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| Cypress logging raft on the Teche, ca. 1910 (postcard). |
Bayou Teche Dispatches is a collection of my writings about south Louisiana history and culture. Often it consists of material I could not use in my books for one reason or another, but which I nonetheless found fascinating.
Some entries are more scholarly than others, but all should be regarded purely as essays, not as formal academic works (though often I cite my sources and on occasion I solicit informal peer review).
In most instances I wrote merely to organize my own thoughts. In any event, I hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as I enjoyed researching and writing them.
If you publish information from these articles, please remember to cite this blog as your source and, if applicable, to supply a return link. Please do not repost articles in their entireties, but short block quotations that fall within range of "fair use" are acceptable.
~ Shane K. Bernard
Table of ContentsOpening the door to punishing schoolchildren for speaking French
Graphing language use in Louisiana
The challenge of storytelling by numbers
When did racialization first occur in Louisiana?
Cajun country vestiges of ancient Greek and Roman culture
Fact or a misreading of source material?
❧ State of the Genre: Swamp Pop Music in the 21st Century
How is this south Louisiana/southeast Texas sound faring 50+ years after its heyday?
❧ Born of "Elite" White Reactionism?: Assessing Claims about the Rise of Cajun Ethnicity
Disputing statements that Cajuns appeared only about 50 years ago❧ Of Cajuns and Creoles: A Brief Historical Analysis
A look at the relationship between these ethnic groups
A look at the relationship between these ethnic groups
❧ Notes on the Birth of Cajun Ethnic Identity
An effort to clarify this important topic
An effort to clarify this important topic
❧ Thoughts on Cajuns and "Whiteness"
Were Cajuns always, or did they become, "white"?
❧ "Prairie de Jacko": Source of the Name?
Notes on an 18th-century place name along the Teche
Notes on an 18th-century place name along the Teche
❧ Notes on the Founding of Opelousas
Did it happen in 1720 or not?
❧ When Jimi Hendrix Appeared on My Father's Live TV Show
in Lafayette, Louisiana, January 1965
The rock-guitar pioneer visited Lafayette
❧ Electronic Cajuns and Creoles: Early Television
as an Americanizing Agent
TV's impact on these two ethnic groups
❧ A Tool for Fighting Fake News & Conspiracy Theories: Teach Critical Thinking in American Classrooms
"Not what to think, but how to think"
❧ Portrait of a Cajun Woman: Andonia Thibodeaux
of Bayou Tigre
An old tin-type photograph leads to a literary find
❧ Another Civil War Gunboat on the Teche: The U.S.S. Glide, aka Federal Gunboat No. 43
❧ Now Available: My New Book about Bayou Teche
A narrative history of Bayou Teche and journal of canoeing the present-day bayou
❧ A Railroad History of Avery Island
An article I wrote for someone else's blog in 2010
❧ Sur le Teche: Exploring the Bayou by Canoe, Stage 1
Port Barre to Arnaudville
❧ Rough Rider Redux: A Photo of Theodore Roosevelt in Downtown New Iberia?
A forgotten photo of Theodore Roosevelt in Cajun Country
❧ A Fiction Interlude: My Short Story "The Phrenologist"
A short story about racism set in antebellum New Orleans
❧ A Floating Dancehall on the Teche: The Club Sho Boat
A riverboat that became a nightclub and restaurant
❧ A Meteor over Cajun Louisiana: Window on Atomic-Age Anxieties
Confusing a meteor for an atomic bomb
❧ A Film Documents South Louisiana's Logging Industry, ca. 1925: Responsible Stewardship or Environmental Disaster?
Digitized film about cypress logging along the Teche
❧ A Glimpse from 1968: Historic Films Looked at Cajuns and Creoles in Epic Year
Digitized French films capture an important year in south Louisiana history
❧ Now Available: My Children's History of the Cajuns in English and French Editions
Buy my Cajun book for kids so I can pay off my credit card
❧ "Cajuns of the Teche": Bad History, Wartime Propaganda, or Both?
A 1942 film with excellent images, horrible script
❧ A Snake, a Worm, and a Dead End: In Search of the Meaning of "Teche"
Searching for the meaning of the word "Teche"
❧ Galaxies, Bowling and Swamp Pop: Johnny Preston and The Cajuns in Escondido
Examining a Cajun reference in a chain e-mail about old gas stations
❧ Serendipity and Fort Tombecbe: Cooperation between Historians and Archaeologists
Accidentally finding a map of a fort coincidentally excavated by my friend
❧ Notes on Two Nineteenth-Century Engravings of South Louisiana Scenes
Vintage magazine images of Cajun and Creole women
❧ Finding History Right around the Corner: Heroism on the Cajun Home Front
A nearly forgotten World War II landmark a block from my residence
❧ My Father's Childhood Autograph Book on the History Channel?
When Dad met Hank Williams, Sr.
❧ My Oddball Collection of Cajun Warplane Photos
Cajun-themed combat aircraft
❧ Elodie's Gift: A Family Photographic Mystery
An old tin type image given to me by a great-aunt
❧ The Nike-Cajun Rocket: How It Got Its Name
A rocket named "the Cajun"?
❧ Middle Name or Clerical Error?: Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil and "Gaurhept"
Perpetuation of a historical error
❧ Debunking the Alleged Origin of the Word "Coonass"
Finding a word by accident that wasn't yet supposed to exist
❧ More on That Word "Coonass": A Labor Dispute Trial Documents Its Use in 1940
The earliest known use of this controversial word
❧ "To Err Is Human": Errata from My Books
Everyone makes mistakes
❧ An Old Bull Durham Tobacco Ad in New Iberia, or Palimpsests on the Teche
This vintage advertisement has since been destroyed
❧ Remembering Polycarp: A Cajun TV Show Host for Children
Everyone loved Polycarp!
❧ From Jet Fighters to Football: Origin of the Phrase "Ragin' Cajun"
Where this catchy term originated (as far as anyone knows)
❧ The Elusive André Massé, Pioneer of the Attakapas
An almost mythical explorer of the Teche region
❧ More on the Elusive Andre Massé, Early Settler of the Attakapas District
Revelations about him in a historical document
❧ La Chute: A Waterfall on Bayou Teche?
A waterfall in largely flat south Louisiana
❧ Gumbo in 1764?
The earliest known reference to gumbo in Louisiana
❧ On That Word "Gumbo": Okra, Sassafras, and Baudry's Reports from 1802-1803
More on the history of gumbo in Louisiana
❧ La Pointe de Repos — Early Acadian Settlement Site along the Teche
Colonial-era settlement near present-day Parks, Louisiana
❧ A 1795 Journey up the Teche: Fact, Fiction, or Literary Hoax?
It almost fooled me . . . almost
❧ All the Same Place: Isla Cuarin, Côte de Coiron, Île Petite Anse, Petite Anse Island & Avery Island
Evolution of a place name in the south Louisiana coastal marsh
❧ The Grevembergs, Early Cattle Ranchers of the Attakapas
When someone accidentally transposes two numerals
❧ Tracking the Decline of Cajun French
Research behind the language stats in my book The Cajuns
❧ The Secret CODOFIL Papers
I waited how long for the FBI to release these documents?
❧ Agnus Dei Artifact Found on Banks of Bayou Teche
A religious symbol turns up in the mud at Breaux Bridge
Did it happen in 1720 or not?
❧ When Jimi Hendrix Appeared on My Father's Live TV Show
in Lafayette, Louisiana, January 1965
The rock-guitar pioneer visited Lafayette
❧ Electronic Cajuns and Creoles: Early Television
as an Americanizing Agent
TV's impact on these two ethnic groups
❧ A Tool for Fighting Fake News & Conspiracy Theories: Teach Critical Thinking in American Classrooms
"Not what to think, but how to think"
❧ Portrait of a Cajun Woman: Andonia Thibodeaux
of Bayou Tigre
An old tin-type photograph leads to a literary find
❧ Another Civil War Gunboat on the Teche: The U.S.S. Glide, aka Federal Gunboat No. 43
A legal document reveals the presence of one more gunboat on the bayou
❧ Now Available: My New Book about Bayou Teche
A narrative history of Bayou Teche and journal of canoeing the present-day bayou
❧ A Railroad History of Avery Island
An article I wrote for someone else's blog in 2010
❧ Sur le Teche: Exploring the Bayou by Canoe, Stage 1
Port Barre to Arnaudville
❧ Rough Rider Redux: A Photo of Theodore Roosevelt in Downtown New Iberia?
A forgotten photo of Theodore Roosevelt in Cajun Country
❧ A Fiction Interlude: My Short Story "The Phrenologist"
A short story about racism set in antebellum New Orleans
❧ A Floating Dancehall on the Teche: The Club Sho Boat
A riverboat that became a nightclub and restaurant
❧ A Meteor over Cajun Louisiana: Window on Atomic-Age Anxieties
Confusing a meteor for an atomic bomb
❧ A Film Documents South Louisiana's Logging Industry, ca. 1925: Responsible Stewardship or Environmental Disaster?
Digitized film about cypress logging along the Teche
❧ A Glimpse from 1968: Historic Films Looked at Cajuns and Creoles in Epic Year
Digitized French films capture an important year in south Louisiana history
❧ Now Available: My Children's History of the Cajuns in English and French Editions
Buy my Cajun book for kids so I can pay off my credit card
❧ "Cajuns of the Teche": Bad History, Wartime Propaganda, or Both?
A 1942 film with excellent images, horrible script
❧ A Snake, a Worm, and a Dead End: In Search of the Meaning of "Teche"
Searching for the meaning of the word "Teche"
❧ Galaxies, Bowling and Swamp Pop: Johnny Preston and The Cajuns in Escondido
Examining a Cajun reference in a chain e-mail about old gas stations
❧ Serendipity and Fort Tombecbe: Cooperation between Historians and Archaeologists
Accidentally finding a map of a fort coincidentally excavated by my friend
❧ Notes on Two Nineteenth-Century Engravings of South Louisiana Scenes
Vintage magazine images of Cajun and Creole women
❧ Finding History Right around the Corner: Heroism on the Cajun Home Front
A nearly forgotten World War II landmark a block from my residence
❧ My Father's Childhood Autograph Book on the History Channel?
When Dad met Hank Williams, Sr.
❧ My Oddball Collection of Cajun Warplane Photos
Cajun-themed combat aircraft
❧ Elodie's Gift: A Family Photographic Mystery
An old tin type image given to me by a great-aunt
❧ The Nike-Cajun Rocket: How It Got Its Name
A rocket named "the Cajun"?
❧ Middle Name or Clerical Error?: Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil and "Gaurhept"
Perpetuation of a historical error
❧ Debunking the Alleged Origin of the Word "Coonass"
Finding a word by accident that wasn't yet supposed to exist
❧ More on That Word "Coonass": A Labor Dispute Trial Documents Its Use in 1940
The earliest known use of this controversial word
❧ "To Err Is Human": Errata from My Books
Everyone makes mistakes
❧ An Old Bull Durham Tobacco Ad in New Iberia, or Palimpsests on the Teche
This vintage advertisement has since been destroyed
❧ Remembering Polycarp: A Cajun TV Show Host for Children
Everyone loved Polycarp!
❧ From Jet Fighters to Football: Origin of the Phrase "Ragin' Cajun"
Where this catchy term originated (as far as anyone knows)
❧ The Elusive André Massé, Pioneer of the Attakapas
An almost mythical explorer of the Teche region
❧ More on the Elusive Andre Massé, Early Settler of the Attakapas District
Revelations about him in a historical document
❧ La Chute: A Waterfall on Bayou Teche?
A waterfall in largely flat south Louisiana
❧ Gumbo in 1764?
The earliest known reference to gumbo in Louisiana
❧ On That Word "Gumbo": Okra, Sassafras, and Baudry's Reports from 1802-1803
More on the history of gumbo in Louisiana
❧ La Pointe de Repos — Early Acadian Settlement Site along the Teche
Colonial-era settlement near present-day Parks, Louisiana
❧ A 1795 Journey up the Teche: Fact, Fiction, or Literary Hoax?
It almost fooled me . . . almost
❧ All the Same Place: Isla Cuarin, Côte de Coiron, Île Petite Anse, Petite Anse Island & Avery Island
Evolution of a place name in the south Louisiana coastal marsh
❧ The Grevembergs, Early Cattle Ranchers of the Attakapas
When someone accidentally transposes two numerals
❧ Tracking the Decline of Cajun French
Research behind the language stats in my book The Cajuns
❧ The Secret CODOFIL Papers
I waited how long for the FBI to release these documents?
❧ Agnus Dei Artifact Found on Banks of Bayou Teche
A religious symbol turns up in the mud at Breaux Bridge
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This is a year late, but pertaining to the old foolishness about St. Martinville being Le Petit Paris. The definitive article that did a great job in exploding that deliberately made myth can be found in Southern Studies volume XVI-number 1--Spring 1977-p. 41ff.
ReplyDeleteIt was written by J. John Perret, University of N.O. I only wish I could work my scanner/copier so I could send it to you. However, the Southern Studies Journal was published at Northwestern State University at Natchitoches--maybe still is--and you can find it that way.
I love this! Thanks so much for sharing your work.
ReplyDeleteSharon Bordelon Adkins