Creole: The History and Legacy of Louisiana,s Free People of Color [Hardcover]

Sybil Kein (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0807125326 | ISBN-13: 978-0807125328 | Publication Date: August 2000

The word Creole evokes a richness rivaled only by the term’s widespread misunderstanding. Now both aspects of this unique people and culture are given thorough, illuminating scrutiny in Creole, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary history of Louisiana’s Creole population. Written by scholars, many of Creole descent, the volume wrangles with the stuff of legend and conjecture while fostering an appreciation for the Creole contribution to the American mosaic. The collection opens with a historically relevant perspective found in Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson’s 1916 piece “People of Color of Louisiana” and continues with contemporary writings: Joan M. Martin on the history of quadroon balls; Michel Fabre and Creole expatriates in France; Barbara Rosendale Duggal with a debiased view of Marie Laveau; Fehintola Mosadomi and the downtrodden roots of Creole grammar; Anthony G. Barthelemy on skin color and racism as an American legacy; Caroline Senter on Reconstruction poets of political vision; and much more. Violet Harrington Bryan, Lester Sullivan, Jennifer DeVere Brody, Sybil Kein, Mary Gehman, Arthi A. Anthony, and Mary L. Morton offer excellent commentary on topics that range from the lifestyles of free women of color in the nineteenth century to the Afro-Caribbean links to Creole cooking. By exploring the vibrant yet marginalized culture of the Creole people across time, Creole goes far in diminishing past and present stereotypes of this exuberant segment of our society. A study that necessarily embraces issues of gender, race and color, class, and nationalism, it speaks to the tensions of an increasingly ethnically mixed mainstream America.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807125326
• ISBN-13: 978-0807125328
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,456,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History lesson on Creoles in one book., October 17, 2000

By 

Dera R Williams (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creole: The History and Legacy of Louisiana's Free People of Color (Paperback)

This book of essays is absolutely the best resource on the Creole heritage of Louisiana. The history is priceless and my hat goes off to Dr. Kein for compiling such a group of scholars and historians who have covered every aspect of the subject. I have many books and have done much research since the late eighties as part of my research on African American history. This book has been a long time in coming. I thank Anthony Barthelemy for his essay "Light, Bright, Damn Near White" which answered my questions of the infamous Susie Guillory case, the woman who "discovered" she was considered "Colored" when she went to get a passport in the 80s. I always wondered what they true story was and now I know. I enjoued learning about Marcus Chritian through violet Harrington Byan's essay exposing his research on Creoles. All of the essays are worth reading and referring to again and again. Composers of color of Nineteenth-Century New Orleans was an eye-opener. I had heard about them but found very little information until this. The essay by Joan Martin on placage answered alot of questions for me of why and will be helpful for my friend who is writing a thesis on Creole women and the institution of placage. Oh, and Sybil Kein's "The Use of Louisiana Creole in Southern Literature" was worth the whole book. This essay brought home full circle of my studies of some of the writers who have written about literature, race, and passing. I could go on and on. Creole Poets, their professions and trades, the food connection. It is all wonderful. I count this book as one of my best investments for 2000 with the wealth of knowledge in it. This should be in the library of every American historian, black, white, or other.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a commentary on my legacy, September 28, 2000

By 

Ann Guillory (Tenafly, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creole: The History and Legacy of Louisiana,s Free People of Color (Hardcover)

I am delighted to find that my academic peers of creole decent have endeavored to put together our past in such a marvelous way. I have spent many hours in the New Orleans Public Library and have visited the Armistead Center but have never had the time to sit down and put all the information together so that I could start to compare the fact to the stories that were passed on to me about my ancestors. Being light skinned black with a french maiden name, I am often questioned as to my family background. My grandmother and mother's stories and my own experiences often amaze people as to how rich my background is. Now I have a book to pass on to my children as well as stories of my past. In an age of reams of wirtings about the diversity of America, I now have a book to pass on to them about my own diverse past - my creole legacy. Thank you Sybil Kein and company!

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An invaluable history of Louisiana's Creole people, February 21, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creole: The History and Legacy of Louisiana,s Free People of Color (Hardcover)

Creole provides an invaluable history of Louisiana's Creole people, examining the ethnic roots of the Creoles and their mixed descent, analyzing their history and contributions, and helping define their ethnic heritage. From the use of Creole in language and literature to popular individuals of color, this provides a fine coverage.