What does it mean to be Cajun? The story behind the identity.

What does it mean to be Cajun? For The Historic New Orleans Collection's “Cajun Document” exhibition, our Visitor Services staff took a deep dive on the history of this Louisiana identity and the complex conversations around it. Learn more about the exhibition here: www.hnoc.org/cajundocument
THNOC would like to acknowledge the following sources for background on the topic: "Finding Cajun," directed by Nathan Rabalais; "The Cajuns: Americanization of a People" by Shane Bernard; “Memory and Acadian Identity” by W. Fitzhugh Brundage in Where these Memories Grow: History, Memory, and Southern Identity; “‘Don’t call me a Cajun’: Race and Representation in Louisiana’s Acadiana Region” by Alexandra Giancarlo in Journal of Cultural Geography; “Cajunization of French Louisiana: Forging a Regional Identity” by Cécyle Trépanier in The Geographical Journal; “Creole Is, Creole Ain’t: Diachronic and Synchronic Attitudes toward Creole Identity in Southern Louisiana” by Sylvie Dubois and Megan Melançon in Language in Society

[@skb8721]

A clarification: Please note that when I state very early in the documentary "I don't remember any of us speaking French" that I was referring solely to the kids in my neighborhood on the southside of Lafayette in the 1970s. (Indeed, my own paternal grandparents, who were Cajuns, spoke French, so I was not making an observation about Cajuns in general -- just to the kids in my neighborhood as a child in the '70s.) ~ Shane K. Bernard

[@IslenoGutierrez]

I’m just wondering when Cajuns are gonna stop separating themselves from the creole identity, culture, food and history since they are Creoles themselves. They are white creoles like other white creoles such as French Creoles, Spanish Creoles (Isleños, Malagueños and Adaeseños), German Creoles etc or mixed race creoles like Creoles of color or black Creoles like Afro Creoles. The cajunization of Louisiana has halfway destroyed Louisiana’s true identity, it’s culture and cuisine: Creole. Before the 1960’s when Cajuns were referred to as creoles (Acadian Creoles), Cajun was an insult meaning “poor and trashy Acadian Creole” and those were fighting words to an Acadian Creole. Many younger Cajuns have no idea of any of this and swear they are not creoles. 🤦‍♂️

[@cd231]

Mais, y’all sure did a wonderful job presenting the background on the Creole/Cajun historical heritage and the facts around the similarities and differences.. Thanks for your great work!

[@moviebuff1975]

I am currently writing an epic novel about my family and Cajuns in 1920s-1960s Louisiana. There is a lot to tell. Richard Family History.

[@IslenoGutierrez]

I think it’s important to note that Cajuns (Acadians) stopped existing as a distinct ethnic group after the mid 1800’s as we can see in every family tree of any “Cajun” today that the Acadians mixed with the French Creoles (whites of French and Québécois descent in Louisiana) and produced a mixed origin group of Acadian, French and Québécois descent that also absorbed minor ancestries from 19th century white French Caribbeans mainly from St. Domingue (French colonial Haiti), 19th century French immigrants and some from French speaking Belgium and French-Swiss as well as some ancestry from colonial descended Louisianians of German and Spanish descent. And thus, by the mid 1800’s in Louisiana the Acadians (Cajun) ceased to exist as a distinct ethnic group. I base this from historical evidence and family tree data from tens of dozens of “Cajuns” today. There are more non-Acadian surnames among today’s “Cajuns” than there are Acadian surnames and this bleeds into the 20th century time frames you’ve outlined.

[@jonathansgarden9128]

My pawpaw spoke French only until age 12. The schools then began beating him until he spoke only English. He never taught my mom how to speak French. My mom learned some in high school but not much. I am trying to learn Cajun French so i can bring it back into my family

[@lindanorris2455]

LIKE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, THE SCHOOLS BEATOUT THE FRENCH OUT OF THEM.

[@IslenoGutierrez]

It’s best to refer to it as Louisiana French instead of Cajun French. It’s official name is Louisiana French. It’s not solely made up of French from Acadie, it’s a mixture of 4 French dialects (France, Québec, Acadie, St. Domingue). Plus it’s peppered with borrowed words from Spanish, English and Native American languages.

[@syckindahead]

Great video that covers the complicated nature of the issue. Very informative as usual, thanks THNOC.

[@lilstepnoel]

I was told by my Canadian cousin in Nova Scotia, who was a genealogist of the family, his name being Lloyd Boucher that the word "Cajun" is a slang word for "Acadian", just as "Injun" is a slang word for "Indian". My grandparents were from Nova Scotia, Canada, they did not teach their children French when they moved to the U.S in the 1920's to Massachusetts. She was French and Mi'kmaq Indian, he was French. All the children all 12 of them were either born in Nova Scotia or Massachusetts and low and behold I ended up being born in Kansas. 😂When I did the 23 and Me DNA test I could not believe how many cousins I have on my relative list of names from Louisiana. I was always told Creole are the people who are mixed with French/Black or Spanish.

[@skeewaux4987]

My great grandmother banned the French language in her home, even scolded the men for speaking French in front of the children…. Sometimes with a ruler. She grew tired of being discriminated against, for Cajun French was looked down upon as being stupid, illiterate, and poor….. I’m now trying to learn the Cajun vocabulary in hopes to carry on our heritage, legacy, and traditions.

[@mistysavario352]

Yes!!! My mom told me the same thing- she was born in 1936 in Evangeline and didn’t know English until she started school..I am also trying to educate myself!

[@vanessahenry7238]

I heard this from another close friend of mine - saying that also they didn't teach their kids the language - and that tehy used it when they didn't want the kids to know what they were saying. Wither that be true or not - the fact that it is an important language and is dying is sad!

[@skeewaux4987]

@@vanessahenry7238 absolutely right!!!!

[@frugaltechtips5069]

I really enjoyed this. Thank you.

[@dameianboudreaux9591]

Though i agree and understand, maybe in some parts the segregation of creole and cajun exists. But not in all parts. Participations in all parts of the culture in general by intermingling of different races is still a thing. Traditional mardi gras is very much one of those instances. Boucheries, the few that exists with ones neighbors, is another instance. Festivals are also another. There exists a blurred line of racial ethnic identity between "white" cajuns and "black" creoles to where i have never experienced a moment where one group said "this is what we do/this is us and thats what yall do/that is yall." This "divide" is definitely exaggerated on any real level of my own experience. Its not prominent. St Landy Parish and Evangeline Parish

[@jwbland8375]

As a Cajun I can explain the difference between creole and Cajun. Creoles use tomatoes in their gumbo. Cajuns make their gumbo the correct way 🤷🏻‍♂️🤣

[@IslenoGutierrez]

Cajuns are creoles. Cajun is a term that Acadian creoles adopted in the 1960’s as an identity. Before that, the term Cajun was an insult to Acadian creoles and before the 1960’s, Louisianians of Acadian ancestry identified as Creole and to be even more specific as to what kind of creole, an Acadian creole. The Cajun identity is a recent phenomenon. As for using tomatoes or not, it’s a regional thing, that’s a New Orleans vs Acadiana thing and doesn’t have anything to do with ancestry. People these days are so confused about their own identities and culture it’s a big mess.

[@Imeraldgyrl]

You wrong . . . but my relatives that have crossed over would be agrement. Hahahahaha! However I did have one uncle who use tomatoes in hius gumbo. My mother (his sister) wasn't happy . . . Hahahahahaha

[@user-uv9fz5rw4z]

The original mascot for ULL (USL) was the bull dog. The switch to the Ragin Cajuns might have something to do with the Cajun culture revival?

[@IslenoGutierrez]

The term Cajun is a term that means a Louisiana person of Acadian descent (Acadie in French Canada, now Nova Scotia). Louisiana Creoles are anyone of any race that are born in Louisiana and native to the traditional culture of Louisiana that has its roots in colonial Louisiana (French and Spanish periods). With that said, the famous “Cajun” Chef Paul Prudhomme was a French Creole (a white creole of French descent). The surname Prudhomme was in Louisiana before the Acadians (ancestors of the Cajuns) arrived to Louisiana. The Cajunization of Louisiana’s traditional identity, culture and cuisine which is called Creole, has caused these ignorances. Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles of Acadian descent (well at least the real ones are, there are many folks that are French Creoles (whites of French descent) and other people of several other ancestries identifying as Cajuns that include Spanish, German, English, Italian and Irish ancestries). We need to end the Cajunization of all things Louisiana and bring Louisiana back to its traditional local identity, culture and cuisine called Creole. This will bring all Louisiana Creoles together, regardless of race under one shared identity, culture and cuisine. We can start by stopping the Cajun vs. Creole in everything pertaining to Louisiana such as identity, culture and cuisine. It’s all just Creole, because Cajuns are Creoles just like other Creoles in Louisiana.

[@IslenoGutierrez]

@@Sunny-kt1niIn Louisiana French, it’s written as Cadien or the corrupted Cadjin and is pronounced like cah-jain with the aspirated nasal n at the end of the word (your word Cayen is red pepper in Louisiana lol…Cayenne pepper). There were real Acadians in Louisiana during the colonial period and into the 1800’s, but they intermarried with the Louisiana French Creoles who themselves were a white race group of a mixture of ancestry from France and Québec. The reason today the Cajun group is called Cajun (a corruption of Acadian) is because the original Acadians that settled Louisiana were working class farmers and their name Cajun became associated with working class people and then the name cadien/cadjin (and later Cajun in English) became used as a term for working class people of any background and this term was then applied to the group because of that. Modern “Cajuns” don’t realize this and they think they are called Cajun because they are of complete Acadian ancestry. But that’s not the truth. They are a mixture of French type ancestries (Acadie, France, Québec). But by now the term Cajun has stuck by now. So now you know the truth.

[@JazzyAmbitions]

American Culture is the Culture that was here before the Colonizers! The Americas North and South was practicing culture allll along. I honestly don't know what they call the current observation.

[@lindanorris2455]

HA!! MORE FRENCH IS SPOKEN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE ,THAN IN CAJN COUNTRY!

[@kevinrees5855]

That is perhaps true today but that wasn't so 100 years ago.

[@luketauzin8321]

Ur point

[@timmorvant1998]

I was born in South Louisiana and lived in New Hampshire and never heard French spoken there

[@celinepage3560]

30% de l'anglais vient du français. Les anglophones interdisent une langue dont est issue la leur

[@jwbland8375]

Creoles use tomatoes in their gumbo. Cajuns make gumbo the correct way. 🤷🏻‍♂️🤣

[@IslenoGutierrez]

Gumbo is an old dish and originates from New Orleans and the first gumbos in New Orleans had tomatoes in them just like today. So it’s wrong to say making gumbo without tomatoes is the correct way. People in Acadiana don’t make gumbo with tomatoes because that’s the style of gumbo in that came to be in Acadiana. And by the way, Cajuns are creoles too. Cajun is a recent identity from the 1960’s onward. Before that, Cajuns were called creoles. Louisiana Creoles are any race or ethnicity in Louisiana that were born in Louisiana into the local Louisiana culture that has roots in the French-Spanish colonial periods of Louisiana. Cajuns fit that bill.

[@eazymoney2789]

@@IslenoGutierrez n Tito I remember u. U dat white Creole of Spanish descent huh. Boy u still at it 😂

[@IslenoGutierrez]

@@eazymoney2789 Absolutely. I got to spread knowledge of our south Louisiana culture and history. There is too much ignorance out there surrounding south Louisiana culture, cuisine, people and history. It’s so bad, we’d need an official council to straighten it out.

[@IslenoGutierrez]

As of recently according to evidence (the past year or so), I’ve began to realize that Cajun is not a valid identity in Louisiana. And the reason I say that is because after reviewing tens of dozens of “Cajun” family trees from across south Louisiana, I saw the same pattern over and over. I saw Acadian surnames mixed with French surnames from France and from Québec. In every single one of them. I know from studying the Louisiana French Creoles (white Louisianians of French descent) that the ancestors of the French Creole group came to Louisiana from France and Québec. As we heard from Mr. Christophe Landry in this video, that the Acadians were already mixing with the locals by the second generation after their arrival from l’Acadie, we can see clearly that the Acadians mixed with the French Creoles and created a new French speaking group made up of Acadian, French and Québécois ancestries that combined features from each represented in culture, cuisine, language and so forth. This mixed Acadian-French Creole group had also absorbed minor amounts of ancestry from 19th century white French Caribbeans mainly those from St. Domingue (French colonial Haiti), 19th century French immigrants as well as a minority of Belgian and French-Swiss immigrants as well as German and Spanish ancestries from Louisiana colonial descendants in Louisiana of those backgrounds. There are even the surnames to prove it. With this knowledge we can see that the group today who identifies as Cajun is not Acadian but rather a mixed origin group of Creole white Louisianians. And thus, my stance that Cajun is not a valid ethnic identity today in Louisiana has been afforded validity based on evidence. I’m open for debate.

[@fomalhauto]

My African American father was a 7th generation Southern Louisianan. All four of his grandparents were born and raised in the Acadiana parishes in Southern Louisiana. There is some Acadian ancestry. My paternal grandmother's maternal grandfather was the son of an African American slave woman and a man who was the son of an English American plantation owner and a 3/4 Acadian woman. The vast majority of my paternal European American DNA relative matches are through the Acadian ancestry. They're mainly on my European segments on paternal Chromosomes 5, 15, and 20. Some of my paternal grandmother's maternal grandfather's descendants did identify as Cajun even though they were African Americans.

[@IslenoGutierrez]

@@fomalhauto Real Cajuns (Acadians) were the Acadian migrants to Louisiana. When the Acadians arrived in Louisiana, they intermarried with various peoples in Louisiana and their descendants became mixed with various backgrounds. It’s likely your “Acadian” ancestor was a mixture of ancestries from Acadia, France and Quebec.

[@Revy2Handzzz]

⁠@@IslenoGutierrezain’t nobody gives a damn about your skin color nonsense you’ve plastered over this entire video “Gutierrez”. Not a single Cajun will lose a wink of sleep over your opinions of our ethnic/racial validity.

[@johnjohn8042]

Ces bon che ces bon