Comments on: Mixed products everywhere!

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 23:18:23 +0000

Very interesting! I’m “white” with “two drop” Native American.

However, if I had “one drop” African ancestory I would be “Black” or “African American.”. I’m from south Louisiana and the culture is a blend if not all people are a blood blend.

Cajun is considered “White” French et Creole is considered “Black” French for South Louisiana.

“White Creoles” in Louisiana dropped the Creole term because the Americains thought that we were all multiracial. “Oh, the horror!”

So many adopted the Cajun label because that is supposedly 100% white.

It’s more complicated than that but that is the gist of it all.

Louisiana used to be called the Creole State but they changed it.

Why?

Some “dark” reason is why.

Even though everyone eats Gumbo - Africa,Okra.

Why not “Black Cajun”

“Cajuns of Color”

Read - request from local library:

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

French, Cajun, Creole, Houma : a primer on francophone Louisiana / Carl A. Brasseaux.

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

By: Cleo

Cleo — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 05:38:25 +0000

Hello there. Of course there is an intermarrying of black, creoles, Cajun, and Indian. My grandmothers side was Cajun. They were mainly light coffee colored, with blue or green eyes. Or they look Indian or white, although the white ones have the curliest hair u ever did see. My grandpa’s side are dark dark Indians, so they’re black. The lines down in Louisiana i think became blurred between cajun and creole. My family calls thems cajuns most of the time.

By: jean stoia

jean stoia — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 06:53:24 +0000

Hi,
Is there any evidence for a black heritage among Cajuns? (French Acadians who migrated to Louisiana) I know the Cajuns intermarried with white Creoles, but did they intermarry with Creoles of Color? If there is evidence of black roots in Cajuns, what is the origin?
Thanks.

By: Shermelle

Shermelle — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 03:24:57 +0000

My father once dated a lady who called herself creole. Funny thing was she was Eygyptian and French.

By: Pat

Pat — Sun, 26 Jun 2005 04:33:34 +0000

No. You have to be from certain parts of the nation or the Carribean to get it. While color does play a part that is decreasing. Being Creole is a mindset and more of a cultural thing. Creoles can be any mixture.but usually there is French and/or Spanish heritage which has influenced the family’s lifestyle or religion. I had a blond blue-eyed German/French background roommate from Haiti who called herself Creole. Why? Because her family settled in Haiti in the late 1700s , were Catholic ,spoke French and were Fracophils.

However, Cajuns, black or white or any combination do not view themselves as Creoles. The Native American contributions to the family tree usually do not appear to figure into the formula.

Interesting enough, there is also an economic aspect of this. Most people who viewed themselves as Creoles were usually decendants of “free people of color” who were economically secure.

By: scransnee

scransnee — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 23:37:01 +0000

Only Creoles want to make the distinction between being black.

By: misha

misha — Mon, 30 May 2005 03:47:35 +0000

“Creole”? Can most people tell the difference between a Creole and Black American? Most Black Americans have White and Native American blood and they’re still called Black!