In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

12 From the Cotton Fields to the Big House I come from Marco, way down yonder. Ain’t no trees, no birds, no nothing. —Clementine Hunter as clementine hunter’s significance as an American artist grew, those who valued her art realized the importance of documenting the artist’s life story. Mildred Hart Bailey, dean of the Northwestern State Graduate School in Natchitoches, who was instrumental in having the honorary degree granted to Hunter, also played a major role in recording Hunter’s recollections of her youth and family. Bailey first saw Hunter’s paintings in the 1940s, when they were on display on the walls of Millspaugh’s Drug Store located on Front Street in Natchitoches . Years later she began seriously collecting Hunter’s art with plans eventually to write a book and build a Hunter museum. During the 1970s Bailey, who became a close friend of Hunter’s, often visited the artist in her home near Melrose and made long, rambling recordings of the artist’s memories of her family and life on the plantation. These oral histories became the only first-person account of what we know about Hunter’s ancestry. The Artist’s Family Tree Hunter’s parents were Janvier Reuben and Mary Antoinette Adams.1 Clementine Hunter preferred the name John for her father and never used the French version, Janvier. She was born at the community of Marco, a few miles south of Cloutierville, Louisiana, on Hidden Hill Plantation. Some still believe this was the land of the infamous Simon Legree, the cruel plantation owner in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel, Uncle Tom’s chapter 2 13 From the Cotton Fields to the Big House Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly.2 Truth seldom trumps legend in the stories passed from generation to generation. Whether Hidden Hill was the model for Stowe’s Little Eva, whether Robert McAlpin was the real-life version of Simon Legree, and whether there ever was an actual Uncle Tom’s Cabin will probably never be confirmed. Modern study suggests none of these details may be true. What is certain is that the timeless story of the heroic Uncle Tom and his cruel master, Simon Legree, was told and retold. Although the book was fiction not history, it was, and is, often believed to be true. At the time of Clementine Hunter’s birth, some forty years later, only the legend remained. McAlpin was long dead, and the Chopin family owned and operated Hidden Hill Plantation. Uncertainty surrounds the date of the artist’s birth, but she was about three months old when she received a Roman Catholic baptism on March 19, 1887, in Cloutierville, Louisiana. The records indicate some fifteen other children were also baptized on that day. In the custom of the day priests traveled among Fig. 4. Janvier Reuben, Clementine Hunter’s father. cammie g. henry research center, northwestern state university of louisiana. Fig. 5. Mary Antoinette Adams, Clementine Hunter’s mother. cammie g. henry research center, northwestern state university of louisiana. 14 Clementine Hunter the rural communities baptizing the children born since their last visit. Often months would pass between the day of birth and a child’s baptism. On several occasions Clementine Hunter said she had been born around Christmas, and there was never any reason to doubt her claim. At her baptism she was given the name Clementiam, but for half her life she used the name Clémence, a French version of her Latin Christian name.3 Clementine Hunter’s father, John Reuben, was an African man of French and Irish descent. The first language the artist heard was the Cane River Creole French spoken at home. Hunter was well into middle age when she decided to change her name to the less French-sounding Clementine.4 She pronounced it Clem-en-teen, as opposed to the more traditional pronunciation , Clem-en-tı̄ne. Although Clémence was the oldest of the Reuben’s seven children, she was the smallest and given the nickname Tebé, meaning “little baby.” As an adult, members of her family called her Mama Tebé. Fig. 6. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Hunter was born at Hidden Hill Plantation, which many believe was the model for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous novel. Hunter heard the tale of Uncle Tom and painted her version of the story. thomas n. whitehead. 15 From the Cotton Fields to the Big House Clementine Hunter told Bailey that Billy Zack Adams was her...

Share