Samuel Wakefield was born , in
St. Martin Parish, Louisiana. He was documented as being
mulatto, literate, and having worked as a
cooper and tax collector. In 1874, he served as the tax collector, elected by the Republicans. The school was destroyed by a tornado in 1874. In 1879, his daughter
Emma Wakefield-Paillet was the first black woman to qualify as a physician in Louisiana. Following the event, the Wakefield family home was terrorized by a mob of angry white citizens. On January 25, 1889, Samuel Wakefield Jr. was attacked and
lynched by a mob while in the jail at
New Iberia. Samuel Wakefield Sr. committed suicide by firearm days later on February 1, 1889, in New Iberia.--> ==See also==