This is so true, many Native Americans chose to be considered African Americans right in Homer, Louisiana in efforts to avoid being sent to reservations.
No African American is an outdated term, it’s ADOS or just simply black American. We’re not African. We don’t have any ties to the continent other than dna but we don’t know the people, culture, food or anything. Africans have even created racial slurs to use against us. I’m not claiming that continent
@@trxphywaifalt stop trying to redefined us. AA and ADOS are interchangeable. Then stop calling themselves Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Polish-Americans, etc,etc
He was wonderful! So informative. I don't have roots in Louisiana but I enjoyed learning. I feel like if everyone went back to find their ancestors and family trees, we would see we are all more connected than we think.
@@nytn It's people like you who started colorism. The Black man is mainly responsible for all of this colorism within the Black race. You people base Creole on light skin; however, there are Creoles who have very dark skin, and they are Africans who are born in Africa. This is one of the reasons I hate New Orleans and you colorist Creoles, and even though I was born and raised in New Orleans, I couldn't wait to leave that damn place. You light skin, colorist Creoles are the most wicked people to say the least.
I'm Creole....and remember when I was in high school in the South, I tried out for cheerleading and I was the only person of color that made squad... everyone said I made it because of my skin tone and long hair.... that really hurt my feelings back then......I learned over time not to let others bother me .....
@@nytn It may have hurt, but it was also, in the south, probably true. We can pretend this is not a common occurrence, but we would be lying to ourselves. African Americans are still fighting the shadism battle both within our community and without. Multiple studies have shown that not very black-looking African Americans receive more opportunities than darker or more phenotypically " African" looking African Americans. From jobs to lighter prison sentences. Both inside the community and outside of it. This is most pronounced in the opportunities afforded African American females. If the only person of color accepted for the Squad was the one that looks the most Caucasian, well then there is a question to be asked. There is a reason Leana Horn was the first black movie star. Oakland Made can't be blamed and shouldn't be penalized for the issue, but pretending it doesn't exist serves no one either. Two classes of people of color, divided by shade, hair texture and semi Nordic features is not the goal. It will just continue a paradigm where each group is limited and held back by the very existence of and association with the other group.
@@clementmckenzie7041 You whole comment is a myth. Hattie McDaniel was born in 1893. She was the first BW to win an Oscar. Lena Horne was born in 1917, and the black community use her as example to "prove" their myth about the so called privileged light skin tone. Oprah Winfrey is dark skin tone and the richest BW in the world. How did that happen IF your myth is a fact. You cannot name more than ten famous light skin tones in the black community past and present. However, there are countless dark skin tones soaring in politics, entertainment, business, and etc. past and present. Also, racists do not care about shades of color. Remember, the one drop rule is because they don't claim anyone but pure. The black community have 98% dark skin tones. You people are obsessed with skin tone that you don't even see how your myth cannot be true.
@@clementmckenzie7041 it's not just color Its hair texture, and nose A lightskjnned black could pass IF hair grows out of scalp STRAIGHT and nose is longer than wide
He hit the nails on the head in “white passing” segment. As a brown skin brown eyed Louisiana creole.. l was excited learning about my history from family. I learned really quickly how colorism made ppl question HOW l could be creole, so l just stopped claiming. Years later l ended up taking two different dna ancestry test and sure enough my family was telling the truth.. My mom really pushed me to learn creole..she was the only one in the family l remember speaking it..but l said No, Spanish was the more popular one so l learned Spanish. I’m learning creole now and she’s happy 😊 So am l.
I took a DNA test and same thing. But, my paternal grandfather told me we was light like the first,3rd and 2nd black mayor's of New Orleans ( The Morials and Sidney Barthélemy)
Same thiing happened to me and my family. Both of my mom's parents are Creole, but since my grandfather's family is pretty dark-skinned, they would always get questioned on whether or not they were real Creoles. I convinced my pawpaw and his mom to take DNA tests, and both have a high percentage of both Black and Native ancestry, and French, Spanish, and German. So yeah, they were always telling the truth, too, but colorism has rotted many people's brains and perceptions of race/ethnicity. plus, no one understands genetic inheritance and the fact that those lighter skin creoles are actually the minority because those are recessive genes.
This was such a wonderful interview. The specific detailed breakdown of the cultural, racial and emotional effects of being/ identify as Creole/Louisiana Creole were so exquisitely discussed in the video. Thank you for the open conversation.
@@nytnI wait for another video discussing not just the French/Spanish/Italian Creoles of Louisiana but of French Creoles of South Carolina, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi etc..
I am in tears too. I am almost 50 years old and this interview has helped me to release a lot of ideas I know that are wrong. I know my people are Creole and Native American on my mom's side. Her great-grandmother came from Louisiana and my father was Black may God rest both of their souls. Growing up all we knew in that household was that we were Black. But because we didn't look like the other Black kids in school we all had a hard time. We even had other people and kids pulling on our hair accusing us of lying that our hair was real. When we did not wear wigs. That was our own hair! I also went through being rejected by a lot of Blacks because of my skin color and also because of my appearance. My siblings and I went through a lot and also my sister because she was a darker complexion. They would say that she was not my real sister or half-sister when we all knew we had the same father. I to this day identify myself as a Black woman but I also let people know about my ancestry which is Creole along with the Creek Choctaw tribe from Oklahoma. I have the paperwork to prove my ancestry. I am just proud of who I am and if people can't accept me for how I identify then it is not my problem. Ase'!!!!
As a son of New Orleans, who’s ancestry goes far back into Louisiana History, I appreciate this conversation. All my life, I wasn’t Black enough for my own community, and certainly not White enough to pass, not that I ever wanted to pass. Yet, because of coming from an education family, I often didn’t fit in to my own community. Thank you for this conversation.
Eldric, this comment means a lot to me. As you can see I am still figuring out where my family and I "fit". I dont think it should be that way, and it seems to be very much a community experience...
I totally agree with you. And to think a large reason why it’s so difficult to uncover has to do with purposeful destroying of the records. It’s been slow work getting to discover my indigenous tribal roots. I’m now the family historian!
educated and... anything, especially cultures who don't or can't value it--makes you a standout. But the Haitian in Emancipation movie by Will Smith should help discussion on Haitian Creole, French Creole, Louisiana Creole, etc. are French islands, France colonies (Louisiana purchase by Thomas Jefferson (I believe) was whole mid section of USA paid to France). Dominant powers England, France, Spanish. Lessor but Europe prominent Portugal (map makers&navigators), German, Italy later/Roman before. Lightness Darkness were later issues. But anyone of good habits were going to prosper. Messing w/mental stability light or dark is apparent in one's raising.
Danielle- once again, you hit it out of the park. This interview you had with Jeremy was enlightening for me and I want to thank you again for the time and energy you've shared during your journey. We all have different paths in our lives, and sometimes they are so closely intersected. ❤👏
I’m just finding creole has evolved to identify different people through the years. 1737 South Carolina Gazette defined creole as some one from the islands. Creole is utilized a lot in that area for awhile. For me growing up in St Martinville Louisiana I grew up knowing I was creole and it was a culture a feeling. I can’t remember even having a discussion that it was about race until I left home for the Air Force and brothers from across the states could on reference redbones as creole. Something new to me. My mom was light skinned I just knew she was mullatto, we all have different stories and journeys this is confuSing for me as I delve into my ancestry. Sorry I’m just being briefed here, I’ve been following your journey and appreciate your passion.
Maybe to the Anglo speaking people of South Carolina but not to the Eglise Reformee aka Huguenots (French Protestants) who also called SC home. Tucked away in French low country. They even welcomed in Haitians escaping Haiti from the slaughter that was happening. No different than New Orleans
I'm also Mulatto/Creole, six generations straight. I prefer Mulatto over lightskinned (in my opinion racist). For one Mulatto are a separate identity with our own history!
Thanks so much for making that clear. I'm A full blood Louisiana Creole and my people or dark skin native 👐🏿👐🏿👐🏿to this land. And we still here Breaux bridge, la o lodge to be exact... So no Creole is not a color here in Louisiana it's A culture.... And most who identify has Creole are the native black people that been here. Even historians will tell u that. Zoe life💪🏾🇬🇳🇪🇸🇫🇷🇸🇳👑
My family is all colors. my great grandmother looked like a white woman, identified as black/creole, but shadism/colorism was never an issue. We just loved each other. Much darker than my mom and sister but was never treated any differently. I did, however, experience mild texturism. Nobody's perfect. 🤷🏾♀️
Brudda Jeremy puts the identity of Creoles culture in a proper perspective. We are a hurt people because choices made from the reaction towards the negative aspects of racism, colorism, classism and even controlled linguistics. Many dark skin Creoles were ostracized because of their phenotypes, hair texture or dialect of speech. As a dark skin person who is a Southeast Louisiana Creole descendant I can attest to being challenged and having to prove my ancestry to claim my Creoleness. We are already at the bottom of the social strata. Denials from societal and cultural inclusion forces one to rebel and exit the norm. Then we begin to create our own communal bubbles with certain rituals and traditions that are now unique unto us. The more African examples have shown up prominently in the foods and music styles such as Gumbo, Jambalaya, Zydeco, Jazz, etc., as we learn about our lineage and heritage. The flavor and rhythms are inherently of African origin but amalgamated with Native and European components. Once again we are a hurt people, we carry these bags around with us and pass it down generationally. I've communicated with Brudda Jeremy and Brudda Nick a few times on their podcast series. And left with more enlightenment after each show which compelled me to research even more about our African Ancestor's lives during the Louisiana colonial period. We still keep certain traditions alive like drumming in Congo Square every Sunday and it's a part of the healing process. The emotions are so real. This series here you put together is a mirror for us look deep into. Please let it to continue to flow because it's truly educational, reflective, helpful and healing. Much Respect.
" Many dark skin Creoles were ostracized because of their phenotypes, hair texture or dialect of speech. " Thank you for saying this! I'm black, but in my own ignorance, when I hear the term "Creole," the image of a "beautiful" racially ambiguous woman or man immediately comes to mind. And when I think about Creole culture, I think of entire families of nothing but racially ambiguous people who can pass for literally any race. Having had no exposure to the culture, I gained my limited knowledge on what I saw & read & this is almost always how Creoles are described. Now I am understanding that to be Creole, is not just about being a physical/racial mixture of African, Native, French & Spanish. It's about the seamless blending of these cultures which is very unique & specific to Louisiana. Is this assessment correct? Presumably, a person can be creole & not be racially mixed? Next question: What's the difference between Cajun & Creole culture? In my limited knowledge again, I'm thinking that "Cajun" would be related to whites French Canadian culture & "Creole" would be related to blacks/mixed blacks however the foods are similar? Educate me!
@@lizabetx483 I'm assuming you are talking about Cajuns...who were exiled out of Canada and dropped in the swamps. We are not colonizers. Our people learned to live off of the land and survive like the Natives. We still do to this day. We are a small community that doesn't bother nobody and take great pride in our culture. I don't care if you think my skin tone says otherwise this is our culture just as much as it is creole.
@@spicycajun4 I will make my response to the point. The foods which are proudly claimed as Cajun were present in Louisiana before your ancestors arrival. Foods such as Jambalaya, Red Beans and Rice, Gumbo, Couche Couche, Dirty Rice, Smothered Okra, Pralines etc. These foods have similar versions in West Africa (the origin) as well as the African Diaspora in the New World (French, Spanish, Portuguese, English and Dutch former colonies) There is also documented written stories of early Louisiana explorers and settlers which indicate the food was Creole. Claiming what is not your heritage is appropriation . It does not matter if the appropriation began 300 years ago. You have two choices 1)you can stop your ears and say that you are unwilling to hear anything that will shatter your beliefs or you could research my claims yourself. Also some Louisiana Arcadians had slaves. This is in written documents. The European Creoles were not the only slave owners in Louisiana. So you have a choice embrace cognitive dissonance or explore the truth.
I enjoyed the interview. I’m from a New Orleans Creole family. I also have a lot of roots in other parts of Louisiana. I go between black and Creole depending on who I’m talking to. In Louisiana, it’s almost understood but I feel I need to explain what Creole is to folks outside of Louisiana because many have sooooo many misconceptions about what Creole is.
@Blatina Creole is in my blood, name and culture. There’s many variations to define Creole but it’s not really that complex to those of us who are Creole. We know who we are.
It's people like you who started colorism. The Black man is mainly responsible for all of this colorism within the Black race. You people base Creole on light skin; however, there are Creoles who have very dark skin, and they are Africans who are born in Africa. This is one of the reasons I hate New Orleans and you colorist Creoles, and even though I was born and raised in New Orleans, I couldn't wait to leave that damn place. You light skin, colorist Creoles are the most wicked people to say the least.
Such an outstanding interview! I'm trying to find the right words to express my appreciation of Jeremy. I guess I will sum it up by saying that he has a very important voice to be heard, especially in this era of heightened racial tension in this country. Danielle, like Jeremy you are doing IMPORTANT work; you are both "part of fixing it." What you are doing has wider relevance than I think you realize, and I pray that God will use your work according to His good purposes for healing and reconciliation and give you as wide an audience as what you are doing deserves. 👏🏻🙏
Kathleen, I always love seeing your thoughts on here! I was so thankful to connect with Jeremy and get time to just share heart to heart. The conversation made me realize that there is SO much more that needs to come out into the open. To be SPOKEN. I am praying for true reconciliation in our country. We desperately need it. This is a total labor of love and I am hopeful that little conversations can be taken like a little boy's lunch and miraculously feed 5,000. Hopefully more. Thank you for speaking those words over me!
Thanks, Great work, appreciate all the effort you have put into this series. People all over the world are engaged in this type of soul searching. Thanks for daring to make the first move and for sharing with us. All the best in your endeavors.
Thank you so much for that comment. Im an idealist, I do think the world can change and it doesnt take as much as we think. Having conversations is a massive step toward that. Appreciate you being here!
It’s such a breath of fresh air to see and hear us in front of the camera talk about this. I always felt my family wasn’t the only one experiencing these types of dysfunctions. Damn, these videos really hit home. Even if it’s uncomfortable and/or painful.
Kanitra, this comment is exactly what I hope to hear. I know Im on the "other side" of this experience, but wow....if both sides could come together in this generation I think something very powerful could happen. Glad you are here.
I'm from Lake Charles. Oppression has caused irreversible consequences of our communities choices. This the best, most objective discussion I have heard thus far.
I had a summer fellowship in college and a young lady from Louisiana was also there. Early in the summer, she made a point of telling us she was Creole and that her grandmother referred to Black people as the n-word. I thought she was a light skinned Black woman. This was the summer of 1990 and still one of the oddest and unsolicited interactions of my life.
She was a light skin black woman..many want to deny that part of them.... American black is mixed racially and culturally... some understand some don't.....
What an honest and frank and thorough discussion. My mother was a White passing French speaking creole from Louisiana. MY maternal grandparents were also French speaking creoles from Louisiana. MY maternal grandfather's whole side of the family were White passing. But because of the legacy of the one drop laws, his parents made the decision to stay in Louisiana and identified as Black people.His father had 1/16 Black ancestry. While his mother had 1/8 Black ancestry. MY maternal grandmother was a beautiful much darker skinned woman who had Haitian, French, African and Houma ancestry on both sides of the family. The interesting thing is some of my grandfather's ancestors came from Haiti as free people of color the early 1800s.While some of my grandmother's ancestors came from Haiti as slaves in the 1700s.What is incredible is when I visited my grandmother's people whole still lived in Louisiana in the early 1960s,they spoke different variations of French depending on the generation. Both of my grandmother's parents were still alive in their late 70s.Her maternal grandparents were still alive. As was one paternal grandfather. Lol my mother had to translate to us three kids when the people of her parents generation began to speak in the Dialect. But my maternal grandmother had to translate when her parents,Aunts and Uncles spoke. But she needed help from her parents to translate what her grandparents, great aunts and uncle were speaking. These people could speak good enough English but just felt more comfortable speaking their Dialect amongst family and friends. My maternal grandfather's side spoke standard French and adopted the cajun/creole Dialect as well. THERE were quite a few of his maternal and paternal Aunts and Uncles who decided to leave the state of Louisiana in the late 19th century to pass as White. Two of his paternal Uncles actually moved to France. Eventually they cut ties to the family. Now with Ancestry. Com family members are coming out of the woodwork to reconnect with this branch of the family. Turns out all of his relatives who left Louisiana married into White families and now have descendants. So they are on the same road to discovery as Danielle. The irony is the French relatives are fascinated by the discovery. The American relatives a mixed bag.They all look drop dead White. Which leaves me to ponder the aspects of racial identity in American culture. For some it is about racial purity. For some it is about appearance and the culture and environment in which they were raised. Some relatives honestly said that the discovery of any other ancestry other than African would not change how they view themselves. But how do they come to terms with the African ancestry. No matter how small.What is incredible to me is that some of these relatives have the same features as the much darker relatives in the family. The nose,the lips,the forehead. The only difference being skin color, eye color and color and texture of hair.
@@adpowell1414 …Creoles are multiracial people with Louisiana heritage. It’s the American ideology that has pervaded our culture and gave it this so called difficulty. None of my ancestors would be in alignment with any of the current definitions.
Frederick, So glad for you taking the time to share this. It is a strange thing to inherit, but MY children now know about our Louisiana heritage and as I meet Louisiana family, they learn about them, too. I have heard exactly what you said about the features...my family is light, but the features seem to be evident to the communities of color. We didnt know any better.
I am still figuring out if (theoretically) I could decide to Identify as Creole AND with one of the indigenous tribes where my family comes from. Is this an either/or situation? Or just uniquely Creole?
@@adpowell1414 I think even Hispanics or Latinos debate amongst themselves their identity. Is it regional?Is it cultural? I think it is a legacy of American culture at one time having one of the strictest definitions of race in the world. As if they dictated human beings had to be one or the other. I have Mexican friends and friends from South America who would prefer to identify by nationality. They don't like to be pidgeonholed into identifying as simply Hispanic. Even though their culture has been heavily been influenced by Spain. And to some extent their Ancestry. I know some Mexicans who are nearly 100% indigenous. Someone once asked my what is my ethnicity or race.I said technically I am African American. More culturally than in appearance. BECAUSE I have been mistaken for Spanish,Arabic,Turkish this that or the other. My mother and her parents identified as Black with a creole culture. In terms of language, music and cuisine. So I guess to each his own. If you get a chance research the Ancestry of Charles Curtis the first vice president of partial Native American Ancestry. I FOUND it very interesting. How he self identified .And how he was identified by his White peers.
@@nytn I think it is uniquely American. As more people take the Ancestry DNA tests. I think people still wish to identify what is on their birth certificate. And how they were raised. And how society sees them. THERE are oh so many variables to consider. With all these new discoveries, you will go insane to conform to society's standards of who you should be. Thank you so much for presenting your story. We would like to think race no longer matters within American society. But nothing could be further from the truth. My maternal grandfather decided to marry my much darker maternal grandmother out of pure love.Much to the chagrin of his parents who actually arranged for him to marry a lady of even smaller African ancestry than himself. He used to joke with "Mother Dear" that he married her to remove all doubts as to the identity of their children. Lol only problem was my mother didn't cooperate. She came out even Whiter than her father. While her Brother and sister looked like light skinned Spanish people.
Passing destroyed my dad and me. He was 70 when I was born. His mom passed for white while we just got erased and labeled black. I am excited to watch this. Maybe I can learn something to help me try to deal with my truth and this evil society I can't fit into.
@@nytn 💙 I am jist seeing your response. There is healing in knowing now. I also see that you are in a family group on fb or a relative of yours. I have been added to the same group. I have familial ties to the locations you are researching. I knew the first time I saw your content it was no accident. Hopefully I will run into you very soon. 💜 you have helped me and my family more than you know. I hope we are related 😂💜. I am a few gedmatch projects trying to rewrite history correctly as per our dna.
Black is a color in a crayola crown box 9 times of 10 if your are so call niggro Hispanic native American on your father's side The Holy Scriptures call you an isrealite if your father was a so call white man according too the scriptures you would be an Edomite doomed for slavery an destruction for what you did to the children of Israel read your Bible KJV1611
I know we definitely had relatives who moved to California from Opelousas, Louisiana.( Who passed as white). As a child, I did asked my Grandmother, who is that "white woman" she was talking to at her parents house. She told me her story and she is our cousin. Her parents didn't teach them Creole, not to hold them back.
Thank you for sharing your story. You are doing fine. I shared before that my grandmother always said we were Indians, not African. We were Creole. I never identified, until I started researching my Ancestry. They are survivors! I will not deny them again. DNA test X3 prove that I am majority African ( Louisiana Creole and African American with Caucasian, Native, I definitely have ancestry to trace back to west Africa 🌍, majority).
Hahahahhaa, we might be related. I'm first generation born in California. My dad's family is from Opelousas, bayou chicot , ville Platte. My Louisiana family still speaks the language, all I know how to say is Papa Noel! Lol
I remember being told that a Creole is a native born individual prior to the War of 1812 of any mix of French, Spanish, and African. I remember explaining to a person from the North once that our ancestors in Louisiana did not come from the thirteen Colonies or Ellis Island. We don’t identify as Americans quite in the same way as other groups because we weren’t part of that immigrant community. Add the wrinkle of modern blackness, and I can imagine it’s very complex. The curious thing is that you can tell a very similar story when looking at the colorism associated with the various groups within Indian culture and others who have a color divide within their culture.
I'd like to add to the "13 colonies" comment. America's history dosent simply start with the 13 colonies like these Anglo Saxons like to push. Also their were many French settlements on the east coast. Particularly in South Carolina. My roots come from the settlement of French Santee. One of several settlements which include Orange Quarter, Goose Creek, and a few others. These French people mixed alot with slaves. Many lived openly like a normal marriage right there in the Carolinas. When things got hot they would send family members to Louisiana. Facts
@coffeenut6124 No it was not. In fact Criollo is the original word which was either Spanish or Portuguese. That word translated in French is Creole. But yes it has something to do with being from one of the 5 Latin countries moving to the America's and having your offspring. Nothing about race. Do you descend from people of Spain, Portugal, France, or Italy in the America's. It's either a yes or no
How wonderful! This deep and respectful conversation about people and culture in the cross hairs of racism and its consequences after generations of suffering. This same situation exists though without the centuries of history in your country, here in Australia with indigenous and settler communities and families. Some families are divided by skin tone and culture and even both. A person is Indigenous if raised in the community that is culturally indigenous and can be vouched for. Science and DNA research has opened up the reality that we are all human, and we are all challenged everywhere to demolish racism and all its permutations. Keep up your careful work making this warm and heartfelt exploration of history culture and identity. Blessings from Australia
I am always fascinated by the similar history and dynamics in Australia.. I love how DNA has broken down some of these "walls". There are many more to get broken down still.
Jeremy, I am so happy you are speaking in this topic. My family identifies as Creole, and we have many family members who are passing and have left us and their community and never looked back. My grandmother who is 97 years old, had and still has siblings passing as White living in California. And, she still hurt in that she has not spoken to her siblings in years. The Creoles who stayed behind (New Orleans), don’t talk about this, it’s almost as if it’s a family secret and because of this, we have lost so many family members. We keep what we think of color and culture from other cultures and we finally have a space to discuss this. Thanks Jeremy. I would live to discuss my experience with you someday.
Good video. Yes , I think Mr Simien definitely need a TH-cam channel talking about Creole culture and New Orleans history, Arts culture. I agreed with about 40% because my family comes from southern Louisiana ( Lafayette to breux bridge and many did not speak English). Yes, Jeremy is Creole but Creole can be dark people too. Your great granny definitely looks Creole or light skinned black woman to me.
There are Creoles all over Louisiana not just South Louisiana.. I know several who are light skin with Black features who speak some French.. especially around Natchitoches and Shreveport.
⚪ Help me edit videos: buy me a coffee!:ko-fi.com/nytn13 Support more storytelling and get behind the scenes videos: www.patreon.com/NYTN/about Watch the docu-series "Finding Lola" that started the journey: th-cam.com/play/PLvzaW1c7S5hQcox9CjaJWA7QKTYXw9Zn2.html Want to connect? facebook.com/findinglolafilm/ Want to know more? www.findinglolafilm.com
You may want to get AD Powell off your comments. He is a colorist and possibly racist has made some very rude, divisive, and offensive comments towards darker complected or non mixed Black people. I love your page and don't think there should be any space for things like that.
If you have a family member that has been adopted best way to start search? And my grandma told me that her grandma was full blooded Cherokee Indian,how do I find her truth she was born in Anstead West Virginia? 🙏🏾💕☺️ Please I think anything can start my search for any Indian decent left in my family on earth 💕
@@ameliasudberry9915 Even though I have had problems with the dna test, I would start by testing your oldest living family member on that side. It will give you the closest cousin matches you have as well
@@nytn thank you but my eldest passed in 07 what about second oldest? Shaun was her name our family has that Sickle cell animia runs in her father and my family 🙏🏾💕
Yes I have an interesting story and still piecing together things of the life I've lived and living. There is an entire Creole society there in New Orleans so not sure if you've reached out ...
LOVE how informative AND how TRUTHFUL this conversation is about how colorism has played into this topic. Also just really cool to see how awesome of a state Louisiana is. ❤
I love that you are unpacking your history, your identity, in this way. As a person a Creole decent, we lost our language, and to this day have family members choosing to live outside of the family. A family member has recently connected to her son and explained how it was he grandmother (he was told) that pushed this distance with his mother to pass and live a life outside of who she was. He too is excited to know this side of his family.
I recently found out that I’m descended from the white passing Creole people who left their family. They even changed their last name spelling in 1918 so it’d be harder to find them. I never knew much about my grandpa and his parents. I just knew that his mom was French Cajun from Louisiana. I had tried to find info on that side of the family for the longest time! My search would always end right at my great great grandfather and there wasn’t hardly any info about him. I tried my search again this past summer and finally got all the links to that line of the family and found out we descended from the Creole Free People of Color who were in Louisiana and Haiti, but my direct line went for white passing and abandoned their Creole family ties which is why it took me so long to finally figure out where my grandpa came from. Your vid is awesome at addressing some questions I had. I just gotta add that it was heartbreaking and bitter sweet for me to learn about why that side of my family was shrouded in mystery for most of my life and I finally uncovered the truth.
this is an amazing story! Im so glad you are here. I have a whole docu-series on researching this side of my family. Same story. They are here! th-cam.com/play/PLvzaW1c7S5hQcox9CjaJWA7QKTYXw9Zn2.html
One of the prior comments on what “creole” come from the Spanish “criollo” which is what the American-born Spanish were called. Our Latin American food is called comida “criolla” because our food is a mixture of all 3 cultures just like the gumbo Danielle referenced to.
Monsieur Simien is a fine speaker. With remarkable articulacy and sensitivity, he brought so much about Creole identity. It's uncommon for us men to tap into that psychotherapeutic side of understanding and empathy.
Interestingly my great grandmother’s family identified as Creole.. I remember sharing this information with my half brother who told me I couldn’t possibly have any Creole ancestry because I was too dark.. I was about 9 or 10 and I remember how angry I was because I felt like who was he to tell me what my mother’s family was..My great grandmother spoke French and when she spoke English it was very heavily accentuated with a French accent. I had to concentrate as a child to understand what she was saying 😂
I experienced the same as a child. My grandmother and grandfather spoke French or a creole french and my Mother was born and raised in south Louisiana but migrated north as a teen. My Mom married a man darker than her family and some of our cousins in the south did not consider I and my siblings Creole. Being raised in Michigan and being of a dark colored Creole ancestry was not questioned (maybe because my Mother cooked like a New Orleans chef), but it was always questioned when visiting our grandparents and met their neighbors
@@sharonwilliams5965 yeah it was strange to me that complexion made a difference as to whether or not you were considered Creole. As my half brother got to meet my great grandmother before she passed and it really blew his mind how wrong he was. My great grandmother was light brown, had blue gray colored eyes, and dark wavy hair. I guess seeing her fit the mold. It was confusing to me that anyone would question family background based on complexion.
It is strange to me that how some people decide "who" is Creole. It feels like no one can really agree. Thats why Im over here hanging on the sidelines....
@@nytn I totally get that..Jeremy had a great point that Creole is cultural…like being Hispanic is cultural..you have Black Hispanic, White Hispanic, Multi Racial Hispanic, even Asian Hispanic..people are going to laugh at the last one but until I watched a documentary about it I wouldn’t have even considered Asians to also be Hispanic but there are some who do identify as such.. I am now looking as Creoles the same way..and because I grew up with only exposure to Creole culture and not fully immersed I do get where the struggle is to identify as such.. I have always been conflicted as to whether or not I should identify as Creole like my great grandmother and my older great aunts did
Thank you for this video, its so important that these conversations are had and that people can cut through the oppressive ideas and concepts of self-identity that have been applied to us. When people ask me about my ethnicity I just say Creole because that gives respect to all of my ancestry African/Islander, French, German not just one particular part and not just skin color or superficial things
Thus was very good! Especially firing black history month. Everything he said about colorism is so true, even if you aren't from Louisiana. Once you identify as black it seems you will be grouped as "light skin" or "brown/dark skin" then sub grouped as "house n-word" vs "field n-word" which means "easier life with privilege" vs "harder life and struggles." AND that's all within the black community. Not realizing that outside of the black community, any color tan with any textured curl makes you black. Jay Z has a song about this- I forget what it's called. But even him with all of his money and advantage, he will always be looked at as black first, not human. The stigma of it all! I will also say it seems that mixed race individuals from Louisiana who were part black and identified as Creole, kind of still shies away from the blackness and enhances the French, which, to me, still shows shame to black culture. Like Jeremy said, we aren't responsible for the past. But I will say, talking about this and educating folks may urge people to look into their history and see how mixed we all really are. We're all humans made of flesh, blood, bones and water. We all bleed red and the money is green for all. Let's be kind and carry on.
Toni, this comment was so good, but I hate all the ways that we are broken apart from each other. It's unceasing. If nothing else, I think this has changed my perception of people who don't look like me, now I wonder, are we cousins?? Totally different mindset, for the better.
@@tamarastone141 ….Beyoncé’s mother’s lineage is well documented several generations back. The “black” great ancestress was Haitian Creole and afterwards they were Cajuns or Creoles. Her dad’s side we don’t know but if he’s AA then there’s a good chance he has European and Native American heritage. Together, Beyoncé and Solange are still Creole because it’s not just a word but a cultural identity encompassing rituals, language, history, and customs that aren’t identical to AA.
That maybe true to a certain extent let's not get things twisted being black or African decent they genetically different than whites Asians and so called Latinos Hispanics so yes blacks are a very different kind of humans that's like saying monkeys dogs and cows
How can creoles shy away from blackness when they are a mixture?! To Anglo Saxons mulattos are just light skinned blacks which us racist. Especially given the fact Mulattos have several hundred years of history in this very country. I'm a French Creole by way of South Carolina. I've lived in Panama and Brazil. I AM NOT BLACK to anyone in those countries. They say you're just like us mixed with Latin roots. Dominicans, Puerto Ricans etc embrace me they don't play th3 color game
Thanks for making this video.found out I’m a New Orleans creole by ancestry dna and it’s a sad story about how it happened I was lied about my real father.
I wonder how many people moved to California from Louisiana and moved fully into the white society there. California received a lot of people from Louisiana.
@@AL-TitoVidal Many moved to Chicago, CA and Arkansas. My step father was dark complected Creole. He was born in Chicago in 1932. Attended Dunbar High School too. He was raised in the Southside of Chicago. Some of his relatives moved and settled in Arkansas too but from his stories. He told us his parents & other relatives headed to Chicago. During the first wave of the Great Migration. Leaving the Jim Crowe South and going for the factory jobs. Plus, opportunities. However, my stepfather married his first wife and met her in Chicago. She was Creole too and could pass as White. They moved to CA in the mid 60s. I believe all the children were born in CA but I definitely know his parents came from Louisiana & Mississippi.
Jeremy's input and what he experienced was so different from yours yet so similar. I feel like this is the story of a new homeowner who is looking around in the rooms and wondering why all the walls are painted a neutral colour. As they begin to prepare the walls for new and colourful paint they discover that the walls were of different and bright hues at one time. Due to some advice or edict to previous owners the beautiful bright colours were muted to neutrals to make the interior not stand out and be different from others in the neighbourhood. I am hoping that as you continue to "peel back the paint" that you will find other "long lost" family members who are descendants of that time. Sadly, it was necessary for Lola to make tough decisions to try to survive due to the times that she lived in. They could fill in some more information to fill out your story even more. Finding Lola is diving deep into the sad and racially charged history of the United States, Louisiana, and the eventual merger of the 2. Thank you for continuing to share your journey, Danielle. ❤
This was so beautiful, thank you for sharing such an insightful reflection with us all. You are right, there are layers and layers....and it's not a process to be rushed. Maybe it can make a tiny change in the world. That would be such an honor to Lola, I think.
Right on point when it comes to the issue of colorism within Creole Culture. My Maternal Grandma was from N.E. Louisiana born 1897 in Jones, LA My father in law's family escaped Slavery in New Orleans resettled in Canada and eventually moved to S.W. Michigan and Flourished in Business a pillar of his community for years. his granddaughter attended University in Tenn. She was urged to claim here Creole Heritage by individuals she came in contact with while attending school I told her your Grandpa knew his heritage and spoke French but never was consumed by it. 🙏🏾👁️💔👁️🙏🏾
the term creole is of spanish origin. spanish citizens born in the iberian peninsula and their descendants were referred to as "peninsulary" . "creoles" were spanish citizens born in one of the spanish territories like louisiana.
Always context-bound. Créole/criollo/crioulo was also used to refer to the fact that the person was born in the Spanish/French/Portuguese colonies back in the day. Sometimes the term "creole" would be used refer to enslaved people who were not born in Africa.
@Estelle Cadiz Going back to the 1600s, there was a point when the authorities in Spain (and/or Portugal--remember the two countries were sometimes united, sometimes separate, but always connected) made it illegal for those born in the colonies to see maps of the world. That way those born in the colonies would not notice that the Iberian peninsula was smaller than Latin America. There were two hierarchies at work: 1) going back to the 1500s where there was a distinction between Old Christians and New Christians (after the expulsion of Iberian Jews and Muslims who did not convert to Catholic Christianity) and 2) the distinction between those born in the "Old" World and their descendants born in the "New" World.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room. As complicated as life could be for Louisiana Creoles, as they faced brutal racism and debilitating discrimination. They practiced a particularly vicious form of shadism against darker-skinned less mixed-race people of African ancestry themselves that deeply wounded and cleaved the black community in two in Louisiana. If you were darker skinned you were more likely to be treated with more respect by a white person, than you were by a Louisiana creole. They attended churches that did not allow blacks that were darker than a paper bag to attend. Their social clubs excluded anyone darker than the pine doors at the entrance. If you could not run a fine-toothed comb through your hair, you could not attend a school where Louisiana creoles went. If you married a person darker than tan, You would most likely be ostracized by the family or the community. They were more accepting of a child born from a relationship with a white man out of wedlock Than a child born of the marriage of a dark-skinned black person and a Creole. The generations of scorn heaped on the non or less mixed-race black community by Mixed race creoles has left the community near permanently under suspicion by The larger black community even to this day. The Creole community can't really heal well because this aspect of their history remains unhealed. As the concept of a buffer race in America disappeared so did the place this community imagined for itself. Not white enough, but intrinsically better than darker-skinned blacks.
This was so great. I feel like we need to be connected. I recently found out my grandmother spoke fluent French because her mother was creole and we never knew. Additionally her husband my grandfather migrated from Cuba. I just find these things so fascinating only to find them out after having a growing family of my own. It’s natural for us to want to know even if we didn’t grow up in that culture. But I agree with Jeremy … my grandmother forced herself to learn English so she could fit in more. Great interview.
There's three levels of Creoles the first level of Creoles the ones that were born of the original French or spanish / Portuguese settlers mixed with Native and black could be light or darkskinned. then you have the children of plasage. These children are 4 generations mixed but not this is not the same as the others these descendents usually prided themselves on their lightness these are the so-called quadroons octoroon peoples and their fathers usually came from Means not just regular Joe's like the original Creoles. Then you have the American Creoles. These are the whites settlers of scotch Irish German English descendant who came after the French sold Louisiana. The Americans stole the use the name creole for themselves changing the definition instead of having been the descendants of the early French Spanish Portugues settlers with Indigenous and Black women . It's changed to just being WHITES BORN IN LOUISIANA. Funny how the whites that ended up coming later but didn't want to take over the name of Cajun but they felt it necessary to disenfranchise the original Creoles
This was a beautiful discussion. He spoke about truths that still ring loud today. The stretch of one common thread we deal with from the darkest to the fairest. The traumas still strongly exist. It's great that it's being more talked about.
I find the definition of Creole has a differing meaning outside of Louisiana, where outside it is largely understood as mixed race usually French/African blood, while the definition inside the state and in particular in New Orleans the dynamics are claimed by multiple Groups, indigenous, exclusively Euro-French, Mulatto, Cajun- Spanish root etc...as your guest is articulating in this post, lots of debate on this within' the city recently, great info, be encouraged!
Simply stated, I've always understood creole to be French mixed with African. The Louisiana Territory was purchased from france in 1803. The Louisiana territory encompassed more than just lousiana. It covered several states as we now know them today. It was more than race mixture. It involved the people we call creole whole lives. Their mannerisms, language, ethnic identity, everything. He is wrong about a few things. That's all I have to say.
Often times what have always understood is not accurate. I encourage you study perhaps with a scholar that is well studied in Louisiana Creoles. Creole is not an ethnicity nor is it relegated only to the mixture of French and African American. Yet, many Creoles of color have French, African, Native American and even some have Italian, Spanish and German ancestry. But, it is not only French and African. I fear you have a faulty and superficial understanding of what defines one as Creole in reference to Louisiana. There are White Creoles and Creoles of color. You have to do a historical study to understand that originally creole defined people who were born in the colony and were descendants of French or Spanish parents. Due to American influence and changing societal norms the definition/transition changed or was modified. Understand, that with the passing time today you can be phenotypically black, mixed or phenotypically white and be Creole. It is a culture, not a certain mixture of ethnicities.
He hit the nail on the head! Everything he speaks about I've seen in my own family and friends that are culturally creole and racially identifying as such. Colorism had a lot to do with it and survival of the time.
@PAISLEY PRINCESS I've seen both. Some have married more black, less creole or mixed and the generations look more black. Then you have those that married similar looking or none black and generations exhibit a variety of complexions, features and hair textures. Then you're told "you're not black".
@@paisleyprincess7996 …many of us are now Hispanic aligned and yet, many of us still look as mixed race as our ancestors. I am a Creole and l say it whenever someone asks if l’m Latino and a BW like yourself is always quick to intone, “you’re just black!” I understand deep down this inner sense of low self esteem as she looks at my light skin and long wavy hair. However, her issues can’t negate my Creole heritage or sense of identity ⚜️
@@MayMay-el4wg Um…Wrong again. I’m BIRACIAL. White mom, black father. I’m biracial but I’m black culturally. And proud of it. I’m also ambiguous, but I don’t hide behind it and turn against other black people and play into the colorism trap. People can identify how they want, but it’s the comments like yours that irk me…Because to bigots everywhere we’re still ninjas
I think the cultural aspect is HUGE. My mom and gram could have been raised as Mexican American, Indigenous, Creole, or African american. ANY of those cultures are a part of our immediate family line. But we were raised Irish/French. This is what is still hard for me to wrap my mind around.
Mes cousins! I grew up in a creole neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. Nai , 1950’s. Patois French, spicy rice eating people! Ironically, I have relocated, retired to New Orleans. Learning about my people. Someone from here asked me what I am. I replied, creole. .. I could hear her mind shifting. Didn’t know why. Your conversation touched on this local raw nerve that I have never known before. Much grass
@@nytn Sharing an interesting cultural traditions observation. My mother taught me a lot, a lot of traditions. My husband immigrated from Egypt and I went to live there for a while. Turns out we had in common many of the same traditional knowledge. He was surprised at how much I knew and practiced. All we could figure is that African customs were an oral history passed on through the worst of slavery and oppression. In the end, I thank my ancestors, they prepared me to live a global life style. Which we have passed on to our children and their children. ☮️
this was the next thing i scrolled to and the thing on my mind was my white appearing creole new orleans mother. synch! on both sides of my paternity, everyone comes in different shades and hair textures. we are also Choctaw Cherokee and Chickasaw. we were French speakers on one side and the other couldn't rid it from me sooner. the choices on how to identify has been kind of a racial struggle within the family group. at least the gen i grew up amongst was like that. i'm one of the few who recognizes my indigenous heritage, which i feel was a great loss.
Wow, this is so amazing. My dad is from Louisiana New Orleans and this hits home he left my dad is 91. I really appreciate this video. It helped me in so many ways kinda identify where I belong like you said I feel like I didn’t nowhere so it feels like a little piece of me got found
I literally found out recently. I knew my family went far back into Louisiana but not 300 years ago 😂. Our names are very French still and my dad's family comes in all skin tones.They never mentioned being Creole though. I was doing my family tree and found out I have a Spanish Creole ancestors as well as a few French and seeing my distant cousins on Ancestry and 23andMe pop up in Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Even been approached by LA Creoles in Cali asking me if I was a LA Creole before finding out.
Wow everything he said is 100% accurate. It’s always hard for me to explain to non Creoles, who and what we are. I always say, it’s a Creole thing you wouldn’t understand. Jeremy Simien understands. Thank you my Louisiana Creole brother for educating the masses.
I'm Cajun/Creole Louisiana born and bred. I'm also white, raised as such and have DNA tested to see if I needed to go back through my paper research again. I definately (and obviously) have POC who are cousins but if the dna is accurate, that is not something I need to be looking for myself. But I still identify as creole. My grandfather traces his family back to colonial New Orleans and my grandmother was Acadian/Cajun and didn't leave the bayou til the 1920's or so. It wasn't until I started watching some of Jeremy's conversations on YT that I felt comfortable self identifying as Creole. I still have people look at me weird since I am very obviously white but I now have the historical context because of his information that allows me to push back when I need to.
Thank you so much for this video. I’ve had so many questions with my family and why they don’t like talking about something that is a part of our history. This really helped clarify why they chose not to claim being creole.
Loved this conversation. I wonder if you’re a distant cousin of my son I think you mentioned the name Guillory. From what I’ve researched he has Cajun/Creole ancestors. I also have Louisiana roots. I appreciate you sharing your journey with us ❤
Sir the Native Americans were Black, let me say that again, the Original People of North and South America were Darkskin/Ebony People......God's chosen people!!
I'm a mixed-race guy from NJ but very familiar with the La. Creole population. There are such a spectrum of mixed people from that area- I just spoke with a 60-yr old white former co-worker from Calif. who called me in surprise to say he JUST found out his maternal family is descended from "free people of color" in Louisiana, found old photos of them, etc. He hadn't known this until now.
Hi, nice show and presenter...what was not included were the Haitian creole and canary island people who came to LA and mixed especially in your family area...My family are hemings/Thomas Jefferson and they did pass
Yes, I completely relate to what he is saying. I was so confused between what is creole . My Pau Pau used to say, "we's creole. But I thought it just meant they were from New Orleans. What Ive learned is that is was a way that distinugished those who were of African Ancestry that were born in New Orleans vs those who were born in a West African country. It is imposed upon us when our families use it, but dont really have one definition of what it is. Is it African and French ? Is it mixed race ? Is it born in the US vs born on the continent ? It seems everyone has their own definition which makes it more confusing.
Very interesting indeed And just the opposite of my grandmother who was creole born and raised in New Orleans with family also in Natchitoches Louisiana. She and all of my family could have passed if they wanted but chose not to. For the life of her she would never claim herself as creole. Almost with some sort of distain. (?) She would instead choose to say we're just french and some black. But you couldn't dare call her Creole. I was always intrigued by her decisive stance. Very interesting times back then combined with the complexity of how and where to fit in.
You are so right. All over the new world, creole, criolla, kreyòl meant born in the "colonies" vs. being born in England, Spain, west Africa, etc. It obviously has evolved over the centuries but that is the origin.
Thanks for breaking this down, I always believed Creole was anyone of any mixing of "races", all shades. The one crossing the color barrier were Cajun/ white. As a Jamaican, I love the country's original motto...." OUT OF MANY ONE PEOPLE" I always say, what you see is what you get. As per racial profiling I am considered Quadroon, but depending on my hairstyles I can pass for Hispanic, I was even called a "NATO BABY " when living in Europe ( Germany). Sounds very similar to some Jamaicans, in my house being brought up by my Grandmother who was Bi-racial banned anyone that spoke "patios" from the house. I was told only the Queen's English was spoken in her house. (circa..1970-1974) I agree with Jeremy...you are who you are....hold your head up and be proud of who you are, no matter what others think of you.
This discussion was fascinating to me. It’s a really hard topic that I can identify with - how do you respect your ancestors and heritage without truly having had the same experience because of being raised as white? And how do people react? It’s tough, and I very much respect your transparency in your journey.
Thanks for sharing your stories! I’m still here as a Creole male that’s longing for Creole unity. We are treated differently from both sides. I have long deep scares for being a Creole. Love you family!
I am a Coloured (not the same context as the USA) South African. More specifically Cape Coloured. It seems my community has many similarities with the Louisiana Creole community. It's really interesting. I'm trying to trace my roots to see what our genetic makeup is over the generations. It's like pulling chickens' teeth.
I am Creole with my roots in New Iberia, Louisiana. As passed down from my Great-grand father, who is a LaBeaux, our culture consists of African, Spanish, French and Native-American (Muskogee- Cree). Though I do not look white or black, I am always assumed to be Mexican, Latin American, and occasionally Middle Eastern. My father is Caucasian (Swiss), but it is my mother who is Creole. She regularly gets mistaken for being Latin American or East-Indian. My mother's cooking reflects the Spanish and French influence in her cooking. At our church she is considered the Queen of the sweet-potato pies. Though I was born and raised in San Francisco, CA, I am proud of my Creole heritage and am a serious critic of Gumbo. That reaux betta be right!
My great grandparents were Louisiana Creole.Was super close with my great grandpa. I am very proud of my creole heritage. Want to go to Louisiana so bad.
There are Haotian creole and Louisiana creole. I'm creole when we were young our family spoke Patua. Then stopped. Also, there are distinct features amongst creoles in skin texture tone and features such as high cheekbones, hair color and texture, and the setting or deepening of the eyes. Madame Marie Laveau was creole.
I’m a Pointe Coupee-ean (if that’s a word). You outta to make a trip down here for research. Our people had, and still has a DEEP footprint in the area. Simien can attest to this.
My Grandmother and I knew some Simien's. I remember my grandmother when I asked her what it means to be Creole, I had heard that it meant you being natural Born in the state of Louisiana and I wanted to deny or confirm that by asking my grandmother. Because I had heard of some generalize opinion about it online. Now as far as I mentioned, my dad is Creole via his mother (my Grandmother ) that's a known fact she was born and grew up in Louisiana, Lafayette. So when I asked her would I be considered Creole she said only in blood but not culturally, in the fact that I wasn't born in Louisiana but I have the ancestry, this still confuses me to this day but when you talk about actualized naturalized citizen born but when you ask other people, some have different interpretations like everything else, this could also be confusing when you're talking to Creoles from say Texas or maybe parts of the bayou Rivers along the way from Louisiana to maybe Mississippi upward or whatever. This is very interesting dialogue
Im a lewiel my Mom was a Phillips born in Charity Hospital and was raised in the French quarters. How ever my Grand Mothers siblings all passed for white .. Which is how my family got to California in the 1940’s .. By the time I learned we where creole I asked my MoMo to teach me .. but she had dementia, and only could teach me the word Paco ne’ which means IDK ..
Interesting video. I’m not Creole but have had people ask me for most of my life whether I am. My ex husband is a very fair skinned, blued eyed Greek and during our marriage no one knew where to put me as a light skinned Eurocentric looking black - our children are all identified as white. Now we have the term “multiracial generations” and that’s where I am since we are mostly Scot/Irish and English rather than French and mixed with sub Saharan African. It’s time that we grapple with the real issues of mixed race and yes, I also have white passing relatives and those who could have passed. I remember as a child traveling through the segregated south that my father would take my older brother - both very light with straight hair, into segregated places to retrieve food for the family. My mother and I - both light but not white, would be parked some distance away with our heads ducked down. You don’t forget such experiences.
It's interesting to hear this from the American(USA) perspective In the Caribbean 'creole' originally referred to the French who were born in the Caribbean. Later it came to refer to blacks who were born in the Caribbean as well. This gave rise (at least in Trinidad and Tobago)to the separation in the terms 'creole' for blacks and "French Creole' for the Bourgeoisie. The "French Creole' label has basically become attached to the people of French and African descent. So much so that even if you are basically white African descent is assumed.
I've been really facinated by your story & reading the stories of others. What occurred to me while viewing all of this about your great-grandmother and the area where she was born was the Perot family in Dallas. As in, the now deceased former Presidential nominee Ross Perot & his family. It turns out that his family is also from the Natchitoches Parish, although it seems this branch moved to TX around the time of the Emancipation Proclamation.
My mom's uncle said Ross Perot was a relative on the White side of the Perot line, but that they wouldnt come to our family reunions because we were the "other side. No idea if that's true...
As a daughter of a Louisiana French Creole father, this is a great piece of history! I can listen to this conversation all day!
Glad you enjoyed it! I hope you will chime in more.
Even Eisenhower had a black passing mother. Ida.Stover
When I looked at a family picture,
I was shocked
@@nytnNo matter what race, we all die!
French are very evil people.. why take pride of being something so evil
@@Anthony-to7cp no one said it mattered, but it clearly mattered to you to bring it up
This is so true, many Native Americans chose to be considered African Americans right in Homer, Louisiana in efforts to avoid being sent to reservations.
No African American is an outdated term, it’s ADOS or just simply black American. We’re not African. We don’t have any ties to the continent other than dna but we don’t know the people, culture, food or anything. Africans have even created racial slurs to use against us. I’m not claiming that continent
Also, the children weren't sent to boarding school.
@@trxphywaifalt stop trying to redefined us. AA and ADOS are interchangeable. Then stop calling themselves Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Polish-Americans, etc,etc
@@trxphywaifalt As an African, I'm hearing about these racial slurs for the first time.
@@urbanhabuki8091 I know, right. 🙄. Where does this foolishness end?
He was wonderful! So informative. I don't have roots in Louisiana but I enjoyed learning. I feel like if everyone went back to find their ancestors and family trees, we would see we are all more connected than we think.
He's great! I completely agree with you, ancestry is something that can bring so much healing. We are so much more connected...
@@nytn It's people like you who started colorism. The Black man is mainly responsible for all of this colorism within the Black race. You people base Creole on light skin; however, there are Creoles who have very dark skin, and they are Africans who are born in Africa. This is one of the reasons I hate New Orleans and you colorist Creoles, and even though I was born and raised in New Orleans, I couldn't wait to leave that damn place. You light skin, colorist Creoles are the most wicked people to say the least.
Louisiana is Art
All roots lead back to the heart
That's how the beats start
Yes, we are.
We cannot heal if we nurture the taboo subjects, and refuse to say we're sorry.
Goodness, this was such a great interview. Jeremy is so knowledgeable, discussing all the nuances. What a treat this is. Well done!
I agree, Jeremy was great!
I'm Creole....and remember when I was in high school in the South, I tried out for cheerleading and I was the only person of color that made squad... everyone said I made it because of my skin tone and long hair.... that really hurt my feelings back then......I learned over time not to let others bother me .....
Oh my gosh, that hurts 😌
@@nytn It may have hurt, but it was also, in the south, probably true. We can pretend this is not a common occurrence, but we would be lying to ourselves. African Americans are still fighting the shadism battle both within our community and without. Multiple studies have shown that not very black-looking African Americans receive more opportunities than darker or more phenotypically " African" looking African Americans. From jobs to lighter prison sentences. Both inside the community and outside of it. This is most pronounced in the opportunities afforded African American females. If the only person of color accepted for the Squad was the one that looks the most Caucasian, well then there is a question to be asked. There is a reason Leana Horn was the first black movie star. Oakland Made can't be blamed and shouldn't be penalized for the issue, but pretending it doesn't exist serves no one either. Two classes of people of color, divided by shade, hair texture and semi Nordic features is not the goal. It will just continue a paradigm where each group is limited and held back by the very existence of and association with the other group.
@@clementmckenzie7041 You whole comment is a myth. Hattie McDaniel was born in 1893. She was the first BW to win an Oscar. Lena Horne was born in 1917, and the black community use her as example to "prove" their myth about the so called privileged light skin tone. Oprah Winfrey is dark skin tone and the richest BW in the world. How did that happen IF your myth is a fact. You cannot name more than ten famous light skin tones in the black community past and present. However, there are countless dark skin tones soaring in politics, entertainment, business, and etc. past and present. Also, racists do not care about shades of color. Remember, the one drop rule is because they don't claim anyone but pure. The black community have 98% dark skin tones. You people are obsessed with skin tone that you don't even see how your myth cannot be true.
There's always that chance that their souls recognized yours and just couldn't remember how to dance
@@clementmckenzie7041
it's not just color
Its hair texture, and nose
A lightskjnned black could pass IF hair grows out of scalp STRAIGHT
and nose is longer than wide
He hit the nails on the head in “white passing” segment. As a brown skin brown eyed Louisiana creole.. l was excited learning about my history from family. I learned really quickly how colorism made ppl question HOW l could be creole, so l just stopped claiming. Years later l ended up taking two different dna ancestry test and sure enough my family was telling the truth.. My mom really pushed me to learn creole..she was the only one in the family l remember speaking it..but l said No, Spanish was the more popular one so l learned Spanish. I’m learning creole now and she’s happy 😊 So am l.
I took a DNA test and same thing.
But, my paternal grandfather told me we was light like the first,3rd and 2nd black mayor's of New Orleans ( The Morials and Sidney Barthélemy)
Louisiana creoles literally came from Spain 🇪🇸 its one of our 3 languages in creole culture so you're embracing our heritage either way ❤
I'm fluent in spanish & have been learning more creole lately❤
Same thiing happened to me and my family. Both of my mom's parents are Creole, but since my grandfather's family is pretty dark-skinned, they would always get questioned on whether or not they were real Creoles. I convinced my pawpaw and his mom to take DNA tests, and both have a high percentage of both Black and Native ancestry, and French, Spanish, and German. So yeah, they were always telling the truth, too, but colorism has rotted many people's brains and perceptions of race/ethnicity. plus, no one understands genetic inheritance and the fact that those lighter skin creoles are actually the minority because those are recessive genes.
Pls keep your roots alive, y'all have a beautiful culture and are very welcoming and laid back
This was such a wonderful interview. The specific detailed breakdown of the cultural, racial and emotional effects of being/ identify as Creole/Louisiana Creole were so exquisitely discussed in the video. Thank you for the open conversation.
Erica, I learned so much from Jeremy!
@@nytnI wait for another video discussing not just the French/Spanish/Italian Creoles of Louisiana but of French Creoles of South Carolina, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi etc..
@@krazyjnva2up2down55 Good idea
I am in tears too. I am almost 50 years old and this interview has helped me to release a lot of ideas I know that are wrong. I know my people are Creole and Native American on my mom's side. Her great-grandmother came from Louisiana and my father was Black may God rest both of their souls. Growing up all we knew in that household was that we were Black. But because we didn't look like the other Black kids in school we all had a hard time. We even had other people and kids pulling on our hair accusing us of lying that our hair was real. When we did not wear wigs. That was our own hair! I also went through being rejected by a lot of Blacks because of my skin color and also because of my appearance. My siblings and I went through a lot and also my sister because she was a darker complexion. They would say that she was not my real sister or half-sister when we all knew we had the same father. I to this day identify myself as a Black woman but I also let people know about my ancestry which is Creole along with the Creek Choctaw tribe from Oklahoma. I have the paperwork to prove my ancestry. I am just proud of who I am and if people can't accept me for how I identify then it is not my problem. Ase'!!!!
❤
How do you go about getting the paperwork? We have Black, Choctaw, French and Cuban in our Louisiana families.
As a son of New Orleans, who’s ancestry goes far back into Louisiana History, I appreciate this conversation. All my life, I wasn’t Black enough for my own community, and certainly not White enough to pass, not that I ever wanted to pass. Yet, because of coming from an education family, I often didn’t fit in to my own community. Thank you for this conversation.
Eldric, this comment means a lot to me. As you can see I am still figuring out where my family and I "fit". I dont think it should be that way, and it seems to be very much a community experience...
I totally agree with you. And to think a large reason why it’s so difficult to uncover has to do with purposeful destroying of the records. It’s been slow work getting to discover my indigenous tribal roots. I’m now the family historian!
educated and... anything, especially cultures who don't or can't value it--makes you a standout. But the Haitian in Emancipation movie by Will Smith should help discussion on Haitian Creole, French Creole, Louisiana Creole, etc. are French islands, France colonies (Louisiana purchase by Thomas Jefferson (I believe) was whole mid section of USA paid to France). Dominant powers England, France, Spanish. Lessor but Europe prominent Portugal (map makers&navigators), German, Italy later/Roman before. Lightness Darkness were later issues. But anyone of good habits were going to prosper. Messing w/mental stability light or dark is apparent in one's raising.
Are you from the 7th ward??? The 7th ward has a deep & rich creole history.
@@MonaJ888 I'm from the 7th ward my whole family is from the 7th ward 💀💀💀
Danielle- once again, you hit it out of the park. This interview you had with Jeremy was enlightening for me and I want to thank you again for the time and energy you've shared during your journey. We all have different paths in our lives, and sometimes they are so closely intersected. ❤👏
Im so glad you got to see this! i know how your journey has been so far. This gave me (personally) so much more context.
I’m just finding creole has evolved to identify different people through the years. 1737 South Carolina Gazette defined creole as some one from the islands. Creole is utilized a lot in that area for awhile. For me growing up in St Martinville Louisiana I grew up knowing I was creole and it was a culture a feeling. I can’t remember even having a discussion that it was about race until I left home for the Air Force and brothers from across the states could on reference redbones as creole. Something new to me. My mom was light skinned I just knew she was mullatto, we all have different stories and journeys this is confuSing for me as I delve into my ancestry. Sorry I’m just being briefed here, I’ve been following your journey and appreciate your passion.
Toney, wow this really struck me. Im so glad you are here and on a similar journey of diving into the family story.
Maybe to the Anglo speaking people of South Carolina but not to the Eglise Reformee aka Huguenots (French Protestants) who also called SC home. Tucked away in French low country. They even welcomed in Haitians escaping Haiti from the slaughter that was happening. No different than New Orleans
I'm also Mulatto/Creole, six generations straight. I prefer Mulatto over lightskinned (in my opinion racist). For one Mulatto are a separate identity with our own history!
Thanks so much for making that clear. I'm A full blood Louisiana Creole and my people or dark skin native 👐🏿👐🏿👐🏿to this land. And we still here Breaux bridge, la o lodge to be exact... So no Creole is not a color here in Louisiana it's A culture.... And most who identify has Creole are the native black people that been here. Even historians will tell u that. Zoe life💪🏾🇬🇳🇪🇸🇫🇷🇸🇳👑
My family is all colors. my great grandmother looked like a white woman, identified as black/creole, but shadism/colorism was never an issue. We just loved each other. Much darker than my mom and sister but was never treated any differently. I did, however, experience mild texturism. Nobody's perfect. 🤷🏾♀️
Brudda Jeremy puts the identity of Creoles culture in a proper perspective. We are a hurt people because choices made from the reaction towards the negative aspects of racism, colorism, classism and even controlled linguistics. Many dark skin Creoles were ostracized because of their phenotypes, hair texture or dialect of speech. As a dark skin person who is a Southeast Louisiana Creole descendant I can attest to being challenged and having to prove my ancestry to claim my Creoleness. We are already at the bottom of the social strata. Denials from societal and cultural inclusion forces one to rebel and exit the norm. Then we begin to create our own communal bubbles with certain rituals and traditions that are now unique unto us. The more African examples have shown up prominently in the foods and music styles such as Gumbo, Jambalaya, Zydeco, Jazz, etc., as we learn about our lineage and heritage. The flavor and rhythms are inherently of African origin but amalgamated with Native and European components. Once again we are a hurt people, we carry these bags around with us and pass it down generationally. I've communicated with Brudda Jeremy and Brudda Nick a few times on their podcast series. And left with more enlightenment after each show which compelled me to research even more about our African Ancestor's lives during the Louisiana colonial period. We still keep certain traditions alive like drumming in Congo Square every Sunday and it's a part of the healing process. The emotions are so real. This series here you put together is a mirror for us look deep into. Please let it to continue to flow because it's truly educational, reflective, helpful and healing. Much Respect.
" Many dark skin Creoles were ostracized because of their phenotypes, hair texture or dialect of speech. " Thank you for saying this! I'm black, but in my own ignorance, when I hear the term "Creole," the image of a "beautiful" racially ambiguous woman or man immediately comes to mind. And when I think about Creole culture, I think of entire families of nothing but racially ambiguous people who can pass for literally any race. Having had no exposure to the culture, I gained my limited knowledge on what I saw & read & this is almost always how Creoles are described. Now I am understanding that to be Creole, is not just about being a physical/racial mixture of African, Native, French & Spanish. It's about the seamless blending of these cultures which is very unique & specific to Louisiana. Is this assessment correct? Presumably, a person can be creole & not be racially mixed?
Next question: What's the difference between Cajun & Creole culture? In my limited knowledge again, I'm thinking that "Cajun" would be related to whites French Canadian culture & "Creole" would be related to blacks/mixed blacks however the foods are similar? Educate me!
Creole is the language, it have nothing to do with color.
The blatant appropriation of our food, culture and music is also a point of pain. The colonizers even claim what we have fought to preserve.
@@lizabetx483 I'm assuming you are talking about Cajuns...who were exiled out of Canada and dropped in the swamps. We are not colonizers. Our people learned to live off of the land and survive like the Natives. We still do to this day. We are a small community that doesn't bother nobody and take great pride in our culture. I don't care if you think my skin tone says otherwise this is our culture just as much as it is creole.
@@spicycajun4 I will make my response to the point. The foods which are proudly claimed as Cajun were present in Louisiana before your ancestors arrival. Foods such as Jambalaya, Red Beans and Rice, Gumbo, Couche Couche, Dirty Rice, Smothered Okra, Pralines etc. These foods have similar versions in West Africa (the origin) as well as the African Diaspora in the New World (French, Spanish, Portuguese, English and Dutch former colonies) There is also documented written stories of early Louisiana explorers and settlers which indicate the food was Creole. Claiming what is not your heritage is appropriation . It does not matter if the appropriation began 300 years ago. You have two choices 1)you can stop your ears and say that you are unwilling to hear anything that will shatter your beliefs or you could research my claims yourself. Also some Louisiana Arcadians had slaves. This is in written documents. The European Creoles were not the only slave owners in Louisiana. So you have a choice embrace cognitive dissonance or explore the truth.
Excellent interview! As a Black American who have a very mixed family history he hit the nail on the head.
That's awesome to hear!!
My mother’s side of the family is from Monroe, Louisiana. We’re mixed with a lot of European, Native, and African ancestry.
If your mixed how are you a Black American? You mean Mulatto American?! Identify by what you are not by what Black America wants you to Identify.
Great conversation! I think you hit the jackpot with Jeremy and the two of you may have much insight to share from your personal experience. ❤
He is a gem. The conversation went so long, I lost track of time in a good way!
"there are living people who are hurting" -- so appreciate the sensitivity and transparency and truth telling here
I really appreciated it too!
I enjoyed the interview. I’m from a New Orleans Creole family. I also have a lot of roots in other parts of Louisiana. I go between black and Creole depending on who I’m talking to. In Louisiana, it’s almost understood but I feel I need to explain what Creole is to folks outside of Louisiana because many have sooooo many misconceptions about what Creole is.
I feel like I still dont 100% feel great about what Creole is, and maybe that is part of Creole identity in some ways!
@Blatina Creole is in my blood, name and culture. There’s many variations to define Creole but it’s not really that complex to those of us who are Creole. We know who we are.
@@slarvadain188 Same with the Iles family in Louisiana ⚜️💯
@@hmm-zoolol Who said one was better !
It's people like you who started colorism. The Black man is mainly responsible for all of this colorism within the Black race. You people base Creole on light skin; however, there are Creoles who have very dark skin, and they are Africans who are born in Africa. This is one of the reasons I hate New Orleans and you colorist Creoles, and even though I was born and raised in New Orleans, I couldn't wait to leave that damn place. You light skin, colorist Creoles are the most wicked people to say the least.
Such an outstanding interview! I'm trying to find the right words to express my appreciation of Jeremy. I guess I will sum it up by saying that he has a very important voice to be heard, especially in this era of heightened racial tension in this country. Danielle, like Jeremy you are doing IMPORTANT work; you are both "part of fixing it." What you are doing has wider relevance than I think you realize, and I pray that God will use your work according to His good purposes for healing and reconciliation and give you as wide an audience as what you are doing deserves. 👏🏻🙏
Kathleen, I always love seeing your thoughts on here! I was so thankful to connect with Jeremy and get time to just share heart to heart. The conversation made me realize that there is SO much more that needs to come out into the open. To be SPOKEN. I am praying for true reconciliation in our country. We desperately need it. This is a total labor of love and I am hopeful that little conversations can be taken like a little boy's lunch and miraculously feed 5,000. Hopefully more. Thank you for speaking those words over me!
@@nytn See it as the Lord encouraging you througj me. ❤️
I’m proud of the younger generation’s quest to know who they truly are 💖💖💖
Thanks, Great work, appreciate all the effort you have put into this series. People all over the world are engaged in this type of soul searching. Thanks for daring to make the first move and for sharing with us. All the best in your endeavors.
Thank you so much for that comment. Im an idealist, I do think the world can change and it doesnt take as much as we think. Having conversations is a massive step toward that. Appreciate you being here!
It’s such a breath of fresh air to see and hear us in front of the camera talk about this. I always felt my family wasn’t the only one experiencing these types of dysfunctions. Damn, these videos really hit home. Even if it’s uncomfortable and/or painful.
Kanitra, this comment is exactly what I hope to hear. I know Im on the "other side" of this experience, but wow....if both sides could come together in this generation I think something very powerful could happen. Glad you are here.
Learn to talk and listen, learn to love, and open your eyes and heart to the hope. It's there if you let it be.
I'm from Lake Charles. Oppression has caused irreversible consequences of our communities choices. This the best, most objective discussion I have heard thus far.
Deadra- thank you SO MUCH. I am learning, it's hard sometimes. But Im proud to do it
OMG LAKE CHARLES HAS SUCH A HUGE DIVERSE GROUP OF NATIVES ❤
@@TheRealGoalfrnda lot of us in Lake Charles😂😂
I had a summer fellowship in college and a young lady from Louisiana was also there. Early in the summer, she made a point of telling us she was Creole and that her grandmother referred to Black people as the n-word. I thought she was a light skinned Black woman. This was the summer of 1990 and still one of the oddest and unsolicited interactions of my life.
She was a light skin black woman..many want to deny that part of them.... American black is mixed racially and culturally... some understand some don't.....
What an honest and frank and thorough discussion. My mother was a White passing French speaking creole from Louisiana. MY maternal grandparents were also French speaking creoles from Louisiana. MY maternal grandfather's whole side of the family were White passing. But because of the legacy of the one drop laws, his parents made the decision to stay in Louisiana and identified as Black people.His father had 1/16 Black ancestry. While his mother had 1/8 Black ancestry. MY maternal grandmother was a beautiful much darker skinned woman who had Haitian, French, African and Houma ancestry on both sides of the family. The interesting thing is some of my grandfather's ancestors came from Haiti as free people of color the early 1800s.While some of my grandmother's ancestors came from Haiti as slaves in the 1700s.What is incredible is when I visited my grandmother's people whole still lived in Louisiana in the early 1960s,they spoke different variations of French depending on the generation. Both of my grandmother's parents were still alive in their late 70s.Her maternal grandparents were still alive. As was one paternal grandfather. Lol my mother had to translate to us three kids when the people of her parents generation began to speak in the Dialect. But my maternal grandmother had to translate when her parents,Aunts and Uncles spoke. But she needed help from her parents to translate what her grandparents, great aunts and uncle were speaking. These people could speak good enough English but just felt more comfortable speaking their Dialect amongst family and friends. My maternal grandfather's side spoke standard French and adopted the cajun/creole Dialect as well. THERE were quite a few of his maternal and paternal Aunts and Uncles who decided to leave the state of Louisiana in the late 19th century to pass as White. Two of his paternal Uncles actually moved to France. Eventually they cut ties to the family. Now with Ancestry. Com family members are coming out of the woodwork to reconnect with this branch of the family. Turns out all of his relatives who left Louisiana married into White families and now have descendants. So they are on the same road to discovery as Danielle. The irony is the French relatives are fascinated by the discovery. The American relatives a mixed bag.They all look drop dead White. Which leaves me to ponder the aspects of racial identity in American culture. For some it is about racial purity. For some it is about appearance and the culture and environment in which they were raised. Some relatives honestly said that the discovery of any other ancestry other than African would not change how they view themselves. But how do they come to terms with the African ancestry. No matter how small.What is incredible to me is that some of these relatives have the same features as the much darker relatives in the family. The nose,the lips,the forehead. The only difference being skin color, eye color and color and texture of hair.
@@adpowell1414 …Creoles are multiracial people with Louisiana heritage. It’s the American ideology that has pervaded our culture and gave it this so called difficulty. None of my ancestors would be in alignment with any of the current definitions.
Frederick, So glad for you taking the time to share this. It is a strange thing to inherit, but MY children now know about our Louisiana heritage and as I meet Louisiana family, they learn about them, too. I have heard exactly what you said about the features...my family is light, but the features seem to be evident to the communities of color. We didnt know any better.
I am still figuring out if (theoretically) I could decide to Identify as Creole AND with one of the indigenous tribes where my family comes from. Is this an either/or situation? Or just uniquely Creole?
@@adpowell1414 I think even Hispanics or Latinos debate amongst themselves their identity. Is it regional?Is it cultural? I think it is a legacy of American culture at one time having one of the strictest definitions of race in the world. As if they dictated human beings had to be one or the other. I have Mexican friends and friends from South America who would prefer to identify by nationality. They don't like to be pidgeonholed into identifying as simply Hispanic. Even though their culture has been heavily been influenced by Spain. And to some extent their Ancestry. I know some Mexicans who are nearly 100% indigenous. Someone once asked my what is my ethnicity or race.I said technically I am African American. More culturally than in appearance. BECAUSE I have been mistaken for Spanish,Arabic,Turkish this that or the other. My mother and her parents identified as Black with a creole culture. In terms of language, music and cuisine. So I guess to each his own. If you get a chance research the Ancestry of Charles Curtis the first vice president of partial Native American Ancestry. I FOUND it very interesting. How he self identified .And how he was identified by his White peers.
@@nytn I think it is uniquely American. As more people take the Ancestry DNA tests. I think people still wish to identify what is on their birth certificate. And how they were raised. And how society sees them. THERE are oh so many variables to consider. With all these new discoveries, you will go insane to conform to society's standards of who you should be. Thank you so much for presenting your story. We would like to think race no longer matters within American society. But nothing could be further from the truth. My maternal grandfather decided to marry my much darker maternal grandmother out of pure love.Much to the chagrin of his parents who actually arranged for him to marry a lady of even smaller African ancestry than himself. He used to joke with "Mother Dear" that he married her to remove all doubts as to the identity of their children. Lol only problem was my mother didn't cooperate. She came out even Whiter than her father. While her Brother and sister looked like light skinned Spanish people.
Passing destroyed my dad and me. He was 70 when I was born. His mom passed for white while we just got erased and labeled black. I am excited to watch this. Maybe I can learn something to help me try to deal with my truth and this evil society I can't fit into.
Oh sweet friend. My heart aches reading this.
@@nytn 💙 I am jist seeing your response. There is healing in knowing now. I also see that you are in a family group on fb or a relative of yours. I have been added to the same group. I have familial ties to the locations you are researching. I knew the first time I saw your content it was no accident.
Hopefully I will run into you very soon. 💜 you have helped me and my family more than you know. I hope we are related 😂💜. I am a few gedmatch projects trying to rewrite history correctly as per our dna.
Black is a color in a crayola crown box 9 times of 10 if your are so call niggro Hispanic native American on your father's side The Holy Scriptures call you an isrealite if your father was a so call white man according too the scriptures you would be an Edomite doomed for slavery an destruction for what you did to the children of Israel read your Bible KJV1611
Take all you have make that your own!!!! I never fit in either so I made my own and found myself
Yes but where do you want to fit in? Black? White? Lies about it? Where?
I know we definitely had relatives who moved to California from Opelousas, Louisiana.( Who passed as white).
As a child, I did asked my Grandmother, who is that "white woman" she was talking to at her parents house.
She told me her story and she is our cousin.
Her parents didn't teach them Creole, not to hold them back.
Thank you for sharing your story. You are doing fine. I shared before that my grandmother always said we were Indians, not African. We were Creole.
I never identified, until I started researching my Ancestry.
They are survivors! I will not deny them again. DNA test X3 prove that I am majority African ( Louisiana Creole and African American with Caucasian, Native, I definitely have ancestry to trace back to west Africa 🌍, majority).
this comment gave me chills, I am serious. They are survivors and yes, no denying it! I love your story and your embrace of ancestors
Hahahahhaa, we might be related. I'm first generation born in California. My dad's family is from Opelousas, bayou chicot , ville Platte. My Louisiana family still speaks the language, all I know how to say is Papa Noel! Lol
@@letssee9same here! Lastrapes from Op. to Los Angeles!
I remember being told that a Creole is a native born individual prior to the War of 1812 of any mix of French, Spanish, and African. I remember explaining to a person from the North once that our ancestors in Louisiana did not come from the thirteen Colonies or Ellis Island. We don’t identify as Americans quite in the same way as other groups because we weren’t part of that immigrant community. Add the wrinkle of modern blackness, and I can imagine it’s very complex. The curious thing is that you can tell a very similar story when looking at the colorism associated with the various groups within Indian culture and others who have a color divide within their culture.
Which means foreigners
Different boat ride.
I'd like to add to the "13 colonies" comment. America's history dosent simply start with the 13 colonies like these Anglo Saxons like to push. Also their were many French settlements on the east coast. Particularly in South Carolina. My roots come from the settlement of French Santee. One of several settlements which include Orange Quarter, Goose Creek, and a few others. These French people mixed alot with slaves. Many lived openly like a normal marriage right there in the Carolinas. When things got hot they would send family members to Louisiana. Facts
I'd also like to add those same French people took in Haitians during the massacre happening in Haiti no different than New Orleans.
@coffeenut6124 No it was not. In fact Criollo is the original word which was either Spanish or Portuguese. That word translated in French is Creole. But yes it has something to do with being from one of the 5 Latin countries moving to the America's and having your offspring. Nothing about race. Do you descend from people of Spain, Portugal, France, or Italy in the America's. It's either a yes or no
I could listen to you guys talk for hours! He's really interesting
Wonderful interview. Dead on.
My Mom's Roots are
In Monroe LA. some of her
Ppl passed but not all.
Most are deceased, She is
Still alive & well @ 91 yrs
Loved the interview! This guy nailed it!
How wonderful! This deep and respectful conversation about people and culture in the cross hairs of racism and its consequences after generations of suffering. This same situation exists though without the centuries of history in your country, here in Australia with indigenous and settler communities and families.
Some families are divided by skin tone and culture and even both. A person is Indigenous if raised in the community that is culturally indigenous and can be vouched for.
Science and DNA research has opened up the reality that we are all human, and we are all challenged everywhere to demolish racism and all its permutations.
Keep up your careful work making this warm and heartfelt exploration of history culture and identity.
Blessings from Australia
I am always fascinated by the similar history and dynamics in Australia.. I love how DNA has broken down some of these "walls". There are many more to get broken down still.
Jeremy, I am so happy you are speaking in this topic. My family identifies as Creole, and we have many family members who are passing and have left us and their community and never looked back. My grandmother who is 97 years old, had and still has siblings passing as White living in California. And, she still hurt in that she has not spoken to her siblings in years. The Creoles who stayed behind (New Orleans), don’t talk about this, it’s almost as if it’s a family secret and because of this, we have lost so many family members. We keep what we think of color and culture from other cultures and we finally have a space to discuss this. Thanks Jeremy. I would live to discuss my experience with you someday.
Good video. Yes , I think Mr Simien definitely need a TH-cam channel talking about Creole culture and New Orleans history, Arts culture. I agreed with about 40% because my family comes from southern Louisiana ( Lafayette to breux bridge and many did not speak English). Yes, Jeremy is Creole but Creole can be dark people too. Your great granny definitely looks Creole or light skinned black woman to me.
There are Creoles all over Louisiana not just South Louisiana.. I know several who are light skin with Black features who speak some French.. especially around Natchitoches and Shreveport.
We might we kin, my mom family from Cecelia 😂😂😂those people did not speak English way back in the day, my cousins down there are bilingual
⚪ Help me edit videos: buy me a coffee!:ko-fi.com/nytn13
Support more storytelling and get behind the scenes videos: www.patreon.com/NYTN/about
Watch the docu-series "Finding Lola" that started the journey: th-cam.com/play/PLvzaW1c7S5hQcox9CjaJWA7QKTYXw9Zn2.html
Want to connect? facebook.com/findinglolafilm/
Want to know more? www.findinglolafilm.com
You may want to get AD Powell off your comments. He is a colorist and possibly racist has made some very rude, divisive, and offensive comments towards darker complected or non mixed Black people. I love your page and don't think there should be any space for things like that.
If you have a family member that has been adopted best way to start search? And my grandma told me that her grandma was full blooded Cherokee Indian,how do I find her truth she was born in Anstead West Virginia? 🙏🏾💕☺️ Please I think anything can start my search for any Indian decent left in my family on earth 💕
@@ameliasudberry9915 Even though I have had problems with the dna test, I would start by testing your oldest living family member on that side. It will give you the closest cousin matches you have as well
@@nytn thank you but my eldest passed in 07 what about second oldest? Shaun was her name our family has that Sickle cell animia runs in her father and my family 🙏🏾💕
Yes I have an interesting story and still piecing together things of the life I've lived and living. There is an entire Creole society there in New Orleans so not sure if you've reached out ...
Wow, what a powerful interview and message! Thank you for sharing this!
LOVE how informative AND how TRUTHFUL this conversation is about how colorism has played into this topic. Also just really cool to see how awesome of a state Louisiana is. ❤
I really appreciated Jeremy's nuanced and personal discussion about this contested subject--and from a Louisiana context.
he is great!
I love that you are unpacking your history, your identity, in this way. As a person a Creole decent, we lost our language, and to this day have family members choosing to live outside of the family. A family member has recently connected to her son and explained how it was he grandmother (he was told) that pushed this distance with his mother to pass and live a life outside of who she was. He too is excited to know this side of his family.
I recently found out that I’m descended from the white passing Creole people who left their family. They even changed their last name spelling in 1918 so it’d be harder to find them. I never knew much about my grandpa and his parents. I just knew that his mom was French Cajun from Louisiana. I had tried to find info on that side of the family for the longest time! My search would always end right at my great great grandfather and there wasn’t hardly any info about him. I tried my search again this past summer and finally got all the links to that line of the family and found out we descended from the Creole Free People of Color who were in Louisiana and Haiti, but my direct line went for white passing and abandoned their Creole family ties which is why it took me so long to finally figure out where my grandpa came from. Your vid is awesome at addressing some questions I had. I just gotta add that it was heartbreaking and bitter sweet for me to learn about why that side of my family was shrouded in mystery for most of my life and I finally uncovered the truth.
this is an amazing story! Im so glad you are here. I have a whole docu-series on researching this side of my family. Same story. They are here! th-cam.com/play/PLvzaW1c7S5hQcox9CjaJWA7QKTYXw9Zn2.html
Thanks
Awesome interview!!!!👏🏼
Thank you Lucia, i was so grateful to Jeremy!
One of the prior comments on what “creole” come from the Spanish “criollo” which is what the American-born Spanish were called. Our Latin American food is called comida “criolla” because our food is a mixture of all 3 cultures just like the gumbo Danielle referenced to.
Monsieur Simien is a fine speaker. With remarkable articulacy and sensitivity, he brought so much about Creole identity. It's uncommon for us men to tap into that psychotherapeutic side of understanding and empathy.
The idea of self identification is fascinating to me. I appreciate your content, you’re very thoughtful and honest throughout this journey.
It fascinates me, too. thank you for the kind words, meant so much:)
Such a great conversation. Thank you!
Thanks for listening
Interestingly my great grandmother’s family identified as Creole.. I remember sharing this information with my half brother who told me I couldn’t possibly have any Creole ancestry because I was too dark.. I was about 9 or 10 and I remember how angry I was because I felt like who was he to tell me what my mother’s family was..My great grandmother spoke French and when she spoke English it was very heavily accentuated with a French accent. I had to concentrate as a child to understand what she was saying 😂
I experienced the same as a child. My grandmother and grandfather spoke French or a creole french and my Mother was born and raised in south Louisiana but migrated north as a teen. My Mom married a man darker than her family and some of our cousins in the south did not consider I and my siblings Creole. Being raised in Michigan and being of a dark colored Creole ancestry was not questioned (maybe because my Mother cooked like a New Orleans chef), but it was always questioned when visiting our grandparents and met their neighbors
@@sharonwilliams5965 yeah it was strange to me that complexion made a difference as to whether or not you were considered Creole. As my half brother got to meet my great grandmother before she passed and it really blew his mind how wrong he was. My great grandmother was light brown, had blue gray colored eyes, and dark wavy hair. I guess seeing her fit the mold. It was confusing to me that anyone would question family background based on complexion.
It is strange to me that how some people decide "who" is Creole. It feels like no one can really agree. Thats why Im over here hanging on the sidelines....
@@nytn I totally get that..Jeremy had a great point that Creole is cultural…like being Hispanic is cultural..you have Black Hispanic, White Hispanic, Multi Racial Hispanic, even Asian Hispanic..people are going to laugh at the last one but until I watched a documentary about it I wouldn’t have even considered Asians to also be Hispanic but there are some who do identify as such.. I am now looking as Creoles the same way..and because I grew up with only exposure to Creole culture and not fully immersed I do get where the struggle is to identify as such.. I have always been conflicted as to whether or not I should identify as Creole like my great grandmother and my older great aunts did
@@kristinamitchell5274 I feel like you should! It sounds like you had something going on there. SOMETHING. Not us🙃
Thank you for this video, its so important that these conversations are had and that people can cut through the oppressive ideas and concepts of self-identity that have been applied to us. When people ask me about my ethnicity I just say Creole because that gives respect to all of my ancestry African/Islander, French, German not just one particular part and not just skin color or superficial things
Thus was very good! Especially firing black history month. Everything he said about colorism is so true, even if you aren't from Louisiana. Once you identify as black it seems you will be grouped as "light skin" or "brown/dark skin" then sub grouped as "house n-word" vs "field n-word" which means "easier life with privilege" vs "harder life and struggles." AND that's all within the black community. Not realizing that outside of the black community, any color tan with any textured curl makes you black. Jay Z has a song about this- I forget what it's called. But even him with all of his money and advantage, he will always be looked at as black first, not human. The stigma of it all! I will also say it seems that mixed race individuals from Louisiana who were part black and identified as Creole, kind of still shies away from the blackness and enhances the French, which, to me, still shows shame to black culture. Like Jeremy said, we aren't responsible for the past. But I will say, talking about this and educating folks may urge people to look into their history and see how mixed we all really are. We're all humans made of flesh, blood, bones and water. We all bleed red and the money is green for all. Let's be kind and carry on.
Toni, this comment was so good, but I hate all the ways that we are broken apart from each other. It's unceasing. If nothing else, I think this has changed my perception of people who don't look like me, now I wonder, are we cousins?? Totally different mindset, for the better.
@@tamarastone141 ….Beyoncé’s mother’s lineage is well documented several generations back. The “black” great ancestress was Haitian Creole and afterwards they were Cajuns or Creoles. Her dad’s side we don’t know but if he’s AA then there’s a good chance he has European and Native American heritage. Together, Beyoncé and Solange are still Creole because it’s not just a word but a cultural identity encompassing rituals, language, history, and customs that aren’t identical to AA.
That maybe true to a certain extent let's not get things twisted being black or African decent they genetically different than whites Asians and so called Latinos Hispanics so yes blacks are a very different kind of humans that's like saying monkeys dogs and cows
I have to agree with you on the point we should not shy away from our Blackness. Let no one convince you your skin tone defines who you are.
How can creoles shy away from blackness when they are a mixture?! To Anglo Saxons mulattos are just light skinned blacks which us racist. Especially given the fact Mulattos have several hundred years of history in this very country. I'm a French Creole by way of South Carolina. I've lived in Panama and Brazil. I AM NOT BLACK to anyone in those countries. They say you're just like us mixed with Latin roots. Dominicans, Puerto Ricans etc embrace me they don't play th3 color game
Thanks for making this video.found out I’m a New Orleans creole by ancestry dna and it’s a sad story about how it happened I was lied about my real father.
Wonderful interview!! ❤
Thank you Natalie, Jeremy is a gem
Thank you both for sharing your journeys.
So glad to have you here!
I wonder how many people moved to California from Louisiana and moved fully into the white society there. California received a lot of people from Louisiana.
I met alot of Creole in Chicago. Long time friends ❤
@@AL-TitoVidal Many moved to Chicago, CA and Arkansas. My step father was dark complected Creole. He was born in Chicago in 1932. Attended Dunbar High School too. He was raised in the Southside of Chicago. Some of his relatives moved and settled in Arkansas too but from his stories. He told us his parents & other relatives headed to Chicago. During the first wave of the Great Migration. Leaving the Jim Crowe South and going for the factory jobs. Plus, opportunities. However, my stepfather married his first wife and met her in Chicago. She was Creole too and could pass as White. They moved to CA in the mid 60s. I believe all the children were born in CA but I definitely know his parents came from Louisiana & Mississippi.
Great compassionate informative historical piece.
Jeremy's input and what he experienced was so different from yours yet so similar.
I feel like this is the story of a new homeowner who is looking around in the rooms and wondering why all the walls are painted a neutral colour. As they begin to prepare the walls for new and colourful paint they discover that the walls were of different and bright hues at one time. Due to some advice or edict to previous owners the beautiful bright colours were muted to neutrals to make the interior not stand out and be different from others in the neighbourhood.
I am hoping that as you continue to "peel back the paint" that you will find other "long lost" family members who are descendants of that time. Sadly, it was necessary for Lola to make tough decisions to try to survive due to the times that she lived in. They could fill in some more information to fill out your story even more.
Finding Lola is diving deep into the sad and racially charged history of the United States, Louisiana, and the eventual merger of the 2.
Thank you for continuing to share your journey, Danielle. ❤
This was so beautiful, thank you for sharing such an insightful reflection with us all. You are right, there are layers and layers....and it's not a process to be rushed. Maybe it can make a tiny change in the world. That would be such an honor to Lola, I think.
Right on point when it comes to the issue of colorism within Creole Culture. My Maternal Grandma was from N.E. Louisiana born 1897 in Jones, LA
My father in law's family escaped Slavery in New Orleans resettled in Canada and eventually moved to S.W. Michigan and Flourished in Business a pillar of his community for years.
his granddaughter attended University in Tenn. She was urged to claim here Creole Heritage by individuals she came in contact with while attending school I told her your Grandpa knew his heritage and spoke French but never was consumed by it.
🙏🏾👁️💔👁️🙏🏾
the term creole is of spanish origin. spanish citizens born in the iberian peninsula and their descendants were referred to as "peninsulary" . "creoles" were spanish citizens born in one of the spanish territories like louisiana.
Yes. The racial hierarchy that you mention is Spanish. "Criollo" in Spanish, "Créole" in French, and "Crioulo" in Portuguese.
Always context-bound. Créole/criollo/crioulo was also used to refer to the fact that the person was born in the Spanish/French/Portuguese colonies back in the day. Sometimes the term "creole" would be used refer to enslaved people who were not born in Africa.
@Estelle Cadiz Going back to the 1600s, there was a point when the authorities in Spain (and/or Portugal--remember the two countries were sometimes united, sometimes separate, but always connected) made it illegal for those born in the colonies to see maps of the world. That way those born in the colonies would not notice that the Iberian peninsula was smaller than Latin America.
There were two hierarchies at work: 1) going back to the 1500s where there was a distinction between Old Christians and New Christians (after the expulsion of Iberian Jews and Muslims who did not convert to Catholic Christianity) and 2) the distinction between those born in the "Old" World and their descendants born in the "New" World.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casta
@Estelle Cadiz Sorry everything I wrote disappeared . I will rewrite it later.
Thanks for this message🎯❤Much needed
Let's talk about the elephant in the room. As complicated as life could be for Louisiana Creoles, as they faced brutal racism and debilitating discrimination. They practiced a particularly vicious form of shadism against darker-skinned less mixed-race people of African ancestry themselves that deeply wounded and cleaved the black community in two in Louisiana. If you were darker skinned you were more likely to be treated with more respect by a white person, than you were by a Louisiana creole. They attended churches that did not allow blacks that were darker than a paper bag to attend. Their social clubs excluded anyone darker than the pine doors at the entrance. If you could not run a fine-toothed comb through your hair, you could not attend a school where Louisiana creoles went. If you married a person darker than tan, You would most likely be ostracized by the family or the community. They were more accepting of a child born from a relationship with a white man out of wedlock Than a child born of the marriage of a dark-skinned black person and a Creole. The generations of scorn heaped on the non or less mixed-race black community by Mixed race creoles has left the community near permanently under suspicion by The larger black community even to this day. The Creole community can't really heal well because this aspect of their history remains unhealed. As the concept of a buffer race in America disappeared so did the place this community imagined for itself. Not white enough, but intrinsically better than darker-skinned blacks.
So true. They had a club in. New Orleans and in order to get in, you had to pass the paper bag test.
This was so great. I feel like we need to be connected. I recently found out my grandmother spoke fluent French because her mother was creole and we never knew. Additionally her husband my grandfather migrated from Cuba. I just find these things so fascinating only to find them out after having a growing family of my own. It’s natural for us to want to know even if we didn’t grow up in that culture. But I agree with Jeremy … my grandmother forced herself to learn English so she could fit in more. Great interview.
Thank you for sharing. I cannot relate, but I do appreciate!
Keep teaching us. Thank U
There's three levels of Creoles the first level of Creoles the ones that were born of the original French or spanish / Portuguese settlers mixed with Native and black could be light or darkskinned. then you have the children of plasage. These children are 4 generations mixed but not this is not the same as the others these descendents usually prided themselves on their lightness these are the so-called quadroons octoroon peoples and their fathers usually came from Means not just regular Joe's like the original Creoles. Then you have the American Creoles. These are the whites settlers of scotch Irish German English descendant who came after the French sold Louisiana. The Americans stole the use the name creole for themselves changing the definition instead of having been the descendants of the early French Spanish Portugues settlers with Indigenous and Black women . It's changed to just being WHITES BORN IN LOUISIANA. Funny how the whites that ended up coming later but didn't want to take over the name of Cajun but they felt it necessary to disenfranchise the original Creoles
You are absolutely right. This is an important part of history and how it should be defined to what happened and what is going on in the present.
@@Renzee-ct4wz facts
This was a beautiful discussion. He spoke about truths that still ring loud today. The stretch of one common thread we deal with from the darkest to the fairest.
The traumas still strongly exist. It's great that it's being more talked about.
I find the definition of Creole has a differing meaning outside of Louisiana, where outside it is largely understood as mixed race usually French/African blood, while the definition inside the state and in particular in New Orleans the dynamics are claimed by multiple Groups, indigenous, exclusively Euro-French, Mulatto, Cajun- Spanish root etc...as your guest is articulating in this post, lots of debate on this within' the city recently, great info, be encouraged!
So anyone mixed from different cultures whether they have African ancestry or not.
@@peachygal4153 ..it’s actually a Louisiana French Creole ancestry ⚜️
th-cam.com/video/R369Vf3nh5w/w-d-xo.html Here's a film that was lost.
I used to think it meant people with AA/French roots as well! (Before I knew about our Louisiana heritage).
Sounds like Creole has NO definition or perimeter
Thanks for posting.
Simply stated, I've always understood creole to be French mixed with African. The Louisiana Territory was purchased from france in 1803. The Louisiana territory encompassed more than just lousiana. It covered several states as we now know them today. It was more than race mixture. It involved the people we call creole whole lives. Their mannerisms, language, ethnic identity, everything. He is wrong about a few things. That's all I have to say.
Thank you for commenting! Since Im an outsider, I won't chime in too much on who gets to be Creole, but I am happy to be learning.
Often times what have always understood is not accurate. I encourage you study perhaps with a scholar that is well studied in Louisiana Creoles. Creole is not an ethnicity nor is it relegated only to the mixture of French and African American. Yet, many Creoles of color have French, African, Native American and even some have Italian, Spanish and German ancestry. But, it is not only French and African. I fear you have a faulty and superficial understanding of what defines one as Creole in reference to Louisiana. There are White Creoles and Creoles of color. You have to do a historical study to understand that originally creole defined people who were born in the colony and were descendants of French or Spanish parents. Due to American influence and changing societal norms the definition/transition changed or was modified. Understand, that with the passing time today you can be phenotypically black, mixed or phenotypically white and be Creole. It is a culture, not a certain mixture of ethnicities.
They taught you wrong
My family migrated to Port Arthur/Beaumont area. Colorism was very real for us. I remember when I started to get darker my grandmother didn’t like it.
He hit the nail on the head! Everything he speaks about I've seen in my own family and friends that are culturally creole and racially identifying as such. Colorism had a lot to do with it and survival of the time.
When I’m reality, outside creole circles they are just plain black
@PAISLEY PRINCESS I've seen both. Some have married more black, less creole or mixed and the generations look more black. Then you have those that married similar looking or none black and generations exhibit a variety of complexions, features and hair textures. Then you're told "you're not black".
@@paisleyprincess7996 …many of us are now Hispanic aligned and yet, many of us still look as mixed race as our ancestors. I am a Creole and l say it whenever someone asks if l’m Latino and a BW like yourself is always quick to intone, “you’re just black!” I understand deep down this inner sense of low self esteem as she looks at my light skin and long wavy hair. However, her issues can’t negate my Creole heritage or sense of identity ⚜️
@@MayMay-el4wg Um…Wrong again. I’m BIRACIAL. White mom, black father. I’m biracial but I’m black culturally. And proud of it. I’m also ambiguous, but I don’t hide behind it and turn against other black people and play into the colorism trap. People can identify how they want, but it’s the comments like yours that irk me…Because to bigots everywhere we’re still ninjas
I think the cultural aspect is HUGE. My mom and gram could have been raised as Mexican American, Indigenous, Creole, or African american. ANY of those cultures are a part of our immediate family line. But we were raised Irish/French. This is what is still hard for me to wrap my mind around.
This is an interesting video 🤔 , I enjoyed watching this video.
Thanks for watching
"A hurt people" - brilliant and accurate expression/explanation.
I agree, it was profound
Mes cousins! I grew up in a creole neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. Nai , 1950’s. Patois French, spicy rice eating people!
Ironically, I have relocated, retired to New Orleans. Learning about my people. Someone from here asked me what I am. I replied, creole. .. I could hear her mind shifting. Didn’t know why. Your conversation touched on this local raw nerve that I have never known before. Much grass
Theresa, Im so glad this meant as much to you as it did to me. It gets emotional sometimes!
@@nytn Sharing an interesting cultural traditions observation. My mother taught me a lot, a lot of traditions. My husband immigrated from Egypt and I went to live there for a while. Turns out we had in common many of the same traditional knowledge. He was surprised at how much I knew and practiced. All we could figure is that African customs were an oral history passed on through the worst of slavery and oppression. In the end, I thank my ancestors, they prepared me to live a global life style. Which we have passed on to our children and their children. ☮️
this was the next thing i scrolled to and the thing on my mind was my white appearing creole new orleans mother. synch! on both sides of my paternity, everyone comes in different shades and hair textures. we are also Choctaw Cherokee and Chickasaw. we were French speakers on one side and the other couldn't rid it from me sooner. the choices on how to identify has been kind of a racial struggle within the family group. at least the gen i grew up amongst was like that. i'm one of the few who recognizes my indigenous heritage, which i feel was a great loss.
Cathy, thank you for sharing this! I feel like this is a long process...multi generational...
Wow, this is so amazing. My dad is from Louisiana New Orleans and this hits home he left my dad is 91. I really appreciate this video. It helped me in so many ways kinda identify where I belong like you said I feel like I didn’t nowhere so it feels like a little piece of me got found
I literally found out recently. I knew my family went far back into Louisiana but not 300 years ago 😂. Our names are very French still and my dad's family comes in all skin tones.They never mentioned being Creole though. I was doing my family tree and found out I have a Spanish Creole ancestors as well as a few French and seeing my distant cousins on Ancestry and 23andMe pop up in Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Even been approached by LA Creoles in Cali asking me if I was a LA Creole before finding out.
Creoles always know other Creoles even when we don't know ourselves!
Wow everything he said is 100% accurate. It’s always hard for me to explain to non Creoles, who and what we are. I always say, it’s a Creole thing you wouldn’t understand. Jeremy Simien understands. Thank you my Louisiana Creole brother for educating the masses.
I'm Cajun/Creole Louisiana born and bred. I'm also white, raised as such and have DNA tested to see if I needed to go back through my paper research again. I definately (and obviously) have POC who are cousins but if the dna is accurate, that is not something I need to be looking for myself. But I still identify as creole. My grandfather traces his family back to colonial New Orleans and my grandmother was Acadian/Cajun and didn't leave the bayou til the 1920's or so. It wasn't until I started watching some of Jeremy's conversations on YT that I felt comfortable self identifying as Creole. I still have people look at me weird since I am very obviously white but I now have the historical context because of his information that allows me to push back when I need to.
Thank you so much for this video. I’ve had so many questions with my family and why they don’t like talking about something that is a part of our history. This really helped clarify why they chose not to claim being creole.
Loved this conversation. I wonder if you’re a distant cousin of my son I think you mentioned the name Guillory. From what I’ve researched he has Cajun/Creole ancestors. I also have Louisiana roots. I appreciate you sharing your journey with us ❤
I have SO many distant Guillory DNA cousins. I dont know where they connect to my tree yet. We're ALL family down there LOL
Sir the Native Americans were Black, let me say that again, the Original People of North and South America were Darkskin/Ebony People......God's chosen people!!
I'm a mixed-race guy from NJ but very familiar with the La. Creole population. There are such a spectrum of mixed people from that area- I just spoke with a 60-yr old white former co-worker from Calif. who called me in surprise to say he JUST found out his maternal family is descended from "free people of color" in Louisiana, found old photos of them, etc. He hadn't known this until now.
Hi, nice show and presenter...what was not included were the Haitian creole and canary island people who came to LA and mixed especially in your family area...My family are hemings/Thomas Jefferson and they did pass
Oh yes, those sound like great topics to cover!
You guys are probably related 😮
I always enjoy your videos. ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you so much!😌😌😌
@@nytn you’re welcome!!
Yes, I completely relate to what he is saying. I was so confused between what is creole . My Pau Pau used to say, "we's creole. But I thought it just meant they were from New Orleans. What Ive learned is that is was a way that distinugished those who were of African Ancestry that were born in New Orleans vs those who were born in a West African country.
It is imposed upon us when our families use it, but dont really have one definition of what it is. Is it African and French ? Is it mixed race ? Is it born in the US vs born on the continent ? It seems everyone has their own definition which makes it more confusing.
Very interesting indeed And just the opposite of my grandmother who was creole born and raised in New Orleans with family also in Natchitoches Louisiana. She and all of my family could have passed if they wanted but chose not to. For the life of her she would never claim herself as creole. Almost with some sort of distain. (?) She would instead choose to say we're just french and some black. But you couldn't dare call her Creole. I was always intrigued by her decisive stance. Very interesting times back then combined with the complexity of how and where to fit in.
You are so right. All over the new world, creole, criolla, kreyòl meant born in the "colonies" vs. being born in England, Spain, west Africa, etc. It obviously has evolved over the centuries but that is the origin.
Thanks for breaking this down, I always believed Creole was anyone of any mixing of "races", all shades. The one crossing the color barrier were Cajun/ white. As a Jamaican, I love the country's original motto...." OUT OF MANY ONE PEOPLE" I always say, what you see is what you get. As per racial profiling I am considered Quadroon, but depending on my hairstyles I can pass for Hispanic, I was even called a "NATO BABY " when living in Europe ( Germany). Sounds very similar to some Jamaicans, in my house being brought up by my Grandmother who was Bi-racial banned anyone that spoke "patios" from the house. I was told only the Queen's English was spoken in her house. (circa..1970-1974) I agree with Jeremy...you are who you are....hold your head up and be proud of who you are, no matter what others think of you.
This discussion was fascinating to me. It’s a really hard topic that I can identify with - how do you respect your ancestors and heritage without truly having had the same experience because of being raised as white? And how do people react? It’s tough, and I very much respect your transparency in your journey.
Zig, you and me both!
Excellent content! Thank you for all you do!!! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
Thanks for watching! It means so much
The female here is definitely a lady of color, you can tell and she's beautiful too!!
Thanks for sharing your stories! I’m still here as a Creole male that’s longing for Creole unity. We are treated differently from both sides. I have long deep scares for being a Creole. Love you family!
This what I love about Jeremy he speaks the true meaning of our culture
hey cuz✊
@NYTN hey cuz, you still up for Natchitoches this March?
@@LCCreole you mean the tribes documentary premiere on March 4? Yah I'll be there, you going??
I am a Coloured (not the same context as the USA) South African. More specifically Cape Coloured. It seems my community has many similarities with the Louisiana Creole community. It's really interesting.
I'm trying to trace my roots to see what our genetic makeup is over the generations. It's like pulling chickens' teeth.
My grandfather was born in Carencro, raised in Lafayette and moved to Beaumont. Yes, they moved to cities for jobs and married different people.
I'm from Beaumont and my great grand parents/ grandparents did the same. Port Barre, opelousas, Lafayette...
I am Creole with my roots in New Iberia, Louisiana. As passed down from my Great-grand father, who is a LaBeaux, our culture consists of African, Spanish, French and Native-American (Muskogee- Cree). Though I do not look white or black, I am always assumed to be Mexican, Latin American, and occasionally Middle Eastern. My father is Caucasian (Swiss), but it is my mother who is Creole. She regularly gets mistaken for being Latin American or East-Indian. My mother's cooking reflects the Spanish and French influence in her cooking. At our church she is considered the Queen of the sweet-potato pies. Though I was born and raised in San Francisco, CA, I am proud of my Creole heritage and am a serious critic of Gumbo. That reaux betta be right!
Its still too close. My family that is from New Orleans do not talk about these things. I am opening some wounds when I ask these questions.
Aisha, wow. That is massive
My great grandparents were Louisiana Creole.Was super close with my great grandpa. I am very proud of my creole heritage. Want to go to Louisiana so bad.
I hope you can go! I cried the first time I made it to find family. I’ve been a few times a year since then!
There are Haotian creole and Louisiana creole. I'm creole when we were young our family spoke Patua. Then stopped. Also, there are distinct features amongst creoles in skin texture tone and features such as high cheekbones, hair color and texture, and the setting or deepening of the eyes. Madame Marie Laveau was creole.
I’m a Pointe Coupee-ean (if that’s a word). You outta to make a trip down here for research. Our people had, and still has a DEEP footprint in the area. Simien can attest to this.
My Grandmother and I knew some Simien's. I remember my grandmother when I asked her what it means to be Creole, I had heard that it meant you being natural Born in the state of Louisiana and I wanted to deny or confirm that by asking my grandmother. Because I had heard of some generalize opinion about it online. Now as far as I mentioned, my dad is Creole via his mother (my Grandmother ) that's a known fact she was born and grew up in Louisiana, Lafayette. So when I asked her would I be considered Creole she said only in blood but not culturally, in the fact that I wasn't born in Louisiana but I have the ancestry, this still confuses me to this day but when you talk about actualized naturalized citizen born but when you ask other people, some have different interpretations like everything else, this could also be confusing when you're talking to Creoles from say Texas or maybe parts of the bayou Rivers along the way from Louisiana to maybe Mississippi upward or whatever. This is very interesting dialogue
That’s my family’s name Simien my great grandmother name is Celestine simien
Im a lewiel my Mom was a Phillips born in Charity Hospital and was raised in the French quarters. How ever my Grand Mothers siblings all passed for white .. Which is how my family got to California in the 1940’s .. By the time I learned we where creole I asked my MoMo to teach me .. but she had dementia, and only could teach me the word Paco ne’ which means IDK ..
@@isaiahalfred97 My Grandmother knew a Juels Simien out in the same city of San Francisco
@Blatina401 That name sounds familiar but I'm not sure 🤔
@@Goldx702 I remember that phrase too LoL 🤣🤣🤣 either Grandmother or Mami said it🤔
Interesting video. I’m not Creole but have had people ask me for most of my life whether I am. My ex husband is a very fair skinned, blued eyed Greek and during our marriage no one knew where to put me as a light skinned Eurocentric looking black - our children are all identified as white.
Now we have the term “multiracial generations” and that’s where I am since we are mostly Scot/Irish and English rather than French and mixed with sub Saharan African. It’s time that we grapple with the real issues of mixed race and yes, I also have white passing relatives and those who could have passed. I remember as a child traveling through the segregated south that my father would take my older brother - both very light with straight hair, into segregated places to retrieve food for the family. My mother and I - both light but not white, would be parked some distance away with our heads ducked down. You don’t forget such experiences.
It's interesting to hear this from the American(USA) perspective In the Caribbean 'creole' originally referred to the French who were born in the Caribbean. Later it came to refer to blacks who were born in the Caribbean as well. This gave rise (at least in Trinidad and Tobago)to the separation in the terms 'creole' for blacks and "French Creole' for the Bourgeoisie. The "French Creole' label has basically become attached to the people of French and African descent. So much so that even if you are basically white African descent is assumed.
That is really different and interesting, thank you for adding to the conversation
Thank you for this video.
So nice of you
@@nytn You're welcome 😊 !
I've been really facinated by your story & reading the stories of others.
What occurred to me while viewing all of this about your great-grandmother and the area where she was born was the Perot family in Dallas. As in, the now deceased former Presidential nominee Ross Perot & his family. It turns out that his family is also from the Natchitoches Parish, although it seems this branch moved to TX around the time of the Emancipation Proclamation.
My mom's uncle said Ross Perot was a relative on the White side of the Perot line, but that they wouldnt come to our family reunions because we were the "other side. No idea if that's true...
I'd forgotten about him, even though I knew I'd heard the name Perot before. Apparently he claimed he was descended from a French-Canadian family.
@6:34, . . The guy in the pic farthest to the left looks just like my father when he was 19 y.o.