They Didn't Get The Memo That Slavery Was Over
If this was a movie you would need every ounce of your suspension of
disbelief for the movie to maintain its integrity. Buried on the last
two pages of March's edition of People's Magazine is the most
incredible story that only occurs in countries where lawlessness runs
rampant. Meet the Wall family who claimed they were held in slavery
until 1961. Slavery which was abolished in 1865 continued in a tiny
rural town in Mississippi. This tiny town in Gillsburg, Mississippi
was void of electricity, phone, or radio, and trips into town were
forbidden for the Walls. The Wall family had no idea that they were
free even though Black families in nearby Liberty, Miss., owned
businesses and attended school.
Cain Wall Sr. was born in 1902 into peonage in St. Helena Parish, La.
He worked the fields and milked cows for white families while
believing he had no rights as a man. Peonage is a system where one is
bound to service for payment of a debt. It was an illegal system that
flourished in the rural South after slavery was abolished. Mr. Cain
was born into this system believing that he was bound to these people
that held him and his relatives captive. Being unable to read and
write also stifled any opportunity that may have presented itself to
the Mr. Cain because he was unable to decipher anything. During World
War II, Mr. Cain decided to runaway, but eventually was captured and
brought back into slavery.
Mr. Cain's daughter Mae Miller remembered some of the most violent
details of their time in captivity. She recalled the beatings that her
father and members of her family received. According to People
Magazine they were beaten with whips or even chains for slacking off.
In the Magazine Mae's older sister who is now 65 years old stated,
"The whip would wrap around your body and knock you down." Mae also
recalled how once her father was beaten so badly that she and her
siblings climbed on his body to protect him. For Mae Miller the most
violent of crimes happened when she was five years old. In the
Magazine she vividly remembered one day going to clean the house with
her mom, and being accosted by two white males who raped her and her
mother. She remembered a woman from the Gordon family which held them
as slaves yelling to the two white males to leave her alone because
she was only a yearling. That did not deter these two devils because
they continued to rape a five year old, totally destroying this young
woman's soul. Years later Mae was told that she would be unable to
have kids because of the damage done to her.
Mae found freedom in 1961 when she ran away at the age of 18 after
refusing to do the chores. In People Magazine she stated, "I don't
know what got into me. I remember thinking they're just going to have
to kill me today, because I'm not doing this anymore." After she ran
away her family was kicked off the land by the Gordon family. Mae
found work in a restaurant and eventually got married at the age of 20
to Wallace Miller. It was also during this time that Mae found out she
could not have kids. However, she and her husband adopted four
children. Mae went uneducated until in her late thirties when she
learned to read and write. The most amazing thing to me was that after
all those years Mae and her family did not realize that their
captivity was illegal until 2001. People Magazine claims she attended
a church meeting about slave reparations, and it was during this time
she realized that what happened to her and her family was totally
illegal. According to People she stated, "I couldn't believe it. How
could somebody do that to another person?"
The embarrassment of this entire episode is no longer weighing on the
Cain's family heart. They can now live in peace while their bedridden
father rest comfortably. When contacted, the Gordon family remember
that time differently. They can't recall anyone being treated harshly
or Mae's rape. I can surmise that for the Gordon clan this was
probably the norm, so acknowledging any wrong doing would be an
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