In 1604 the Acadians settled in present-day Nova Scotia, a land they called
Acadia. They established themselves as farmers, fishermen and traders. Tragically,
in 1755 the British drove them from their native land; families were torn
apart and shipped to ports throughout the eastern seaboard. This displacement
is what the Cajuns* call Le Grand Dérangement. A countless number of
the deportees died aboard ships of disease or starvation. Those who made it
to new lands found it difficult to survive; a few made their way back to France,
but were separated from their friends and family. Many ended up in what was
then French-colonized Louisiana, along the bayous and wetlands of the Atchafalaya
Basin, where the Atchafalaya River and the Gulf of Mexico converge. This is
where George Rodrigue’s family called home.
Life was hard in this new land; the climate differed dramatically from their
native home, and no one spoke their language. The Cajuns spoke a dialect of
the old French language, which today is often called “Cajun French.”
New Orleans was fast becoming a progressive area with merchant trading and
international shipping. But this remote area remained poor and cut off from
the city. The Cajuns had no industry and no roads, and remained mostly secluded
until the early 1900s.
These are the people seen in Rodrigue’s landscapes – the Cajuns
trapped in their surroundings and locked in time. They are the Cajuns who
lived before the modern era, seemingly “pasted” into their surroundings,
just as their ancestors were placed into an unfamiliar land. They are the
local musicians, the barbers, the school children, the fur trappers and fishermen
who tell the long history of their people.
* The term “Cajun” is the anglicized pronunciation of Cadien (the
truncated form of Acadian in French). Originally “Cajun” was perceived
as a derogatory term, but Rodrigue made a bold choice in freely using the
term to describe his ancestors – not in a disrespectful way, but rather
to describe a noble and dignified group of people.