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Regular Session, 2013
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 30
BY SENATOR LAFLEUR
SENATE. Designates July 14 as the annual commemorative day honoring Louisiana's
diverse French-American Creole families.
A RESOLUTION1
To designate July 14 as the annual commemorative day honoring Louisiana's diverse2
French-American Creole families.3
WHEREAS, the Associates of the Louisiana French Creole Cultural Educational4
Coalition of the tri-parish region including Avoyelles, St. Landry, and Evangeline seek to5
have Louisiana's unique, historic, and mutually-shared international, interracial French6
Creole culture, and all of its historic family adherents, in all of our ethnic, and racial varieties7
preserved and honored; and 8
WHEREAS, all Louisiana French "native-born" or "Creole" families, from the9
founding, and especially after the founding, of the historic cities of Mobile, Alabama and10
Natchitoches, New Orleans and Washington/Opelousas, Louisiana, along with all other11
Colonial period French /European, African, and Spanish settlements in Louisiana, in all of12
their racial and ethnic varieties, do joyfully and intelligently comprehend and embrace their13
uniquely shared, historic, international, interracial culture, language, and cuisine; and14
WHEREAS, they have loyally resisted compromising their uniquely shared15
Louisiana Francophone Creole cultural identity for any commercial, social, or economic16
expediency; and17
WHEREAS, their five hundred year old culture and traditions antedates even the18 SR NO. 30
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entry of Louisiana into the United States of America; and1
WHEREAS, the Creole culture remains the historically undeniable foundation of2
Louisiana's earliest culinary, linguistic, and social traditions presented to the first3
Francophone colonists of New Orleans under the auspices of then founder, and governor,4
Jean-Batiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville; and5
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Creole cuisine was made possible through the culinary6
wisdom of the Louisiana Indians, the French settlers, African people and slaves, the early7
Germanic people, and later Spanish colonial settlers; and8
WHEREAS, they are thus forever united to the French maritime colonies where both9
the earliest French "Creole" language, cuisine, and culture was born in the French empire;10
and11
WHEREAS, the shared culture and language was successfully transmitted to every12
diverse ethnicity thenceforth welcomed and assimilated into the North American territory13
then known as, "la louisiane"; and14
WHEREAS, this age-old culture and language were reinforced with the historic15
arrival of the Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri French/Canadians and16
European soldiers, and their Creole, or native-born families, from numerous forts formerly17
held by the French throughout North America, and duly surrendered to the British according18
to the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1763, which ended the "Seven Years War"; and19
WHEREAS, these French families settled in the historic Opelousas District, and were20
joined by their African slaves, Creole families of Color, diverse Spanish Creoles,21
Franco-Teutonic and Irish, and later "Foreign French" families; and22
WHEREAS, these Creoles in all of their racial diversity would expand, and23
disseminate among a variety of other Francophone ethnicities their mutually shared, and24
created language, culinary arts, architecture, social and recreational traditions and thus25
preserve through oral and written transmission, their shared historic culture through its26
medium of communication, more recently known as "Louisiana French", which has survived27
to this twenty-first century; and 28
WHEREAS, the beautiful words of the ancient Louisiana French will forever29
preserve and speak to the memory, culture, tongues, and races of their diverse ancestry, for30 SR NO. 30
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all their Creole families; and1
WHEREAS, their historically later arriving cousins, the Acadians, whose offspring,2
by fact of birth in Louisiana were also "native-born" or qualified "Creoles" did assimilate3
and adapt both the historic Louisiana French Creole language, and culture; and4
WHEREAS, the historic Louisiana Francophone parishes of Avoyelles, Evangeline5
and St. Landry were from their earliest times populated by Louisiana French Creoles, of all6
varieties, including Americans, such that Evangeline and St. Landry parishes recognize a7
dual cultural status of "Creole & Cajun" while Avoyelles, Pointe Coupee, and Natchitoches8
parishes hold to their historic and predominant cultural taxonomy of "Creole". 9
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana that10
the 14th day of July is hereby designated as the annual commemorative day honoring11
Louisiana's diverse French-American Creole families.12
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the13
Associates of the Louisiana French Creole Cultural Education Coalition.14
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jerry J. Guillot.
DIGEST
LaFleur SR No. 30
Designates July 14 as the annual commemorative day honoring Louisiana's diverse French-
American Creole families.