Thomas Cage

Cage was born enslaved in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana in 1845 and was freed during the American Civil War by the Union Army.[2] His father was white and his mother was a black plantation slave, he took the name Cage from the sugar plantations owner Jim Cage.[3]

After the war he moved north of Louisiana and gained an education before returning to Louisiana in 1869.[1] During the reconstruction era he was the editor of the Terrebonne Republican and had acquired a plantation,[1] which he was still successfully running in 1883.[4]

Cage was also a member of the board of trustees of the Southern University at New Orleans appointed in February 1883.[5]

In 1870 he was elected as a justice of the peace for Houma, Louisiana[1] and in 1871 he was appointed to the position of parish assessor and tax collector by governor Henry C. Warmoth.[6]

He represented Terrebonne as a delegate at the Republican State Convention held in New Orleans in August 1871[7] where he served on the Committee on Address whose job was to "draft resolutions and an address to the people of Louisiana".[8]

Cage was first elected to the legislature in 1872 to serve in the Louisiana State Senate for the 8th district.[9] He was re-elected in 1876,[10] but Isaiah D. Moore later challenged the result but lost the challenge in a ruling in March 1878.[11] He served from 1872 until 1880 when he was ousted due to the constitution reform of 1879.[3]

He then ran for sheriff for Terrebonne Parish in 1880 and won the position with over 60% of the votes[12] and served four years in the role.[3]

Next Cage was elected to serve in the Louisiana House of Representatives, representing Terrebonne along with G. W. Lyons,[13] and served from 1884 until 1888.

In 1888 Cage again ran for the senate now after the new constitution for a seat serving three parishes, he was duly elected and served one term from 1888 until 1892.[3] During this term he relocated to New Orleans after labor issues caused troubles in Terrebonne Parish.[3]

Cage served as the Republican state central committee chairman during the 1880s and 1890s and remained active in politics until his death at the end of the nineteenth century.[1]

He died at his home on Cypress Street in New Orleans December 10, 1896 after suffering an illness that his doctors gave up on and his death was not unexpected.[3] Although he handled much money during his career he died a relatively poor man, but he did own a store on the corner of Cypress and Derbingy streets where he lived with his family.[3] He was not a religious man with a negative view of many preachers and he was buried in Girod cemetery.[3]

• African-American officeholders during and following the Reconstruction era