History

This section goes over the history between Haiti and Louisiana from the French Empire all the way to the current political state of both Haiti and Louisiana.

French Empire

*In this section, Haiti will be retrospectively referred to as Saint-Domingue*

True colonial rule began in the Louisiana Territory in 1682 and in Saint-Domingue in 1697. During the times of French rule, Louisiana was about 15 times bigger than what the modern American state is, Saint-Domingue was the same size as modern Haiti. The Louisiana Territory was also a part of the larger administrative division of New France which includes what is now Quebec, Ontario, and other parts of eastern Canada; Saint-Domingue wasn’t a part of a similar system. Contrary to popular belief, the French didn’t bring many slaves to the Louisiana Territory (relatively speaking), with the vast majority of the Black population in modern Louisiana state being decedents of those brought after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 across the Mississippi River. There was only ~20,000 enslaved people in the Louisiana Territory in 1795. However, Louisiana did have an enslaved majority population with a black to white ratio of 1.5:1. Saint-Domingue was similar to the Louisiana Territory in that enslaved blacks outnumbered white people in the colony, but in Haiti the situation was substantially different. Since France had acquired Saint-Domingue, the colony had been used as a huge plantation. The enslaved to white ratio in Saint-Domingue was 12:1 with there being ~500,000 enslaved people at the start of the Haitian Revolution compared to ~40,000 whites. The Spanish controlled the Louisiana Territory from 1762-1803, giving the land back to France. France lost grip of its American territories in the aftermath of the French Revolution and huge amounts of debt with the Louisiana Purchase happening in 1803 and the transferring of the territory to the United States, and with the Haitian Revolution resulting in the first Haitian states.

Historical Divergence

Under the French Empire, Louisiana and Saint-Domingue had the same law system, same catholic traditions, similar demographics when it came to French subjects, and French institutions. These similarities started to shift into separate creole cultures after the United States acquired the Louisiana Territory and Saint-Domingue after it became subsequent Haitian states. The Louisiana Territory was quickly split into numerous states: Louisiana proper, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, etc and most of the French influence once present in these lands began to dwindle as white Americans and enslaved Americans began to cross into the annexed territory. The states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama have the largest cultural continuity from the colonial era. Because of the mass migration of anglophones to francophone areas, Louisiana creole culture was extremely isolated from the general cultural evolution of surrounding areas. But there was another group that were culturally French that started to immigrate to Louisiana; the Cajuns. The Cajuns were from Acadia, which is a region in eastern Canada, and they were French speaking and almost exclusively Catholic. Although they were and still are in some regards distinct from Louisiana Creoles, they are largely considered a part of the larger Creole population. In the 20th century, the United States government enacted policies to eradicate Louisiana Creole (including Cajun) culture and a sharp decline in identification and manifestation of the culture; approximately half of Louisiana was able to speak Creole or Cajun French in 1900 vs ~5% in 2026. When looking at Haiti however, the society continued to interact heavily with the broader Francophone nation after its independence. The continuation of negotiations with France allowed for French thought, evolutions in the French language, and catholicism to continue transferring to Haiti. Unlike Louisiana, Haiti wasn’t split into different political entities, and then had its population massively replaced by those of a different culture. Virtually all Haitians in Haiti speak Haitian Creole (compare that to the figure in Louisiana with Louisiana Creole), and half of the population is conversational in French. The post-colonial histories of both societies is important in giving foreknowledge on why certain aspects of two seemingly similar cultures, may have stark differences.

One Core Two Creoles

*In this section, Louisiana Creole will be referred to as “LC” and Haitian Creole will be referred to as “HC”

The first cultural aspect, and probably the one that separates Louisianan and Haitian culture is going to be the Creole spoken. Both LC and HC have a French base which is apparent to speakers of French. However, HC has a larger number of Indigenous American (Taino) and Spanish words and terms. LC has a lexicon which is more influenced by North American English because of proximity to Anglophones. Below will be some basic vocabulary from HC and LC that come from French:

• Moun – “People” from French “Monde” meaning “world” or “society”
• Swaf – “Thirsty” from French “Soif” being a direct derivative
• Kaiman – “Alligator” from French “Caïman”
• Manje – “to Eat” from French ” to eat”

Both HC and LC have a simplified spelling compared to French, as seen in the examples above. Differences between HC and LC are also grammatical, since different substrates (underlying linguistic influences) have influences the languages. An example of this is that HC puts the possessive after the noun and LC put it after:

HC “Kay mwen”, literally “house my”

LC “Mo lamézon” literally “my house”

Grammatical tense markers are also different in most cases

HC “te” for past and “pral” for future actions

LC “te” for past and “va or a” for future actions

Catholicism and Voodoo

Since both Haiti and Louisiana are previous French colonial territory and the Code Noir mandated that all people including slaves be baptized in the Catholic Church, both societies have overtly catholic cultural expressions. One noticeable difference between contemporary Haitian and Louisianan culture is that Haiti remains a majority catholic country, whereas only ~25% of Louisiana is catholic. Both Haiti and Louisiana have a type of “Voodoo” practiced amongst small fringes of the populace. Haitian Voodoo is much more visible, developing in the 1700s, with art and folk catholicism being a mode of exposer to voodoo in Haitian culture. Louisiana Voodoo mostly developed in the 1800s and is less centralized than Haitian Voodoo, and it has been carried down through folklore rather than a school of art akin to Haitian Voodoo. Haiti and Louisiana both have Carnival and Mardi Gras celebration, though regional culture causes a differentiation in certain traditions. The Patroness of Haiti is “Our Lady of Perpetual Help” (Njevèj Madi in HC); while in Louisiana the Patroness is “Our Lady of Prompt Succor” (Notradam de Pump Sakur in LC). Both of these are Marian titles. Haitian Voodoo is still widely done in syncretism with Catholicism and traditional folk catholic beliefs, whereas Louisiana Voodoo has become a more of an independent practice on par with Hoodoo.

Music

Haitian and Louisianan music have Spanish, African, and French influences. Haiti’s folk music such as Twoubadou is directly derived from the southern French (Occitan) Troubadour while Louisianan folk music is a combination of Cajun and older Creole traditions ei. Zydeco. Modern and contemporary music between the two cultures are vastly different due to location and cultural influences. Rara, Konpa, and modern dancing Merengue being the extremely visible living arts seen in festivals, parties, and weddings. Louisiana Creole music has become more of a cultural relic rather than a part of mainstream Creole culture now. Blues, Jazz, Funk, and R&B are English speaking genres which Louisiana Creole communities have deeply influenced and have replaced Creole or French speaking music.

Visual Art

Visual arts between the two cultures are similar in narrative and focus; however the school of art vary greatly. Haitian art has overtly Voodoo expressions with Lwa (Haitian deities) being the center of many famous Haitian paintings. Distortion of proportions is also another distinctive feature of the Port-Au-Prince school of art. Waterfalls, rivers, houses, and arguably most importantly festivals, are all seen in Haitian art. Louisianan art also focuses on depiction of traditional architecture and Carnival, but some of the most noticeable paintings are of the environment. Paintings of Bayou lands and New Orleans in Southeastern Louisiana and salt domes and islands in Southwestern Louisiana (New Iberia) are some of the most notable living pieces of culture.

Les Voyageur by Jules Ernst Paul is one of the most well known Haitian art pieces

The Court of Two Sister by Clarence Millet is an example of traditional Louisiana Creole art

Traditional Clothing

The traditntal wear of both Haiti and Louisiana are surprisingly similar. During the French colonial era, upper and middle class individuals would wear fashion that was akin to that of Metropolitan France. But as time went on both Haitian and Louisianan clothing started to change to be more suitable for the tropical and humid weather of the Gulf and Caribbean. Women continued to wear long garments but their blouses became more breathable in reaction to the climate (as mentioned earlier). Mens garments haven’t changed much since cultural divergence with long sleeves and long pants still common. A major difference however comes from Louisiana Creole’s adaptation of general Southern anglophone attire has resulted in a shift of wearing “Sunday’s Best” with an increasing use of tailoring instead of traditional clothing.

Example of the Haitian Karabela (Women’s garment) and the Guayabera (Means garment)

An example of a Louisiana Creole a Tignon (Type of Women’s garment) and a Brocade vest (Worn by men over white linen shirts)

Loose Blouse worn by Louisiana Creole Women

Loose Blouse worn by Haitian women, usually at Kanaval and other gatherings

Synopsis

While Haiti and Louisiana have deep cultural connections going back to French colonialism, there have been numerous later influences which have caused a diversification of the two cultures. Language, art, clothing, and music are similar, but there are major differences that separate the cultures from one another. The future of Louisiana Creole identity and culture is possibly at risk of only becoming a memory instead of the large surviving cultural that it once was. Haiti’s Creole culture is the prevalent culture of around 13 million people, but due to political instability and mass societal issues, the destruction of material culture and mass cultural diffusion is a threat that contemporary Haitian culture is facing.