The Big Easy: Literary New Orleans and Intangible Heritage

Introduction et Raisonnement

With brown eyes, an olive complexion and an Italian background, I had grown accustomed to being considered "exotic" by North American standards. Yet as a teacher new to a high school with barely any ethnic diversity - the student body being predominantly African American – I was surprised when my students began to develop soubriquets for me that underscored my whiteness. Hence, "French Vanilla" was born, pointedly making reference to both the subject I teach, and the fact that I'm white; side-splittingly funny, one must admit. Yet in sharp contrast to those who emphasized the fact that I was Caucasian, there were other students who opened up conversations which put my race into question for the first time in my life, and these comments were equally baffling to me. Some said, "You're Italian, so that means you're not white, right?" Was being of Mediterranean origin something they did not equate with being white, or was it the moderate amount of melanin in my skin that led them to conclude that I was something other than white? These students nicknamed me "Shawty Red," informing me that "red" is a term used for light-skinned, African Americans. The debate over whether I was biracial or white resurfaced throughout the school year, and I noticed the room fall uncharacteristically silent each time issues of race were broached. Since my move to Atlanta in 1998 I have been very aware of the fact that the concept of racial identity and all of its implications remains a highly charged subject in the southeastern United States.

A significant part of the cultural mystique and intangible heritage of New Orleans as described by Joseph R. Roach in our National Initiative seminar, "The Big Easy," stems from its diverse colonial past and the racial tensions which emerged during the process of transformation from a bilingual, multiracial city to an Anglo-American city after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Given my students' acute interest in our discussions pertaining to race, I feel certain that AP French students would be more than intrigued by the plight of the nineteenth century francophone Creoles of African descent, in the name of Americanization. This community was marginalized to the point of having some of their most educated, gifted poets resort to expressing their opposition to the social injustices of the time under the guise of romantic, French poetry. They were wise to do so, since by 1830 it was an offense punishable by death to provoke rebellion or racial tensions among African Americans. ¹

Examined through an interdisciplinary study touching upon geography, history, literature, and language, a selection of authentic works from the nineteenth century New Orleanian poets known as Les Cenelles, will serve as a springboard for students of AP French to improve their reading comprehension skills, and to broaden their understanding of the francophone world with boundaries stretching far past the borders of France, all while exploring the familiar and still divisive topic of mixed-race people. "To dwell within the color line rather than squarely on either side of it is, in the U.S. context, to experience a kind of racial and national exile." ²