French Louisianians
French Louisianians, also known as Louisiana French or French Creoles, refer to people of French-American ethnicity native to the areas of the United States formerly comprising the colony of French Louisiana. Distinct regional subgroups include the Alabama Creoles, Arkansas Creoles, Louisiana Creoles, and the Missouri French.
Etymology
The term Créole was originally used by French settlers in North America to distinguish people born in French Louisiana from those born elsewhere, thus drawing a distinction between Old-World Europeans and Africans from their Creole descendants born in the Viceroyalty of New France. The term Louisanese was used as a demonym for Louisiana French people prior to the integration of the Louisiana Territory, but fell into disuse after the Orleans Territory gained admission into the American Union as the State of Louisiana:"The elegant olive-browned Louisianese- the rosy-cheeked maiden from La belle riviere..."
Louisiana French Language
The Louisiana French speak similar dialects of French, with regional varieties including Lower Louisiana French, Upper Louisiana French, and Louisiana Creole.Alabama Creoles
In early 1702, a party of French adventurers led by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville moved from Fort Maurepas in Biloxi, Mississippi to a wooded bluff on the west bank of the Mobile River. There they founded Mobile, which they named after the Maubilian Nation. The outpost was populated by French soldiers, French-Canadian trappers and fur traders, and a few merchants and artisans accompanied by their families. There the French had easy access to the Indigenous fur trade, and furs were Mobile's primary economic resource throughout its early history. Along with fur, some settlers also raised cattle and harvested timber for shipbuilding and the production of naval stores.File:Mobile Cathedral, East view 20160712 1.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1|The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Mobile, Alabama
File:ChoctawBelle.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.6|Portrait of a Choctaw Woman from Mobile
Indigenous nations gathered annually at Mobile to be received by the French, who offered them food, drink, and presents. During this time, as many as 2,000 Mobila would visit and could stay for as long as two weeks. Because of the close and friendly relationship between colonial French and Indigenous peoples, French colonists learned the Indigenous Lingua franca of the area, the Mobilian Jargon, and intermarried with Indigenous women.
In the 18th century, Mobile was a frontier on which a diverse array of peoples interacted: continental Frenchmen, French-Canadians, and various Indigenous peoples all mingled. Unusual in the context of early American history, the greatest source of division between these groups and the one that most often resulted in violent conflict was not that which existed between the Europeans and the natives, as was most often in the English settlement, but amongst the Europeans themselves. The differences between continental Frenchmen and French-Canadians were so great that serious disputes occurred between the two groups.
By the end of the 17th century, the French had begun to import African slaves into their mainland American colonies. In 1721, the first slaves arrived in Mobile, introducing elements of African and West Indian French Creole culture, as many of the slaves who came to Mobile worked in the French West Indies. In 1724, the Code Noir, a slave code based on ancient Roman laws, was instituted in French colonies which allowed slaves a degree of legal and religious rights not found in those of either the British colonies or the United States. Under the Code Noir, ''affranchis'' were entitled to full citizenship and complete civil equality with other French subjects.
By the mid-18th century, Mobile was populated by West Indian French Creoles, European Frenchmen, French-Canadians, Africans, and Indigenous people. Nevertheless, the practice of Roman Catholicism was widespread and largely transcended racial, ethnic, economic, and cultural boundaries. The town's inhabitants included a garrison of 50 soldiers and a mixed population of approximately 400 civilians including merchants, laborers, fur traders, artisans, and slaves. The descendants of this diverse group of people are called Creoles.
Mobile Alabama, the Athens of the South
Mobile contained approximately 40% of all of Alabama's free black population. Mobile's free people of color were known as the Creoles, a distinct group with it own schools, churches, fire company, and social organizations. Many Creoles were the descendants of free blacks at the time of Mobile's capture by American forces, and who retained their freedoms by treaty and treated by the American government as a unique people. Other Creoles were blood relatives of white Mobilians including those of prominent families.In the mid-19th century, Mobile grew prosperous. This is reflected in the nickname it would acquired around this time: "the Athens of the South." Immigrants from continental Europe and elsewhere in the United States arrived in growing number. By 1860, Mobile's population had grown to 30,000.
In 1844, a Northern visitor described the city of Mobile as such:
Mobile was known for its society life. The town was home to a number of social clubs, gentlemen's clubs, militia units, and other organizations that sponsored balls. A January 8th ball to commemorate the Battle of New Orleans was among the highlights of the social season, as were Cotillion balls staged by private clubs.
Spectating and betting on horse races was an especially common pastime in 19th century Mobile and popular across all classes of society. The Mobile Jockey Club offered Mobilians the ability to place a bet on their favorite steeds. Cockfighting also became popular during the 1840s and 1850s.
Like New Orleans, Mobile was home to a vibrant theater scene. Blacks attended Mobile's theaters, and Mobilians were treated to various plays and works by Shakespeare, contemporary comedies, and farce shows.
Mardi Gras became of great importance as mystic societies began putting on masked parades with bands, floats, and horses after members attended grand balls. Elaborate floats depicted images of the ancient world. In 1841 Cowbellion's floats of Greek gods were described as "one of the most gorgeous and unique spectacles that was ever beheld in modern times."
The Catholic community of primarily French Creole descent remained numerous and influential. In 1825, the Catholic community began the 15-year construction of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. For most of the antebellum era, friction between Protestants and Catholics was practically non-existent.
The Creoles of Mobile built a Catholic school run by and for Creoles. Mobilians supported several literary societies, numerous book stores, and number of book and music publishers.
Arkansas Creoles
The Quapaw reached their historical territory, the area of the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers, at least by the mid-17th century. The Illinois and other Algonquian-speaking peoples to the northeast referred to these people as the Akansea or Akansa, referring to geography and meaning "land of the downriver people". As French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet encountered and interacted with the Illinois before they did the Quapaw, they adopted this exonym for the more westerly people. In their language, they referred to them as Arcansas. English-speaking settlers who arrived later in the region adopted the name used by the French, and adapted it to English spelling conventions.The Arkansas Post, officially the Arkansas Post National Memorial, was the first European settlement located along the Mississippi River, in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, and in the present-day U.S. state of Arkansas. In 1686, Henri de Tonti established it on behalf of Louis XIV of France for the purpose of trading with the Quapaw Nation.
During the fur trade years, Arkansas Post was protected by a series of fortifications. The forts and associated settlements were located at four known sites and possibly a fifth.
The French, Spanish, and Americans, who acquired the territory in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase, considered the site of strategic value. It was the capital of Arkansas from 1819 until 1821 when the territorial government relocated to Little Rock.
Écore Fabre was started as a trading post by the Frenchman Fabre and was one of the first European settlements in south-central Arkansas. While the area was nominally ruled by the Spanish from 1763 to 1789, following French defeat in the Seven Years' War, they did not have many colonists in the area and did not interfere with the French. The United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which stimulated migration of English-speaking settlers to this area. They renamed Écore Fabre as Camden.
During years of colonial rule of New France, many of the ethnic French fur traders and voyageurs had an amicable relationship with the Quapaw, as they did with many other trading tribes. Many Quapaw women and French men married and had families together, creating a métis population known as Arkansas Creoles. Pine Bluff, Arkansas, for example, was founded by Joseph Bonne, a man of Quapaw-French métis ancestry.
Indiana French
In 1679, French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was the first European to cross into Indiana after reaching present-day South Bend at the St. Joseph River. He returned the following year to learn about the region. French-Canadian fur traders soon arrived, bringing blankets, jewelry, tools, whiskey and weapons to trade for skins with the Native Americans.By 1702, Sieur Juchereau established the first trading post near Vincennes. In 1715, Sieur de Vincennes built Fort Miami at Kekionga, now Fort Wayne. In 1717, another Canadian, Picote de Beletre, built Fort Ouiatenon on the Wabash River, to try to control Native American trade routes from Lake Erie to the Mississippi River.
In 1732, Sieur de Vincennes built a second fur trading post at Vincennes. French settlers, who had left the earlier post because of hostilities, returned in larger numbers. In a period of a few years, British colonists arrived from the East and contended against the French for control of the lucrative fur trade. Fighting between the French and British colonists occurred throughout the 1750s as a result.
The Native American tribes of Indiana sided with New France during the French and Indian War. With Britain's victory in 1763, the French were forced to cede to the British crown all their lands in North America east of the Mississippi River and north and west of the colonies.