Give us 25 minutes, and we will give you 350 years of history. Although there are three parts to this series, In part one, we move from France to Nova Scotia and eventually Louisiana. *Note: Within the first few minutes of this video, Dr. Barry accidentally says that Poitou, France is located on the Eastern side of France. Poitou is located on the Western side of France*. This was an honest mistake and could not be removed from the film due to technical difficulties. Thank you for your understanding.
This documentary covers over 300 years of history concerning the migration and development of modern day Cajuns. Our story starts in Poitou, France where persecution caused a group of French settlers to travel across the ocean to Nova Scotia, Canada. Here they established a new life for themselves and became known as the Acadians. Many years later as a result of English rule over the region, the Acadians were once again persecuted and forced to leave their homes and travel to many destinations. Several ended up in South Louisiana. Still known as Acadians, they thrived for many years in Louisiana until WWII. As a result of leaving the region to fight in the war, many for the first time met people outside of the Acadian community. The war galvanized the Acadians with Americanism. Now identified as Americans many returned home and slowly left the farms they were raised on to marry individuals outside of the Acadian culture. This led to the current race known as Cajuns. Although Cajuns are located throughout the world now, many still associate South Louisiana with the Cajun culture where the bulk continue to reside. This documentary in no way represents all of the events that helped shape the current Cajun culture. It is rather a synopsis of events that occurred which were part of the evolution of a culture which would become known as Cajun. I am sincerely appreciative to the three teams of multimedia students that contributed to this project. I would also like to thank the academic professionals, historians, trappers, and musicians that graciously contributed to this volume of work. Finally, I would like to thank the Target Corporation which provided the equipment to film and produce the film. My sincere hope is that you gain an appreciation of the Cajun people and that you come to understand the many aspects of the culture that are slowly fading such as; speaking French and living off the land as trappers, fisherman and farmers.
Ray Breaux