Author: Marietta M. LeBreton
Source: Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, 1980.
More than 200 years after the British expelled the French Catholic Acadians from their farms in what are now the maritime provinces of Canada, Acadians still live in tightly knit communities in Louisiana and northern Maine. There are about 800,000 Acadians, popularly called Cajuns, in south central and south Louisiana, and another 20,000 living on the south side of Maine's St. John's River Valley, territory annexed by the United States following the 1842 Webster-Ashburton Treaty. In both areas the Acadians have clung tenaciously to their religion, language, and customs. Their original exile and suffering were immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the well-known poem Evangeline (1847).
Acadia and Diaspora
When France attempted to establish a North American colony in the early 17th century, families from northwest and central France, especially Normandy and Brittany, were recruited to settle the land called Acadie or Acadia, a region that then included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and part of the state of Maine but that was generally restricted after 1713 to the present peninsula of Nova Scotia. They lived there as industrious colonials, producing most of their own necessities, farming, fishing, lumbering, and raising stock. Large families were common, and in isolation they held on to the traditions, speech, and customs of the French provinces from which they had come. Over time, just as English settlers and pioneers came to think of themselves as Americans, the Acadians began to consider themselves as a people distinct and apart from their fellow Frenchmen. They were not only a long way from Quebec but had come under English rule in 1713 as a result of the Treaty of Utrecht that ended one of several French-English wars. At the time they were directed to withdraw into French territory or to swear unconditional loyalty to the English monarch, but apparently they did neither and continued to prosper as before. The issue was raised again in 1730 when the Acadians finally agreed to an oath which they understood would exempt them from bearing arms against their own countrymen and their Indian allies. They were known as the "French Neutrals" and enjoyed another period of steady development until 1755 when the English authorities, for reasons still obscure, forced 6,000 to 8,000 Acadians at bayonet point to abandon their homes and flee for their lives. This mass displacement became known as Le Grand Dérangement. The exiles underwent great hardships as they were scattered by sea to other parts of British America, where they lived in extreme poverty and were persecuted because of their Roman Catholicism. It was only after the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763, ending the last Anglo-French war in North America, that the refugees and exiles began to return to Canada or to relocate in France, Louisiana, and other French dominions. (See also French Canadians.)
The Acadians in Louisiana
As early as 1756 some Acadians probably reached the French colony of Louisiana from Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia. Louisiana was widely viewed as a hospitable place to begin life anew, and despite the fact that by secret treaty in 1762 (not made public for two years) it had become a Spanish possession, Acadians continued to migrate to the area. Many followed the rivers and streams that flow westward into the Mississippi and then traveled south to New Orleans.
Among the first Acadians to be noted in official government records were 193 refugees who had taken temporary refuge in Santo Domingo; they arrived in Louisiana in February 1765. Hundreds more came in 1765 and 1766 from the West Indies and the British colonies; they settled chiefly on the wide, fertile, and undeveloped plains of southwest and south central Louisiana. The Spanish officials who had arrived in New Orleans in 1766 were eager to aid the French exiles; they donated small parcels ot land and provided food, seed, tools, and other necessities to the industrious Acadians, who chose to settle in the Attakapas and Opelousas regions. Areas settled later included Bayous Teche and Lafourche, the land bordering the Mississippi River south of New Orleans, and what eventually came to be known as the Acadian districts - St. James and Ascension.
The early Acadian migrants were joined, in the next twenty years, by others who had tried unsuccessfully to settle in France or the West Indies. Three thousand Acadian exiles left France between 1777 and 1788. They fanned out over southern Louisiana and established the villages of St. Martinville, Delcambre, Lafayette, Broussard, St. Landry, and Abbeville, the heart of Acadian Louisiana. Others continued to settle along the Mississippi River so that by 1788 St. James numbered 1,559 persons and Ascension 1,164. In the late 1780s Acadians moved into the lower Bayou Lafourche area; other groups migrated westward and settled around Lake Charles near the Texas border.
The Acadian settlers of the Louisiana frontier set to work raising livestock; they also planted sweet potatoes and sugar cane. The more prosperous bought slaves and expanded their land holdings. The inventory of Pierre Arceneaux's estate in St. Martinville taken in 1793 indicates the wealth accumulated by the more successful. At the time of his death, his estate was valued at $5,530, a sizable amount in the currency of that time. He owned several large buildings, 400 head of cattle, 15 horses, and numerous slaves.
Although Napoleon repossessed Louisiana in 1800 and then negotiated its sale to the United States in the famous Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the growth of the Acadian settlements was undisturbed. By 1810 St. James parish reported a population of 3,995 and Ascension more than 2,219. A second generation made its appearance, and the makeshift cabins of the exiles were gradually replaced with more substantial homes. More than 2,500 slaves worked for the wealthy families in St. James and Ascension parishes; the 36-mile strip of the Mississippi that flowed through the two parishes became known as the "Golden Coast" of Louisiana. The majority of Acadians, however, continued to live as they had in Acadia; they were petits habitants (small land proprietors). On their modest plots, in some cases protected by levees from overflowing streams, they grew or raised their basic necessities. Some also gathered moss, fished, or trapped.
Those who had settled in the Opelousas and Attakapas regions concentrated on raising and selling cattle. From their neighbors the Spanish they learned to care for livestock. Soon they established vacheries, or ranches, on the prairies and began to supply cattle to the markets of New Orleans. The cattle industry served as the central support of the Acadian economy in southwest Louisiana until the early 20th century. Subsequently many ranches were converted into farms for growing rice, cotton, sugar cane, and com.
Social and Family Life
By and large the Acadian communities existed in isolation; often living in rural and inaccessible areas, the inhabitants were self-sufficient and kept very much to themselves. They became known colloquially as "Cajuns" (a corruption of the word Acadians), and many outsiders noted their extreme insularity, buttressed by the use of Acadian French, their maintenance of Acadian folk customs, and their tendency to marry only other Acadians. Their Roman Catholic religion separated them from others, yet strongly bound them together as a group. They considered education a function of the church and viewed formal schooling as unnecessary; most Acadian parents taught their children the skills of fanning and domestic arts at home. Even the establishment of a public school system in 1845 did not alter the Acadian view of education. They continued to rely on a practical, secular education bolstered by religious training, and thus many Cajuns never learned to read or write. In everyday life they used one of a number of different variants of Cajun French, variants fostered by the isolation of the individual settlements.
Cajun women occasionally married outsiders—Germans, Spanish, English, and others. By the early 20th century there were Cajun families by the name of Schneider, Lopez, Kibbe, Higginbotham, Hoffpauir, Smith, and Hernandez. In almost all such instances, however, the outsiders were completely absorbed into the Cajun culture and community; they learned to speak French and adopted the local customs. Family ties were very strong, and Cajun women generally raised their children in the Cajun way of life.
Up until the early 20th century these children were usually part of large households. They lived with their aunts, uncles, and grandparents as well as with their parents. Extended-family households were economic units. The whole family would work on the farm and fish in the bayous, and every adult would participate in making decisions that affected the welfare of the group as a whole. Acadian families expected and welcomed numerous offspring and it was not uncommon for women to have 10 or 12 children. Between 1815 and 1880 the Acadian population rose from 35,000 to 270,000.
Non-Cajun neighbors tended to regard the Cajuns as fun-loving backwoods provincials. The numerous Cajun celebrations—the Mardi Gras, the fais-dodo or public country dance, the boucherie de campagne or hog-killing gathering—were all important features of early Cajun life. The Cajuns' resistance to change, their reluctance to use English, and their determination to preserve French customs were viewed by others, especially their Anglo-Saxon Protestant neighbors and the Creoles, as the marks of a separate and backward social existence. (See Creoles.)
Nonetheless, the Cajuns were unable to hold out against change forever. Advances in transportation, communications, and education began to penetrate Acadian Louisiana after World War I. Mechanization modified the three traditional occupations: farming, fishing, and herding. By the early 20th century the ranching economy was largely supplanted by intensive production of sugar, cotton, rice, and corn. New roads and bridges, many of which were constructed under the administration of Governor Huey P. Long, linked isolated settlements to each other and to the larger towns and cities of Louisiana. Radio, motion pictures, and television were gradually introduced to Cajun country, altering values and culture, especially of the young. Public education was promoted more actively once the Cajuns realized it was needed in order to improve their standard of living. Compulsory school attendance through age 15 was introduced in Louisiana in 1916 but not effectively enforced until 1944. In 1940 the rural-farm population of Louisiana (which included nearly all the Acadians) aged 25 and older had received an average of 6.3 years of schooling. Presently, Acadian children are literate but their parents and more of ten their grandparents are not. Many still attend parochial schools. Beginning in the 1950s the discovery of large oil and gas deposits Brought hundreds of outsiders to Cajun communities. Further alterations of traditional Cajun culture resulted from the new economic activity.
The use of Cajun French gradually declined until it was finally prohibited in the public schools by the 1921 state constitution. Cajun children were even forbidden to speak French on school grounds outside of the classroom. As a result, many younger Cajuns today cannot speak or understand French. Recently the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana succeeded in reintroducing French into many public and parochial elementary schools as a second language, but many feel this will further threaten Cajun French because it is standard French that is taught in the schools. Louisiana law now requires school boards to establish programs of French instruction in all grades upon petition of 25 percent of the parents concerned. Approximately 38,000 children participate in the elementary French-language instruction programs.
Group Maintenance
The modernization of Louisiana has brought major social and cultural changes to Cajun communities. The average family itself is smaller as an increasing number of couples decide to limit the size of their families. There is more marriage outside of the community and less dominance of the Cajun in such unions. The extended-family household and economic unit has undoubtedly changed, but Cajuns retain strong emotional and physical ties to their families. The Roman Catholic Church still occupies an extremely important place in Cajun life. To counter this, some of the Protestant churches have begun to offer services in French. Like other Americans, Cajuns have experienced occupational and geographical mobility. Since World War II, fewer live in rural areas. Many Cajuns are employed in the oil and gas industries of Louisiana and Texas. Cajun celebrations, such as the Crawfish, Rice, and Yam festivals, are no longer simply local community activities; they attract many outsiders and wide publicity to Acadiana. Cajun culture and Cajun communities thrived in rural isolation; in the 20th century they have become partially Americanized. It is not clear what the future holds.
In both Louisiana and northern Maine, the ethnic revival of the 1970s has brought increased self-awareness to Acadian communities. The Madawaska Historical Society, established in 1968, promotes local historical projects and celebrates key events in the history of the Maine Acadians. The French language, although not generally used by the younger generation, is receiving greater emphasis in some New England schools. The New England-Atlantic Provinces-Quebec Center of the University of Maine has developed Franco-American programs, which include the study of Acadians, and sponsors conferences on the French and Acadians living in Canada and New England. In 1960 Acadian and other French-speaking proponents of bilingualism succeeded in repealing the Maine law that had made English the sole language of instruction in the state's schools. In 1970 two St. John's River Valley school systems—Van Buren, Madawaska and St. Agatha, Frenchville— received a developmental grant under Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1967 to promote bilingual programs in public schools. Valley high schools have since begun to offer courses in Acadian and French history.
In Louisiana several organizations dedicated to the preservation of Acadian history and traditions have been founded. The University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette (Université des Acadiens) has established a Center for Acadian Folklore and Culture and maintains a general policy of encouraging Acadian studies. The Council for the Development of French in Louisiana enthusiastically supports and promotes the renewed study of French culture, history, and language in Louisiana elementary and high schools. The state of Louisiana has designated 22 parishes as "Acadiana." There is renewed interest in Cajun music, humor, and celebrations. Today, an increasing number of Acadians from Maine and Louisiana are taking pride in their heritage and resolving to sustain the unique Acadian culture.
An excellent account of the society and environment of Acadia is Andrew Hill Clark, Acadia: The Geography of Early Nova Scotia to 1760 (Madison, Wis., 1968). General treatments of the Acadian diaspora and resettlement are found in Bona Arsenault, History of the Acadians (Quebec, 1966), and Dudley J. LeBlanc, The Acadian Miracle (Lafayette, La., 1966).
The most informative works on the Acadians of Louisiana are Sidney A. Marchand, Acadian Exiles in the Golden Coast of Louisiana (Donaldsonville, La., 1943); T. Lynn Smith and Homer L. Hitt, The People of Louisiana (Baton Rouge, La., 1952); Lauren C. Post, Cajun Sketches: From the Prairies of Southwest Louisiana (Baton Rouge, La., 1962); Steven L. Del Sesto and Jon L. Gibson, eds., The Culture of Acadiana: Tradition and Change in South Louisiana (Lafayette, La., 1975); Glenn R. Conrad, ed., The Cajuns: Essays on Their History and Culture (Lafayette, La., 1978). The most useful work on New England Acadians is Edward Schriver, ed., The French in New England, Acadia, and Quebec (Orono, Me., 1972).
Descriptive studies of the Acadian French language are Joseph LeSage Tisch, French in Louisiana: A Study of the Historical Development of the French Language in Louisiana (New Orleans, 1959), and Marilyn C. Conwell and Alphonse Juilland, Louisiana French Grammar (The Hague, 1963).