[6] After the emancipation of slaves, in Louisiana and elsewhere, many local governments passed new Black Codes aimed at keeping newly freed African Americans in as close to a state of slavery as possible.
[7]Other provisions banned Blacks from holding public meetings, preaching to a church congregation, carrying firearms, selling goods, or being in the town after 3 p.m. on Sundays, though exceptions to some rules could be made with the permission of the mayor, an employer, or Estilette.
"[8] Opelousas' Black Code became notorious in the North when it was included in Carl Schurz's report to President Andrew Johnson on conditions in the newly reconquered South.
"[11] In 1865, he was appointed by Governor James Madison Wells as district attorney for St. Landry, Lafayette, Vermilion, and Calcasieu parishes, a position to which he was elected the next year and served until 1868.
[2] In 1872 and 1874, he was elected as a Democrat to the Louisiana House of Representatives, where he was generally considered a moderating force, despite what the Opelousas Black Code might lead one to expect.
Louisiana's elections in both years were riddled with fraud, but rival Republican and Democratic returning boards each declared Estilette winner of the seat.
[13] Still, Estilette was the rare Louisiana politician of the period who won praise from both sides of the aisle, as well as votes from both African Americans and whites.
At the end of the first 1874 session of the legislature, the New Orleans Republican said he had "made a record which he can point to with pride...The General Assembly needs more men of his character and talent, no matter what their politics may be, and we hope his constituents will take this into consideration.
"[14] A few days later, the Democratic The Times-Picayune wrote that, "without approving the course of those Fusion members of the Legislature who entered the Kellogg body," Estilette had introduced "bills having in view the general interests of the State and less objectionable in character...He has been earnest in the advocacy of what he believed to be right and in opposing what he deemed to be prejudicial to Louisiana.
Their opposition was based on economic, not racial grounds, arguing that the White League "would be in conflict with the public policy of the country, and prejudicial and detrimental to the agricultural interests of the parish of St.
That slowed its momentum, and when the St. Landry Democratic Party met to nominate candidates for the legislature on September 26, the White League was unable to stop Estilette from being renominated.
But at the start of the session, Democrat Louis A. Wiltz physically seized the speaker's chair and called for a voice vote to name him "temporary chairman" on the House, a position that did not exist.
The Democratic House pledged that "henceforth we will accord to said Governor all necessary and legitimate support in maintaining the laws and in advancing the peace and prosperity of the people of this State.
"[22] When the House finally assembled to elect a speaker, the two leading candidates were Wiltz — who had opposed the Wheeler deal at every step and wanted keep up the attack on Kellogg — and Estilette, who had the support of more moderate Democrats, as well as the chamber's Republicans.
The charges were comical — Democrats did not even bother to list any specific accusations, instead voting on a resolution declaring Kellogg's general impeachment-worthiness, in their view — but they did pass the House under Estilette's leadership.
[25] Estilette was discussed as a potential candidate for governor in 1876, but Democrats instead chose Francis T. Nicholls, another relative moderate within the party, over Wiltz and McEnery.
In 1887, he was later appointed judge of the 13th Judicial District, which included St. Landry and the newly formed Acadia Parish, and he continued his legal career in Opelousas.