Order Cajun food by mail

The Lafayette Daily Advertiser talks with the folks from cajunbrands.com and their East Coast customers.

"Ethnic cleansing the Canadian way"

Clive Doucet reviews Faragher, A Great and Noble Scheme, in the Globe and Mail.

Acadian history in Annapolis, MD

Group wants to memorialize city's role in Acadian saga.

A visit to Poitou

Pictures and notes from Nicole LeBlanc.

Introducing: ARC

ARC: Acadian Research Connections.

A visit to Lafayette

I was in Lafayette for a conference of Catholic college students the weekend before last and found myself being asked to give a talk on Acadian history--with ten minutes advance warning. It seems the organizers wanted to take the kids to St. Martinville, but hadn't been able to find a guide. Well, I found a thing or two to talk about, including my experiences at the 1999 and 2004 CMAs. Together we went to the Acadian Memorial, where I found they had reinstituted the admission fee, which hadn't been in effect the last time I was present.

I asked the lady at the desk whether she might be able to waive it for this group of students, and she didn't feel she had the authority to do so. A few of the students went ahead and paid, and while we were looking around, she called up another staff member who was at the visitor center across the street, who encouraged her by all means to give the group a break. She tracked me down and passed on the message, and I related it to the rest of the group. I went across later to chat with the lady, a Mrs. Melanson, and to thank her.

It was a wonderful and generous gesture, and it made the students very happy.

Even more significant, the priests and sisters who were spiritual directors for the weekend told me later that a lot of the students found this side trip -- which became for them a real pilgrimage -- one of the highlights of the weekend. There were many Cajuns in the group who didn't know a thing about our history!

America's forgotten atrocity

Andrew O'Hehir reviews John Mack Faragher, A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland, in Salon.com; see also letters responding to it.

Acadian Ancestral Home Newsletter

Be sure to check out the Acadian Ancestral Home Newsletter, edited by Lucie LeBlanc Consentino. It was on hiatus for awhile, but is now back in action. I'm one of the writers.

Reveil - Waking Up French

Reveil - Waking Up French: The Repression and Renaissance of the French in New England. A Film by Ben Levine.

"Cold Mountain" producer sets sights on "Evangeline"

Evangeline branding project more than a movie; "Evangeline" Film Taking New Path; Louisiana Native to Produce Evangeline Film. Film webpage: Evangeline: A True Love Story. It's billed as "a contemporary love story, set in south Louisiana, and rooted in the myth, mystery and culture of Evangeline."

Zachary Richard reflects

Zachary Richard's "monthly report" gives his reflections on CMA, and the concert in Halifax.

Government of Canada Supports the Société nationale de l'Acadie

Department of Canadian Heritage will give SNA $151,000.

$1.6M Acadian Archives opens doors at UMFK

Acadian Archives opened Friday at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

From New Brunswick ...

flag causes hard feelings in Bathurst. City Hall will fly flag of the "Anglophone Society," which is opposed to bilingualism in New Brunswick. Clueless mayor says it is "no different than the Acadian flag or the Union Jack."

"New England Threatened"

How did New Englanders of the late 19th century view Acadians?

Rev. Calvin E. Amaron, Your Heritage; or New England Threatened (Springfield, MA: French Protestant College, 1891). Introduction, by Rev. Joshua Coit, Secretary of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society:

The importance of the French-Canadian problem in New England can hardly be overstated. The present number of French Canadians in New England (in Massachusetts one twelfth of the whole population); their certain increase, both by immigration and by propagation; the openly declared purposes of those who control the great mass of this people as no other class in our land is controlled:--all unite to make this problem a present and pressing one. The French already begin, not only to feel, but also to boast of the strength of their numbers. The Boston Herald of June 25 1891 in its very full report of the "Fête Nationale" held by the French Canadians in Pawtucket R.I. on St. Jean Baptiste's day, June 24, credits an ex-Mayor of Pawtucket with saying: "Mr. Thibault, in his address in French, made a remark that I have heard in English many times to-day. "Here are the future rulers of the country." This is because there is no other race more prolific than the French Canadian unless it be the Irish." These are significant words uttered by one, repeated by many and endorsed by a mayor of no mean city.

It may seem foolish to pay any heed to what should be looked upon simply as the idle boast of a Fête-day orator. But the same hope or expectation crops out in many ways and in many places. Formerly and until recently the order from the bishops and priests to this people was "Do not become citizens in the states, but return with your gains to your old homes in Canada". And the order was obeyed and the French were a shifting, restless class among us. But now the word has gone forth: "Become citizens" and this is obeyed. The French are buying farms and homes. Many have become voters already and very many more have taken out the first papers. This means that there is gathering among us a large mass of voters more pliant and obedient than ever the Irish were to be controlled by orders from their superiors. Great care is taken by the Romish priests, not only through the parochial schools but also from their pulpits, to keep these people well in hand. That they succeed so well is to be accounted for not simply by the ignorance of the people, though this is deplorable, but also by their piety, which is admirable. The danger to our land of this state of things among any considerable portion of the people is plain and will become plainer as the years go by. What risks are in store for our civil and religious liberties. What confusion between public and parochial schools. What conflicts at the ballot box.

This book assures us that the warfare has already begun and brings before the public an array of facts that should be considered by every lover of his country. Make what abatement you please on account of the enthusiasm of the author, there still remains uncontrovertible evidence of peril.

If New England is to maintain its high standing in our land as a home of intelligence, education and religion, she must recognize the changes that are taking place from year to year and awake to the danger of an imperium in imperio.

Let the French Canadians be truly Americanized and freed from subjection to a foreign power and by their industry and frugality they will add strength to our strength. But kept distinct in language and religion, told by those to whom they listen to remain French, they add weakness.

There is no better way to Americanize them than by the influence of Christian education. They seven French Protestant churches under Congregational auspices in Massachusetts, the missions under other denominations, the French Protestant newspaper and the French Protestant College are all in the way to do great service to the State by moulding the characters of those who, if the prophecy of the Pawtucket orator be true, are to be the future rulers of the country.

Boston, Mass., June 25th, 1891.

Texas Cajuns

Texas' French connection; on Cajuns who came over from Louisiana after Spindletop.

Speaking of Quebec ...

The Quebec flag is a recent creation. It was designed in 1902, but not adopted until 1948. Still, they are quite strident about their flag. An Act Respecting the Flag and Emblems of Quebec declares it to be "the national emblem" and it "must be flown on the central tower of the Parliament Building," and "in all cases" it "has precedence over any other flag or emblem." A related law says that all bodies which must display the Quebec flag "must not" display it "on a mast or flagpole together with another flag or banner."

Quebec is near-sighted

The official tourist webpage of Quebec doesn't tell the story right. It starts the history of New France in 1608--not 1604. It talks about the founding of Quebec city and Montreal, and then has this:

From 1660 to 1713 the settlement of New France accelerated as France established colonies in Acadia (now Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) and along the shores of the St. Lawrence.

I dropped them a note.

Allen Maurice Babineaux dead at 79

Driving force behind CODOFIL dies at 79. Family, friends remember Babineaux.

CODOFIL.

You can go home again

Times-Picayune on the Shaw family's welcoming of the Thibodeaus.