George Cain (October 27, 1943 – October 23, 2010) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

author who is renowned for writing ''Blueschild Baby'', a semi-autobiographical novel published in 1970. The book is about the life of a drug user who finally overcomes his

addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use o ...

. Cain was himself a drug user but, unlike the character in his novel, he never overcame his addiction nor went on to write another book. Born on October 27, 1943, as George Maurice Hopkins, he would adopt the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Africa Cain, later choosing to use his original first name. He grew up in

Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the eas ...

and moved with his family to

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, th ...

after graduating from the

McBurney School McBurney School was a boys college-preparatory school in Manhattan run by the YMCA of Greater New York. Its name commemorates Robert Ross McBurney, a prominent New York YMCA leader during the late 19th century. Among its alumni are actors Henry W ...

, which he attended on

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

. His

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

skills earned him a scholarship at

Iona College Iona University is a private Roman Catholic university with a main campus in New Rochelle, New York. It was founded in 1940 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers and occupies a campus of in New Rochelle and a campus of in Bronxville, ...

, but he dropped out as a junior and headed to the American Southwest. While in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

he was charged and sentenced to six months in jail for possession of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

.Grimes, William
"George Cain, Writer of ‘Blueschild Baby,’ Dies at 66"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', October 29, 2010. Accessed October 31, 2010. After completing his sentence he moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and started writing ''Blueschild Baby''. George Cain's representative character in the book starts using drugs in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, which starts his descent into the drug world, following the death of a favorite grandmother in a fire. The George Cain in the book finally finds his way and stops using drugs, but Cain himself had his life destroyed by drugs. The book describes how Cain's

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Comm ...

parents moving to the

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

s only to find themselves "surrounded, hounded and harassed by the white mob". Reviewer Addison Gayle, Jr., of ''

'' called the book "the most important work of fiction by an Afro-American since ''

Native Son ''Native Son'' (1940) is a novel written by the American author Richard Wright. It tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s. While not apologizing f ...

''", describing "a world that only black people can fully comprehend", written in "a language that abounds in colorful in-group symbols and metaphors".Gayle, Jr., Addison
"Blueschild Baby; By George Cain. 201 pp. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. $6.95."
''

'', January 17, 1971. Accessed October 31, 2010. Despite favorable responses to the book, he never completed a planned sequel to his debut book and as described by his ex-wife Jo Lynne Pool he "had a lot of friends from the street, and they were going down", and he went down along with them, his life and family falling apart. Cain died at the age of 66 on October 23, 2010, in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

due to complications of

kidney disease Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Inflammation can ...

. He was survived by two daughters, a son and five grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cain, George 1943 births 2010 deaths African-American writers McBurney School alumni Writers from New Jersey Deaths from kidney disease Iona University alumni Writers from Brooklyn People from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan People from Teaneck, New Jersey Deaths from kidney failure 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people