Events that shaped French Louisiana

Jim Bradshaw
jhbradshaw@bellsouth.net

Everyone recognizes there are aspects of our culture and life that set us apart, perhaps less so today than once upon a time. But there are also a handful of shared events in our history that have mightily influenced who we are and how we became the place we are today. They begin with our earliest exploration.

•1682: Robert Cavelier de la Salle first claimed Louisiana for France so south Louisiana was settled by Frenchmen instead of by Spaniards or Englishmen who settled other parts of North America. These first French settlers established a Gallic flavor in south Louisiana that we continue to see today.

•1716: Black people came with the first permanent settlers in Louisiana, but it was not until 1716 that the French officially allowed importation of slaves from Africa. The institution of slavery had a wide influence on customs and social values in Louisiana and, importantly, the African people who came here, albeit against their will, added rich variety to the tapestry of our culture.

•1755: Nobody suspected in 1755 that so many Acadians would end up in Louisiana. But their expulsion had a huge influence on practically every aspect of our lives. Acadians introduced or adopted new ways of speaking, cooking, singing, dancing, and building and maintained through isolation and stubbornness a view of life and a contentment that you will find no place else.

•1762: After France gave Louisiana to Spain, settlers from Malaga and the Canary Islands added another Latin element to our culture, cookery, and lifestyle. The Spanish government accepted thousands of Acadian refugees who came to Louisiana, ensuring that despite the change in government south Louisiana would keep a French accent.

•1763: The Treaty of Paris of 1763 ended the war that caused the Acadian exile. Acadians who had been held in England were sent to France, and many of them eventually came to Louisiana. It also allowed Acadians in British colonies in America to move elsewhere. The treaty gave to England practically all former French possessions east of the Mississippi River and Frenchmen from Illinois, Mobile, and other places came to south Louisiana rather than live under British rule.
•1803: After the Louisiana Purchase, larger numbers of English-speaking settlers began to move into Louisiana. Their growing numbers, English tongue, and American ways brought many changes, including such things as banning French from classrooms and isolation of non-American cultures.

•1819: The steamboat revolutionized commerce in south Louisiana. The first boats on the Teche, Vermilion, Mermentau, Courtableau, and other streams opened new opportunities for farmers to sell crops and for merchants and mechanics to import goods and machinery that made for a better life. At the same time, steam engines that powered sugar mills revolutionized that industry.

•1861: More than 10,000 men from Louisiana lost their lives in the Civil War. Fully half of the former wealth of the state – railroads, farms and plantations, livestock, mills, stores, crops – was stolen or ruined, leaving the state in economic, political and social disarray.

•1880: Railroads opened the prairies of southwest Louisiana to settlement, brought new people to south Louisiana, again revolutionized transportation, and brought the demise of the steamboat industry.

•1901: Since the opening of the Evangeline field in 1901, no life in Louisiana has been untouched by the oil industry. Oil created jobs and fueled the economy. Oil taxes built schools and paved roads. The industry brought people from around the world to south Louisiana, and sent people from south Louisiana to places we’d never heard of before.

•1941: World War II changed soldiers who fought overseas and the people who stayed at home to support them. Young men who had never been more than 20 miles from home experienced the larger world. The GI Bill gave them a chance for education that they would never have otherwise received.

•1965: Nothing since Reconstruction brought more tension to south Louisiana than court-ordered desegregation of public schools. Not only did court decisions change the face of education, but they required a society to face up to the fact that old attitudes and ways could not continue.

•1980: We thought oil made Acadiana recession-proof, but found out in the 1980s that it wasn’t so. With no work here, there was a mass exodus from the area. But the downturn also caused us to look beyond the oil industry to the many other things that Acadiana has to offer. The result was a more diversified, more vibrant economy.

•1990: A large part of the recovery came from what is now called the cultural economy – foremost, a focus on our food and music that has instilled new pride in who we are and brought thousands of people to visit us, to fall in love with us, and to move here for good.

You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jhbradshaw@bellsouth.net or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.