It’s been a year for me writing on my blog. I started a blog to learn more about my family’s history and culture. The labels Cajun and Creole confused me but I think I understand it now. It’s simple. Cadien was a word used by the Acadians. It was eventually applied to poor Acadians and became a negative word. The word was picked up and applied to all poor white French people, even if they were Creoles.
Cadien was changed to Cajun by the English speaking people. Cajun was ok for Cajuns but it was used as an insult by outsiders, much like coonass is used today. Things changed with the Cajun power movement. It was then cool to be called Cajun. Cajun is now a good word. But the problem was that Cajun was used in the old way – connected to Acadian. That confused a lot of people because many Cajuns did not have much of an Acadian connection.
That’s basically it. It all depends how the word is used. The word Creole has changed many times also. I’ve read many things and I believe I’m right. But it’s ok. The recent shooting at Virginia Tech, for example, is something to get upset about. The meaning of the words Cajun and Creole is something to talk about and discuss, but not lose sleep over.
Here are some interesting sites, info and sources to read and think about:
Ville Platte
its history, growth, and future
Compliments of Ville Platte Chamber of Commerce
by Jules R. Ashlock
"…Quite erroneous is the impression held by many that Ville Platte was settled by the Acadians driven from Nova Scotia by the British. Actually, the earliest settlers here were directly from France or the British Isles, or the descendants of such individuals. The Acadian, or "Cajun" country, is located largely south of Opelousas…"
1967
Sara Le Menestrel's great article:
Connecting past to present: Louisiana cajuns and their sense of belonging to an Acadian diaspora
The Fontenots, Brignacs and Lafleurs came from here to settle in the St. Landry Parish region. They joined and married with the majority population - other Creoles and French people from Montreal and Quebec.
The Fontenot family home page and Fort Toulouse
The reason, I think, southern Evangeline Parish has such a strong Cajun heritage to this day (Evangeline is one of the Cajun Heartland parishes of Acadiana) is because of our dominant French ancestors: Colonial French directly from France and the French via Montreal and Quebec. Our few Acadian ancestors added some lagniappe to the great Cajun gumbo in southern Evangeline Parish.
That's my opinion. There are, however, several good books to read. These three are a good start.
French, Cajun, Creole, Houma : a primer on francophone Louisiana / Carl A. Brasseaux.
Baton Rouge, LA : Louisiana State University, c2005.
An atlas of Louisiana surnames of French and Spanish origin / Robert C. West.
Baton Rouge, LA : Louisiana State University, 1986.
Opelousas: The History of a French and Spanish military Post in America, 1716-1803 by Winston DeVille.
These are three good articles to read for a start:
The Cajunization of French Louisiana: Forging a regional identity.
Authors: Trepanier, Cecyle Source: Geographical Journal; Jul91, Vol. 157 Issue 2, p161, 11p, 2 charts, 10 maps
De Ville, Winston, "'Cajuns' and Neo-ethnicity: Concerns of an Acadian-American Genealogist," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 89 (March 2001)
Sexton, Rocky. 1999. Cajun Mardi Gras: Cultural Objectification and Symbolic Appropriation in a French Tradition. Ethnology 38(4): 297 -313