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STUDY QUESTIONS
for
CAJUNS AND THEIR ACADIAN ANCESTORS:
A YOUNG READER’S HISTORY
by Shane K. Bernard
The following questions cover subjects chronologically as they appear in the book. They
are designed to highlight major trends and events in the sweep of Acadian and Cajun
history.
•
What events convinced the first Acadians to leave France for Acadia?
The first Acadians left France for Acadia because of a combination of disastrous
events, including religious wars, drought, famine, epidemics (disease),
lawlessness (crime), and the burden of high taxes.
•
What characteristics did many of the early Acadian colonists have in common?
Most of the first Acadian colonists came from the Centre-Ouest region of
France and shared a peasant background, the French language, and the
Roman Catholic religion.
•
What was the significance of the Micmac Indian tribe to the early Acadian colonists?
The Micmac Indians taught the Acadians frontier survival skills, such as
how to hunt wild game and how to grow local crops. The Micmac also
intermarried with the Acadians.
•
What were the Acadian colony’s chief exports?
Acadia’s chief exports were fish, especially cod, and fur, which colonists
sent back to France or used for trading with other North American
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colonies, including the British colonies of New England.
•
Why did the British military repeatedly seize Acadia from France?
The British military regarded the Acadian peninsula as crucial to
protecting British colonies in North America from attack by the French
military and its Indian allies. It also wanted to control Acadia’s natural
resources, such as its fishing and fur industries, and particularly its rich
farmland.
•
Why did the Acadians refuse to take an unconditional oath of allegiance to the British
crown?
The Acadians refused to take an unconditional oath of allegiance because
it would require them to fight for the British crown during wartime. They
feared such a promise would invite attacks on them by the French military
and its Indian allies. As a result, the Acadians swore and repeatedly
offered to reaffirm a conditional oath of allegiance, through which they
vowed to be loyal British subjects, but to remain neutral during wartime,
taking up arms for neither the British nor the French.
•
During the expulsion, what steps did the British take to prevent the Acadians from returning
to their homeland?
The British burned the Acadians’ farms, homes, mills, and churches to
discourage the exiles from returning to Nova Scotia. They also confiscated
the Acadians’ farmland and gave it to English-speaking Protestant settlers
loyal to the British crown. Finally, the British scattered the Acadian exiles
in small groups throughout many distant lands, hoping that the Acadians
would be swallowed up by other, larger groups of peoples and cease to
exist as an ethnic group.
•
Why did the Spanish government want the Acadian exiles to settle in Louisiana?
The Spanish government wanted the Acadian exiles to settle in Louisiana
to prevent English colonists from intruding on and settling in Spanish
lands, which consisted of what would become the vast Louisiana Purchase
territory.
•
What was the significance of the Dauterive Compact?
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Although never put into effect, the Dauterive Compact’s promise of land
and cattle attracted early Acadian exiles to south Louisiana’s Attakapas
region. This drew other Acadian exiles to the region, where they and their
descendants soon became the dominant ethnic group.
•
How did the American Civil War and Reconstruction transform the Acadians into a new
ethnic groups called the Cajuns?
The Civil War and Reconstruction destroyed south Louisiana’s economy,
reducing formerly prosperous ethnic groups, such as the French, Spanish,
and Germans, to the same poverty level as the mass of ordinary Acadian
subsistence farmers. Once this happened, these various groups began to
intermarry in large numbers, and the mixing of Acadian, French, Spanish,
and German influences (among others) created the new ethnic group
known today as the Cajuns.
•
What caused the decline of the French language among twentieth-century Cajuns?
In 1916 the Louisiana state board of education declared English the only
language of public school classrooms. In 1921 a new Louisiana state
constitution confirmed this English-only policy. As a result, educators
punished generations of Cajun children for speaking French on school
grounds. This not only discouraged Cajun children from speaking French
among themselves, but years later from teaching it to their own children.
Combined with the onslaught of mainstream American culture — for
example, the coming of television — the practice of punishing Cajun
children for speaking French caused the language’s dramatic decline by
the late twentieth century.
•
What effect did America’s entry into World War II have on the Cajun people?
World War II drew the Cajuns into mainstream American history for the
first time. Thousands of Cajuns served in the military, which introduced
them to a world far beyond their south Louisiana homeland. Meanwhile,
families and friends back on the home front worked in defense plants or
volunteered as civil defense wardens, auxiliary firemen and policeman,
plane spotters, and nurses. Proud of their wartime service, Cajuns
emerged from World War II a heavily Americanized people.
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•
What impact did the aftermath of World War II have on the Cajun people?
Almost as soon as World War II ended, the “Cold War” — a global
struggle between democracy and communism — erupted between the
U.S., the Soviet Union, and their respective allies. Like patriotic
Americans elsewhere, Cajuns joined the struggle, fighting Communist
foes, for example, in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Furthermore,
Cajuns participated in America’s postwar prosperity, magnified in south
Louisiana by the booming oil industry. Armed for the first time with
disposable incomes, Cajuns purchased automobiles, refrigerators, air
conditioners, clothes washers and dryers, and televisions. In this way, the
Cajuns demonstrated that they, like other Americans, had bought into the
“American Dream.”
•
What was the purpose of CODOFIL and what were some of its achievements?
The purpose of CODOFIL (the Council for the Development of French in
Louisiana) was, according to the legislation that created the group, “To do
any and all things necessary to accomplish the development, utilization,
and preservation of the French language as found in the State of Louisiana
for the cultural, economic, and tourist[ic] benefit of the State.” CODOFIL
succeeded in expanding French education in public schools. It also
strengthened cultural and economic ties with France, Belgium, Quebec,
and other French-speaking regions. It promoted south Louisiana as an
intriguing tourist destination, and it generated positive media attention
for the region. Finally, CODOFIL served as an effective Cajun watchdog
group, speaking out against perceived ethic slurs and insults against the
Cajun people. These achievements helped to renew the French language
in Louisiana and to increase Cajun pride and empowerment.
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