Cajuns, those tacky Creoles

I like reading different interpretations of the labels Cajun and Creole. I've read several articles; however, I had to laugh when I read this in Corrine L. Saucier’s History of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana:

The word "Acadian" is now never heard. A prosperous or educated Acadian is called a "Creole." An ignorant, or poor person, or tacky person, even though Creole in origin, may be called a Cajun. Words have a history just like persons, and their meanings change very often. In this age of rapid economic changes a Creole today may be a Cajun tomorrow or vice-versa. It is all a matter of affluence and no longer origin, as it was a century ago. This is a democratic age, as one can verify at every turn. (102)

The book was written in 1943, a long time before the Cajun Power movement in the 1960s and CODOFIL. The meaning of Cajun has changed a great deal since those times. It’s the same for the meaning of Creole. I wonder what the meaning of Cajun and Creole will be twenty years from now.

Check the book out from your local library or request it via inter-library loan.
History of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana - by Corinne L. Saucier.
New Orleans, LA : Pelican, c1943.