The Record · 71 events · 1699 to 2025
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Reading 1699
French colony1699 to 1763 · 16 events
1699Iberville reaches the Mississippi and builds Fort MaurepasPierre Le Moyne d'Iberville's expedition located the mouth of the Mississippi River on March 2, 1699, and on March 17 his party noted a pole marking the hunting boundary between the Bayogoula and the Houma. On April 8, 1699, Iberville chose a site at the entrance of Biloxi Bay for Fort Maurepas, the first French post of the Louisiana colony.Source: 64 Parishes (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities), Michael T. Pasquier · +3 moreColonyLandmark1714Natchitoches post founded on the Red RiverLouis Antoine Juchereau de Saint-Denis founded Fort St. Jean Baptiste de Natchitoches in 1714, in the homeland of the Natchitoches people. The National Register nomination calls Natchitoches the oldest permanent settlement in Louisiana.Primary document · Source: National Park Service · +1 moreColonyMajor1718Chitimacha and French end a twelve-year warAfter Chitimacha men killed the missionary St. Cosme in 1706 in response to slave raids, Bienville recruited other nations to make war on the Chitimacha, and many Chitimacha were enslaved. The war ended in 1718 when a Chitimacha chief met Bienville in New Orleans and a peace treaty was signed.Primary document · Source: Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana · +1 moreResistanceMajor1718Bienville begins building New OrleansIn late March or early April 1718, Bienville's party landed at what is now the upper French Quarter and began clearing the site. On June 12, 1718, Bienville wrote, 'We are working at present on the establishment of New Orleans.'Source: Richard Campanella, Tulane University (published in The Times-Picayune) · +1 moreColonyLandmark1719First slave ships from Africa reach LouisianaIn 1719 the Duc du Maine and the Aurore brought the first shipments of enslaved Africans to Louisiana, landing at Dauphin Island. The Aurore had purchased 201 captives at Whydah (Ouidah, in present-day Benin), and about 200 survived the crossing.Source: Wikipedia (cites Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana, p. 61, and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database) · +4 morePeopleLandmark1724Louisiana Code Noir issuedThe Code Noir for Louisiana, dated March 1724, set the laws governing enslaved people in the colony. It banned marriage between whites and Black people (Article VI), required Superior Council permission for any manumission (Article L), and granted freed people the same rights as free-born persons (Article LIV).Primary document · Source: BlackPast.org · +1 moreLawLandmark1725Louis Congo freed and named public executionerOn November 21, 1725, the Company of the Indies freed an enslaved man named Louis Congo and appointed him public executioner for New Orleans and Chapitoulas. His pay included land, rations, and use of his wife, who remained enslaved by the Company.Source: African American Intellectual History Society (Black Perspectives), Menika Dirkson · +1 morePeopleMajor17261726 census counts 3,784 peopleThe 1726 census of Louisiana counted 3,784 people: 2,240 whites (including 245 indentured servants and 332 soldiers), 1,385 enslaved Black people, and 159 enslaved Native people.Primary document · Source: Unattributed federal document mirrored in the govdocs1 corpus · +2 morePopulationMajor1729Natchez attack Fort RosalieThe Natchez attacked the French at Fort Rosalie (present-day Natchez, Mississippi) after the commandant ordered them off White Apple Village, killing more than 200 colonists and taking captives, including many of the roughly 280 enslaved Africans nearby. French and Choctaw forces then waged war on the Natchez, and most survivors were captured in 1731 and sold into slavery in Saint-Domingue.Primary document · Source: Mississippi Secretary of State · +3 moreResistanceLandmark1731Samba Bambara conspiracy in New OrleansIn June 1731, French authorities in New Orleans said they had uncovered a planned uprising of enslaved Africans led by a man called Samba Bambara. Eight of the accused were executed at the Place d'Armes, the men on the wheel and one woman by hanging.Primary document · Source: Wikipedia (cites Caron, Slavery and Abolition 18:1, 1997, and Wood, Strange New Land, Oxford UP, 2003) · +1 moreResistanceMajor1731Company of the Indies gives up Louisiana; slave trade nearly stopsAfter the Natchez war, the Company of the Indies returned Louisiana to the French Crown, and the African slave trade to the colony nearly stopped after 1731. During the French period about 6,000 Africans were brought to Louisiana, about two-thirds from the Senegambia region, most of them in the 1720s.Source: Library of Congress (mirror in govdocs1 corpus) · +3 morePopulationLandmark1740French trading posts among the Opelousa and AtakapaFrance set up trading posts in Southwest Louisiana, the Poste des Opelousas and the Poste des Attakapas, to trade with the Atakapa (Ishak) and Opelousa peoples. French traders were working in the Opelousas area by the early 1740s.Source: Vermilionville Historic Village, via Historical Marker Database · +3 moreColonyMajor17461746 estimate: African-descended people outnumber whitesA 1746 estimate counted about 3,200 whites and 4,730 people of African descent in Louisiana. By the early 1740s, about two-thirds of the roughly 4,000 enslaved people in lower Louisiana had been born in the colony, which in colonial usage made them Creoles.Source: 64 Parishes, Michael T. Pasquier and Erin M. Greenwald · +2 morePopulationLandmark1762Treaty of Fontainebleau: France secretly cedes Louisiana to SpainOn November 3, 1762, France secretly ceded New Orleans and Louisiana west of the Mississippi to Spain. The cession was not made public until 1764, when Louis XV announced it in a letter to Governor d'Abbadie dated April 21, 1764.Source: 64 Parishes, Elizabeth Clark Neidenbach · +1 moreColonyLandmark1763About 200 free Black people at the end of French ruleAt the end of the French period, free Black people in Louisiana numbered barely 200, and about 80 percent of them had both European and African ancestry. Under the Code Noir, freedom required Superior Council approval, which kept this group small.Primary document · Source: Library of Congress (mirror in govdocs1 corpus) · +2 morePeopleMajor1763Treaty of Paris splits Louisiana at the MississippiThe Treaty of Paris, signed February 10, 1763, ended the Seven Years' War and gave Britain the land east of the Mississippi, with the boundary running down the river to the Iberville River (Bayou Manchac) and through Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain. New Orleans and its island stayed with France and passed to Spain under the earlier secret cession.Primary document · Source: Avalon Project, Yale Law School · +1 moreColonyLandmarkSpanish rule1764 to 1803 · 7 events
1764First Acadian exiles reach New Orleans from New YorkIn early April 1764, twenty Acadians released from exile in New York reached New Orleans after a stop at Mobile. They were settled on the Mississippi above New Orleans, near the present boundary of St. John and St. James parishes.Source: Acadian Memorial (Carl A. Brasseaux)PeopleMajor1765Beausoleil Broussard group of 193 Acadians sent to AttakapasIn late February 1765, 193 Acadians from Halifax led by Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil arrived at New Orleans. Colonial officials directed them to the Attakapas District, a frontier post in what is now Southwest Louisiana.Source: Acadian Memorial (Carl A. Brasseaux)PeopleMajor1769Spanish law brings coartacion, the right of self-purchaseUnder Spanish rule, an enslaved person who asked to buy their freedom could require the owner to name a fair market price and free them on payment. The free population of color grew from fewer than one hundred at the end of French rule to about fifteen hundred by 1800.Source: 64 Parishes (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities) · +1 moreLawLandmark1769Ulloa expelled; O'Reilly takes Louisiana for SpainSpanish governor Antonio de Ulloa arrived in New Orleans in March 1766 and was forced out by a colonists' revolt in October 1768. Alejandro O'Reilly arrived with 24 ships and 2,000 troops and took control on August 18, 1769, then had the revolt's leaders tried for treason.Primary document · Source: Library of Congress · +1 moreColonyLandmark1785Seven Spanish-chartered ships carry 1,596 Acadians from FranceBetween mid-May and mid-October 1785, 1,596 Acadians boarded seven New Orleans-bound merchant vessels chartered by the Spanish government at French ports. It was the largest single Acadian migration to Louisiana.Source: Acadian Memorial (Carl A. Brasseaux)PopulationMajor1795Pointe Coupee conspiracy of enslaved people suppressedIn 1795, Spanish authorities under Governor Carondelet uncovered a planned revolt of enslaved people in Pointe Coupee. More than sixty people were tried and twenty-three were sentenced to public execution by hanging.Source: 64 Parishes (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities)ResistanceLandmark1803Louisiana Purchase treaty signedThe United States and France signed the Louisiana Purchase treaty on April 30, 1803, for $15 million, adding about 828,000 square miles west of the Mississippi. The change to American law later curtailed self-purchase rights that enslaved people had held under Spain.Primary document · Source: National Archives · +1 moreColonyLandmarkStatehood to Jim Crow1804 to 1945 · 11 events
1809Saint-Domingue refugees expelled from Cuba reach New OrleansFrom May 1809 to early 1810, more than 10,000 refugees from Saint-Domingue, expelled from Cuba, arrived in New Orleans. They were roughly equal thirds white, free people of color, and enslaved people, and they roughly doubled the city's population and greatly enlarged its Creole of color community.Source: 64 Parishes (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities) · +2 morePopulationLandmark1811German Coast uprising of enslaved people led by Charles DeslondesBeginning the night of January 8, 1811, enslaved people on the German Coast upriver from New Orleans rose in revolt, with estimates of 150 to 500 marching toward the city. Militia and federal troops crushed it on January 10, and close to one hundred rebels were killed in combat or executed soon after.Source: 64 Parishes (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities)ResistanceLandmark1812Louisiana admitted to the Union as a statePresident James Madison signed the admission act on April 8, 1812, and it set April 30, 1812, as the date of formal admission. Louisiana's first state constitution dates from the same year.Primary document · Source: National Archives, Center for Legislative Archives · +1 moreLawMajor1819Latrobe records African drumming and dance at Congo SquareIn an 1819 journal entry, architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe wrote the most detailed surviving account of the Sunday gatherings of enslaved people at Congo Square, describing many drummers. Enslaved people were permitted to gather and sell goods there on Sundays, a practice that continued until the 1840s.Source: Music Rising at Tulane UniversityMusicLandmark1842Free people of color found the Holy Family sisters and Couvent schoolIn 1842, Henriette Delille, a free Afro-Creole woman, founded the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans to serve enslaved people, free people of color, and the poor. In 1848, free men of color opened L'Institution Catholique pour l'Instruction des Orphelins dans l'Indigence, funded by the bequest of Marie Couvent, a free woman of color who died in 1837.Source: 64 Parishes (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities) · +1 moreInstitutionLandmark1862L'Union launches the Afro-Creole French-language pressL'Union, a French-language paper started by a group including Louis Charles Roudanez and Paul Trevigne, first appeared in New Orleans on September 27, 1862, and added an English section in July 1863. After it stopped on July 19, 1864, Roudanez bought its equipment and two days later began La Tribune de la Nouvelle-Orleans and the New Orleans Tribune.Primary document · Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling AmericaLanguageLandmark1868Oscar Dunn and P.B.S. Pinchback hold Louisiana's top officesOscar Dunn was elected lieutenant governor in 1868 and served until his death on November 20, 1871. P.B.S. Pinchback, as state Senate president with the duties of acting lieutenant governor, became acting governor on December 9, 1872, the first Black governor of a U.S. state, and the U.S. Senate refused to seat him on March 8, 1876.Primary document · Source: 64 Parishes (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities) · +2 morePeopleLandmark1896Plessy v. Ferguson upholds Louisiana's Separate Car ActThe Comite des Citoyens, formed in New Orleans in 1891, arranged for Homer Plessy, an Afro-Creole shoemaker, to test the 1890 Separate Car Act, and he was arrested on June 7, 1892. On May 18, 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7 to 1 against him, with Justice Harlan writing in dissent, 'Our Constitution is color-blind.'Primary document · Source: Justia (U.S. Supreme Court opinion text) · +1 moreLawLandmark18981898 constitution strips most Black Louisianans of the voteLouisiana's 1898 constitution added a poll tax, a literacy test set by parish registrars, a $300 property alternative, and a grandfather clause tied to 1867 voter rolls. Registered Black voters fell from 130,344 in 1897 to 12,902 in 1898 and to 5,320 by 1900.Primary document · Source: 64 Parishes (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities) · +2 moreLawLandmark19211921 Constitution requires public school exercises in EnglishArticle XII, Section 12 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1921 stated that "the general exercises in the public schools shall be conducted in the English language." Students who spoke French or Louisiana Creole at school were disciplined and shamed under this policy for decades.Source: Journal of Folklore and Education / Local Learning · +1 moreLanguageLandmark1929Amédé Ardoin and Dennis McGee make first recordingsCreole accordionist and singer Amédé Ardoin recorded six sides for Columbia in New Orleans on December 9, 1929, with fiddler Dennis McGee. The records, including Columbia 40514, are among the earliest commercial recordings of South Louisiana French music, and Ardoin is credited with laying groundwork later claimed as Cajun music.Primary document · Source: Smithsonian Folkways (Arhoolie Records) · +2 moreMusicLandmarkThe rebrand1946 to 1985 · 17 events
1946Crowley Daily Signal prints the word "Acadiana"The earliest documented printed use of "Acadiana" appeared in the Crowley Daily Signal on October 15, 1946, which praised "Acadiana, the folklore that is South Louisiana." The paper's editorial tied the word to descendants of Acadians who arrived after 1755.Source: The Advocate · +1 moreNamingLandmark1954Clifton Chenier makes his first recordingsClifton Chenier, born in Opelousas in 1925, made his first recordings in 1954 for the Elko label, "Louisiana Stomp" and "Clifton's Blues." In 1955 Specialty Records released his "Ay 'Tit Fille" ("Hey Little Girl").Primary document · Source: National Endowment for the ArtsMusicMajor1954Boozoo Chavis records "Paper in My Shoe"Wilson "Boozoo" Chavis recorded "Paper in My Shoe" in 1954 at Eddie Shuler's studio in Lake Charles for Goldband. Licensed to Imperial in 1955 for national distribution, it is widely described as the first zydeco hit record.Source: Music Rising, Tulane University · +1 moreMusicMajor1955Statewide Acadian Bicentennial CelebrationCelebrations were held across Louisiana in 1955, centered in St. Martinville, to mark 200 years since the expulsion of the Acadians. The organizing association formed in January 1954 after a meeting called by the Louisiana Department of Commerce and Industry, with Thomas J. Arceneaux, Dean of Agriculture at Southwestern Louisiana Institute, at its head.Primary document · Source: University Archives and Acadiana Manuscripts Collection, Edith Garland Dupré Library, University of Louisiana at LafayetteInstitutionMajor1960"Zydeco" spelling appears in printFolklorist Mack McCormick used the spelling "zydeco" in liner notes to the 1960 LP A Treasury of Field Recordings, describing local Black Creole groups around Houston. Earlier recordings used other spellings, including Clifton Chenier's "Zodico Stomp" (1955).Source: Barry Popik, The Big Apple (etymology database)LanguageMajor1963KATC-TV adopts "Acadiana" after an invoice typoKATC-TV in Lafayette, launched in 1962 as Acadian Television Corp., received an FCC invoice around 1963 addressed to "Acadiana Television Corp." Station management adopted the misspelling as the name of its broadcast region, and it spread quickly.Source: The Advocate · +1 moreNamingLandmark1965Flag for the "Acadiana" region designed at USLThomas J. Arceneaux, Dean of the College of Agriculture at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, designed a regional flag in 1965. Its three fleurs-de-lis, gold tower of Castile and gold star for Our Lady of the Assumption represent French origin, Spanish rule and the Acadians' patroness, with no symbol for African or Indigenous people.Primary document · Source: Edith Garland Dupré Library, University of Louisiana at Lafayette · +1 moreNamingMajor1968Legislature creates CODOFIL by Act 409Governor John J. McKeithen signed Act No. 409 of 1968 on July 20, 1968, creating the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana with James Domengeaux, attorney and former U.S. Congressman, as chairman. The agency promoted standard French and Acadian heritage, and critics have long said it marginalized Louisiana Creole and Creoles of color.Primary document · Source: University Archives and Acadiana Manuscripts Collection, University of Louisiana at Lafayette · +1 moreInstitutionLandmark1971HCR 496 names 22 parishes as "The Heart of Acadiana"The Louisiana House adopted House Concurrent Resolution No. 496 in 1971, recognizing 22 parishes, from Calcasieu and Cameron east to St. Charles, as "The Heart of Acadiana" for their "Cajun and Acadian heritage." Its stated aims were to build the region's image and attract tourists.Primary document · Source: Louisiana House of Representatives · +3 moreLawLandmark1974CODOFIL-linked "Tribute to Cajun Music" at Blackham ColiseumA Tribute to Cajun Music was held on March 26, 1974, at Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette, after Dewey Balfa met with CODOFIL chairman James Domengeaux about the event. Nearly 12,000 people attended, and the concert grew into Festivals Acadiens, formed in 1977 under the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission.Source: Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission (LafayetteTravel) · +2 moreMusicMajor19741974 Constitution recognizes linguistic and cultural originsVoters ratified a new Louisiana Constitution on April 20, 1974, effective January 1, 1975, replacing the 1921 constitution and its English-only school exercise provision. Article XII, Section 4 states that "the right of the people to preserve, foster, and promote their respective historic linguistic and cultural origins is recognized."Primary document · Source: Louisiana State Senate · +1 moreLawMajor1974Legislature adopts the regional flag by HCR 143On July 5, 1974, the Louisiana Legislature adopted the 1965 Arceneaux design as the official flag of the Acadiana region by House Concurrent Resolution No. 143. The state-recognized regional symbol references only French, Spanish and Acadian Catholic origins.Primary document · Source: Edith Garland Dupré Library, University of Louisiana at Lafayette · +1 moreNamingMajor1980Census asks an ancestry question for the first timeThe 1980 U.S. Census added a write-in ancestry question, the first census to collect ethnic origin regardless of how many generations removed a person was from the country of origin. This let Louisianans write "Cajun" or "Acadian" as an ancestry, while no comparable federal tabulation existed for Louisiana Creole identity.Primary document · Source: U.S. Census Bureau · +1 morePopulationMajor1982Un-Cajun Committee protests Cajun naming of USL venuesIn 1982 an Un-Cajun Committee formed in Lafayette to protest naming university sports venues, including the planned Cajundome, after Cajuns. Geographer Alexandra Giancarlo writes that some in the Black community saw the names as "not only offensive but inaccurate."Source: The Historic New Orleans Collection, First DraftResistanceLandmark1982Creole community founds the Southwest Louisiana Zydeco FestivalA citizens' group called the Treasures of Opelousas, advised by the Southern Development Foundation, held the first Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival in a bean field in Plaisance in 1982. Organizers acted on fears that zydeco and Creole music were fading.Source: KRVS, University of Louisiana at Lafayette public radioResistanceMajor1984Clifton Chenier wins a Grammy for "I'm Here!"Clifton Chenier and His Red Hot Louisiana Band won Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording at the 26th Annual Grammy Awards in 1984 for "I'm Here!" on Alligator Records. The NEA named him a National Heritage Fellow the same year.Primary document · Source: Recording Academy (grammy.com) · +1 moreMusicMajor1985Cajundome opens at the University of Southwestern LouisianaThe $64 million Cajundome, jointly financed by the City of Lafayette and the State of Louisiana on state-owned land, opened and was dedicated on November 10, 1985. The name joined Cajun Field (opened 1971) and the school's "Ragin' Cajuns" athletic name, adopted in 1963.Primary document · Source: Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Athletics (ragincajuns.com) · +3 moreNamingMajorThe market1986 to now · 20 events
1987Louisiana Creole flag designed in LafayetteA Louisiana Creole flag was designed in 1987. Its quadrants stand for French, West African (Mali and Senegal) and Spanish heritage, and a white cross divides them. C.R.E.O.L.E., Inc., a Lafayette heritage group, adopted it.Source: Flags of the World (FOTW) · +1 moreResistanceMajor19901990 census records about 432,000 Louisiana CajunsIn the 1990 census about 432,000 Louisiana residents gave Cajun as their ancestry. That year the ancestry question listed Cajun as a printed example.Primary document · Source: Shane K. Bernard, historian, Goodreads author blog (June 20, 2024), citing 1990 PUMS and Bernard, The Cajuns (UP Mississippi) · +2 morePopulationLandmark1997Cajundome protests reach national attentionGeographer Alexandra Giancarlo reports that protests over the Cajundome name grew large enough by 1997 that Louis Farrakhan considered a visit to Lafayette. The Cajundome name had drawn complaints from Black residents since the venue was planned.Source: Alexandra Giancarlo (full text via Academia.edu)ResistanceMajor20002000 census Cajun count falls about 90 percentThe 2000 census counted roughly 45,000 Louisiana residents of Cajun ancestry, down about 90 percent from 1990. The questionnaire no longer listed Cajun as a printed example.Primary document · Source: LSU AgCenter (2012) · +1 morePopulationLandmark2005Lafayette council rejects renaming Willow Street for MLKIn September 2005 a Lafayette City-Parish councilman proposed renaming Willow Street as Martin Luther King Drive. By January 2006 the proposal had failed four times. The latest vote was 7-2, with the council's two Black members the only supporters.Source: The Independent (Lafayette) · +2 moreNamingMajor2006Louisiana makes 'Cajun' and 'Louisiana Creole' state-owned marksAct 124 of 2006 created the Cajun and Louisiana Creole Goods and Services Consumer Protection Law. It made 'Cajun', 'Louisiana Creole' and any derivative or combination of either term certification marks owned by the state, and the commissioner of agriculture enforces them.Primary document · Source: Louisiana State Legislature · +2 moreLawLandmark2008Grammys add Best Zydeco or Cajun Music AlbumThe Recording Academy first gave the award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008. A zydeco band won the first one.Primary document · Source: Recording Academy / GRAMMY.com · +2 moreMusicMajor2008Festivals Acadiens adds 'et Créoles' to its nameLafayette's Festivals Acadiens became Festivals Acadiens et Créoles in 2008. Its founding organizer said the festival had always presented both Cajun and Creole culture and the name now matched that.Source: The Independent (Lafayette)NamingMajor2008Federal office refuses state bid to own the word 'Cajun'In September 2006 the state agriculture department applied to register CAJUN alone as a federal certification mark covering goods and services from Louisiana. The examining attorney refused it, and the application was abandoned after appeal on September 29, 2008.Primary document · Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark OfficeLawMajor2011Grammys eliminate the Zydeco or Cajun categoryIn April 2011 the Recording Academy cut its categories from 109 to 78 and dropped Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album after four years. Zydeco and Cajun records went into a new Best Regional Roots Music Album category with Hawaiian and Native American music.Primary document · Source: OffBeat Magazine · +1 moreMusicMajor2014Clifton Chenier receives Grammy Lifetime Achievement AwardThe Recording Academy named Clifton Chenier, the Creole accordionist the Academy credits with inventing zydeco, a 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. His fellow 2014 honorees included the Beatles and Kraftwerk.Primary document · Source: Recording Academy / GRAMMY.com · +1 moreMusicMajor2018Louisiana joins the Francophonie as an observerLouisiana joined the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie as an observer at the 2018 summit in Yerevan, Armenia, the only U.S. state in the body. In November 2023 the governor announced the state would seek full voting membership.Primary document · Source: CODOFIL · +1 moreLanguageMajor2018State launches Certified Cajun and Certified Creole labelsOn January 31, 2018 the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry launched new logos: Certified Louisiana, Certified Cajun, Certified Creole and Certified Farm to Table. The federal Certified Cajun mark was registered that September and certifies only that goods were grown, made or processed in Louisiana.Primary document · Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office · +2 moreMoneyLandmark2018Proposal for a more inclusive regional flag draws backlashIn 2018 a UL Lafayette political science professor proposed a regional flag to stand for everyone in Southwest Louisiana. The Acadian flag, a Cajun heritage symbol from the 1960s, has been the Legislature's official regional flag since 1974. His first design altered the Acadian flag and drew strong backlash, and he revised it.Source: The CurrentNamingContext20202020 ACS: 55,022 Louisianans report Cajun ancestryThe 2016 to 2020 American Community Survey estimated that 55,022 Louisiana residents reported Cajun ancestry (margin of error 2,840), 1.18 percent of 4,664,616 residents.Primary document · Source: U.S. Census Bureau, data.census.gov · +2 morePopulationLandmark2022Visitors spend $537 million in Lafayette ParishVisitors spent $537.1 million in Lafayette Parish in 2022, supporting 5,980 direct jobs and $62.1 million in state and local taxes. Statewide visitor spending was $13.6 billion.Primary document · Source: UNO Hospitality Research Center for the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and TourismMoneyMajor2024Louisiana visitor spending reaches $18.5 billionThe Lieutenant Governor's office reports 44.5 million visitors to Louisiana in 2024, spending $18.5 billion and generating about $2 billion in state and local taxes.Primary document · Source: Office of the Lieutenant Governor / Louisiana Office of TourismMoneyMajor20242024 ACS: Cajun ancestry count falls to about 44,800The 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey estimated that 44,833 Louisiana residents reported Cajun ancestry (margin of error 2,757), about 0.97 percent of 4,611,961 residents.Primary document · Source: U.S. Census Bureau, data.census.gov · +1 morePopulationMajor2024CBS calls Lafayette area 'heart of Creole country'On February 17, 2024 a CBS Saturday Morning segment on the crawfish harvest called the Lafayette area the 'heart of Creole country,' and some viewers objected online. Four days later The Advocate quoted Cajun folklorist Barry Ancelet: 'The word Creole is more inclusive.'Source: The AdvocateNamingMajor2025State budget shows no separate CODOFIL lineLouisiana's FY26 budget documents put CODOFIL inside the Office of Cultural Development's Cultural Development Program and give it no separate total. The program spent $4,407,912 in FY24 and requested $9,712,824 for FY26.Primary document · Source: Louisiana Division of Administration · +2 moreMoneyContext