Cajun "tribe"

[Boudin]

Great explanation, but can you define "colonial Louisiana"? If one's ancestors immigrated to Louisiana after what year are they not considered Creole?

[Isleño]

Great explanation, but can you define "colonial Louisiana"? If one's ancestors immigrated to Louisiana after what year are they not considered Creole?

1803 is the cutoff. The U.S. purchased Louisiana in 1803. The common Creole groups in Louisiana are the French Creoles, Spanish Creoles (to which I belong, I’m a Louisiana isleño), German Creoles, Acadian Creoles (Cajuns), Creoles of Color (Euro/Afro mixed race), métis Creoles (Euro/Amerind mixed race), African Creoles (black race) and Filipino-Creoles. All of these groups were present in colonial Louisiana and the cultural influences of all of these people can be seen as the co-creators of the culture and food of south Louisiana.

In colonial Louisiana, Creole just meant a local person born in Louisiana of any race, basically everyone from colonial Louisiana. But after US statehood, the incoming American settlers didn’t use the term Creole and didn’t abide by it. So the term became associated with descendants of the colonial Louisiana population.

So we are all Louisiana Creoles here in south Louisiana. We need to get back to that, but no offense, the Cajunization of all things Louisiana by the tourism industry and by Cajuns is making that hard to do.