The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1901-08-12
WHITES IN THE MAJORITY.
A Race Transformation in LOuisi'
ana in the Past Century.

CoIOred LnbOrers SuppInnted by
Germans and Italians-The French
Language No Longer in General
Use in Any Locality in the state.
NEW ORLEANS. Aug. 1.-THE effort
to make Louisiana i white State, which
! the census shows has succeeded at last,
had been going on for century or more.
, Louisiana was a negro State so recently
as 1920 that is. had majority of negroes;
but the present white majority is 7S.S0S.
1t is in the southern half of the State that
! the whites are most numerous.
There the white majority is 49,
sos. In the sugar district, where formerly
the negroes did all the plantation work
! they have rapidly been supplanted by
Italians and Acadians, until now it shows
white majority of 67,22i
! In the earlier days of Louisiana both
I the French and the Spanish sought to
make the colony white Three sources of
supply Were drawn upon for settlers. Al
: SAGE, the Canary Islands, and Acadia, or
/ Nova Scotia.
TIE AIsatians were all Germans. They
| settled on the coast just above New Or
/ leans, which was known for years after
ward as the Cote des Allemands. They
7 have completely disappeared. Only two
names remain to commemorate them,
Bayou des Allemands. in st. Charles Par
ish, and Bayou Teche-Tesch or Deutsch,
meaning German Bayou-running through
the region where they lived. They soon
lost their language and even their names,
which they translated into French, so
that Zweig, for instance, became La
branche.
AS for the farms of the German coast
they were rooted out by the big planters,
who employed negro slave labor and who
found the presence of small white farm
ers in their neighborhood to have de-
moralizing influence on the slaves Not
few of the early white settlements of
Louisiana were absolutely destroyed in
this way by planters. Among the lost
towns is Galveston, founded by the con-
queror. General Galvez, and named in his
honor
Thus the German coast from New Or
leans to Baton Rouge became one of the
blacklist belts of the South. In some
parts of it the negroes numbered ten or
twelve to one white man. 1t is significant
of the changed condition of affairs that
the black belt is white again. The Ger
man was ousted from it by the negro, but
the negro has in time been ousted by the
Italian and the Acadian.
The second set of white colonists was
obtained from the Canary Islands and
were brought over by the Spanish Gov
ernors, who hoped to increase the Span
ish sentiment in the colony, as the cre"les
were periodically French. The newcomers
spoke Spanish and were known as lslenos
or Islanders, name subsequently cor
rupted in Louisiana to Islingues. They,
like the Germans, have completely dis
appeared, being swallowed up by the
creoles.
The third class of white colonsts were
the Acadians. or. as they are popularity
called In Louisiana today, "Cagans. The
Acadians. as is well-known. are Evange-
lines people, who, after the New Eng
landers insisted upon the dispersal OF the
French neutrals, were taken from their
homes in Nova Scotia and scattered In all
directions. A majority OF the Acadians
have scattered among the English colo
MES and have completely disappeared. a
small remnant of them reached Louisiana
$50 years ago in very pitiable condition
They were a despised race, the creoles
looking down upon them with contempt
Few of them could read or write and
many had no family names and were sim
ply Jean Pierre. or Baptiste. They were
too poor to buy lands, and they settled
in the wild outskirts of the colony. II is
this race once despised and few in num-
ber which has risen 70 become the most
numerous In southern Louisiana today,
and which because of its virility-It is
very similar in ell respects TO the French |
Canadian-is pushing out the negro.
There is still a disposition to look with
contempt on the Acadian on the part of
some. The American speaks contemptu- |
ousiy of the ignorant Cagan, and the |
creole regards IL as the greatest indignity !
to mistake him for an Acadian AT the |
same time the Acadian is growing pros /
porous and powerful. George w. Gable |
has put on record his preference for the |
Acadian Frenchman as against the Gre |
ole. There can he no question that the |
Acadian adopts American ideas and |
methods sooner. He is rapidly dropping !
his French.
These Acadian descendants of French I
peasants promise 10. make first-class I,
American citizens They have given two /
Governors to Louisiana both OF them |
though originally only a fraction of the /
French-speaking population of the State, /
has grown to constitute more than two
thirds of il. thanks to his proliiicness and /
sturdiness.
But in the earlier days, before the Aca-
dian became so numerous and so agrees }
sive for white supremacy. Louisiana grew (
blacker and blacker The State contained .
four negroes to three whites The plant /
ers deliberately tried to GUST white farm-
ers; and even In New Orleans white me-
chanics stood little chance against the .
negro slaves who were educated to be car
penters. blacksmiths, etc, and were leas-
ed OF rented by their owners.
Since the overthrow Of the Republican j.
government in Louisiana, and the control .
of the government by the whites, Il de-
termined effort has been made to get
Louisiana white again. The movement has /
been growing in strength and has been
most marked of recent years.
Much legislation against the negro has
been placed upon the statute book He (
has been largely disfranchis6d shut out
from juries, compelled to ride in separate
cars on the railroads, and prohibited from
marrying either white or Indian. Popular
has gone even further than the
law for he is shut out of hotels. and il is
proposed to shut him out of the street
cars. Organizations called Cauca slams
have driven out bad negroes" and in a
number OF localities, especially in Grant Z
ana vernon, no negroes are allowed and
the communities are entirely white.
But II is doubtful IL these acts would
have materially affected the popula tion
of the State. so far races are concern
ed. but for the rapid increase Of the Ital-
ians and Acadians. The negro population
of Louisiana increased 1872 per cent in the
last decade, which is about normal; but
the whites increased q per cent
The change going is we'll illustrated |
in the country known as the German
coast. Here are some comparative figures
OF the population:
White Negro
major major
Whites. Negroes ity. ity.
ls7O......-.... Ss3is 58,7l0 49,. 1871