I have never been
comfortable with the unqualified blanket statement that Cajun was in earlier
times a “bad word”—or as one Louisianian put it in (of all places) a 1937 issue
of the Yale Review, “Cajun was a fighting word.” As my acquaintance Jim
Bradshaw has written in his aptly titled newspaper article “When Cajun Was a
Fighting Word”: “Back in the days before Cajun Pride kicked in . . . a fellow
was likely to find himself in a fight – or at least a pretty good (bilingual)
cussin’ match – if he called someone a Cajun.”(1)
I suspect, however, that,
as with the word “coonass” (whether one likes that word or hates it), the way
someone took Cajun depended on who said it and with what intent. Perhaps
it was “a fighting word,” perhaps not. What might have mattered most was context.
This would explain
why we ended up with competing narratives that, on the surface, seem mutually
exclusive. A journalist told us in 1890, for example, that “For some reason
unknown to us many of these people, object to the name Cajan,” while another,
writing only three years later, said “We must not call them ‘Cajuns to their
faces lest they be offended. . . .”
On the other hand, an observer stated in 1888 that “The word ‘Cajun’ is no more a term of reproach
than the word ‘Hoosier’ applied to the natives of Indiana,” while a decade
later a reporter noted that “[A] large element of the French population . . . call
themselves and are generally called, ‘Cajuns’” [my emphasis].(2)
In short, I see no
consensus, and this might in fact reflect a reality I have already suggested:
that the way Cajun was taken, both by Cajuns and others, depended on
context.
 |
A very early reference to Cajuns,
from The Southern Enterprise (Greenville, S.C.),
24 April 1856. |
My misgivings stem
from my long observation that, of the many historical references to Cajun
that I and others have examined, many are actually positive or neutral in tone,
not negative.
This is not to say
that some references aren’t negative. Many are indeed. Yet, somehow,
these negative references have come to stand, at least in the popular
imagination, for all uses of the term, negative or otherwise. As such, there seems
to be no gray area, no accounting for subtlety: only the black-and-white
perception of Cajun as a negative epithet denoting ignorance, bigotry,
drunkenness, a propensity for violence, and any number of other ignoble traits.
I’ve written about
this topic previously on my blog and summarized my position in one article like
so:
“Some [later commenters
assert] . . . that ‘Cajun’ was used in south Louisiana solely as a negative
term prior to the birth of the Cajun pride movement in the 1960s. . . . Yet
analysis of 19th- and 20th-century primary-source evidence reveals a more
complex, more nuanced use of ‘Cajun.’ While negative occurrences of the word ‘Cajun’
certainly exist — some of them scathing — so, too, do positive and neutral
ones. . . . In short, the issue of how ‘Cajun’ was used in the past is by no
means monolithic.”
%20Star-Progress,%2018%20May%201921.png) |
An early expression of Cajun ethnic pride,
The Star-Progress (Opelousas, La.), 18 May 1921. |
Below I analyze the
use of Cajun in historical documents—that is, I have compiled and
evaluated one hundred random “Cajun” quotes from various mid-to-late-19th-
and early-20th-century books and newspapers, all gleaned from Google
Books and ChroniclingAmerica.org. These quotes date from 1851, the earliest
known use of Cadien (the French form of Cajun), through 1930—not
only the present cut-off date for most searchable public-domain documents, but après
ça, le déluge: even without public-domain access, there would simply be too
many “Cajun” references to contend with—a problem that would increase
exponentially as we approached the present day.
Some caveats about
this study:
First, because it is
necessarily limited to print media, it cannot reflect oral use of the word Cajun,
except insofar as revealed in that printed material. Moreover, because Cajuns
themselves rarely kept written records—much less of an introspective variety in
which they interrogate their own ethnicity—most if not all of these printed
references represent outsider perspectives.
Second, one might question
if my selection of one hundred Cajun quotes is truly random. That is,
did I perhaps unconsciously lean toward Cajun references that were
positive or, conversely, negative? Or, for that matter, neutral? To this I can
only say that when I pulled together the original, core group of Cajun
references, thirty-seven in number, I was disinterested in precisely how the
word was used. I wasn’t avoiding negative terms nor angling for positive or
neutral ones. I merely collected references to the word Cajun no matter
the context. I made a more conscious effort, however, to select random passages
when collecting the other sixty-three examples.
Third, one could
argue that the study relies too heavily on subjective evaluation, precisely
because the project stems from, as a sociologist acquaintance of mine observed,
“an interesting combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches.”
Quantitative meaning not only numerical, but factual; qualitative meaning opinionative.
And where one reader might interpret a usage as negative, another might view it
as neutral, or even positive if, for example, the negative reference occurred
in the context of someone taking exception of the criticism in order to defend Cajuns. (For example, the quote “Il entendait certains ignorants dire autour de lui: ‘Damned Cadians! — Les Acadiens ne sont pas Américans — Les Acadians sont des demi-créoles, etc.’” Meaning “He heard some ignorant people say around him: ‘Damned Cadiens! — The Acadians aren’t Americans — The Acadians are half-Creoles, etc.’”)
In any event, I
have tried to err on the side of caution, categorizing a borderline neutral
source as negative, and likewise a borderline positive source as neutral, as
sometimes occurred--a number of articles offering at once a mix of positive,
negative, and neutral comments.
Fourth, a drawback of
my approach is that it does not tell us much about how Cajuns themselves
regarded the word. Yet some sources do provide insight into the Cajuns’
feelings on the matter. As already noted, one reporter tells us “We must not
call them ‘Cajuns’ to their faces”(3) while
another avers “many of these people . . . object to the name Cajan.”(4) Other
sources, however, suggest a more positive view of the term among the Cajuns.
One newspaper article tells us that “they call themselves . . . ‘Cajuns,’”(5) while the authors of more than one
"letter to the editor" anonymously signed themselves in French as “Un
Cadien”—a Cajun.(6) Moreover, in 1921 south Louisiana politician L. L.
Judice identified himself with evident pride as “a Cajin”(7) while,
in the same legislative session, fellow lawmaker L. O. Broussard asserted “he
was proud that he was a Cajin. . . .”(8) So we
do have some evidence of how Cajuns used and regarded the term—though,
importantly, what that evidence shows is, again, a lack of consensus, rather
than a clear pattern of Cajun being viewed as indisputably offensive.
 |
A letter to the editor signed "Un Cadien" (A Cajun),
The Weekly Thibodaux (La.) Sentinel, 27 July 1889. |
I should note I have
considered not only the word Cajun, but any number of variations from
the days before the word’s spelling became codified. And so I included
references to Cadien, Cadian, Cadjien, Cadjin, Cajan,
Cajen, Cagan, and Cajin, among any other variants. I do
not consider Acadian and Acadien, though by chance those words
might appear alongside those variations I do consider.
And now, to get to
the crux of the matter, what the statistics show is: yes, negative uses of Cajun
appear more often than positive uses, but—importantly—neutral uses appear more
frequently than negative ones; and both neutral and positive uses far outweigh
the number of negative uses—by a ratio of more than 2:1, in fact. Meaning more
often than not, the word Cajun was used positively or neutrally in
the random historical samples I examined.
The precise numbers
are:
Neutral: 46%
Positive: 23%
Negative: 31%
A few additional notes:
Although I have culled one hundred examples from the historical record, those savvier
than I am in terms of quantitative analysis might regard this sample size as
too small. To this I can only say that, while Cajun references become
more plentiful over time, earlier references, while far from nonexistent, are
nonetheless limited. Given those limits, to gather at least a hundred
references is, I believe, a reasonable goal. Especially for the purposes of
this article—which, I should note, is not intended as an academic query, but
merely an informal glance at the subject, one intended to “dip a toe in the
water”—to give us a general idea that might be expounded upon by a larger, more
formal study, should someone wish to undertake one. (Perhaps one day soon AI
will make such a sweeping project more attainable, if done by those with
sufficient computer skills and proper safeguards against AI “hallucinations.”)(9)
Regardless, I suspect
the results would not be entirely dissimilar. I say this because it’s
incredibly easy to disprove an unqualified blanket statement like “Cajun
was a bad word in the old days.” After all, in a strict sense, it takes only one
example to the contrary to debunk such an inflexible, dogmatic view (which,
unfortunately, is how I often hear it put forth).
Catalog of Source
Material
The quotations below,
arranged chronologically, are intentionally brief but long enough to show how each
use of Cajun functions in its immediate context. French passages are
followed by an English translation when useful. (Incidentally, it occurs to me
that the following catalog not only tells us something about how Cajun
was used between 1851 and 1930 but, as lagniappe—to use that fitting
Louisiana word—also further contradicts the claim that Cajun identity did not
come into existence until the late 1960s, a baffling assertion I have already
examined elsewhere in my blog articles.)
1.
1856 — The Southern Enterprise (Greenville, S.C.)
Variant:
Cagan-French
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“The people of Louisiana are a fast people, and compose a great variety of
casts: Creoles, French, Spaniards, Cagan-French, Indian, Dutch, Irish and
Americans. . . .”
Context:
Letter to the editor about the people of Louisiana.
Source:
J. P. [pen name], “Correspondence of the Enterprise,” The Southern
Enterprise (Greenville, S.C.), 24 April 1856, p. 2.
***
2.
1859 — New Orleans Daily Crescent
Variant:
‘Cadiens
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“In all the prairies of Attakapas there are settled a mongrel breed of idlers
called ‘‘Cadiens,’ the majority of whom have no visible means of subsistence,
and are popularly believed to do remarkably well by killing cattle at night,
stealing sheep, and varying their diet with crawfish.”
Context:
A letter to the editor about rural crime.
Source:
“Communicated,” New Orleans Daily Crescent, 21 September 1859, p. 1.
***
3.
1862 —Cincinnati Commercial, reprinted in The Delaware (Ohio)
Gazette
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“You don’t know what a Cajun is? Of course you don’t, but I will try and tell
you.”
Context:
Disparaging description of Cajuns at Camp Pratt during the U.S. Civil War.
Source:
“The Louisiana Cajuns,” Cincinnati Commercial, reprinted in The
Delaware (Ohio) Gazette, 12 December 1862, p. 1.
***
4.
1867 — Le Louisianais
Variant:
Cadians
Classification:
Negative [although the criticism is stated in the context of defending Cajuns]
Quote: “Il
entendait certains ignorants dire autour de lui: ‘Damned Cadians! — Les
Acadiens ne sont pas Américans — Les Acadians sont des demi-créoles, etc.’”
“He
heard some ignorant people say around him: ‘Damned Cadiens! — The Acadians aren’t
Americans — The Acadians are half-Creoles, etc.’”
Context:
The article reports language used by hostile or ill-informed speakers.
Source:
“Acadiens,” Le Louisianais (St. James Parish, La.), 2 November 1867, p.
1.
***
5.
1869 — Le Louisianais
Variant:
Cadien
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“[J]e les rencontrerais certainement aux bords du bayou Cadien. C’est au bayou
Cadien que ces messieurs se réunissent pour affaires importantes et pour passer
devant notaire les actes de mariage.”
“I would
certainly meet them on the banks of the Cajun bayou. It is on the Cajun bayou
that these gentlemen meet for important business and to have marriage contracts
drawn up before a notary.”
Context:
Short story about bear hunting.
Source:
“Les Ours,” Le Louisianais (Convent, La.), 4 September 1869, p. 1.
***
6.
1870 — The Fremont (Ohio) Weekly Journal
Variant:
Cajan
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“More than one half of the white population of the Attakapas Country are of
French extraction. . . . The majority of these do not come up to our ideas of a
very high state of civilization. . . . They are not very energetic, and have no
ideas of industry or economy. They are very fond of gaming, and often lose at
the gaming table, in a few evenings, the year’s earnings. Many of them are
descendants of ancestors who, driven by the English from Canada (then called
Arcadias), emigrated to this State, which was then a French colony. These
immigrants were designated as Arcadians, corrupted by the negroes to the word
Cajan, by which term they are now generally known.”
Context:
Overview of “the Attakapas Country” of south Louisiana.
Source:
J. K. Hord, “Louisiana Correspondence,” The Fremont (Ohio) Weekly
Journal, 18 November 1870, p. 3.
***
7.
1870 — The Fremont (Ohio) Weekly Journal
Variant:
Cajan
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“The count of votes will show a choice in favour [sic] of the Cajan
ticket. . . .”
Context:
Political news about Louisiana.
Source:
“Louisiana Correspondence,” The Fremont (Ohio) Weekly Journal, 25
November 1870, p. 3.
***
8.
1871 — Our Miscellany
Variant:
Kajen
Classification:
Negative [despite some positive comments]
Quote:
If there are any who have been as much interested in the history of the earlier
Acadian as the writer, they will not be averse to hearing some account of his
descendants to be found in the wilds of Louisiana. The later Acadian is
altogether wanting in the spirit that characterized his forefathers. Even the
name is changed—he is a Kajen now. . . . They are comparatively ignorant . . .
a feeble folk. . . . cheery, healthful and happy as they are . . . these gentle
people.”
Context:
Article about Cajuns in the 1870s.
Source:
A. S. B. [pen name], “The Later Acadian,” Our Miscellany (August 1871):
pp. 149-51.
***
9.
1873 — New Orleans Republican
Variant:
Cadians
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“In the lowlands of the [south Louisiana] country is a population known as
‘Cadians,’ . . . a sort of semi-creole [sic] race, which has degraded
into just the last imaginable stage of existence in which a white man can live,
and who, without an idea beyond themselves, are content, as it were, to sit in
the shade and watch the grass grow. . . . They are inhospitable, low, insensate
and weak, with hardly an idea above their condition or a care for better
existence.”
Context:
“Cadians” as described in another newspaper (the Picayune), in the
course of commenting on the violence of a North Louisiana posse.
Source:
“The Posse of Red River,” New Orleans Republican, 27 May 1873, p. 2.
***
10.
1873 — The Galaxy
Variant:
Cajens
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“The Acadians — abbreviated to ‘Cajens’ by our laconic race — form a small
portion of the Creole population.”
Context:
Impressionistic article about south Louisiana’s French-speaking population.
Source: Albert
Rhodes, “The Louisiana Creoles,” The Galaxy 16 (August 1873), p.
254.
***
11.
1875 — New Orleans Republican
Variant:
Cadian
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“It may be even better that no force should be sent, since it may only
exasperate the violence of this peculiar people, the Cadians. Is there any
difference in principle, however, between these ignorant Cadians and those who
. . . manifest precisely the same hostility toward citizens of the United
States migrating to Louisiana for the purpose of pursuing their lawful
occupations?”
Context:
Article about Cajuns allegedly attacking Austrian immigrants around Barataria
Bay.
Source:
“A Louisiana Welcome to Strangers,” New Orleans Republican, 26 May 1875,
p. 2.
***
12.
1875 — New Orleans Republican
Variant:
Cadian
Classification:
Negative [despite skepticism toward the report of an attack, the article
presents Cadians as violent, a familiar trope]
Quote:
“There was a curious dispatch printed in yesterday’s newspapers . . . that a
camp of Austrian fishermen on ‘Barataria’ bay was attacked by 200 ‘Cadien’
residents and destroyed, and the Austrians threatened with violence. . . . And
the ‘Cadian’ residents. What is a ‘Cadian”? The affair has a suspicious look. .
. .”
Context:
Article about Cajuns allegedly attacking Austrian immigrants around Barataria
Bay.
Source:
[No title], New Orleans Republican, 1 June 1875, p. 1.
***
13.
1877 — The New Orleans Daily Democrat
Variant:
Cajan
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“The Cajan was as prolific as his Canadian cousin.”
Context:
Overview of the Louisiana population.
Source:
“Our People: Where They Came from Originally, the Source of the Population of
Louisiana,” The New Orleans Daily Democrat, 4 March 1877, p. 2.
***
14.
1877 — Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro, Vt.)
Variant:
Cajen
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“To this day [the Creole] admits no kinship with the descendant of Basil the
blacksmith [in the poem ‘Evangeline’], knows no name for him but that of ‘the
lazy Cajen.’
Context:
Fictional short story
Source:
[Feärn Gray,] “Kathern,” Atlantic Monthly, reprinted in Vermont
Phoenix (Brattleboro, Vt.), 2 November 1877, p. 1; see also Hallberger’s
Illustrated Magazine IV (13): 577.
***
15.
1877 — The Opelousas (La.) Courier
Variant:
Cadiens
Classification:
Positive
Quote: “Il
est impossible de relire les pages émues de l’exode des Acadiens, ou plutôt des
Cadiens, car tel est le nom véritable de cette vaillante population. . . .”
“It’s
impossible to read over the emotional pages about the exodus of the Acadians,
or rather the Cadiens, for such is the true name of this valiant population. .
. .”
Context:
Asserts that “Cadien” is the proper ethnic label and commends the population.
Source:
“Bibliographie,” The Opelousas Courier, 17 November 1877, p. 1.
***
16.
1879 — Petite Anse Amateur (Avery Island, La.)
Variant:
Cadiens
Classification:
Neutral
Quote: “[W]e
found [the campground] had been taken possession of by ‘Cadiens,’ whose little
skiffs were moored to the shore.”
Context:
Passing reference in an article about the dredging of a Louisiana waterway.
Source:
“The Dredge,” The Petite Anse Amateur (Avery Island, La.), April 1879,
pp. 25-26.
***
17.
1879 — Ellsworth (Maine) American
Variant:
Cajuns
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“‘The Acadians of Louisiana,’ — more familiarly called Cajuns — [are] a simple
people, having much in common with their congeners described in Longfellow’s
poem.”
Context:
A preview of the current Scribner’s magazine.
Source: The
Ellsworth (Maine) American, 25 December 1879, p. 3, see also “Scribner
[sic] for January,” Chestertown (Md.) Transcript, 25
December 1879, n.p., scan at mdhistory.msa.maryland.gov, accessed 4 October
2026.
***
18.
1880 — Scribner’s Monthly
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Negative
Quote: “Among
themselves they are ‘Créole Français’; and Acadian — or rather its corruption ‘Cajun,’
as they pronounce it — is regarded as implying contempt.”
Context:
Presents Cajun as a corrupted form conveying disdain.
Source:
“The Acadians of Louisiana,” Scribner’s Monthly XIX (January 1880),
p. 383.
***
19.
1880 — Louisiana Capitolian
Variant:
Cadien
Classification:
Neutral
Quote: “[W]hen
the engine puffed up to the station a crowd of six or seven hundred people,
white and black, old and young, African and ‘Cadien, thronged around the
landing place. . . .”
Context:
Article about a crowd gathering at a train station to see former President
Grant.
Source:
“A Grant Hoax,” New Orleans Democrat, reprinted in the (Baton
Rouge) Louisiana Capitolian, 3 April 1880, p. 2.
***
20.
1881 — Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Negative
Quote: “[T]he
lower class of Americans are apt to ridicule the lack of energy and spirit in
those whom they contemptuously call ‘Cajuns.’”
Context:
Travelogue article about south Louisiana.
Source: [No
author], “A Trip to the Teche,” Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly XII
(November 1881): p. 596
***
21.
1881 — Louisiana Bureau of Agriculture and Immigration
Variant:
Cajuns
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“These Acadians, or as in common colloquial parlance they are termed ‘Cajuns,’
are generally illiterate, and as a race non-progressive and unenterprising.
Though of America they refuse to become Americanized. . . .”
Context:
Document produced by the state of Louisiana describing its people and
resources.
Source: Louisiana
Bureau of Agriculture and Immigration, Louisiana Products, Resources and
Attractions (New Orleans: Times-Democrat, 1881), p. 234.
***
22.
1881 — U.S. Census
Variant:
cadjiens / cajuns
Classification:
Neutral
Quote: “The
Creoles proper will not share their distinction with the native descendants of
those worthy Acadian exiles who . . . found refuge in Louisiana. These remain ‘cadjiens’
or ‘cajuns’ . . . .”
Context:
Discussion of the people of Louisiana based on the 1880 U.S. census.
Source: George
E. Waring Jr. and George W. Cable, History and Present Condition of New
Orleans, Louisiana: Social Statistics of Cities, Tenth Census of the United
States (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1881), p. 10.
***
23.
1881 — The County Paper (Oregon, Mo.)
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“‘Cajun; what’s a cajun [sic]?’ I asked. . . . ‘Oh, a sort o’ no good
white folks livin’ down by de swamp in ole Louisiana. . . low white trash. . .
.”
Context:
Fictional story written partly in Negro dialect.
Source: Mrs.
Denison [Mary A. Denison], “Old Cathie’s Story,” The Youth’s Companion (24
February 1881), p. 73.
***
24.
1885 — The Indianapolis (Ind.) Journal
Variant:
Cadien
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“Ballot-box stuffing did not commend itself as a salubrious pastime, with a
cloud of Cadien cowboys looking on and spoiling for a skirmish. . . . Yet this
simple, unostentatious Cadien hung his pony to a swinging limb and, entering to
the Democratic managers, disclosed a box which he had brought that night from
Bayou Pigeon, and which contained the vote of that thriving and populous
precinct. Alone he “thrid the bosky mazes of the swamp,” sometimes by pirogue .
. . sometimes on foot . . . But he had come, and with him victory.”
Context:
News story depicting “Cadiens” as guarding the integrity of the ballot box and
delivering votes to be counted.
Source:
“The Story of a Ballot-Box,” The Indianapolis (Ind.) Journal, 2
January 1885, p. 1.
***
25.
1885 — The Pascagoula (Miss.) Democrat-Star
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Commissioner Harris, of Louisiana, showed me several pieces of homespun cotton
goods which he says were made by the ‘Cajuns.’ ‘Who are they?’ I asked. The
word, he replied, is a corruption of Arcadians and is applied to the
descendants of that people whose settlement in Louisiana was immortalized in
Longfellow’s ‘Evangeline.’ Then, turning to the map, he showed me where the
‘Cajuns’ live, and gave an account of their homes and their simplicity of
life.”
Context:
Human interest-type story about the Cajuns.
Source:
“The Cajuns: The Descendants of the People Celebrated in ‘Evangeline,’” The
Pascagoula (Miss.) Democrat-Star, 10 July 1885, p. 4.
***
26.
1885 — The Wahpeton (N.D.) Times
Variant:
‘Cadian-French
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“The present [Louisiana] Lieutenant Governor and two of the Justices of the
Supreme Court, one of whom [is] the Chief Justice thereof, are all Creoles of
German, Spanish, and ‘Cadien-French origin. . . .”
Context:
Article explaining the meaning of the word “Creole”
Source:
“Who Are the Creoles?” The Wahpeton (N.D.) Times, 20 August 1885,
p. 3.
***
27.
1886 — Lake Charles Echo
Variant:
Cadian
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“The natives of this region . . . are called Cadiens (pronounced “cajens”),
which is an abbreviation of the word Acadians. They do not look very romantic,
but a halo of romance surrounds the settlement of their ancestors in Louisiana.
. . . They are said to be kind, peaceable, and hospitable, with but few wants,
and these easily satisfied.”
Context:
Overview of Louisiana geography with an emphasis on agriculture.
Source:
L. E. S. [pen name], “From Louisiana,” Lake Charles Echo, 17 April 1886,
p. 1.
***
28.
1886 — Evening Capital (Annapolis, Md.)
Variant:
Cajin
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“I’ve been down in Louisiana for a week with the Arcadians [sic] —people
Longfellow talks about in his ‘Evangeline,’ you know; ‘Cajins’ the darkies down
there call them,’ said a Northwestern railway conductor recently. . . . ‘They
are the simplest and happiest people I ever saw. . . .”
Context:
Human interest-type story about “Cajins.”
Source:
“Among the Arcadians,” Evening Capital (Annapolis, Md.), 29 October
1886, p. 4.
***
29. 1886
— The Meridional
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Negative [despite some positive comments, the author still refers to “Cajun” as
“an epithet of reproach.”]
Quote: “I
needs must sing songs of praise of the sons of the pioneers . . . who wended
their way from the bleak shores of Canada and settled here as their adopted
home. Though the sobriquet of ‘Cajun’ has been bestowed upon them as an epithet
of reproach, they should remember it’s no blot on the bright escutcheon of
their gallant race. . . . Born to a free and easy life. . . . they have failed
to keep pace with the advance of the surrounding world. . . . But now we hope
the day has come, when Acadia’s sons will no longer repose in the life of ease.
. . .”
Context:
Letter to the editor from a correspondent on Prairie Grieg in rural Vermilion
Parish, La.
Source:
“Letter from Prairie Grieg,” The Meridional (Abbeville, La.), 6 November
1886, p. 1.
***
30.
1887 — Madison Times (Tallulah, La.)
Variant:
Cadien
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“A gentleman in the lower part of the State, who lived in a Cadien
neighborhood, at the special request of one of the natives, attended a Cadien
ball, under the escort of the said native.”
Context:
Short amusing story ending in a pun.
Source:
“A Bellows,” Madison Times (Tallulah, La.), 8 January 1887, p. 2.
***
31.
1887 — The Opelousas (La.) Courier
Variant:
Cadjien
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Cé pas qui disont du mal de Nicole, mais de quéque magnère y ne l’aimions pas
à kause que quante il était Gouverneur, il écoutai rien que les kokolos et il
aimé mieux empointé in néque qu’in Cadjien dans les places. . . . Les kokolos
pourons dire ça, mais les Cadjiens se laissons pas prendre avecque des babioles
de même. . . . Et puis Audjustine m’adi à c’matin qu’a lave révé que c’été in
Cadjien quale tête Gouverneur. . . .”
“It’s
not that we speak ill of Nicole [presumably former, and future, Louisiana
governor Nicholls], but somehow we didn’t like him because, when he was
Governor, he listened only to the kokolos [presumably Creoles of Afro-Caribbean
heritage] and preferred to appoint a Black man rather than a Cajun to positions
of authority. . . . The kokolos may fall for that, but Cajuns don’t let
themselves be taken in by trinkets like that. . . . And then Audjustine
[Augustine?] told me this morning that she had dreamed it was a Cajun who was
Governor. . . .”
Context:
Satirical letter to the editor concerning politics and race.
Source:
“Bayou Tigue,” The Opelousas (La.) Courier, 25 June 1887, p. 4.
***
32.
1887 — The Indianapolis (Ind.) Journal
Variant:
Cajan
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Michel Bares, a slight, dark, and rather good-looking young fellow, muttered
something in the soft Cajan patois about having had a fresson [sic],
and his nannan [godmother] was going to make him a lisane
[tisane, a medical drink] of geranium leaves.”
Context:
Short fictional story
Source:
M. E. M. Davis, “The Tradin’ Boat,” The Indianapolis (Ind.) Journal,
26 June 1887, p. 2.
***
33.
1887 — Abbeville Press and Banner
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“The Americans, and even the Creoles, have corrupted the name Acadian into
‘Cajun,’ which term . . . these people resent strongly, yet, as ‘Cajuns,’ they
are known all over the state.”
Context:
Human interest-type story about Acadians/Cajuns.
Source:
“The Acadians: A Picturesque People Unchanged by Time,” San Francisco
Chronicle, reprinted in The Abbeville (S.C.) Press and Banner, 29
June 1887, p. 7.
***
34.
1887 — Weekly Messenger (St. Martinville)
Variant:
Cadiens
Classification:
Neutral
Quote: “Will
the Reveille [newspaper] point out of these appointments of Cadiens
those who are not creoles [sic].”
Context:
One-sentence blurb possibly meant to imply that all Cajuns are Creoles.
Source:
[No title], Weekly Messenger (St. Martinville), 29 October 1887, p. 1.
***
35.
1888 — Wood County Reporter (Grand Rapids, Wisc.)
Variant:
Acadian/Cajan
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“The Acadians? They belong to this world—to daylight. . . . They are not lazy.
The men work faithfully—when they work at all. The women in these houses keep
them tidy, cook, sew, and carry on their little metiers. . . . ‘Ah’
m’sieu, progress, newspapers, railroads, do not make the hero; not even
education. He is born—here in the Cajan’s cabin just as in Ancient Greece or
Rome.”
Context:
Human interest-type story about Acadians/Cajans.
Source:
Rebecca Harding Davis, Harper’s Magazine, reprinted as “The Acadians of
Louisiana,” Wood County Reporter (Grand Rapids, Wisc.), 2 February 1888,
p. 6.
***
36.
1888 — Ouachita Telegraph
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Positive
Quote: “The
word ‘Cajun’ is no more a term of reproach than the word ‘Hoosier’ applied to
the natives of Indiana. It is associated with the idea of some rusticity and
simplicity of manner and that is all.”
Context:
A defense of the word Cajun in an article about Louisiana writer George
Washington Cable.
Source:
“A Boston Criticism of Cable,” New Orleans Picayune, reprinted in The
Ouachita Telegraph (Monroe, La.), 28 April 1888, p. 1.
***
37. 1889
— Some Late Words about Louisiana
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote: “In
this delightful climate, where illness is almost unknown, people acquire the
habit of living, and keep on ad infinitum, until, as [states] the proverb of
the Cajuns (the descendants of the exiled Acadians), they get old, old, so old!
then shrivel up and blow away.”
Context:
Overview of Louisiana geography by the state’s commissioner of immigration.
Source: T.
W. Poole, Some Late Words about Louisiana (New Orleans: E. Marchand,
1889), p. 26.
***
38.
1890 — The House of Bondage
Variant:
Cadien
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“Who were these ‘Cadien patrollers, Uncle Stephen?’ . . . ‘[T]hey were the
meanest things in creation; they were poor, low down white folks. . . .’”
Context:
Dialogue in a novel concerning enslavement.
Source:
Octavia Victoria Rogers Albert, The House of Bondage; Or, Charlotte Brooks
and Other Slaves (New York: Hunt & Eaton, 1890), p. 106.
***
39.
1890 — St. Landry Democrat (Opelousas, La.)
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Negative [despite positive assertions it nonetheless says “many of these people
. . . object to the name Cajan”]
Quote:
“The name Acadians by which they were first known, was soon contracted or
corrupted into the term ‘Cajan’ by which they are frequently known. . . . For
some reason unknown to us many of these people, object to the name Cajan. There
is certainly no disgrace in being a descendant of the innocent people who were
driven from their homes in Acadia, and settled in this country; and we can see
no reason for being ashamed of the name, or of its contracted form, Cajan. . .
. These Acadians . . . are a quiet, hospital and accommodating people. . . .”
Context:
Human interest-type story about Acadians/Cajuns.
Source:
“The Acadians,” St. Landry Democrat (Opelousas, La.), 30 August 1890, p.
2.
***
40.
1891 — Good Housekeeping
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Positive
Quote: “The
Cajun is sui generis [one of a kind]. He has even lost resemblance to
his Canadian brother. . . . Dancing and festivals are weekly affairs, for in
Cajun land everybody knows everybody else, and entire communities are often
bound by ties of kindred.”
Context:
Article on how Cajun women manage the domestic sphere; its preview blurb
describes Cajuns as “a happy rural people.”
Source: M.
A. Byrne, “How Some of Our Neighbors Live: Cajun Housekeeping,” Good
Housekeeping (October 1891), p. 170, 205.
***
41.
1893 — The (Abbeville, La.) Meridional
Variant:
Cagin
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“The native Creole or ‘cagin’ as the T. D. [Times Democrat newspaper]
prefers to denominate him, clings with peculiar tenacity to the French language
and will speak no other unless he can do so correctly. . . . The Vermilion
[Parish] Cagin who is able to visit the World’s Fair, and travel in a Pullman,
either speaks English correctly, or does not attempt to speak it all.”
Context:
A defense of Cajuns and Creoles, who are depicted in another newspaper as
speaking poor English.
Source:
“No Flies on Vermilion,” The (Abbeville, La.) Meridional, 24 June
1893, p. 2.
***
42.
1893 — Harper’s New Monthly Magazine
Variant:
‘Cajuns
Classification:
Negative
Quote: “Presently
we saw our first Acadians — nowhere spoken of in their own country otherwise
than as ‘Cajuns. . . . Nearly all the white folks who trudged along the highway
were Acadians. . . . and it is strange indeed to hear that we must not call
them ‘Cajuns to their faces lest they be offended, that the term is taken as
one of reproach. . . .”
Context:
Travelogue article about ascending Bayou Teche on a steamboat.
Source: Julian
Ralph, “Along the Bayou Teche,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 87
(November 1893), p. 874, 883.
***
43.
1894 — Kate Field’s Washington
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Milly confided to Tom that the stews and fricassees of this Cajun woman, who
had never been twenty miles from home, to whom a book was a sealed revelation,
put her to the blush, while she mournfully realized that her Ollendorf
[textbook] French was not adequate to intercourse with Ma’am Felix, whose
French had never domiciled itself in letters.”
Context:
Fictional short story.
Source:
Lylie O. Harris, “The New Acadians,” Kate Field’s Washington (18 July
1894), p. 42.
***
44.
1894 — The Abbeville (S.C.) Press and Banner
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Down in Louisiana the ‘Cajuns’ (Acadians) sometimes make gumbo soup of it [the
barred owl].”
Context:
Article about owls.
Source:
“Emblem of Wisdom,” The Abbeville (S.C.) Press and Banner, 19
September 1894, p. 7.
***
45.
1895 — The Harvard Advocate
Variant:
‘Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“The English were cruel and hard—how he hated them—and the ‘Mericans, too, they
were all the same. He would never be a ‘Merican, not he; he would always be a
‘Cajun, always.”
Context:
Fictional short story in Harvard University student magazine.
Source:
C. H. Hovey, “Popa Nonomme,” The Harvard Advocate (14 February 1895),
pp. 119-20.
***
46.
1895 — Forest and Stream
Variant:
Cajuns
Classification:
Neutral [giving both equally positive and negative ascriptions]
Quote:
“Cajuns are very simple . . . men are fairly honest, but hot-blooded and often
quarrelsome . . . fine duck hunters. . . .”
Context:
An account of south Louisiana hunt.
Source:
E. Hough, “The Sunny South — VI,” Forest and Stream (23 March
1895), pp. 224-25.
***
47.
1895 — Forest and Stream
Variant:
‘Cajun
Classification:
Negative [despite both positive and negative ascriptions, but the latter is
dominant]
Quote:
“Now, the ‘Cajun is the only mortal being lazier than an Indian . . . If there
is any better paddler in the world than the American Indian, it is the American
‘Cajun.”
Context:
An account of travelling with a Cajun in a pirogue. [I retained this second
Hough article because, as with the first, I chose it randomly; in any event, it
is not from same issue of Forest and Stream as the above.]
Source:
E. Hough, “The Sunny South, VII—The Pleasures of the Pirogue,” Forest and
Stream (30 March 1895): 243.
***
48. 1896
— The Midland Monthly
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Positive
Quote: “The
‘natives’ or ‘Cajuns’—for so the French are distinguished from the English
speaking population—have kept their language (a dialect), their simple habits,
their French politeness and their Catholic faith. You could hardly deem it
possible in this Nineteenth Century of progress . . . to find a group of people
so simple, so isolated, so free from the carking cares which beset humanity and
so innocent of the great outside world which insists that they need many things
of which they have never even heard.”
Context:
Romantic overview of Cajun culture.
Source: Virginia
H. Reichard, “A Glimpse of Acadia,” The Midland Monthly V (January
1896): p. 6.
***
49.
1896 — Michigan School Moderator
Variant:
Acadian/Cajen
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“For more than one hundred years those thrifty Acadian (Cajen) peasants have
tilled the lands of Bayou Teche (Tesh) and raised wondrous crops of corn and
cane, cattle and children.”
Context:
Geographic overview of Louisiana for students.
Source:
“Mardi Gras and Mexico—VI: Sunset Route through Storyland,” Michigan School
Moderator XVI (16 April 1896): p. 486.
***
50.
1896 — The Morning Times (Washington, D.C.)
Variant:
Cadien
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“Besides its [Natchitoches’] wealthy planters, it had a large Cadien
population, thrifty, hardy, rich in flocks and herds, and making at home every
article of domestic use. . . . Even if the Cadien woman does not run half way
to meet the schoolmaster [i.e., has little interest in education], she has much
common sense, and makes an excellent wife and mother.”
Context:
Article about the promotion of marriage in Natchitoches Parish, La.
Source:
H. O. Harris, “Encouraged Matrimony,” The Morning Times (Washington,
D.C.), 4 October 1896, p. 21.
***
51. 1896
— The Ladies’ Home Journal
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“The Acadian is as true a ‘Cajun’ now as he was when Evangeline’s poor little
body was laid beneath the old oak, whose gaunt arms still swing censers of gray
moss in her memory on the bank of the beautiful Bayou Teche.”
Context:
Romantic overview of Cajun and Creole culture in general.
Source:
Ruth McEnery Stuart, “A People Who Live Amid Romance,” The Ladies’ Home
Journal XIV (December 1896), p. 7
***
52.
1897 — Louisiana: A Sketch in Outline
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“But fortunate indeed does he count himself if before his visit is over he has
penetrated to the interior of the state, away from the rush of civilization,
and felt the indescribable charm of peace, contentment and simplicity to be
encountered in many a humble ‘cajun’ [sic] home.”
Context:
A Louisiana history textbook or primer.
Source:
Henry E. Chambers, Louisiana: A Sketch in Outline of Its Past and Present
(New Orleans: F. F. Hansell & Bro., 1897), p. 35.
***
53.
1897 — Decorah (Iowa) Public Opinion
Variant:
Cajuns
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“[T]he natives, a mixture of Negro and Mexican, are called ‘Cajuns’
(Acadians).”
Context:
A factually erroneous description that is racialized and derogatory.
Source: Mrs.
Geo. P. Bent, “From Sunny Climes,” Decorah (Iowa) Public Opinion,
16 March 1897, p. 1.
***
54.
1898 — The Indianapolis Journal
Variant:
Cajuns
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“[A] large element of the French population . . . are not creoles, but
Acadians, or, as they call themselves and are generally called, ‘Cajuns.’”
Context:
A human interest-type article about Cajuns.
Source:
“The ‘Cajuns’ of Louisiana,” Dallas (Tex.) News, reprinted in The
Indianapolis Journal, 28 January 1898, 7.
***
55.
1898 — The (New York, N.Y.) Sun
Variant:
Cagan
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“The Acadians were a simple, pastoral, peasant people, who settled in the wild
prairies of southwest and central Louisiana and were received with contempt by
the creole [sic]—to whom the word Acadian or ‘Cagan’ is still an
opprobrious epithet—but constitute to-day the bulk and backbone of the
French-speaking population of Louisiana.”
Context:
An overview of the French language in Louisiana.
Source:
“A Century’s Lingual War: French No Longer an Official Language in Louisiana,” The
(New York, N.Y.) Sun, 10 April 1898, p. 4.
***
56.
1901 — The Washington [D.C.] Times
Variant:
Cagan
Classification:
Neutral [excerpt depicts Cajuns both positively and negatively, the author
himself writing in defense of Cajuns]
Quote:
“There is still a disposition to look with contempt on the Acadian on the part
of some. The American speaks contemptuously of ‘the ignorant Cagan’ and the
creole [sic] regards it as the greatest indignity to mistake him for an
Acadian. At the same time the Acadian is growing prosperous and powerful. . . .
These Acadian descendants of French peasants promise to make first-class
American citizens.”
Context:
Prejudiced article about race in Louisiana.
Source:
“Whites in the Majority: A Race Transformation in Louisiana in the Past
Century,” The Washington [D.C.] Times, 12 August 1901, p. 3.
***
57.
1902 — Coalville (Utah) Times
Variant:
Cajan
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“Your Cajan will give a lazy ha ha, where any other white man would swear. . .
.”
Context:
Fictional piece that uses a stock “lazy” Cajun characterization.
Source:
E. H. Lancaster, “The Wooing of Angela,” The Coalville (Utah) Times,
5 December 1902, p. 3.
***
58.
1905 — The Indian Leader (Lawrence, Kan.)
Variant:
‘Cajan
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“In sharp contrast to all this stress of emotion is ‘An Eye for an Eye,’ a
dainty little tale of hot blood and young hearts told in the sweet patois of
the Louisiana ‘Cajun.”
Context:
Preview of current McClure’s magazine articles.
Source: The
Indian Leader (Lawrence, Kan.), 3 November 1905, p. 1
***
59.
1906 — The Craftsman
Variant:
Cajuns
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“They have progressed so slowly as to have become a term of reproach to their
modernized neighbors . . . this class of ‘Cajuns’ . . . The men have been more
aggressive . . . in picking up shiftless habits and shirking their
responsibilities generally.”
Context:
Examines the makers of Acadian (Cajun) homespun cloth.
Source: Campbell
MacLeod, “The Acadians of Louisiana Still Living and Weaving as They Did
Centuries Ago before Their Exile from Canada,” The Craftsman XI (December
1906): p. 333.
***
60.
1907 — The Southern Workman
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral [Cajuns as simple and peaceful, but lacking in education and averse to
progress].
Quote:
“The term Acadian, or ‘Cajun,’ is used to identify the descendants of the Nova
Scotia wanderers. . . . Those who know these people best will be the first to
tell you that ‘there are “Cajuns” and “Cajuns.”’ Many of the men who have made
chapters in Louisiana’s history proudly trace their ancestry back to the exiled
farmers of Grand Pré. . . . [They] preserve the pastoral peace and lack of
progress that characterized their fathers. . . .”
Context:
Article chiefly about the making of Acadian (Cajun) homespun cloth. [Same
article as published by MacLeod in The Craftsman some months earlier; I retain
this reference, however, because I chose it at random, and it has a different
timbre from the passage I happened to focus on previously.]
Source:
Campbell Macleod, “The Acadians of Louisiana,” The Southern Workman
XXXVI (May 1907): p. 271.
***
61.
1907 — Opelousas (La.) Courier
Variant:
Cadien
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Kindly allow me space in your paper to publish my acknowledgment to the
authorship of the communication signed Un Cadien. . . .”
Context:
Letter to the editor about politics.
Source:
“Communicated,” Opelousas (La.) Courier, 3 August 1907, p. 1.
***
62.
1908 — The Craftsman
Variant:
Cajuns
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Even the most primitive Cajuns . . . weave . . . as their [mothers and
grandmothers] did in Nova Scotia . . . They weave Evangeline spreads and
blankets. . . .”
Context:
Description of the town of St. Martinville, La. [By chance, I chose two
previous MacLeod articles; see citations above.]
Source:
Campbell MacLeod, “Evangeline’s Town,” The Craftsman XIII (February
1908), p. 537.
***
63.
1908 — Forest City Press
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“The tale that Judge Simon told Longfellow was one he had often heard from
‘Cajun’ lips. . . . They still tell the old ‘Cajun’ grandes meres, how she
[Emeline Labiche/Evangeline] almost died of joy at the sight of her lover. . .
.”
Context:
How the story of Evangeline allegedly came to be; this is the same article, in
whole or part, as the above Campbell MacLeod, “Evangeline’s Town,” The
Craftsman XIII (February 1908), p. 537.
Source:
“The Sad True Story of ‘Evangeline,’” Forest City Press, 9 April 1908,
p. 4.
***
64.
1908 — The Intermountain and Colorado Catholic
Variant:
‘Cajin
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“Rachel . . . would be nothing by a ‘Cop-Cop,’ an ignorant, lazy ‘Cajin all her
life!”
Context:
A fictional short story featuring south Louisiana.
Source:
Ida Cole, “Ray’s Water Lilies,” The Intermountain Catholic (Salt Lake
City, Utah], 25 July 1908, p. 5.
***
65.
1909 — Bryan (Tex.) Morning Eagle and Pilot
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“If there were any lachrymal effusions at the ‘Cajun’ banquet in hono[r] of Mr.
Taft[,] they must have been crocodile tears—tribute to the memory of the
alligators that furnished the steaks.”
Context:
A news blurb apparently referring to President-Elect William Howard Taft
attending a New Orleans banquet.
Source:
[No title], Bryan (Tex.) Morning Eagle and Pilot, 19 February
1909, p. 2.
***
66.
1909 — The Jeffersonian (Atlanta, Ga.)
Variant:
Cagen
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“An unassimilated part of the population, the ‘habitants’ or ‘Cagens[,]’ live
the life of the Arcadians of the eighteenth century. . . . Their lives are as
narrow. They have no history. They know no traditions. . . . What does the
future hold for them? Nothing, absolutely. . . . these little white slaves of
the prairies, the bayous and coulees of Louisiana.”
Context:
Editorial about Cajun children.
Source:
Julia Lester Dillon, “The Cry of the ‘Cagen’ Children,” The Jeffersonian
(Atlanta, Ga.), 17 June 1909, p. 5.
***
67.
1911 — Lafayette (La.) Advertiser
Variant:
Cadien
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“Bob [Broussard] n’est pas perdu dans la savane, mon cher amie, c’est un Cadien
comme nous autres, élevé dons [sic] la connaissance de cettre même
savane et ne craignant aucun des animaux à cornes, farouches ou non farouches
qui en sont les habitants. . . . [signed] Un Cadien de la Cote Gelee”
“Bob
[Broussard] is not lost in the wilds, my dear friend; he is a Cajun like the
rest of us, raised knowing that very same wilds and fearing none of the horned
animals, wild or not, that inhabit it. . . . [signed] A Cajun from Côte Gelée”
Context:
Letter to the editor about politics.
Source:
“Pour Rassurer un Cousin,” Lafayette (La.) Advertiser, 26
September 1911, p. 4.
***
68.
1911 — Telephony
Variant:
Cadians/Cajen
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“These people are called Acadians, which has been shortened to Cadians, and is
pronounced ‘Cajen.” Though I’m sure that I don’t know why, these people resent
being called Cajens, a name that they should be proud of.”
Context:
Story about a telephone lineman who threatens to curse a tree if a Cajun woman
stops him from trimming it.
Source:
“Putting a ‘Conjure’ on a Tree in Louisiana to Effect a Peaceable Means of
Trimming,” Telephony, 21 October 1911, p. 497.
***
69.
1913 — Brownsville (Tex.) Daily Herald
Variant:
Cajan
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“A ‘Cajan’ planter from Louisiana who is an expert at cane growing, was brought
out to Pharr to take care of this plantation. He has full charge of this cane.
. . .”
Context:
News article about growing sugarcane in Hidalgo County, Texas.
Source:
“Sugar Cane at Pharr,” Brownsville (Tex.) Daily Herald, 7 May
1913, p. 3.
***
70.
1914 — The Frontier (O’Neill City, Neb.)
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“Dem Cajuns girls, when dey love—Nom de Dieu!—dey don’t stop fo’ marriage!”
Context:
Quaint news article about fur-trapping in south Louisiana.
Source:
Charles Tenney Jackson, “The Midlanders [serialized novel], The Frontier
(O’Neill City, Neb.), 2 April 1914.
***
71.
1914 — The Bookman
Variant:
‘Cajen/Acadian
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“The ‘Cajen (Acadian. . . .) as we find him to this day in the bayou country,
is essentially pastoral, forsaking his rural life to his own hurt, this being
the rule which proves the exception (to reverse an adage) for those who have
entered the professions and made metropolitan successes are too small in number
to refute the common assertion that the city holds only poison for the gentle
Acadian who is at his best and happiest on his native heath.”
Context:
Part of a series by different authors about regional populations, for use as
guides in writing fiction.
Source:
Ruth McEnery Stuart, “American Backgrounds for Fiction: VI—Arkansas, Louisiana
and the Gulf Country,” The Bookman (August 1914): 623.
***
72.
1915 — The Enterprise (Harlem, Mont.)
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“‘Certain! I’ll took it those,’ answered the tender. ‘You’ll stay for dish
coffee, yass?’ inquired the keeper, with Cajun hospitality.”
Context:
Fictional short story.
Source: Emerson
Hough, “The Lady and the Pirate,” The Enterprise (Harlem, Mont.), 9
December 1915, p. 2.
***
73.
1915 — The (Union City, Tenn.) Commercial
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“For this day and date only the Elks will follow the old Cajun custom of giving
something extra [lagniappe].”
Context:
Article about an Elks club minstrel show.
Source:
“Burdick the Lagniappe of Big Antler Show,” The (Union City, Tenn.) Commercial,
31 December 1915, p. 3.
***
74.
1917 — Birmingham (Ala.) Age-Herald
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“The term Acadian, or the familiar corruption ‘Cajun,’ is used to identify the
descendants of the Nova Scotia wanderers, the theme of Longfellow’s
masterpiece. . . . When you enter the front of a Cajun’s house you realize that
here is hospitality. . . .”
Context:
An overview of the author’s impressions formed by a visit to south Louisiana.
Source:
Frank Willis Barnett, “A Visit to Acadia [south Louisiana],” Birmingham
(Ala.) Age-Herald, 27 May 1917, p. C4.
***
75.
1921 — Dearborn (Mich.) Independent
Variant:
‘Cadien
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Twenty-two hunters, five ‘Cadien guides, and 33 hounds took part in the hunt.
. . .”
Context:
Bear hunting article.
Source:
Robert Morgan, “Hunting America’s Last Bears,” Dearborn (Mich.) Independent,
15 January 1921, p. 3.
***
76.
1921 — The Border Vidette (Nogales, Ariz.)
Variant:
Cajan
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“They will forget any patronization to which they have been addicted in their
stronger attention to highways through the Cajan swamps of Louisiana. . . .”
Context:
Article about an Arizona meeting of the National Good Roads Association.
Source: The
Border Vidette (Nogales, Ariz.), 30 April 1921.
***
77.
1921 — Star-Progress (Opelousas)
Variant:
Cajin
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“He was proud that he was a Cajin.”
Context:
Article about Louisiana politicians discussing the sole use of English in the
state legislature.
Source:
“Acts Hereafter Only in English,” The (Opelousas, La.)
Star-Progress, 18 May 1921, 2.
***
78.
1922 — Senate Documents
Variant:
Cajuns
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Then there are the ‘Cajuns,’ white people, the descendants of the Acadians. .
. .”
Context:
Federal hearing transcript about Louisiana’s sugar industry.
Source:
“Louisiana Sugar: Statement of Joe B. Chaffe, Representing the American Cane
Growers’ Association,” Senate Documents, 67th Congress, 2nd Session,
1921-1922, Vol. 5, Part 3 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,
1922), p. 2308
***
79. 1922
— Louisiana Reports
Variant:
Cadian/Cajan
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“[A] damned dirty low-down ‘Cadian’ — pronouncing it ‘Cajan.’ . . .”
Context:
Lawsuit in which a Cajun plaintiff alleged he was disparaged, in part by the
defendant maligning his Cajun ancestry, but also by calling him the N word and
thus asserting he was not White.
Source: Pitre v. Sacker, 23 June 1922, Louisiana
Supreme Court, No. 23387 (151 La. 1079, 92 So. 705 [1922]), cited in Louisiana
Reports, Vol. 151 (St. Paul: West Publishing, 1922), p. 1079.
***
80.
1922 — Thibodaux Commercial Journal
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“[Boxer] ‘Red’ Hill . . . did not butt his way to victory . . . nor did he
demand 70 per cent of the gross receipts for a return bout with the Cajun, the
Cajun himself demanding the said 70 per cent.”
Context:
Sports article about a boxing match.
Source:
“Hill Ready to Box ‘Dude,’” Thibodaux Commercial Journal, 22 July 1922,
p. 1.
***
81.
1923 — These United States
Variant:
Cajan
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“This Cajan is worth a word. . . . [T]he Cajan and the Creole must not be
mentioned in the same breath. The Creole is, in his kind, a cultured though
somewhat decadent type; the Cajan, in his, a crude, ingenuous one.”
Context:
Collection of essays on American history and geography that formerly appeared
in the periodical The Nation.
Source:
Ernest Gruening, ed., These United States: A Symposium (New York: Boni
and Liveright, 1923), p. 205.
***
82.
1923 — Washington (D.C.) Times
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral [while inaccurately placing a ‘Cajun district” in Morehouse Parish,
located in north Louisiana]
Quote:
“[The community of] Mer Rouge . . . is in the heart of the ‘Cajun’ district,
peopled largely by the descendants of the French inhabitants of Nova Scotia and
Canada, who refused allegiance to the British crown and fled to Louisiana,
where they have maintained their integrity and still speak French as their
native tongue.”
Context:
About Klan violence in Morehouse Parish, La.
Source:
Herbert B. Mayer, “Louisiana Scene of Weird Crimes; Many Tragedies Before Mer
Rouge,” Washington (D.C.) Times, 28 January 1923, p. 2* [sic].
***
83. 1923-1924
— The World’s Work
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“We are almost immediately in that ‘Cajun’ country, as far as the names of the
stations go. . . . [I]f a Cajun isn’t born into the Gallic tongue, it is his
first duty to acquire it.”
Context:
Article about the impact of a non-English speaking population on the
Anglo-Saxonist goal of public education.
Source:
Gino Speranza, “The Immigration Peril: V. The National Issue of the American
Public School,” The World’s Work XLVII (November 1923-April 1924):
480-81.
***
84.
1925 — Vilas County News (Eagle River, Wisc.)
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“The Cajun of southwestern Louisiana has his own particular customs, some of
them handed down by his Nova Scotian ancestors. . . .”
Context:
Human interest-type story citing novelist Nevil Henshaw as a source.
Source: Vilas
County News (Eagle River, Wisc.), 2 September 1925, p. 3.
***
85.
1926 — The Cajun: A Drama in One Act
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“[T]he term ‘Cajun,’ dissociated now from its etymological origin, has
gradually gained a broader, a popular significance; and—distinctive from
“Creole,” . . . is now loosely applied to the illiterate lower-class French of
South Louisiana. . . . The Cajun mood is wistful, naive, shifting from comedy
to tragedy and back again. The Cajun talks with his eyes, with his hands, and
his shoulders. He is ecstatic, impulsive, lovable; easily excited over trivial
matters, but possessing strength and dignity under stress of real emotion.”
Context:
From the introduction to a play about Cajuns.
Source:
Ada Jack Carver, The Cajun: A Drama in One Act (New York: Samuel French,
1926).
***
86. 1926
— The Sunday Star (Washington, D.C.)
Variant:
Cajin
Classification:
Positive
Quote: “Perhaps
the most romantic of all these interesting settlements [of Old World charm
scattered across American] is the village of St. Martinsville, on the bank of
the Bayou Teche, in the heart of Louisiana. For this is the home of the
hospitable French-Acadians, around whom was woven the poem of ‘Evangeline.’ . .
. ‘Un bon vieu cajin’ [sic] regards politics as highly important. The
office of major or of sheriff is a distinct honor. . . .”
Context:
Romantic overview of south Louisiana culture.
Source:
“U.S. Park and Trail to Give New Fame to Evangeline and Acadians,” The
Sunday Star (Washington, D.C.), May 30, 1926, Part 5, p. 48.
***
87.
1926 — The Kusko Times (McGrath, Alaska)
Variant:
Cajen
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Then there was the Acadian French, or ‘Cajen’ French, as spoken in the
outlying districts of Louisiana.”
Context:
Short article primarily about the word “Creole.”
Source:
“‘Not a Colored Blood’: ‘Creole’ in New Orleans,” The Kusko Times
(McGrath, Alaska), 19 June 1926, p. 2.
***
88.
1926 — Western Medical Times
Variant:
Cajin
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Dr. Mayo says he was disappointed in his trip to the ‘Cajin’ section [of
Louisiana] in finding things so modern. . . . [A number of locals] have been
active in endeavoring to preserve ‘cajin’ characteristics, but so far as I know
the series [that] the writer [of this article] has been giving to the Western
Medical Times is the first attempt in the field of Louisiana medical
folk-lore.”
Context:
A “plea for preservation” of folk medicine practices, including those of the
Cajuns.
Source:
George H. Tichenor, Jr., M.D., “Medical Folk-Lore of Louisiana,” Western
Medical Times 46 (July 1926), p. 6.
***
89.
1926 — The Republican (Oakland, Md.)
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Cajun Justices Not Ruled by Blackstone: The old cajun [sic] justices of
southwest Louisiana were important personages.”
Context:
Amusing anecdote by novelist Nevil Henshaw.
Source:
Nevil Henshaw, Adventure Magazine, reprinted as “Cajun Justices Not
Ruled by Blackstone,” The Republican (Oakland, Md.), 5 August 1926, p.
7.
***
90.
1927 — Old Plantation Houses in Louisiana
Variant:
Cajin
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“On each side a numerous and squalid ‘Cajin’ family has taken possession. They
are generally apathetic to visitors, but occasionally a loud call from one to
the other . . . is apt to startle.”
Context:
Book about Louisiana’s plantation “big houses”
Source:
William P. Spratling and Natalie Scott, Old Plantation Houses in Louisiana
(New York: William Helburn, 1927), pp. 8-9.
***
91.
1927 — Wallace’s Farmer
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Negative
Quote:
“The word ‘Cajun’ is a local corruption of Acadian, and these people are the
descendants of the peasant compatriots of Evangeline. . . . The Creoles are the
ancestral aristocracy of Louisiana . . . but the traditional southern planter,
of English origin . . . is the [current] aristocracy of the land and is not to
be confused with the French and Spanish Creoles and certainly not with the
peasant Cajuns, or the ‘poor whites,’ or the negro [sic]. . . .”
Context:
Article about the state of agriculture in Louisiana.
Source:
Francis A. Flood, “A Southern Caste System: Louisiana Farmers Split Up into
Antagonistic Groups,” Wallace’s Farmer (15 July 1927): 965.
***
92. 1927
— The Sunday Star (Washington, D.C.)
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote: “The
case of the guardsmen who rescued a family in the ‘Cajun’ country of Louisiana
is a fair example. . . . This single group of refugees . . . had been saved
from almost certain death as the waters from a new crevasse swirled madly about
their little home. The father was grateful beyond the power of his Acadian vocabulary
to express.”
Context:
Article about the Flood of 1927.
Source: Rex
Collier, “Bravery Mingled with Humor and Pathos Found in Flood Relief,” The Sunday
Star (Washington, D.C.), 17 July 1927, Part 5, p. 5.
***
93.
1928 — South Bend (Ind.) News-Times
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“‘Cajun,’ a story of Louisiana, is offered from Station WCAE, Pittsburgh. . .
.”
Context:
Promotion of a radio drama about Cajuns.
Source: South
Bend (Ind.) News-Times, 14 April 1928, p. 7* [sic].
***
94.
1929 — Hunter-Trader-Trapper
Variant:
Cagan
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“Accompanied by a ‘rat rancher’ of seventeen years’ experience and native born,
who spoke Cagan French fluently and the English language with a slight accent,
I visited a six hundred-acre tract of marshland, which is worked by himself and
two stalwart boys.”
Context:
Article about fur-trapping in south Louisiana.
Source:
Wilmer H. Gold, “Louisiana’s Muskrat Industry,” Hunter-Trader-Trapper LIV
(April 1929): 21.
***
95.
1929 — The Organized Farmer
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Negative
Quote: “Northern
school children who have read Longfellow’s Evangeline might complete their
education by visiting the descendants of the Acadian exiles. The poetic Acadian
is now a despised ‘Cajun’ in Louisiana slang and regarded as fair meat for the
exploiter.”
Context:
Article about fur trapping in south Louisiana.
Source: Art
Shields, “Thanksgiving Season Brings Jobs to 20,000 Fur Trappers,” The
Organized Farmer (Red Wing, Minn.), 6 December 1929, p. 3.
***
96.
1929 — Lynwood (Calif.) Press
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“Today, an army of 12,000 Cajun trappers, descendants of the original French
adventurers, are busy in the swamps, marshes, woods and fields attempting to
surpass last year’s output of . . . furs.”
Context:
News article about fur-trapping in south Louisiana.
Source:
“Heat, Not Cold, Bothers Fur Trappers; Louisiana’s Pelts Exceed Canada’s,” Lynwood
(Calif.) Press, 26 December 1929, p. 3
***
97.
1930 — Public Welfare Administration in Louisiana
Variant:
Cajin
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“In 1764-65 the Acadian families, banished from Nova Scotia by the English,
came to Louisiana and were granted lands where their descendants still reside,
making up the French parishes and forming the Cajin element in the
present population.”
Context:
Depression-era study of welfare in Louisiana, particularly in regard to
healthcare and criminal justice.
Source:
Elizabeth Wisner, Public Welfare Administration in Louisiana (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1930), p. 1.
***
98.
1930 — National Geographic
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“The language of the Cajun is a French patois, but occasionally he makes forays
upon the English tongue, and weird and fantastic are the results. Although a
vast deal of fun is had at the expense of the Cajun, chiefly on account of his
linguistic lapses, Louisiana has leaned heavily upon his stalwart shoulders and
he endures the hardships of the trapper’s life with admirable bonhomie.”
Context:
Feature article about Louisiana
Source:
Ralph A. Graves, “Louisiana, Land of Perpetual Romance,” The National
Geographic Magazine LVII (April 1930): 406.
***
99.
1930 — The American Register
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Positive
Quote:
“This Cajun country is full of romance, some of it pure fiction, and some of it
with a degree of reality. . . . But be it among the poor or among the rich,
Cajun hospitality knows no bounds.”
Context:
Magazine article, overview of south Louisiana culture.
Source:
Alson Secor, “In the Land of Evangeline: The Flower of American Romance,” The
American Register IV (May 1930), pp. 4-5.
***
100.
1930 — The Ely (Minn.) Miner
Variant:
Cajun
Classification:
Neutral
Quote:
“‘Cajun’ Talk Recorded . . . ‘Cajun talk,’ dialect of Acadians, has been
recorded on phonograph records to preserve the language.”
Context:
Short news item mentioning Cajun speech/language.
Source: The
Ely (Minn.) Miner, 14 November 1930, p. 4.
###
Notes
(1) Thad
St. Martin, Yale Review, quoted in Ryan Andre Brasseaux, Cajun
Breakdown: The Emergence of an American-Made Music (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2009), p. 132; Jim Bradshaw, “When Cajun Was a Fighting Word,” Teche
News (St. Martinville, La.), 8 July 2010, n.p., article submitted by
Bradshaw to Shane K. Bernard, 22 September 2026, email correspondence.
For
those unfamiliar with the term, “coonass” is a somewhat controversial term
synonymous with Cajun. It is not, in itself, a racial epithet, and its
origin remains uncertain, although several folk etymologies have been proposed.
One, for example, holds that the term, if not a racial epithet in itself,
nonetheless derives from a racial epithet. Available evidence, however, is
insufficient to establish that derivation with any certainty.
(2) Julian
Ralph, “Acadians at Home,” Harper’s Magazine, reprinted in The
Indianapolis Journal, 3 November 1893, p. 2; “The ‘Cajuns’ of Louisiana,” Wood
County Reporter (Grand Rapids, Wisc.) [reprinted from the Dallas (Tex.)
News], 2 June 1898, p. 8; “The Acadians," St. Landry Democrat (Opelousas,
La.), 30 August 1890, p. 2; “A Boston Criticism of Cable,” New Orleans
Picayune, reprinted in The Ouachita Telegraph (Monroe, La.), 28
April 1888, p. 1.
(3) Julian
Ralph, “Acadians at Home,” Harper’s Magazine, reprinted in The Indianapolis
Journal, 3 November 1893, p. 2.
(4) “The
Acadians," St. Landry Democrat (Opelousas, La.), 30 August 1890, p. 2.
(5) “The
‘Cajuns’ of Louisiana,” Dallas (Tex.) News, reprinted in The Indianapolis
Journal, 28 January 1898, 7.
(6) Letters to
the editor signed by "Un Cadien" appear or are referred to in:
"Communication," The Weekly Thibodaux (La.) Sentinel, 27 July 1889,
p. 3; "Communicated," Opelousas (La.) Courier, 3 August 1907, p. 1;
"Pour Rassurer un Cousin," Lafayette (La.) Advertiser, 26 September
1911, p. 4.
(7) “Acts
Hereafter Only in English,” The (Opelousas, La.) Star-Progress, 18 May 1921, 2.
(8) Ibid.
(9) Jacques M.
Henry and Carl L. Bankston III discuss the manner in which “Cajun” and other
versions of the word have been used. They do not, however, subject those uses
to statistical analysis. See Henry and Bankston, Blue Collar Bayou:
Louisiana Cajuns in the New Economy of Ethnicity (Westport, Conn.: Praeger,
2002), 39-45. See also Jacques Henry, “From ‘Acadien’ to ‘Cajun’ to ‘Cadien’:
Ethnic Labelization and Construction of Identity,” Journal of American
Ethnic History 17 (Summer 1998): 29-62. One pertinent work of which I am
aware, but have not consulted because it is inaccessible per the Internet, is
Jessica DeJohn Bergen, “Acadian in the Southern Imagination: Race and Identity
in Reconstruction Louisiana Newspapers, 1862-1877,” Ph.D. dissertation,
University of Texas at El Paso, 2022. It, however, focuses only on that fifteen
year period.
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