But the Batiste family does not draw its wealth exclusively from their father s medical practice, which by his own admission is rather mediocre. They are an established wealthy family, preoccupied with manners and cultivation, as well as with maintaining the traditions of their African slave past. Eve s beautiful mother is, in spite of her rejection by larger white society, the very personification of a refined Southern lady. In short, the film has value because it does not focus on crime and urban poverty, the usual Hollywood perceptions of the African-American experience. Instead Eve s Bayou emphasizes the incredible diversity of black society in America.
Blacks have traditions and inheritances as rich as any member of white society.
The film emphasizes that common humanity that alone can break down hatred and suspicion and end the legacy of injustice in our society. African and French culture in Louisiana Louisiana, in a sense is probably the most un-American part of the United States. Although the northern parts of the state are English speaking and Protestant, much of the southern part of Louisiana in particular is French speaking and Roman Catholic. The architecture is distinctively French and Spanish, with accommodations to the climate and the cuisine is probably the best in the country, combining French, African and Spanish influences. Louisiana s long history, first as a French, then as a Spanish colony, with a large African population, accounts for its distinctive heritage.