Louisiana Creole people

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This article is about an ethnic culture in Louisiana, USA. For uses of the term "Creole" in other countries and cultures, see Creole (disambiguation).

Louisiana Creole (also called French Créole) refers to people of various racial descent descended from the Colonial French and Spanish settlers of Colonial French Louisiana, before it became part of the United States in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase, with claim to the culture and Creole cuisine. They are Multiracial (Creoles of Color) being of mixed (mainly) French, Spanish, African, and Native-American heritage. Before the Civil war the term Creole was applied to most 18th century families in southern Louisiana who had French, Spanish, or African ancestry.It must be noted that Cajuns were always excluded from this distinction due to their lack of social status in old Louisiana and mostly white Acadian background.

Etymology

During Louisiana's first French government, the French borrowed a term the Spanish and Portuguese used in their colonies to refer to native-born products and people of the colony. The Spanish referred to this term as criollo and the Portuguese, crioulo. Ultimately, the colonial term derived from the Latin 'creare', meaning to rear or create (Brasseaux).

Originally, inhabitants of New World Spanish colonies were distinguished by whether or not they had migrated to the colony (either voluntarily or involuntarily), or if they had been brought up or reared in the colony. The Spanish term used to describe the latter group was criado, which later evolved into criollo. The Louisiana Creole people generally are combination of any of the following: French, Spanish, African, and/or Native American. Most reside in or have familial ties to Louisiana. Many other ethnicities have contributed to this culture including, but not limited to the Irish, Italian, or German.

garbrielle's black ass is not creole.

History

Creole largely remained an expression of parochial and colonial government use through both the French and Spanish régimes, a period in which Europeans of French and Spanish biological backgrounds, born in the New World, as opposed to Europe, were referred to as Créole (Logsdon). Simultaneously, the people of the colony forged a new local identity, however it is clear that everyone referred to themselves as French Creole. Parisian French was the language of early New Orleans and later it evolved to contain local phrases and slangs. The White French Creoles spoke Creole French that was a colonial French and the Black Creoles formed a French, Spanish, and West African hybrid language, which is now spoken in central Louisiana today. Creole French is still spoken in the prairie regions of Opelousas, Lafayette and Breaux Bridge but, for the most part, is extinct in the city of New Orleans. Whites of French/Spanish mixture were referred to as French Creoles, and the mixed population was referred to as Creoles of Color.

The transfer of the French colony to the United States in 1803 (officially admitted into statehood in 1812) and the arrival of Anglo-Saxons from New England ignited an outright cultural war. Anglo-Saxons, reportedly disgusted by the cultural and linguistic climate of the newly acquired territory, the United States' first Louisiana governor, W.C.C. Claiborne swiftly moved to thoroughly Americanize the Louisiana people in making English the official language. Outraged, Louisiana Creoles in New Orleans allegedly paraded the streets of New Orleans renouncing the Americans' effort to transform them into Americans overnight. Realizing that he needed the local support to make any progress in Louisiana, Claiborne restored French as an official language of the newly acquired state, and in all forms of government, public forums and in the Catholic Church, French continued to be used. Most importantly, Colonial French and Creole French remained the language of the majority of the population of the state. New Orleans remained a city divided between Latin (French and Creole) and Anglo-Saxon populations until well into the late 19th century (Hirsch & Logsdon). Among the eighteen governors of Louisiana between 1803-1865, six were Creole and were monolingual speakers of French: Jacques Villeré, Pierre Augustin Charles Bourguignon Derbigny, Armand Julien Beauvais, Jacques Dupré de Terrebonne, André Bienvenue Roman, and Alexandre Mouton.

When Americans began to arrive in Louisiana, locals began identifying themselves overtly as Creoles to distinguish themselves from the "nouveaux-arrivés" from New England and the American South.

If the American Civil War promised rights and opportunities for the enslaved, it caused anxiety for the Free Person of Color. Louisiana under the French and Spanish housed a three-tiered society, similar to that of Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, and other French and Spanish colonies. This three tiered-society allowed for the emergence of a wealthy and educated group of mixed and black Creoles. Their identity as a Free Person of Color, or Gens de couleur libres or 'personne de couleur libre' was one they had worked diligently towards and guarded with an iron-fist. They enjoyed most rights and privileges, by law, as whites, and could and often did challenge the law in court of law winning their case against whites (Hirsch; Brasseaux; Mills; Kein etc.). Knowing that the United States did not legally recognize a three-tiered society, the American Civil War posed a considerable threat to the identity and position of the Free People of Color. Following the Union victory in the Civil War, the Louisiana three-tiered society was dismantled.

In efforts to maintain their social and political identity, the former Gens de couleur libres began using the term 'Creole' much in the same way that the white elite did beginning in 1803. The Gens de couleur libres were native speakers of both Colonial French and Louisiana Creole.

Black slaves in Louisiana, particularly in the southern realm of the state, were also Creoles. The success of the Union in the Civil War ultimately released slaves from servitude, at least on paper. Through sharecropping and Jim Crow laws, they found themselves in bondage again. However this servitude allowed for the preservation of the Creole language of the Black Creole working class of South Louisiana. They too were largely of Roman Catholic faith and saw themselves different from their Protestant English-speaking counterparts.

Language

Louisiana Creoles historically have spoken Louisiana Creole French, a creole language based on a mixture of French, African and Spanish elements.

Cane River Creoles

The Cane River Creole community is made up of descendants of French and Spanish colonials, Africans, and Native Americans and various other ethnic groups who inhabited this region. It is centered around Isle Brevelle in lower Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. Isle Brevelle, the area of land between Cane River and Bayou Brevelle, encompasses approximately 18,000 acres of land, 16,000 of which are still owned by descendants of these original Creole families. The major Cane River Creole familiy names are but are not limited to : the Metoyer, LaCour, Coutee, Monette, Balthazar, Sylvie, Moran, Rachal, Conant, Beaudion, Darville, Mullone, Severin, St.Ville, Llorens, Sarpy, Laurent, Christophe, Honore, Chevalier, Anty, Dubreil, Roque, Cloutier, Meziere, Gallien, Conde, and the Dupre. (Most if not all of the names are of French origin).

Racial Appearance

Being a Creole of Color doesn't necessarily mean that you are dark more having a meaning of having a multiracial bloodline. Many Creoles of Color are of light skin. Creoles are of all skin tones and features but are more closely Native American or Louisiana-French and Indo-Afro-Hispanic than African American as it is defined in the U.S. Often their multiracial heritage showed an olive color but for many a fair skin tone showed even if with significant amounts of minority blood. There are also many creoles with very darker brown reddish distinct colors notably similar to their Native American and African heritage.

Identity Issues

Most Creoles are no longer fluent in either Louisiana Creole or Colonial French. This has made the community vulnerable and susceptible to much scrutiny and neglect.

Many locals, especially those of relatively pure French and Spanish Creole descent, have often argued that the traditional usage excluded African lineage. However this was only an issure after the Civil War and post reconstruction books published by particular Creoles attempted to exclude ones with African blood.

The American Civil Rights Movement called for Black and Mixed Creoles to either join the rest of country in gaining inalienable rights or to continue to exist without social and political rights. It also called for them to identify as Negro or Black, instead of the Creole identity, because Creole was mainly a culture vs. a race. An identity then and now not consciously recognized by American Blacks.

The Louisiana Creole definition, defines Creole people as those who are "generally known as a people of any of the following mixes: French, Spanish, African, and Native American ancestry, most of whom reside in or have familial ties to Louisiana. Many other ethnicities have contributed to this culture including, but not limited to: Irish, Italian, or German.

Because of claims to the name by Louisiana Whites and Blacks, Creole is now accepted as a broad cultural group of people who share French and/or Spanish ancestry. Contrary to popular belief, a Creole does not exclusively pertain to a person of African and French descent. The first Creoles were White French Creoles and Black Creoles did not exist until much time after. A Creole can be White or Black, just like an American can be. Creole is a culture not a race. Although however now all Creoles are of mixed heritage.

A definition from the earliest history in New Orleans (circa 1718) is "a child born in the colony as opposed to France or Spain. (see Criollo) The definition became more codified after the United States took control of the city and Louisiana in 1803. The Creoles at that time included the Spanish ruling class, who ruled from the mid-1700s until the early 1800s.

Caribbean Air

In the United States, culture has come to serve as the dividing factor between "races" and skin color (Domínguez). That is to say that, according to sociologists, white Americans take part in culture not shared by Asian Americans, Latin Americans or Black Americans. In most countries and regions of the Caribbean realm, culture is shared by everyone, regardless of skin color or ancestral origins. In Haiti as well as the Dominican Republic, rice and beans, traditionally considered an "ethnic dish" in the United States, is eaten and prepared in the homes of white, mixed, black, and Arabs of both nationalities. In Aruba, Papiamentu, a Portuguese-based Creole language, is spoken by the entire island, regardless of skin color or ancestral origins.

Louisiana is no exception to this rule. Gravy and rice, red beans, boudin, gumbo, étouffée, jambalaya, all "ethnic" dishes are eaten and savored by all Louisianans practicing both Black and White French Creole or one of the French cultures of Louisiana.

In addition, the colonial (Creole) architecture of Louisiana bares striking resemblances with architecture in the Caribbean. For example, the architecture of the Vieux Carré of New Orleans, is modeled after part of the architecture of Old Havana, Havana, Cuba. The distinct raised roof, gallery-wrapped Creole plantation homes of Louisiana resemble those of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and those painting the landscape of many Caribbean islands, though they are also heavily modeled after traditional European architecture.

It is therefore not odd, either, to find a Creole Louisianan that carry Spanish or French features, even some with African features, carrying the family name Romero, Hernández or Rodríguez who can find their roots in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Vera Cruz Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Panama, The entire Caribbean as well as France and Spain.

Cuisine

Louisiana Creole cuisine is recognized as a unique a style of cooking originating in New Orleans, which makes use of the same Holy trinity (in this case chopped celery, bell peppers, and onions) as Cajun cuisine, but has a large variety of European, French, Caribbean, African, and American influences.

Gumbo is a traditional Creole dish. It was created in New Orleans by the French attempting to make bouillabaisse in the New World. The Spanish contributed onions, peppers, and tomatoes, the Africans contributed okra, in which the dish gets its name due to the popularity of the vegetable in the stew, the Indians contributed Filé, which are ground sassafras leaves, and later on the Italians blasted it with garlic. The Germans contributed potato salad as a side and even started the practice of eating gumbo with a scoop of potato salad in it. The Germans also dominated the french bread industry in New Orleans and brought the practice of eating gumbo with buttered french bread. The French gave the roux to the stew, and spices from the Caribbean, and over time it became less of a bouillabaisse and more of what is called gumbo. It is a stew consisting of, but can vary depending on the family: seafood gumbo(shrimp, crab, sausage, and oyster) or chicken sausage gumbo(chicken, sausage), and all contain the "Holy Trinity" and are served over rice. It is often seasoned with filé by Cajuns and Creoles all over Louisiana.

History reveals that "Gumbo" (Gombô, in Louisiana Creole, Gombo, in Louisiana French) was the word used in West and Central Africa for the okra plant. Okra is from the regions of Africa, and parts of the Middle East and Spain. The use of the word gombo was used to name the stew, due to its popularity to thicken the mixture before the roux came along. Thus, the stew was named Gumbo, because of the French accent used after first hearing Africans call Okra "Gombo," as in a shortening of the word kilogombó or kigambó, and guingambó or quinbombó, in West African.

Jambalaya is the second in line of fame of Louisiana Creole dishes. It finds its origin in the original European city sector of New Orleans; the French Quarter, or vieux carré, in colonial days combining ham with sausage, rice and tomato. Jambalaya is of Spanish and Caribbean origins. Today, jambalaya is prepared two ways: in New Orleans and its immediate environment, in parts of Iberia Parish as well as in parts of St. Martin Parish, jambalaya is red, and has for its base, tomato. Cajuns, generally speaking, prepare a "brown jambalaya", which is roux based with tasso. Jambalaya can combine chicken, sausage, fresh shrimp tails; or chicken and tasso.

Music

Jazz, born in New Orleans sometime around the turn of the twentieth century, is the first local Black Creole music to be popularized.

Zydeco (a transliteration in English of 'zaricô' (Snapbeans) from the song, "Les haricots sont pas salés"), born in Cajun and Black Creole communities on the prairies of southwest Louisiana in the 1920s is considered by many, if not most, as the Black Creole music of Louisiana. Zydeco purportedly hails from "Là-là", a genre of music now defunct, and old south Louisiana jurés. As Cajun French was the lingua franca of the prairies of southwest Louisiana, Zydeco was initially sung only in Creole or French. Later, creole-speaking Black Creoles, such as the Chénier brothers, Rosie Lédet and others, added a new linguistic element to Zyedco music. Today, most of Zydeco's new generation sings in English or Cajun French with a few in Louisiana Creole French.

Zydeco is related to swamp pop, blues, jazz, and cajun music. An instrument unique to Zydeco music is a form of washboard called the frottoir, or scrubboard, a vest made of corrugated aluminum, and played by using bottle openers or caps down the length of the vest.

References

External links

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