Indigenous Peoples
Slightly less than 1% of Louisiana's population has Native American ancestry, and four tribes are recognized by the U.S. government: the Chitimacha, Coushatta, Choctaw, and Tunica-Biloxi. The Chitimacha tribe is the only one still living on a portion of its ancestral lands, not far from Charenton. In the territory of the city of New Orleans lived this tribe, while in the rest of the state, we found the following tribes: Atakapa, Caddo, Choctaw, Houma, Natchez and Tunica-Biloxi.
Houma Indians.
The first French explorer to mention the existence of villages of these Indians was Lasalle in 1682. They were then a sedentary people settled east of the Mississippi, in the north of Louisiana. With the arrival of the English, they descended into the bayous region and allied themselves with the French. Their language is the best proof of their complicity, since even today the Houma Indians speak French, at least a good part of them. It is this tribe that gave its name to the eponymous city located in Cajun country. This people continue to live from fishing, hunting and especially from crafts. In every fair, exhibition or festival in Louisiana, you can buy baskets, hats, dolls and trinkets made of cypress wood that they make themselves by hand, which is very rare nowadays in the United States. For more information: unitedhoumanation.orgThe Creoles
This name, according to linguists, comes from the Portuguese word crioulo meaning "native of the New World by ancestors of the Old World". This term differentiated black slaves born in the colonies from those born in Africa. In Louisiana, the term "Creole" referred to all French-speaking Catholics born here as opposed to English-speaking people from other parts of the United States.
In the 17th century, the first Creole settlers came from New France (specifically from the present-day province of Quebec). Later, refugees from Santo Domingo, settlers from the West Indies, soldiers from Cuba and settlers from Europe arrived in Louisiana, followed by refugees from Acadia. They settled on the banks of the Mississippi, ideal for irrigating sugar cane crops and for transporting goods. There were up to 2,000 plantations on the banks of this mythical river. Among the Creoles were "sugar barons" and "cotton kings" who quickly became very rich and contributed to the fame of New Orleans. They established an aristocracy divided into real social and financial castes. If they spent a lot of time in the countryside on their plantation, they also owned mansions or beautiful houses in the city which they enjoyed during the winter. After the Civil War, most of the plantations were flooded or burned, and their owners ruined. They gradually declined, unable to compete with the much more pushy Anglo-Saxons. Today there are still families who are proud of their direct descent from the first settlers, but most have assimilated and mixed with the American population.
That said, the Creoles of Louisiana deserve a chapter of their own to fully understand their importance and influence in Louisiana's history. To get to the heart of the matter, we recommend without hesitation the guided walking tours offered by Tours by Marguerite in New Orleans.
African-Americans
They are the descendants of slaves who arrived from Senegal and the Congo in 1719. In 1865, Colbert promulgated the Black Code in Louisiana: this edict defined the rights and duties of masters towards slaves. If they had the right of life or death over their slaves, they had to house them, clothe them and feed them decently. This was not always the case, far from it. Any breach of these duties could result in severe penalties. The slaves worked in the fields, built roads, raised levees to protect against flooding (one of their greatest contributions was the first long levee along the Mississippi), while the women cooked and nursed small white children.
They were bought and sold like cattle, and the inhumane treatment of slaves was one of the reasons for the Civil War between the North and the South. After the war, Creoles continued to behave in a racist way towards African Americans, even if some like Charles Testu or the Rouquette brothers defended them and helped them to be more equal in rights.
In colonial times, white women being rather rare in Louisiana, men chose their mistresses among the most beautiful black slaves. Their mixed-race children were called mulattoes, octavos or quarterons. Some of them studied in Europe and came back very educated, became writers, musicians, and sometimes very rich. In New Orleans, for a time, a strange custom was established: the quarteron ball. At these balls, well-bred colored girls were presented to rich white bachelors. Of course, they maintained them, but never married them. These socially recognized men and women were called Creoles of color.
One of the greatest contributions of blacks to the history and culture of Louisiana and the world was music: gospel, negro spirituals, blues and especially jazz. Their rich heritage and history can be explored on the African American Heritage Trail (louisianatravel.com/african-american-heritage-trail) or the Civil Rights Movement Trail (louisianacivilrightstrail.com).
Free people of color
The history of whites and slaves is well known, but what has remained in the shadows is a social group in between: the "free people of color," as the French called them, also known after the Civil War as Creoles of color.
In the 1800s, the free people of color had their own identity and social castes. French speaking, educated, mostly middle class, they were respected members of the New Orleans community. They could be seen at the French Opera and the theatre and their names were even mentioned in their own newspapers during political debates. New Orleans had the largest free community of people of colour in the United States. Their leaders influenced the social, economic and legal evolution of not only New Orleans, but also of Louisiana.
Cajuns (or Cajuns)
The Cajuns are part of a mosaic of other French-speaking populations, including native Indians (notably the Houmas), Creoles from New Orleans, and enslaved and free French-speaking Blacks and Creole-speakers who settled in the region long before the Acadians. The Cajuns (short for "Acadian", deformed into "Cajun" in English) are the best known French-speaking group in the country. The Cajuns living in southern Louisiana are the descendants of the first white settlers who emigrated from central and western France to settle in Canada in 1604 in what is now Nova Scotia.
After being forced into exile between 1755 and 1763, driven out by the English during the Great Upheaval, many of them later came to settle along the Mississippi River and in the bayous, while others crossed the Atchafalaya River basin and arrived in the present-day cities of St. Martinville and Lafayette.
Living on the fringe of the English-speaking community, they evolved differently. They speak several regional dialects, derived from the varieties of French and Creole spoken in Louisiana over the past 300 years, but with many nuances and expressions that a trained ear can distinguish. Several generations of French-speaking Louisianans have lived without schooling, withdrawn into themselves. As a result, they have long been unfairly regarded as ignorant, leading a rudimentary existence in the swamps, with no contact with other populations.
Today, many of them have carried on the tradition of fishing and hunting and trappers are still very active. Some Cajuns are still boatmen and Louisiana now has the largest fleet of artisanal boats in the country. They are represented in all occupational categories.
The Cajuns naturally felt that their traditional values had to be perpetuated in order to maintain their identity. They sought isolation above all to preserve their culture, which they have maintained and strengthened to this day. So today we find Cajuns who are not of Acadian origin at all. It is in fact culture, not blood, that defines the Cajun of today. And one trait that has characterized them since their settlement in Louisiana is their joie de vivre. Their maxim: "Let the good times roll!"
There are many attractions dedicated to Cajun history and culture, including LARC's Acadian Village, Vermilionville and theAcadian Cultural Center in Lafayette.
The state of the French language
Don't think that Louisiana is bilingual, the country only remained French for 80 years, a long time ago! Many of the French people living here are teachers who came from French-speaking countries to teach French in Louisiana schools.
Louisiana is the only state in the country that has created an agency for the defense of a minority language: the CODOFIL (Council for the Development of French in Louisiana, codofil.org) created in 1968 and which oversees the teaching of French in Louisiana's public schools, in addition to "doing whatever is necessary to encourage the development, use and preservation of French as it exists in Louisiana for the greater cultural, economic and tourist good of the state.
While there were 1,000,000 francophones in 1970, there are approximately 200,000 today, although some data show a small increase due to the efforts of CODOFIL, particularly in immersion schools. However, in Cajun country, Louisianans often do not dare to speak French, either because of shyness or because they are uncomfortable with their French, which is perceived as archaic and contains grammatical anomalies due to the suppression of French schools in the early 20th century. Nevertheless, Louisiana French is very tasty with its accent and expressions.
