Louisiana Creole Heritage

An American Story

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Autumn RaynorLone Star College CyFair

An Academy of Lifelong Learning Presentation

An Education

GeographyHistoryPoliticsCommunicationSociology

First Impressions

Roll Call: Creole Connections

Why this story now?

Neighbors and Friends

CommerCial Culture

Once upon a time in America . . .

Land Grab 101

Location, location, location! This city sits on the banks of the Mississippi River, south of

Lake Pontchartrain, approximately 105 miles (169 km) upriver from the Gulf of Mexico. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 350.2 square miles (907 km2), of which 180.56 square miles (467.6 km2), or 51.55%, is land.

The climate is humid subtropical- prime for cultivating crops and its port location prime for importing and exporting.

Dark OriginsContemporary historians estimate that between 9.4 and 12

million Africans were brought to ‘The New World’ during the Atlantic Slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries.

Two-thirds of the more than one million slaves brought to the South arrived via the forced migration of the internal slave trade. As a principal port, New Orleans maintained the largest slave market in America.

New OrleansHistorical Timeline

Founded May 7, 1718, by the French on Chitimacha land.

Ceded to the Spanish Empire in the Treaty of Paris in1763.

Remained under Spanish control until 1801, when it reverted to French control.

Napoleon sold the territory to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

The Haitian Revolution of 1804 increases the population by 9,000.

American Civil War begins in 1861.

Who lives here?

And what are they doing?

News Orleans Society, 1800-1900

French, Spanish, and English-European Colonists are developing a multiethnic, multicultural society. French is the dominant language, architecture is primarily Spanish, English settlers map out industrial considerations.

The great majority of residents, regardless of ethnicity and nationality are Roman Catholic.

News Orleans Society, 1800-1900 In this period, French,

Spanish, and European Colonists held government positions owned businesses and worked on farms and in the port.

Slaves were property, devoid of basic human rights.

A third tier emerges:

Free People of Color

Free People of Color, Contemporary Creoles

A definition of Créole from the earliest history in New Orleans (circa 1718) is ‘a child born in the colony as opposed to France or Spain’. No ethnic delineation was provided.

By the1800s, New Orleans residents of African descent were not all enslaved, but many had been liberated, born free in New Orleans, or migrated there as free men and women.

Enslaved people of color who were native-born also began to be referred to as Creole, to distinguish them from new arrivals from Africa.

Around 1810, the term Creole referred to a free persona of color.

Creole Identity-Ethnicity and Nationality

Arriving in New Orleans from a host of countries, republics and socioeconomic backgrounds, Free New Orleanais of Color developed a new home, and a new social race. Some had Latin and/or French roots, the bonds which united them included African ancestry, and shared histories.

Some Creoles identify with all of the components of their heritages, some identify as White, and some Identify as Black, or by nationality.

What does a Creole PersonLook Like?

Like this . . .

This . . .

. . . This . . .

And this. That’s water of course

Creole Identity- Language & ReligionFrench, Spanish, and English were spoken through New

Orleans and the Creole Diaspora.The term Creole is also used to describe a hybrid dialect of

languages in linguistic studies. In this case, Creole language refers to the mélange of borrowed words and pronunciations from several influences.

Roman Catholicism was the common religion of the area, as Spain and France were both devout nations at time of colonization.

Venerable Henriette DeLille

Henriette DeLille (1813–1862) founded the Catholic order of the Sisters of the Holy Family made up of free women of color, in New Orleans. In 1989 the order formally opened its cause with the Vatican in the canonization of HenrietteDeLille. She was declared venerable in 2010.

Creole Identity- Social JusticeCreole people were not regulated by the same laws other

persons of African descent were.

This included, curfews, property ownership, court remediation, marriage and birth rights, and social issues.

So now that you’re Creole, what do you do all day?

You should go to church

You should eat something wonderful

You should listen and dance to jazz, zydeco, and swing music

You should pay attention to your family

You should know not all things are black and white

Creole Heritage in the Millennial Context

Fast Forward >>>>>>

Reaffirmation of Creole RootsThe civil rights movement required all hands on deck for the

advancement of African American equality. African American co-cultures merged for solidarity.

Census results, current events, and global perspectives highlight the emergence of multiracial American identities.

New Orleans has been in the national spotlight since 2005.

The Creole Heritage Flag

The upper left section, a white fleur de lis on a blue field, represents Louisiana's French heritage. On the lower left and upper right sections, West African heritage is represented by the Mali Republic National tri-color flag (green, yellow and red) and the Senegal Republic National flag (green, yellow and red). Spanish Colonial heritage is depicted by the Tower of Castille (gold tower on a red field) on the lower right section. A white cross dividing the four symbols represents the Christian faith accepted by the Muslim and Islamic from Senegal and Mali in Louisiana.

Creoles You Should Know P.B.S. Pinchback, first non-white governor of an American

State. Bryant and Greg Gumble, broadcast news personalities Suzanne Malveaux, journalist Dorothy Dandridge, actress Beyonce Knowles, pop singer Marc Morial, former mayor of New Orleans Jelly Roll Morton, blues singer

Creoles I Know

Thank you so much!

Visit The Creole Heritage Society, or take the African American Heritage Tour in New Orleans for more information on all things Creole.

http://creole.nsula.edu/