a ACADIAN REBIRTH article

Cultures of Acadiana
a look at the French, Cajun, Creole, and Native American cultures of south Louisiana
(a project of Carencro High School - 721 West Butcher Switch Road, Lafayette, LA 70507)

1873 report added to Acadians' negative depiction

by Jim Bradshaw

Albert Rhodes, another Anglo-American journalist, added to the negative stereotype of the Acadians with his report on "The Louisiana Creoles," in The Galaxy magazine in July 1873. As Timothy Reilly reported in one of a series of articles in Attakapas Gazette, Rhodes' report left the impression that "the only positive trait was the Acadian's alleged ability to relax and genuinely enjoy life."

The Acadians - abbreviated to 'Cajens' (sic) by our laconic race - form a small portion of the Creole population. They first settled in Nova Scotia, and thence proceeded to Louisiana, where they have clung to their little possessions with tenacity ever since. They turn up the soil and cultivate the cane like the first settlers, and are meagerly successful. They detest innovation, and the steam plough and the new fangled sugar house are not in favor. To adopt them involves outlay, risk, much thinking and fretting. It is simpler to give them a wide berth, and digest well by day and sleep well at nights. This is Acadian philosophy.

The American employs the word Acadian Acadian in an uncomplimentary sense. A Utopian dreamer and idler is implied - one who sits on the skirts of progress. The reproaching American delves and digs in the shadow of life while his cheerful neighbor pleasantly basks in the sunshine. To one, the world is a workshop; to the other, a great fair. The Acadians are the lest intelligent of the Creole population, and occupy small patches of land along bayous and the coast, which are just sufficient in extent to satisfy the wants of their simple lives. Their dwellings usually contain two chambers, are of one-story, and barely peep above the bayou ridge and the level coast.

A curtain frequently hangs across the doorway to keep out the mosquitoes. This is an object of luxury, for, however much these insects annoy strangers, they trouble the indigenes very little. The latter aver that the richer blood of the new - comer offers a daintier feast and invites attack, and that there is not remedy save in continuous residence. Be that as it may, the sojourner soon discovers that these pests poison the pleasure of daily life during... eight or nine months of the year. Indeed, some may be seen throughout the twelve.

Generally the little house of the Acadians is surrounded by a small orange grove, which is the principal support of the family. Before the oranges are ripe, cunning fruit - vendors from the city but them on the tree for future delivery. The part behind the house is usually devoted to the cultivation of cane, which some are more affluent neighbor grinds for the owner on shares. To make one hogshead of sugar is usually the height Acadian ambition; to make tow is to bathe in Pactolian waters.