Louisa Picquet

Louisa Picquet (c. 1828, Columbia, South Carolina – June 11, 1896, New Richmond, Ohio) was an African American whose history in slavery was published in 1861.

Synopsis

Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Louisa Picquet was a product of a slave and master relationship. Her mother, Elizabeth Ramsey, had been raped by John Randolph, her owner, when she was 15 years old.[1] Randolph later sold Picquet and Elizabeth to David R. Cook, who then moved to Mobile, Alabama.

In Mobile, Louisa performed domestic duties in Alabama for Thomas M. English, who owned the house where Cook was boarding.[2]

When Cook defaulted on his debts, Picquet was sold at auction to John Williams in New Orleans, separating her from her mother. Williams forced Picquet to be his concubine. After Williams' death in the 1840s, Picquet obtained her freedom.[3] She remained in the Williams household until Williams's brother informed her that he was selling the house. He then gave her money to move to Cincinnati, Ohio.

In Cincinnati, Picquet assumed the name of Louisa Williams. After meeting Henry Picquet, of Augusta, Georgia, the couple married in 1850 and had two children.[4]

Publication

Once in Cincinnati, Picquet concentrated on buying her mother from slavery. She met Hiram Mattison, an abolitionist pastor, who helped her publish her story to raise money.

Picquet's story was published in Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon, or, Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life. The story is about her life in slavery as octoroon with attention to the sexual exploitation that she and other female slaves experienced at the hands of their owners. [5]

In 1860, Picquet succeeded in buying her mother out of slavery.

References
  1. "Summary of Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon, or, Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life". docsouth.unc.edu. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  2. Minor, DoVeanna S. Fulton (2012-02-01). Speaking Lives, Authoring Texts: Three African American Women's Oral Slave Narratives. SUNY Press. ISBN 9781438429663.
  3. Barthelemy, Anthony G. (1990-01-01). Collected Black Women's Narratives. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195066692.
  4. Minor, DoVeanna S. Fulton (2012-02-01). Speaking Lives, Authoring Texts: Three African American Women's Oral Slave Narratives. SUNY Press. ISBN 9781438429663.
  5. "Louisa Picquet". Retrieved 12 July 2013.

Further reading
  • Andrews, William L. To Tell a Free Story: The First Century of Afro-American Autobiography, 1760–1865. (1960)
  • Loewenberg, Bert James and Ruth Bogn. Black Women in Nineteenth-Century American Life: Their Words, Their Thoughts, Their Feelings.
  • Pension Records of Henry Picquet, late Private, Unassigned Troops, United States Colored Troops, and Private Company K 42nd United States Colored Troops National Archives, Washington, D.C.
  • Pension Records of Mrs. Louisa Picquet, widow of Henry Picquet, deceased, late of Company K 42nd United States Colored Troops National Archives, Washington, D.C.
  • Picquet, Louisa and Hiram Mattison. Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon, or, Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life. New York: The Author, 1861. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/picquet/
  • Pitts, Reginald H. Louisa Picquet c.1829-1896. Legacy, Volume 24, Number 2 2007 pp 294–305.


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