406-5-6.
  2. mystory@aikenstandard.com, SUBMITTED ARTICLE. "Edgefield County Historical Society spring meeting scheduled for Sunday". Aiken Standard.
  3. "A Biography of Senator Lawrence Cain – The Edgefield Advertiser".
  4. Cherry (Sr.), Kevin M. (July 9, 2019). Virtue of Cain: Biography of Lawrence Cain. Rocky Pond Press. ISBN 9780999240632 – via Google Books.


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