Editing Cajuns (section)

==Cajun nationality==

===Ethnic group of national origin===
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The Cajuns retain a unique dialect of the [[French language]] called [[Louisiana French]] (or more commonly known as Cajun French), and hold numerous other cultural traits that distinguish them as an ethnic group. Cajuns were officially recognized by the US government as a national ethnic group in 1980 per a discrimination lawsuit filed in federal district court. Presided over by Judge Edwin Hunter, the case, known as ''Roach v. Dresser Industries Valve and Instrument Division'' (494 F.Supp. 215, D.C. La., 1980), hinged on the issue of the Cajuns' ethnicity:

{{Blockquote|We conclude that plaintiff is protected by Title VII's ban on national origin discrimination. The Louisiana Acadian is alive and well. He is "up front" and "main stream." He is not asking for any special treatment. By affording coverage under the "national origin" clause of Title VII he is afforded no special privilege. He is given only the same protection as those with [[English Americans|English]], [[Spanish Americans|Spanish]], [[French Americans|French]], [[Iranian Americans|Iranian]], [[Czech Americans|Czechoslovakian]], [[Portuguese Americans|Portuguese]], [[Polish Americans|Polish]], [[Mexican Americans|Mexican]], [[Italian American|Italian]], [[Irish Americans|Irish]], et al., ancestors.|Judge Edwin Hunter, 1980<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.leagle.com/decision/1980709494fsupp2151669|title=ROACH v. DRESSER IND. VAL &#124; 494 F.Supp... &#124; supp2151669 &#124; Leagle.com|website=Leagle}}</ref>}}

===History of Acadian ancestors===
{{Main|History of the Acadians}}
{{See also|Acadians|New France|Expulsion of the Acadians}}
[[File:Joseph_Broussard_en_Acadia_HRoe_2009.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Acadian people|Acadian]] militia captain [[Joseph Broussard|Joseph "Beausoleil" Broussard]]]]

The British [[Siege of Port Royal (1710)|conquest of Acadia]] happened in 1710. Over the next 45 years, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to [[the Crown]]. During this period, Acadians participated in various military operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French fortress of [[Louisbourg]] and [[Fort Beausejour]].<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Grenier |title=Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia 1710–1760 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8061-3876-3 }}</ref> During the [[French and Indian War]] (part of the Seven Years' War and known by that name in Canada and Europe), the British sought to neutralize the Acadian military threat and to interrupt their vital supply lines to Louisbourg by [[Expulsion of the Acadians|deporting Acadians]] from Acadia.<ref>{{cite book|last=Patterson|first=Stephen E.|chapter=Indian-White Relations in Nova Scotia, 1749-61: A Study in Political Interaction|editor1=P.A. Buckner|editor2=Gail G. Campbell|editor3=David Frank|title=The Acadiensis Reader: Atlantic Canada Before Confederation|edition=3rd|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jnxIPgAACAAJ&pg=PA105|year=1998|publisher=Acadiensis Press|isbn=978-0-919107-44-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/atlanticcanadabe0000unse/page/105 105-106]|url=https://archive.org/details/atlanticcanadabe0000unse/page/105}}<br />•&nbsp;{{cite book|last=Patterson|first=Stephen E.|chapter=1744–1763: Colonial Wars and Aboriginal Peoples|editor1=Phillip Buckner|editor2=John G. Reid|title=The Atlantic Region to Confederation: A History|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2spDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA144|year=1994|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4875-1676-5|page=144|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt15jjfrm}}</ref> The territory of [[Acadia]] was afterward divided and apportioned to various British colonies, now Canadian provinces: [[Nova Scotia]], New Brunswick, [[Prince Edward Island]], the [[Gaspe Peninsula]] in the province of [[Quebec]]. The deportation of the Acadians from these areas beginning in 1755 has become known as the [[Great Upheaval]] or ''Le Grand Dérangement''.

[[File:Deportation of Acadians order, painting by Jefferys.jpg|thumb|150px|The [[Expulsion of the Acadians|deportation]] of the [[Acadians]].]]

The Acadians' migration from Canada was spurred by the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|1763 Treaty of Paris]] which ended the war. The treaty terms provided 18 months for unrestrained emigration.  Many Acadians moved to the region of the [[Atakapa]] in present-day Louisiana, often travelling via the French colony of [[Saint-Domingue]] (now [[Haiti]]).<ref>{{cite book |first=Gabriel |last=Debien |chapter=The Acadians in Santo-Domingo, 1764–1789 |editor-first=Glenn R. |editor-last=Conrad |title=The Cajuns: Essays on their History and Culture |location=Lafayette, La. |year=1978 |pages=21–96 |oclc=4685896 }}</ref> [[Joseph Broussard]] led the first group of 200 Acadians to arrive in Louisiana on February 27, 1765, aboard the ''Santo Domingo''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carencrohighschool.org/LA_Studies/ParishSeries/LafayetteParish/Broussard.htm|title=Carencro High School- Preparing Students for Life|access-date=May 3, 2016|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090521212233/http://www.carencrohighschool.org/LA_Studies/ParishSeries/LafayetteParish/Broussard.htm|archive-date=May 21, 2009 }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=November 2023}} On April 8, 1765, he was appointed militia captain and commander of the "Acadians of the Atakapas" region in [[St. Martinville, Louisiana|St. Martinville]].<ref>{{cite web| url =http://www2.umoncton.ca/cfdocs/etudacad/1755/index.cfm?id=010505000&lang=en&style=G&admin=false&linking=| title =History:1755-Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil (c. 1702–1765)| access-date =March 14, 2009| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090520171929/http://www2.umoncton.ca/cfdocs/etudacad/1755/index.cfm?id=010505000&lang=en&style=G&admin=false&linking=| archive-date =May 20, 2009 }}</ref> Some of the settlers wrote to their family scattered around the Atlantic to encourage them to join them at New Orleans. For example, Jean-Baptiste Semer wrote to his father in France:

{{Blockquote|My dear father ... you can come here boldly with my dear mother and all the other Acadian families. They will always be better off than in France. There are neither duties nor taxes to pay and the more one works, the more one earns without doing harm to anyone.|Jean-Baptiste Semer, 1766<ref>"Letter by Jean-Baptiste Semer, an Acadian in New Orleans, to His Father in Le Havre, April 20, 1766".  Transl. Bey Grieve. ''Louisiana History'' 48 (spring 2007): 219–26 [http://jfmouhot.free.fr/prive/documents/Mouhot--Semer_Letter.fdf Link to full transcription of the Letter by Jean-Baptist Semer]</ref>}}

The Acadians were scattered throughout the eastern seaboard. Families were split and boarded ships with different destinations.<ref>John Mack Faragher (2005). ''A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from their American Homeland'', New York: W. W. Norton, 562 pages {{ISBN|0-393-05135-8}} [https://archive.org/details/greatnoblescheme00fara Online excerpt]</ref> Many ended up west of the [[Mississippi River]] in what was then [[French colonization of the Americas|French-colonized]] Louisiana, including territory as far north as [[The Dakotas|Dakota territory]]. France had ceded the colony to [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spain in 1762]], prior to their defeat by Britain and two years before the first Acadians began settling in Louisiana.  The interim French officials provided land and supplies to the new settlers. The Spanish [[List of colonial governors of Louisiana|governor]], [[Bernardo de Gálvez]], later proved to be hospitable, permitting the Acadians to continue to speak their language, practice their native religion ([[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] – which was also the official religion of Spain), and otherwise pursue their livelihoods with minimal interference. Some families and individuals did travel north through the Louisiana territory to set up homes as far north as [[Wisconsin]].  Acadians fought in the [[American Revolution]]. Although they fought for Spanish General Galvez, their contribution to the winning of the war has been recognized.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acadian-home.org/american-revolution.html|title=Acadia:Acadians:American Revolution:Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home|access-date=May 3, 2016}}</ref>

Galvez left New Orleans with an army of Spanish regulars and the Louisiana militia made up of 600 Acadian volunteers and captured the British strongholds of [[Fort Bute]] at [[Bayou Manchac]], across from the Acadian settlement at St. Gabriel. On September 7, 1779, Galvez [[Capture of Fort Bute|attacked Fort Bute]] and then on September 21, 1779, attacked and [[Battle of Baton Rouge (1779)|captured Baton Rouge]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Spanish Conquest of British West Florida, 1779–1781|last=Haarmann|first=Albert|journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly|volume=39|number=2|page=112|date=October 1960|jstor=30150253}}</ref>

A review of participating soldiers shows many common Acadian names among those who fought in the battles of Baton Rouge and West Florida. The Galvez Chapter of the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]] was formed in memory of those soldiers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://geocities.com/patriot2325/galvez.html|access-date=March 17, 2011|archive-date=October 26, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026041623/http://geocities.com/patriot2325/galvez.html|last=Broussard|first=Karen|date=March 11, 2004|publisher=National Society of the American Revolution, Galvez Chapter|location=Lafayette, LA|title=History of the Galvez Chapter}}</ref>

The Spanish colonial government settled the earliest group of Acadian exiles west of New Orleans, in what is now south-central Louisiana—an area known at the time as Attakapas, and later the center of the [[Acadiana]] region.  As Brasseaux wrote, "The oldest of the pioneer communities ... Fausse Point, was established near present-day [[Loreauville]] by late June 1765."<ref>{{cite book|last=Brasseaux|first=Carl A.|year=1987| title=The Founding of New Acadia: The Beginnings of Acadian Life in Louisiana, 1765–1803|location=Baton Rouge|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|pages=91–92|isbn=0-8071-1296-8}}</ref> The Acadians shared the swamps, bayous, and prairies with the [[Attakapa]] and [[Chitimacha]] Native American tribes.

After the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|end]] of the [[American Revolutionary War]], about 1,500 more Acadians arrived in New Orleans. About 3,000 Acadians had been deported to France during the Great Upheaval.  In 1785, about 1,500 were authorized to emigrate to Louisiana, often to be reunited with their families, or because they could not settle in France.<ref>Jean-Francois Mouhot (2009), ''Les Réfugiés Acadiens en France (1758–1785): L'Impossible Réintégration?'' Quebec: Septentrion, 456p.</ref> Living in a relatively isolated region until the early 20th century, Cajuns today are largely assimilated into the mainstream society and culture.  Some Cajuns live in communities outside Louisiana.  Also, some people identify themselves as Cajun culturally despite lacking Acadian ancestry.

===Cajuns as Creoles===
[[File:Alexandre Mouton jeune.jpg|thumb|200px|The [[Acadian people|Acadian Creole]] governor of Louisiana, [[Alexandre Mouton]]]]

In the modern era it is common to see Cajuns and [[Louisiana Creole people|Creoles]] discussed as separate and distinct groups; historically speaking, this was not necessarily the case. Many historical accounts exist wherein persons with Acadian surnames (and of various races) either self-identify or are described by others as Creoles.

In Louisiana, the French word ''Créole'' (itself borrowed from Spanish and Portuguese) meant "born in the New World" (compare with Spanish ''[[Criollo people|Criollo]]''). This label was meant to distinguish the native-born population from newly arrived European immigrants and from slaves imported from Africa. Likewise, after the [[Louisiana Purchase|Sale of Louisiana]], the term "Creole" distinguished people of Catholic, Latin backgrounds from newly arrived Americans and other Protestant anglophones.

In general, ''Créolité'' in Louisiana was largely defined by whether that person was born in Louisiana, spoke a Latin-based language (often French, Spanish or [[Louisiana Creole|Creole]]) and practiced Catholicism. Having been born on Louisianian soil and maintaining a Catholic francophone identity, the Acadian descendants were indeed and often considered to be Creoles.

Documents from the late eighteenth century, such as militia rolls, make a distinction between "Acadians" (those born before or during ''[[Expulsion of the Acadians|Le Grand Dérangement]]'') and "Creoles" (those born after ''Le Grand Dérangement''), often the children of the former group, with identical surnames and belonging to the same families.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mylhcv.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/1792-Militia.pdf|title=1792 Spanish Militia, Attakapas Post|last=Landry|first=Christophe}}</ref> Today, members of these families—including, among many others, those with surnames such as Broussard, Hébert, and Thibodeaux—usually consider these names Cajun rather than Creole.{{citation needed|reason=This claim needs a reliable source|date=September 2021}}

Sources from the 19th century sometimes make specific references to "Acadian Creoles" in particular—a term entirely absent from contemporary Louisiana. One article in vol. 56 of ''The Youth's Companion'' notes that, "The Acadian Creoles of Louisiana are a humane and charitable race—simple-minded and full of queer, superstitious notions, but an orphan thrown upon their care never suffers."<ref>{{cite journal |date=Summer 2019 |title=The Youth's Companion |journal=The Youth's Companion |volume=56 |orig-year=1883}}</ref> The Mouton family, an influential Acadian family of the period, provides an excellent case study in this regard, with secessionist [[Alexandre Mouton]] retaining the famous nickname of "the Creole Hotspur."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Acadian General Alfred Mouton and the Civil War |last=Arceneaux |first=William |year=1981 }}</ref> His son, the Confederate General [[Alfred Mouton]], is also noted in contemporary sources as "a brave and intrepid Creole".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Story of Louisiana |last=Thompson |first=Maurice |year=1888 }}</ref> Today, by contrast, members of the Mouton family are referred to as "Acadians" or "Cajuns" more often than as "Creoles".

In 1885, the ''New Iberia Enterprise'' (taken from a section of advice for American editors) wrote: "Although all men born here, of whatever color and using whatever language, are Americans, it is the custom to designate the descendants of the old French, Spanish, and Acadian settlers of the country and using as a rule the French language, Creoles, and all using the English tongue, Americans."

In his ''Refutation des érreurs de M. George W. Cable sur le sujet des Créoles'', published in L'[[Athénée Louisianais]], the francophone Creole John L. Peytavin accused the writer [[George Washington Cable]] of fundamentally misrepresenting Creoles to the American public. (Cable, who was not a Creole and did not speak French, had written that Cajuns of Acadian descent were not themselves Creoles.) Peytavin declared: "The Acadian Creoles have the same right to be called Creoles as others of foreign descent."

===Ethnic mixing and non-Acadian origins===
[[File:Bits of Saint Malo Scenery Colorized.jpg|thumb|300px|Filipino Cajuns of [[Saint Malo, Louisiana]].]]

Not all Cajuns descend solely from Acadian exiles who settled in south Louisiana in the 18th century. Cajuns include people with Irish and Spanish ancestry, and to a lesser extent of Germans and Italians; Many also have [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]], [[Demographics of Africa|African]] and [[Creoles of color|Afro-Latin Creole]] admixture. Historian Carl A. Brasseaux asserted that this process of mixing created the Cajuns in the first place.<ref name=Brasseaux/>

Non-Acadian [[French Creoles]] in rural areas were absorbed into Cajun communities. Some Cajun parishes, such as [[Evangeline Parish|Evangeline]] and [[Avoyelles Parish|Avoyelles]], possess relatively few inhabitants of actual Acadian origin. Their populations descend in many cases from settlers who migrated to the region from [[Quebec]], [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], or directly from France ([[French emigration (1789–1815)|French emigration]]). Regardless, Acadian influences are generally acknowledged to have prevailed in most sections of south Louisiana.

Many Cajuns have ancestors who were not French. Some of the original settlers in Louisiana were [[Basque people|Spanish Basques]] and Spanish [[Isleños|Canary Islanders]]. A later migration included Irish and German immigrants who began to settle in Louisiana before and after the [[Louisiana Purchase]], particularly on the [[German Coast]] along the [[Mississippi River]] north of [[New Orleans]].  People of [[Latin American]] origin; a number of early [[Filipino people|Filipino]] settlers (notably in [[Saint Malo (Louisiana)|Saint Malo, Louisiana]]) who were known as "[[Manilamen]]" from the annual cross-[[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] [[Galleon]] or [[Manila Galleon]] trade with neighboring [[Acapulco, Mexico]]; descendants of African slaves; and some [[Cuban American]]s have also settled along the [[Gulf of Mexico|Gulf Coast]], and in some cases, intermarried into Cajun families.

One obvious result of this cultural mixture is the variety of surnames common among the Cajun population. Surnames of the original Acadian settlers (which are documented) have been augmented by French and non-French family names that have become part of Cajun communities. The spelling of many family names has changed over time. (See, for example, ''[[Eaux]])''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l29RDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA156 |title=Language Variety in the New South: Contemporary Perspectives on Change and Variation|last1=Reaser|first1=Jeffrey|last2=Wilbanks|first2=Eric|last3=Wojcik|first3=Karissa|last4=Wolfram|first4=Walt|date=2018-03-15|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=9781469638812|language=en}}</ref>

===Indian and Afro-Cajuns===
[[File:Amédé Ardoin Colorized.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|[[Amédé Ardoin]], the first Black Cajun recording artist; he only spoke [[Cajun French]].]]
[[File:CrowleyCrowdListening1938Colorized.jpg|thumb|upright=1|The Cajun-Creole population of [[Crowley, Louisiana|Crowley]] enjoying a Cajun Music Concert in 1938.]]

Cajuns as an ethnic group historically included Indians and Blacks.<ref name="cajunmusicjazz">{{cite book|title=The New Grove Gospel, Blues, and Jazz, with Spirituals and Ragtime|author1=Paul Oliver|author2=Max Harrison|author3=William Bolcom|year=1986|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|location=United States of America|pages=139}}</ref> Black Louisiana Frenchmen have historically self-identified as Cajun, using the term in regards to the ethnicity of Acadiana and the language they speak: [[Amédé Ardoin]] for example spoke only [[Cajun French]] and at his height was known as the first Black Cajun recording artist;<ref name="cajunmusicreader">{{cite book|title=Accordions, Fiddles, Two Step & Swing: A Cajun Music Reader|author1=Ryan A. Brasseaux|author2=Kevin S. Fontenot|year=2006|publisher=Center for Louisiana Studies|location=United States of America|pages=102}}</ref> [[Clifton Chenier]] the King of [[Zydeco]], routinely self-identified as a Black Cajun:

{{Blockquote|"Bonjour, comment ça va monsieur?" Clifton Chenier greeted his cheering crowd at the 1975 Montreux Jazz Festival. "They call me the Black Cajun Frenchman."<ref name="kingdomofzydeco">{{cite book|title=The Kingdom of Zydeco|author=Michael Tisserand|year=2016|publisher=Skyhorse|location=United States of America|pages=416}}</ref>}}

People of Acadiana have historically described what the Cajun nationality means to them; Brandon Moreau, a Cajun of [[Basile, Louisiana]], described Cajun as an "inclusive term designating region, descent, or heritage – not race."<ref name="brandonmoreau">{{cite book|title=Signifying Serpents and Mardi Gras Runners: Representing Identity in Selected Souths|last1=Ray|first1=R. Celeste|last2=Lassiter|first2=Luke E.|year=2003|publisher=University of Georgia Press|location=United States of America|pages=45}}</ref> Moreau also described an incident of where he used the term [[coonass]] with a good friend of his: "We were all talking in the hall, and I said I was a coonass. She said she was Cajun, but that she would never be a coonass. She's black and it offended her."<ref name="brandonmoreau" />

Cajun culture due to its mixed Latin-Creole nature had fostered more laissez-faire attitudes between blacks and whites in Acadiana more than anywhere else in the South.<ref name="shanekbernard">{{cite book|title=The Cajuns: Americanization of a People|last=Bernard|first=Shane K.|year=2016|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|location=United States of America|pages=35, 36, 37, 38}}</ref> [[Roman Catholicism]] actively preached tolerance and condemned racism and all hate crimes; the [[Catholic Church|Roman Church]] threatened to [[excommunication|excommunicate]] any of its members who would dare to break its laws.<ref name="shanekbernard" />

[[Anglo-Americans]] openly discriminated against Cajuns because they were Catholics, had a Latin Culture, and spoke [[Cajun French]].<ref name="shanekbernard" /> White Cajuns and White Creoles accepted advances in racial equality, and they had compassion for Black Cajuns, Black Creoles, and [[African Americans]].<ref name="shanekbernard" /> In the 1950s, twice as many blacks in Louisiana's French-Catholic parishes registered to vote compared to blacks in the Anglo-Protestant parishes.<ref name="shanekbernard" />

===Americanization of Acadiana (1950–1970)===
[[File:Census Bureau 2000, Cajuns in the United States.png|thumb|center|upright=2|Map depicting Cajuns in the United States, according to the [[2000 United States census|2000 census]].]]

When the United States of America began assimilating and Americanizing the parishes of Acadiana between the 1950s and 1970s, they imposed segregation and reorganized the inhabitants of the Cajun Country to identify racially as either "white" Cajuns or "black" Creoles.<ref name="nicholeestandford"/> As the younger generations were made to abandon speaking French and French customs, the White or Indian Cajuns assimilated into the [[Anglo-America]]n host culture, and the Black Cajuns assimilated into the [[African American]] culture.<ref name="georgeepozzetta">{{cite book|title=Immigrants on the Land: Agriculture, Rural Life, and Small Towns|author=George E. Pozzetta|year=1991|publisher=Taylor & Francis|location=United States of America|pages=408}}</ref>

Cajuns looked to the [[civil rights movement]] and other Black liberation and empowerment movements as a guide to fostering Louisiana's French cultural renaissance. A Cajun student protester in 1968 declared "We're slaves to a system. Throw away the shackles... and be free with your brother."<ref name="shanekbernard" />