It is a story that predates America, but we are not white people
and we're not black people. We have a fancy ten dollar word
for it, multiculturalism. When you start trying to say
that or explain it, 99 percent of America
just does not buy it. An American system had no room
for an individual. I am a Kreyol. I'm a proud Creole from Cane River. The criminals are
representative of a movement that's starting to happen in America. And that movement is against
the idea of race as a deciding feature of a population. This film is funded in part
by a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, a state affiliate of
the National Endowment for the Humanities. Funding is also provided by a grant
from the Cane River National Heritage Area and Commission and by a grant
from the Louisiana State Arts Council that the Louisiana Division of the Arts
and the National Endowment for the Arts. I have been here on this land for almost 300 years. That makes our coach
a native to this country. We were here before America will. I am a child of a Frenchman and a slave myopathy to France on a slab. I am two part Indian. What Spaniard? We are mixed. Nationality are people. We were citizens of France. My ancestors and my people
never let go of that native to a land called Louisiana. I have been nourished for generations
by the waters of Cane River and the rich Red River
valley of north Louisiana. It's it's a culture and it's a heritage. Yeah. The new Americans never accept it or recognize me. To win. But the jammie, my history
was never written. In essence, they were erased or perhaps more appropriately,
we would say they became invisible. We were known at one
time as the forgotten people. And it has been my quest to never be known as a forgotten person again,
totally forgotten. Yet I have endured this culture is too rich for other folk
not to know about it. You see, it's just too important, too
significant for those who have come before and for the children
who follow Lovato's. You do? I will forever endure. I want to celebrate it
and share it with other people because it is something
very special to the world. Garroted? Oh, boy, no. In this spirit, I am a spirit
for my own culture. I am a culture where cradle. Creole. Begu Mithu could say, see the risky move. Well, the color a little different, like the Creole people,
some of them are lighter. Some of them are darker. The best place to begin learning about
my Creole people is Miss Lear lacquers, Creole Mama Doms,
the Creole people of different. They start with their mama layer, as she's known on Cane River,
as in making her mama dolls since she was a child, dolls
born of the Creole spirit and struggle. Some of our Creole people
look like white people. Some of them are darker. But we are Creole people,
and I wanted my dog to be a Creole doll. I don't want to be a white person
and I don't want to be a black person. I want to be who I am. I'm Lil Łuków. I'm a Creole woman, a. He's selling a Creole dollar, Louisiana. So who are Louisiana's Creole? The word Creole has had many different
meanings over the last three hundred years. Most definitions
Center on New World Goods that came from all world stock. Today, Creole refers to people of none Anglo ancestry who were born in Louisiana
during the French and Spanish colonial periods
and their descendants. Historically, everyone born in colonial
Louisiana was considered Creole. Some were of French or Spanish descent, while others my Creole people of Cane
River were of a mixed heritage. It's the French, Spanish, African,
Native American cultures that define who I am as a Creole to us. But almost 400 years Creole has been
very simple because that is who we are. And Creole is nothing but an ethnicity in a culture in Creole communities. Almost everyone, a contemporary community,
is centered around a church. Catholicism is is crucial
to Creole identity. St. Augustine on Kaixin
River, established in 1843. This church is the oldest Catholic church in America
that was built by nonwhites. Totally. The Creole spirit is strong
internal Delphin, president of the St. Augustine Historical Society and a leading
advocate of Creole heritage and culture. We view this ground as being holy in sacred ground to us,
because not only is it the birth place of our religion,
but is the birthplace of our culture. I can sit in this church and meditate. And think about 200 years of history where all of my Offendum on Cane River set me the same very church. This church plays a tremendous role and it gives us a lot of honor,
prestige and pride simply because it's
an achievement for our people. It's the place where all of these cane
rebel Creoles get together. They talk, share stories, gossip. It's the community center
is the cultural center. It's sort of the glue
that has held these people together for so many years. Aftermath, all the ruble
went over to the hole to eat and everybody brought food. And it was wonderful. And we did, and that was the part I went on the say, come back. Oh, I love the. Better not do the best version of these
than modern dance. Commer Betye. I dance like an animal. Mind that I'm not Linda. You know, being on King River is
totally different than me anywhere else. People connect to each other
even though they've never met each other. I can tell a Creole from a mile away. Long distance is very much
a community and they vary. You know, the community
makes you feel welcome and they make you feel
very much a part of the family. Oh, I know your grandmother
or I knew your uncle or your mother and my mother went to school together. A spirit of connectedness that can only be felt
if you have been blessed to have the heritage
that Creole people have. This bond is so obvious. They may not know each other personally, but they know that they're connected,
they're connected through these lineages. But they're also culturally connected. For me, being a Creole
is something as far as my heart goes, it's a yearning to want to be free
to say I am Creole. Creole encompasses several cultures, and it's something that I'm proud of. I don't want to keep it a secret. You have a very, very self aware community and one that has taken ownership
of what it means to be Creole. What do how do you determine that
something is Creole? It's very hard to put
a definition, you know. A lot of people want to say if your skin
is black, then you are African-American. If your skin is white,
then you are Caucasian. You're in between. So you're Creole. That's not always true. It does have it has a lot
to do with family. It does have a lot to do
with Catholicism, with genealogy, with the way you were raised,
with your beliefs. That's what makes me Creole. Since colonial Louisiana Creole culture
and heritage has developed and flourished in communities
well beyond Cane River. We have our people everywhere. They are 60 communities in this state
that I can draw a circle around. Each one of them. And those are the people
that we talking about, Creoles of color. But the ties between Creole communities
in Louisiana are strong. Carol Dolphin's wife, Lily, is from Philo
Cole in south Louisiana. Lily's father was from another south
Louisiana colony called Grown Married. Her mother and father met
at a Creole baseball game. Baseball was a big social
event for Creoles. It was a time for dressing up. Time for meeting new people, also, Lily material at his father's funeral. Actually, he came to see the next night. As for their daughter, Daphne,
that makes her a member of three Creole communities. In the last century, the Creole spirit
has soared to new places. Today, there are thriving Louisiana
Creole communities across America in major cities like Chicago
and Los Angeles. Ours is the story of this country's
first multicultural people, Creole culture is one of the richest
and oldest native cultures in America. Second only to American Indian. So why is it so few people know
or acknowledge us? When you get out there in this wide world and you start trying
to tell people that, hey. I am in between the black and white race. I'm not black, I'm
not white, I'm in between. I'm a Creole. I'm a multiracial person. When you when you start trying to say
that or explain it. Ninety nine percent of America
just does not buy it. Cane River Creole and author John Chabi,
there's not a racial thing to me is at the heart of my concept of being Creole. All right. It was at the heart of the concept
of my grandparents and great grandparents and great parents
before them of being Creole. Multiracial seems to not exist. People's eyes were closed to it
when it comes to looking at a person of part
African and white ancestry. It's a nonexistent phenomenon as far
as the masses of America is concerned. This race thing, this black white thing
is an artificial manmade concept designed for the purpose of divvying up privileges
and shelling out disadvantages. It's just it's a manmade divider. But when, in fact,
we are all human beings. We have been there all the time. Just haven't been paid attention to. So we are not talking about Creole ism
from a racial perspective. We are talking about Creole ism
from a cultural perspective because we don't think it's necessary to add to debate the race issue. To some, it's about race,
to others culture. To most of my Cane River
people, being Creole is about both. All we want to do
is be able to identify how it feels. I feel like it was in the beginning. To cast an eye across 18th century
colonial America is to see two distinctly
different experiences. English colonies of the East reflected
the Anglo traditions of what was to become
the United States of America. Louisiana, west of the Mississippi River
and its associated territory belong to France,
and the French colony was up and coming. The early outpost of Natchitoches
was founded in 1714. It was a very rude, very crude to say NDAC, which was
founded in seventeen. Fourteen is is kind of a false concept because it was really
just a few men in a couple of hats. But from that point on,
this became a very important trade area. Well, one, the area around that Cordish
was dominated by the Catoe Indians just to the west, Spanish, Texas,
the first French to arrive were all men, mainly soldiers,
as well as traders and laborers. There were no French women
that came to the colony early on. And so immediately
Indian slavery developed to fill that need all over Louisiana. French soldiers began
to marry Indian women. French traders began
to marry Indian women. It was a pretty easy way to gain alliance with a tribe if you married in and out
of family and you were kin. This concerned the French commandant,
Jean Baptiste Le Minder Bienville. Because he was afraid that the soldiers
who would run off and live with the Indians rather than to come back
and be French soldiers. But there were very few African
people in Louisiana before 1789, the time the first African slaves
arrived in New Orleans. By then, my wife and mother,
there were Native American women. There were African women
who were here in slavery. And because it's human nature for these
people to mix, mixing occurred in my. And I'm a tenth generation
descendant of Claude Thomas Pament Wire and Merita
Rayat coin coin. One such couple was the French merchant
Lord Thomas Premiere, to you and an African slave
named Marie Torres going home in seventeen sixty eight. Marie to read the slave lady
and the Frenchman had a set of twins, their first children
throughout their relationship. They had 10 children, but
the first children were the set of twins and the boy name they named a boy, Augustan McGuire and twin Daouda Suzanne. And I'm a direct descendant
of the Sude Suzanne line of midwife. Well, with the relationship
between Claude Thomas, Pierre McGuire and the African slave
or the slave lady with African lineage, multicultural people were created,
they created multicultural people. And in colonial Louisiana,
you had a 3D of society. You had white and black and mixed breed who became to be known as Creole. And that is how I came to be, how my people of Cane River came to be. Each Creole community
has one or two families like that that are kind of the beginnings
of the community. Through the life of the colony, these relationships became very close,
very long lived. The children born of these relationships
were well taken care of. They were given certain freedoms and responsibilities
that enslaved people did not have. Even though some of them at that time
were still formerly slaves, it wasn't until later that they gained their freedom. But nevertheless,
they were treated as they were children. And this whole society,
this whole Creole society develops as as an offshoot of kind of this system. Why do you suppose Clyde
Thomas and Mereta is never married? They must have loved each other. They had 10 children together. The French Konoha,
which regulate the conduct between Europeans and Africans
at the time, forbid them from marrying. After living together and loving each other
openly for nearly 20 years, La Toya and Marie Torres or urged by local authorities
to end their relationship in 1786 after 18 years of common law in cohabitation
with Claude Thomas Premiere, he decided that he would get a European
woman aged wife to leave him as well, too. But in that process,
he also helped his children with Reiterative to get these land grant
in a part of why all of this property. Marie Torres reap the benefits
of this relationship. He gave her and the children land. He gave her freedom. He gave her children,
their children together, their freedom. We don't, of course,
know how his wife felt about this relationship
or about the relationship of his children. But it was not an uncommon thing
at that time to maintain two families. They ended up acquiring a lot of property
along the banks of Cane River Estates in the 20 years
that the relationship existed. They acquired over 18000 acres of land along the banks of Cane River,
and they were what we would call if you position economic in their proper place
in the American culture, you will find that Creole of Cane River
in other communities that started just like it
under the same situation. In fact, planters were part of colonial
aristocracy because they were land owners. They also acquired
a large number of them fail and and that had always
been fascinating to me, too, simply because I came to find
that one of the reasons why they acquired
all of this property and acquired all of these slaves was to to to get to buy in, gave them the best life
they could under the circumstances, because the majority of the slaves at DeBolt were their cousins
and they bought them out of slavery. And if you put that particular relationship in to America,
into American history books, you will find that
it was almost 100 years before Harriet Tubman
and the Underground Railroad. Gwen Maurita is going quoin died. Nine of her children owned more
than twelve hundred acres of land each. When France said it, Louisiana
to Spain in 1763, the colony remained French in the hearts
and minds of the people and was in fact administered
on the local level by French citizen and under Spanish rule. Use of the word Creole begins to solidify. But it was used to rank people. So it comes here
as a marker of people born here in Louisiana as opposed to
in France or Spain. And so Creole populations
get tagged with that label. So Creoles, we were all of us until strangers began to arrive. Hello and welcome into the LP studios. I'm Chuck Perrottet, longtime volunteer
and a member of LP B. You are watching the spirit of culture,
Cane River Creole. We have a very special guest who
you're going to want to meet in a moment. But first, it is during this
brief intermission that we invite you
to help create a legacy with us. Your contribution today ensures
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during this broadcast. For 240 dollars or a monthly sustaining
donation of twenty dollars, you will receive the spirit
of a culture combo that includes the Clementine Hunter, Mango Wood. A day at Melrose Plantation
Serving Platter, The Forgotten People paperback
book by Gary B. Mills. The Spirit of a Culture DVD. Plus LVB Passport, your on demand library
of the best of PBS and LPE for one hundred and fifty six dollars
or a sustaining monthly donation of thirteen dollars. Receive your choice of the Clementine
Hunter Menga would a day at Melrose Plantation Serving Platter or Clementine
Hunter Mango Wood Cotton picking bowl for 120 dollars or a sustaining monthly
donation of ten dollars. Receive the Forgotten People
paperback book by Gary B. Mills and for 72 dollars or a sustaining
monthly donation of just six dollars. Receive the program
DVD of the spirit of a culture. Cane River Creoles and LBW Passport, Your On-Demand Library
of the Best of PCBs and LPE. Just call or text
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a credit card will receive a two night stay at the Steel Magnolias house
in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Plus, all those wonderful gifts
from Tonight Show. Now the wonderful program
that we're watching. If you wait and see
the credits at the end, you're going to see Bill
Rudman's name a whole lot. He did everything,
including sweep up the studio. I mean, he wrote it, produced
it, shot it, edited it. And let's not forget, his wife had made
a great contribution to it. Also, Bill cut his storytelling teeth in the newsrooms in Wyoming
and in Louisiana. He's among the first
to embrace the one man band. I mean, he was out there shooting
and editing and doing it all himself. He won some awards for that, too. Suncoast Emmys awarded to the TV station
here in Baton Rouge where he worked. He was the Louisiana Associated Press
reporter of the year build a successful
Emmy and atie award winning production. And he's got into real storytelling,
long form, doing documentaries and other things, such as the show
that we're watching tonight, Spirit of the Culture, Cane
River, Creoles and Built. What made this a documentary
you wanted to tell? Well, it's like I got to tell you,
we're similar in that we both had news backgrounds and many, many years ago
when I was working in news. I had wandered up to Natchitoches
and did a feature story on a delightful woman named Mama Leare,
and she made a doll. It was what she called a Creole doll
and learned a lot of interesting things about that doll. For one, it was the
official Louisiana doll. I didn't know we had an official state
doll before that point, but I guess most importantly,
I learned about her people learned about the Cane
River Creole people. And just a fascinating. Entree into a fascinating
subject, for sure. And fortunately for both of us,
we both knew Beth Courtney, who has made so many things
possible for us, for Louisiana, Louisiana Public Broadcasting
and the great programing. And now joining us
live from Natchitoches, Louisiana, is Dr. Mark Guidry. Now, he is a no stranger
to the world of history and heritage. His preservation work
started with Louisiana's grand families to do praise Gaydos Lickers
Latoya's and Ray and His. It was his maternal ancestors
who formed a very tight network of extended relatives from Cane River
all the way to goodo Louisiana. He's won some many awards as a writer,
a speaker, historian, preservation leader. He's the writer of the history of a grand
family, birth of an American people. And I think I think you're very proud
of the people you were burst into in that wonderful community
around Cane River. Doctor, welcome. Tell us. Thank you. Tell us about your ancestry and why
you were so interested in doing this. Oh, it goes way back in time. But, you know, Cane River is just
it's it's a sense of belonging. It's the center of culture and heritage. And certainly growing up,
I heard about stories about Cane River
from my grandmother, Ethel Larcher. And there were always filled with joy
and tradition and family and food and all of the things
that create the Creole culture. And so sort of a search
really for my own identity. Living in a world
that's different than Cane River is led me in sort of a pursuit to understand
and actually come home, you know. And so now I live on Iberville Cane
River, part of the St. Augustine Catholic Church community. And of course, the culture
is centered by the church, and there's a great legacy of faith there. So, you know, that's
that's the attraction to me. And it's good to be a part of it
and then be and belong to it knowing that my ancestors came from
this area. Yes. Dr. Guidry, we're very fortunate
to have such a multicultural place as Louisiana and so many
wonderful stories. And, you know, we're very fortunate
of Louisiana Public Broadcasting, too, because LPE can tell these stories. You know, we can help
support the next production to learn more about our state
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the first fifteen hundred dollar. It's called enduring
this program only in effect. This will make your donation
worth twice as much to LPE. Together we can keep LPE. Absolutely. So much stronger. And now let's have a look at some of those thank you gifts
that we've been talking about for 240 dollars or a monthly sustaining
donation of twenty dollars. You will receive the spirit
of a culture combo that includes the Clementine Hunter Menga
would a day at Melrose Plantation Serving Platter, The Forgotten People
paperback book by Gary B. Mills The Spirit of a Culture DVD
plus LP, B Passport, Your On Demand Library of the best of PBS
and LP for one hundred and fifty six dollars or a sustaining
monthly donation of thirteen dollars. Receive your choice of the Clementine
Hunter Menga would a day at Melrose Plantation Serving Platter or Clementine
Hunter Mango would cotton picking bowl for 122 dollars or a sustaining monthly
donation of ten dollars. Receive the Forgotten People
paperback book by Gary B. Mills. And for 72 dollars or a sustaining monthly
donation of just six dollars received the program DVD of the spirit
of a culture Cane River, Creoles and LBW Passport, your On-Demand Library
of the best of PBS and l.P. Just call or text give to eight, eight,
eight, seven, six, nine, five thousand and become a friend of LPE today
, or choose not to receive a gift to let 100 percent of your donation
go to support LP. And one of the great things
about LPE these days, our ravels. There's a new one every season.
Let's have a look at the latest. LAPD wants to help you enjoy your outdoor
space to the fullest. All you have to do is enter to win
LVB ultimate patio raffle. One lucky winner will receive
an amazing outdoor makeover. Perfect for entertaining. Whether it's a barbecue island
and smoke or a cozy fire pit. Comfy furniture and a big screen
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to designing the patio of your dreams with the 25000 dollar grand prize
gift card from the barbecue guys. Tickets are forty five dollars. Buy two and get a third ticket free. Start dreaming up your design
and go to LP Dorce for more information. I think Louisiana is the most multicultural state in America
and it's really terrific. We have so many great cultures
and tonight we are looking, learning and celebrating the spirit of a culture. Bill Rodman is going to be back with us. He's the Vellar who shot, edited,
produced, wrote, did it all for this. And we also have Dr. Mark Guidry from Nagesh, who's joining us, who has always been into this
and knows the community, knows the area. And he's going to share
some of his insights with us. But right now, let's
go back to the spirit of a culture. Eighteen oh three a year to be remembered in French Louisiana,
especially on Cane River. It was the year August Dimitriou,
son of Claude Thomas Premiere to I am a writer,
is kuinka founded Saint Augustine and became the patriarch
of a burgeoning Cane River Creole colony back in the hands of France. It was also to be the fourth and final
time Louisiana would change hands under French rule. We were treated as a unique race,
a unique group of people. All of it ended abruptly
with the Louisiana Purchase. So at 18 03, when the Americans took over,
this was still a French speaking part of the world. And the and terribly Roman
Catholic, you know, thoroughly Roman Catholic. The Americans were mostly
from the Protestant east. They were English speaking. They didn't understand
any part of Latinist culture. Jefferson's intent to buy Louisiana
was not well-received in Congress. It wasn't something
they all leapt to in a hurry. And one of the things
they all worried about was what are we going to do
with all these foreigners, foreigners on our own soil? My cane river people and the Louisiana colony as a whole worried
about the same thing. What will we do? What is this democracy they speak of? How are we supposed to behave? And they didn't exactly cherish the idea that suddenly Napoleon had sold them
without them knowing much about it. In fact, it kind of happened without
anybody knowing much about it, that it had happened to him once before
they became Spanish subjects that way. And they weren't happy about that either. The word Krio confused the Americans. They didn't understand
the Louisiana colony, how my Cane River people were unaccept the class of native
born colonial people. That distinction is lost on them. They don't they don't understand
about how things like race and class were handled
under Latin cultures. Even slavery in Louisiana was unusual
to the Americans. Oftentimes, slaves
did not live in quarters. They lived out in villages by themselves. It wasn't a benevolent institution. But on the other hand,
it took a different form. It's almost like reading a contemporary
newspaper account of Mardi Gras. You know, everybody goes to the party,
but they don't quite understand why they're having that party. You know, and little Ash Wednesday,
when you got these people walking around with ashes on their forehead, they don't
know what the hell that's all about. And so it's the same kind of thing. Louisiana has, I guess in the American eye, been a very confusing place
for a very long time. People always say, well, it's different. It is still different. We were citizens of France. We were citizens,
citizens of colonial France. And my ancestors
and my people never let go of that. So the whole Creoles problem
kind of grows out of that big misunderstanding
about where Creoles fit. Meantime, my Creole people kept to themselves on Cane River, though
the sun Augustan, let them act. Why is the color to a section of Cane
River called Breville? One by one? Each brother
followed and tracked by track, grant by
grant and purchased by purchase. More and more labs
came under their collective control. The Creole spirit flourished. Our white Creole neighbors called us
the famille extraordinaire. One extraordinary family. They began to intermarry with other
Creole families from other communities as these Creole families
grew and grew and prospered and prospered. They became the third work
of a way of life. The patchwork of a culture. They became a people. The Cane River Creole people. But we found ourselves encountering more and more Anglo Americans
and Anglo attitudes. But perhaps it intensified
around the time of the Civil War. By that time, they were very
well-educated, affluent people. Many have sent their children back
to France, to school. They were tradesmen. There were platters. They they were writers and artists and very, very polished
population of people. But not everybody was affluent, of course,
but lots of them were. And they had a very powerful influence on the colony as they are being consumed
in an American system. One basic change occurs in their everyday life
that affects everyone. The Americans came in with the idea
that people are either white or black. So it was not very long
after after they took over the colony that they began to put it
translated into their own system. That's the problem I think, of to some extent marginalizing people
that you want to control. As the Americans
became more and more prominent and Creoles were less prominent,
they were outnumbered. Certainly waves of American immigrants
came into the area and outnumbered Creoles. Early on, white Creoles began to appropriate the title for themselves. A large part of the Creoles owned slaves. They had an interest in this conflict. But the Creoles didn't like everybody else
in the south, wound up on the Confederate side of the war. From the start, this American civil war
seemed very far away from Pain River. You received word of distant battles. You weren't immediately affected
by these realities until the war actually arrived in Natchitoches Parish in 1864
with the Red River campaign. Both the Confederate
and the Union Army moved through the heart of Natchitoches
Parish and Cane River during the campaign. They moved through once on their way
north and again on their way back south. The union soldiers on their retreat back south took every chicken,
every mule, every horse. Many people reported all buildings
on their property, destroyed food tag. And you might have thought
very comfortably in early March that you had enough corn
to feed your livestock through the summer. By the end of the Red River campaign,
you don't have livestock and you don't have corn. It didn't matter who you were. The war was an equal
opportunity destroyer. Well, in Natchitoches Parish, they ran
into the odd social reality of a black slave owner, a Creole of color who owned
slaves at the end of the campaign. What was real for the people
of Natchitoches Parish was poverty. By the close of the war, my Creole people had a lot in common
with their white neighbors. They're no longer slave owners. Their lives have been freed
by the Emancipation Proclamation. Economically, they're in a lot of trouble. There's no cash flow. There's no money. The most they have is their property
going into the civil war. Louisiana was a tri caste society,
meaning there were whites. There were free people of color. And there were black slaves. There are no longer three castes. Everyone's free. An American system
had no room for them in the middle. Their system of understanding society and race said
one drop of black blood makes you black. My Creole people had long
said we are French, too. Yes, we have color. They were there to admit they had color. They were mixed, but they were French. They were somewhere between the white and the black categories
that Americans placed on them. Therefore, we have,
by the end of the Civil War, lost that separate status for the Creoles and they find themselves as I look around
and reconstruction politics. They find themselves
being categorized as blacks. When you read, all you will see
is white history in black history. There is nothing in between. There's black history,
there's white history. But where there is any. Element of a mixture of white and black. The net mixture has
to disappear into black. So all you see is black history. In essence, they were erased or perhaps more appropriately,
we would say they became invisible. Taken away their history over a long enough period of time would
essentially take away their identity. You see, captive mind management happened when a dominant Kolja declared another Smolla, another Kolja as being invisible and nonexistent, and all of their contributions is given to other folks and accomplishments
of other people than the people that created them themselves. True Ludhiana history when it comes to build infrastructure,
then architects and carpenters in masonry, people in and workers
entailed as in educated. You will find all of those folk in colonial Louisiana
coming out of the Creole culture, but you can't find that
in American history books. It was done on purpose. The idea of assimilating them
into Anglo American culture, which was the only way
they were going to be American. They were concerned or subsumed within the Greater Black Society,
and as far as outsiders go. There were no longer
Creoles of color in Louisiana. And so as a Kreyol at that time,
if you were a white Krio, you knew that your future rested with your ability to fit
in the white Category four in America. Whites had the power,
whites had the rights, blacks did not. Well, white Creoles
and my Creole people of mixed heritage. The new American system
turned their entire world on its ear, forcing a position
no one could have imagined. You have to decide as a Creole,
where do you feel it? And for the first time, many are realizing
I have to fit it, because if I don't fit one way or the other, I don't fit
in this new American scheme of things, the ones with the lighter skin
and then the pure white Creoles or the ones that understood
our best shot is to clarify the fact that we are white and we're going
to put ourselves in the white category. And it's at this point in time
when you see the fervent struggle to appropriate the term
Krio for whites only. And so when white Creoles began
to call themselves Creole and insist that Creoles were white, only they were trying to hold on
to two worlds at one time. They're trying to hold on
to the traditional heritage. And they were raised
with that Creole upbringing. But they want to fit into the white classification of American society. By the late eighteen hundreds,
my people start slowly over time. The right to call
themselves real taken away. They simply wanted to maintain
that distinction as a different portion of the population
and they're not going to win. Ultimately, the Americanization process
takes that away from them. Actually. When I was growing up, I never heard the term Creole. Are. My parents and grandparents and everybody
referred to ourselves as fringe. We are the Frenchman of Cane River. That's the way. We were taught. They couldn't use Creole anymore
and be accepted by white Creoles essentially, but
by they're calling themselves French. They distinguish themselves
from the Americans around them and tied themselves
back to the land of their heritage. Increasingly, they found themselves
put in directly into the black category, and people didn't pay attention anymore to the fact that they were saying,
but we're French, we're not American. This is where the
struggle for my Creole people began. Welcome back, I'm Chuck Perryton. A friend of LAPD. And so are you. Now you're watching the spirit
of a culture cane river Creoles. We are taking the short intermission
to ask you to make a pledge of support so that we can continue
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or make an additional gift of support or just give the gift of membership
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thank you gifts that are available during this special program. For 240 dollars or a monthly sustaining
donation of twenty dollars, you will receive the spirit of a culture
combo that includes the Clementine Hunter. Menga would a day at Melrose Plantation
Serving Platter, The Forgotten People
paperback book by Gary B. Mills The Spirit of a Culture DVD
plus LP, B Passport, your On-Demand Library of the Best of PBS
and LP B for one hundred and fifty six dollars or a sustaining
monthly donation of thirteen dollars. Receive your choice of the Clementine
Hunter Menga would a day at Melrose Plantation Serving Platter or Clementine
Hunter Mango Wood Cotton picking bowl for 120 dollars or a sustaining monthly
donation of ten dollars received the Forgotten People
paperback book by Gary B. Mills and for seventy two dollars
or a sustaining monthly donation of just six dollars received the program
DVD of the spirit of a Culture Cane River Creoles and LBW Passport, Your On-Demand Library of the best of PBS and l.P. Just call or text
give to eight, eight, eight, seven, six, nine, five thousand
and become a friend of LVB today. Or choose not to receive a gift to let 100 percent of your
donation go to support l.P. So my favorite words. But wait, there's more,
because the first caller who pledges 600 dollars or more on
a credit card is going to receive a two night stay at the Steel
Magnolia House in Anchorage, Louisiana. Plus, all of those gifts
that we were just talking about. I tell you, we have a special gift. And the people of
Louisiana, especially Mr. Bill Rodman, who wrote, produced, edited. And let's give some credit to your wife
here, too, because she was there with you. Nobody does this alone. You have
a good wife to help you out with this. And I know that together you inflow
have produced a number of films. Tell us about some. We have Chuck. And I'm so glad
that you recognized her, because I was anticipating
a slap coming from our screen there. Oh, we've been we've
been fortunate to produce a lot of films over the years,
the last 20 years. The first one that we did with
our PBY was called A Aphelion Swamp Revisited,
which recounted photographer C.C. Lockwood's return to the Atchafalaya Basin
25 years after his first landmark work. And then the second, we were blessed to fall in with the Cane River Creoles
and tell that story through this this this documentary
that we're all watching right now. We also did a story called Making Away, which told
the African-American story of Cane River. And currently right now,
we're working on a story on No Man's Land, which is a strip of land
just west of Natchitoches, along the Texas line that was contested between the US and Spain. And that's a fascinating story as well. And we look forward to sharing that
with LVB viewers maybe later this year. Well, I look forward to seeing that. I know that we had the capital of Texas used to be over there
in western Louisiana at one point. We look forward to hearing that,
you know, the people are so unique and it's always the people,
the people, the people. And one man who knows all
about the people of the area is Dr. Mark Guidry, who's joining us from his
his office there. You got patients waiting in the Outram,
so we'll try and keep you too long. Mark, tell us about the Louisiana's
grand families you've written about. The Grand Family is, you know, one of many examples in Louisiana
of this extended family network. It's it's Creoles. People who grew up together,
had their sacraments together. You had traditions together,
and they grew up together around good ole Louisiana. And part of the group is is liquor's
abattoir's and Dupre's but. Also grows and raise. And it actually was my grandmother's. She had 100 first cousins, you know. And so they their
grandchildren and everything. And they all got together
in 1981 in Alexandria and re celebrated, you know, the Creole heritage
that they grew up with and go to Louisiana with connections
and Cane River, of course. And so but it's one example,
but it shows the family bond, the connection that that families have
that are there Creole and their willingness to get together
and desire to to celebrate together and to to relive
and to to celebrate the Creole culture. So the grand family is
one example of that. There are many, many,
many others across Louisiana. Yeah, our families,
our culture, our culture. That's a lot of what family is. And LBB, we're one
big happy family right here. We need your support. And I tell you
what is going to help us. Dr. Kathy Seymour, she has a member challenge
from Natchitoches. She is a proud supporter
of the programs on LVB and is challenging
all of our viewers donate today. And she's going to match
dollar for dollar. The first 1500 dollars called
in during this program only now in effect. This is going to make your donation
worth twice as much to. So together we can keep l.P
be as strong as possible. We've come a long way, baby,
and we've got a long way to go. Louisiana is a great place to celebrate. And you can help us by,
you know, the programing costs money and it costs money to go out and shoot
and produce these things. That happens when you go to the phone
and call eight, eight, eight, seven, six, nine,
five thousand or go to LPE. Borgman friends. You are the people
who make this network possible. You know, we got some money from the state
for the electricity and the lights and things. But the programing kind of on our own
for that for the most part. So you're the ones who helped
make that possible. So we need all the support from you. We can get. Bill, he's still there. Yes. I want to know what you talked to viewers
about the community and the region that you covered so well,
this documentary. I'm Chugg. I got to tell you, it just
it never ceased to amaze me being up there and getting to know
the Cane River Creole people. Perhaps the most interesting
and fascinating aspect to me is the fact that these people,
their culture predates America. When you think about that,
it's pretty astounding. This is a culture that predates America. And and also to say that
during the Great Migration, Cane River, Creole people found themselves
migrating north to Chicago, west to Los Angeles,
Houston, and many, many points in between. But they will tell you, they have told me that there is this unspoken connection
between all of them. They can recognize another cane
river Creole, even without previously knowing them. And I just found that
that that unspoken knowingness was just absolutely incredible. Spine tingling, really? Yeah. And you do a great job of letting us know
all about that in your documentary. We thank you for that
and for those of you. We're going to become members of LVB. And we have some
thank you gifts for you. Here's a look for 240 dollars or a monthly sustaining
donation of twenty dollars. You will receive the spirit of a culture
combo that includes the Clementine Hunter. Mango would a day at Melrose Plantation
Serving Platter, The Forgotten People paperback
book by Gary B. Mills. The Spirit of a Culture DVD
plus LP, B Passport, Your On Demand Library of the best of PBS
and LP for one hundred and fifty six dollars or a sustaining
monthly donation of thirteen dollars. Receive your choice of the Clementine
Hunter Menga would a day at Melrose Plantation Serving Platter or Clementine
Hunter Mango Wood Cotton picking bowl for 120 dollars or a sustaining monthly
donation of ten dollars. Receive the Forgotten People
paperback book by Gary B. Mills. And for 72 dollars or sustaining
monthly donation of just six dollars, received the program DVD of the spirit
of a culture Cane River, Creoles and LBW Passport, your On-Demand Library
of the best of PCBs and l.P. Just call or text gift to eight eight
eight seven, six, nine, five thousand and become a friend of LPE today,
or choose not to receive a gift to let 100 percent of your
donation go to support LP. We're going to go back to the program,
the spirit of a culture in just a moment. And stay tuned, because
in our next break, Dr. Gupta is going to talk about Tont. Lee, and I look forward
to hearing about that. These are the people of Louisiana. Their story is important.
Your story is important. And we can only do it
if you call and help us to tell. Eight, eight, eight,
seven, six, nine, five thousand. We're going to go back to the program. And Joy, we'll be back with Bill and Dr. Guidry in just a moment. Course, for many of our people
didn't like that. You know, we existed and we live for years
on our own among ourselves. It's sort of like saying
we always had our culture, our Creole culture was not taken away from us. No one could tell us, oh, stop behaving in a certain manner or stop having a certain religion or a certain practices
which are identifiable as our culture. We always had that. What was taken away by the so-called Jim
Crow laws was nearly everything else. Essentially, this Jim Crow
period started with a landmark case that began in New Orleans that involved
a Creole of color named Homer Plessy. In 1892, Pelosi boarded
a train in New Orleans bound for Covington, Louisiana, upon
sitting in a first class white only car. He was asked to leave. Plessy refused and was arrested. In fact, in Louisiana,
through the 1960s, easily, we had a Jim Crow setup
where if you went to the doctor's office, there was a black
waiting room and a white waiting room. And so here we find
the Creoles caught up in this and they are forced to pass. In their hearts,
their fridge, in their hearts, they need the third door that says Kreyol
and they'll be willing to walk in that door
and feel proud about their choice. Having to decide white, black is unfair
for any Creole at that time. To complicate things even more, other Creoles were caught
like Mama Les dolls. Some look more white than they did black. It seemed a very Creole spirit of our heritage and culture
began slipping away. But what I do actually, to protect this heritage
that they feel is slowly ebbing away, perhaps because whites
have taken the label Creole from them. They continue their insistence
on their French heritage and they build it in their communities. Children were raised
with the understanding that we are different,
new, some Creole, we are Creole. For many years, we continued
purley new long Creole from soup to speak the Creole French language. We knew who we were. We always had. The problem was we were living in a world
that didn't recognize us. But to protect their own understanding,
their self identity, they kept their communities tied. We made sure our children met children
from other Creole communities, knowing full well that if they moved away
and married outside the tradition, the culture would follow them
right out the door . I think it's unfortunate that as Creoles over time have insisted,
hey, we're different. A lot of people took that as saying,
hey, we're better. And honestly, I don't believe
the Creoles were saying that at any point in time by saying,
hey, we're different. They were also that was another way of trying to say,
we want to save what we've got. We don't want to pass for white. We're different. We don't want to pass for black
because we're different. But over the course of this racial tension
during during Jim Crow, when you have in one classroom blacks
whose great grandmothers had been slaves and Creoles who did not know
slavery in their family, there are at the most basic level,
cultural clashes. Beginning at the time of World
War One and through World War Two, great migrations of people of color
from the south began. While history focuses on the broader
African-American experience of this shift from the rural South
to industrialize America, my Cane River Creole people also took part
in the Great Migration. That's when the plantation system
begins to collapse. They go north to Chicago,
they go west to L.A., go as far away as New York and everywhere they land it ,
they are blue, a Creole community, cane river, Creoles, wherever they live,
they tend to band together. They tend to stay in touch with some and uncle, cousin
or grandparent, if they're lucky. And Lutin on Cane River as our children leave home for cities
like Chicago and Los Angeles. Their culture remains as important,
perhaps even more so than back home. Extending the bounds of the river. But there are too many Creole
people were put in the familiar yet unimaginable position of suppressing
their heritage and identity. Even their patriotism
in the personal tones were high. My father joined and volunteered
for the United States Navy in nineteen hundred and twenty eight when it was restricted
to members of the Caucasian race only, and he lived a lifetime
regretting that he did that. But the only way
that he could get in was to he had all he was like Homer Plessy. He had all of the characteristics
to be a first class American citizen. But because of his ethnicity,
he was denied the right and he lied in order to join the Navy and
have the travel experiences that he had. But he live to regret it
every day of his life. And he told us, he say,
never deny your ethnicity and culture wherever you are, don't do that. And it haunted him every day. And part of my involvement,
I would have to say, would be an old man to a dead me. You know, people should have the right to determine their personal
Antheil identity. The government should not have that right. Many times Pearcey Bill White was an economic necessity in terms of feeding their families. They lived in an industrialized city
and needed work. One sure way of getting it
was to allow the lightness of your skin to mark you as a white person
and to go with that. Oh, I find that tragic,
because when they've cut ties with family, they've cut ties with their heritage,
with the traditions they were raised with. And they become almost like homeless
people in that their culture lives. They've cast aside
all of that wealth of culture just for a little promise
and comfort of OK, living today. A father and of the son of Holy Spirit, a man, Louis McGuire, is a proud
California Cane River Creole, an eighth generation
descendant of Nicholas Augustine Latoyia . When we learn so much about who
we are as a person and when we learn so much
about how socially how to interact with people and stuff,
we learn through our culture. The family came to California
in about nineteen sixty three, and that was considered
the second wave of migration of our people moving from Louisiana
to the West Coast area. What was really on my mind about the move
was for the children to get a good education.
That's what I really, really wanted. When we came out to California, of course, we did, with the first one to come out
for the first two or three months, and he stayed with my aunt
and my uncle at that time. So it was like coming from Louisiana. But yet when we got here, it was just like
still being in a part of Louisiana, just a great big, big city compared to
what Natchitoches Cane River was. But as far as family concerned,
we have so much family already out here. It was just like being at home. In more ways than one,
it was the height of the civil rights movement and Louis McGuire
remembered familiar dissent Coach Lewis. When I was in school and they would ask you even to fill out a form,
you know, and I said, well, I'm Creole. And they said, well, no, no,
you're you're African American. And of course, at the time,
I just went along with it because that was the thing
we did in school. But I didn't feel good doing that. That was something that bothered me
about doing that, even at the age of 15, 16 years old,
in high school and so forth and so on. It just didn't feel like that's who I was. Just says on Cane
River, strength of community and culture kept the Creole spirit alive,
but estimates by a family in the greater California
Creole community begin to age and grow. Louis Matola felt a need to reconnect. We had a lot of our people out here
on the West Coast, but yet like us, we were starving in terms
of knowing what was going on in Louisiana, because we love
that Louisiana tie. You know, Lewis and his family
began publishing Bayou Talk, a California Creole newsletter in 1989. Never in our wildest dreams did we know that it would take off the way it did. By the time we got the second edition
out of Bayou Talk, we knew we were going to be called upon as being the answer to so many people questions
and misconceptions and understandings on who are Creoles, who are these people. So it was just an awesome experience,
but also forced me. And, of course, the rest
of the members of the family to look into our own family background,
look into our own history to learn some of those answers
to some of those questions that were coming about. There are more and
more questions coming about. Rumors began to spread through Cane River
in the early 1990s that the Department of the Interior
and the National Park Service were conducting a study about preserving
Creole culture. Terrell Delfin. So what we decided would be was to have a renaissance,
a cultural renaissance, where we would document our history,
we would tell our own story. We would give credit to the defendant
and the ancestors of the accomplishments
of generations of the past. Like he tells you,
it ain't about race with you. It's about culture, about being Creole. We believe that it's our responsibility
to take care of our people if culture is too rich for other folk
not to know about it. You see, it's just too important,
too significant. All we want to do is be
able to identify how we feel. And few Creole Renaissance mothers like Tracy Colson Fantino are seeing to it
the next generation kin. My nine year old teacher
specifically asked me to come and talk to the class
because she didn't know. She said, I'm not from Louisiana. And I know that Creole is a big part of
Louisiana, a big part of the culture here. And I want you to come and teach me
and teach the kids about it. And it was a great thing. But John felt like he was cool. You know, it was you know,
he felt a million times more confident in saying I'm Creole than what
he did the day before the Creoles or representative of a movement
that's starting to happen in America. And that movement is against
the idea of race as a deciding feature of a population. This thing is not unique
to the Cane River Creole. It's not unique to the Louisiana Creole. We have a fancy ten dollar word
for it, multiculturalism. From my perspective,
as a multiracial person. We may individually identify with any aspect of our ancestry
as we so choose. I blatantly refuse to accept America's
rule of hypo descent or in just because of, let's say,
our one ancestry, we must identify
one hundred percent with that ancestry and turn our backs
on all of the other ancestries . My people have never done that. The cane, we were Creoles
had never done that. We've always walk that in role. That's who we are. We are peaceable people, loveable people,
people who respect other people, and it's just time for us to have the same consideration and acceptance. I am who I am because of the people
who have come before me, and I am so proud to be able to stand up
and say that people from other cultures that appreciate it
when you can appreciate their culture. Well, it's time for others
to appreciate ours. You know, accept me for who I am. I accept you for who you say you are. Then please give me the same courtesy
and accept me for who I say I am. I'm proud of who I am. I tell you, Ditmer, I'm Leo Laqueur. I'm a Creole woman. They are the prayer
that we see all the time. And it's the prayer of St. Francis. And that prayer advise us not to worry about being understood, but to understand. But I have to have a turf battle
sometimes with Saint Francis IV in her prayer,
because I feel that it's important that not only do we understand,
but to ask people that they understand who we are. I am a Creole. I'm a proud Creole from Cane River. Theory. Read. Civil. Facebook. Support. De de de de de de de de de de. Dad, do do the math. To see the read to. This film is funded in part by a grant from the Louisiana Endowment
for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National
Endowment for the Humanities. Funding is also provided by a grant
from the Cane River National Heritage Area and Commission and by a grant
from the Louisiana State Arts Council to the Louisiana Division of the Arts
and the National Endowment for the Arts. What a great program. Welcome back. I'm Chuck Parrott, volunteering today to support LVB, and that's
what we're asking you to do right now to support Louisiana Public Broadcasting
with your generous donation. This is our last break
during the spirit of a culture cane river. The Creoles and you know,
this is your final opportunity to show us that you value
what you are watching now. Everything LP brings into your home
each and every day from documentaries such as this one,
all the way to Antiques Roadshow to, oh, so many things, nature
and all of the things that are on PBS. They're our partners, too. So we are that and we have special
thank you contributions to thank you for the contributions
from viewers like you. And we invite you to pledge now
or renew your support to LBB right now and consider becoming a sustaining member with easy monthly contributions
in an amount of your choosing. And that way, we'll know that
we can depend on your consistent support throughout the year. Just call or text gift G. I've been to eight, eight, eight,
seven, six, nine, five thousand or become a member online at LP Board. Now we have some incredible
gifts to. Thank you. Let's take a look. For two hundred and forty dollars or a monthly sustaining
donation of twenty dollars, you will receive the spirit
of a culture combo that includes the Clementine
Hunter, Mango Wood. A day at Melrose Plantation
Serving Platter, The Forgotten People paperback
book by Gary B. Mills. The Spirit of a Culture DVD
plus LP, B Passport, your On-Demand Library of the Best of PBS
and LP B for one hundred fifty six dollars or sustaining
monthly donation of thirteen dollars. Receive your choice of the Clementine
Hunter Menga would a day at Melrose Plantation Serving Platter or Clementine
Hunter Mango Wood Cotton picking bowl for 120 dollars or a sustaining monthly
donation of ten dollars. Receive the Forgotten People
paperback book by Gary B. Mills and for 72 dollars or a sustaining
monthly donation of just six dollars. Receive the program
DVD of the spirit of a culture. Cane River Creoles and LBW Passport, Your On-Demand Library
of the Best of PCBs and l.P. Just call or text
give to eight, eight, eight, seven, six, nine, five thousand
and become a friend of LVB today. Or choose not to receive a gift to let 100 percent of your
donation go to support l.P. Oh, man, those are
some great thank you gifts, I especially like this bowl and wait, there is more because the first caller
to pledge 600 dollars or more on a credit card will receive a two night
stay at the steel magnolia house. In that condition, Louisiana
Steel Magnolias, everybody loves that. And you also get all the gifts
that we've talked about on tonight's show. Now let's bring back our special guest,
Dr. Mark Guidry. And before the break here,
before we went back to the show, I teach him a little bit about Tont. Lee. Tell us about Tunt Lee special person. Well, you know, I start out by saying that one of the special things that we like
about spirit of the culture that I like is the fact that the story is told
from the people. So many people have written
about Cane River Creoles from an outside in perspective, but you miss something if it's not
from someone who lives to experience. So this totally in the late 70s,
I had the opportunity to meet a cousin and traveled down here by myself
and and knocked on her door. And she said, Mozer, Mesal,
come on in, come in, my son. So I came into the house and she she
it was we had this familiarity, this this knowing that
that this seems to be made into heaven. I'd known of her,
but I'd never met her before. And she gave me a gift
that was a lifetime gift of heritage. Her entire life had been spent
collecting and researching, but gathering from within the family, not without the family, the history
and the heritage of Cane River. She passed on to her from the daughter
in law of August, and Matura, who founded Cane
River, was the stories from him about our Breville and Cane River
and how this came to be. So it was an inside perspective. And it's a gift, really,
that just that changed my life and actually put me
on track of preservation cause. But totally was an incredible character. And she knew a lot about the history. She told me a lot of stories and I recorded them all
and doing my own personal research. But one of them was just a story about how much the family revered
and love Augustan Batwa. It was a religious man. He was a moralist. And in his older age,
he would sit on his porch rocking and the young nieces
and nephews would go galloping by. But when they would get close to him
in reverence, they would slow down. And Bodger girl, Peggy Slan Sable's
your mobile phone. And he tried to bring all of his
children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews
into the Catholic faith. So many, many stories,
but totally is an icon and probably one of the first Creole preservations
who actually carried down the history directly
from the founder of King River. Well, that is fantastic. And, you know, we all need to be recording
the stories that are our relatives are telling us, because when they're gone, those stories
could be gone with them if not for us. And that includes you helping us
to tell those stories here on Louisiana Public Broadcasting and tell you
who's very interested in this. This is Dr. Kathy Seamore. She's giving a member challenge
from all the way up there in that. She is proud to support the programs
on LPE, and she's challenging all viewers to donate today. And she will match dollar
for dollar the first fifteen hundred dollars
called in during this program only. And this is the last break. So in effect, this is your last chance
for your donation to. Be worth twice as much to help be,
you know, together by doing all of this. We can keep be strong now. You know, we have many ways
to say thank you. Biggest thank you is by bringing you
the programing that you enjoy. But we do have thank you gifts. Clementine Hunter, these wonderful
thank you guys that have been outlined for you, including the Mango
would a day at Melrose Plantation. That's the wonderful serving platter. There's also for a two hundred and forty
dollar monthly sustaining donation. We have a We have the Forgotten People
paperback book and so much more. I tell you what.
Rather than me talk about it. Let's watch for 240 dollars or a monthly
sustaining donation of twenty dollars. You will receive the spirit of a culture
combo that includes the Clementine Hunter. Menga would a day at Melrose Plantation
Serving Platter, The Forgotten People
paperback book by Gary B. Mills The Spirit of a Culture DVD
plus LP, B Passport, Your On Demand Library of the best of PBS
and LP for one hundred and fifty six dollars or a sustaining
monthly donation of thirteen dollars. Receive your choice of the Clementine
Hunter Menga would a day at Melrose Plantation Serving Platter or Clementine
Hunter Mango would cotton picking bowl for 120 dollars or a sustaining monthly
donation of ten dollars. Receive the Forgotten People
paperback book by Gary B. Mills. And for 72 dollars or sustaining
monthly donation of just six dollars, received the program DVD of the spirit
of a culture Cane River, Creoles and LBW Passport, your On-Demand Library
of the best of PBS and l.P. Just call or text gift to eight eight
eight seven, six, nine, five thousand and become a friend of LPE today,
or choose not to receive a gift to let 100 percent of your donation
go to support LP. And one of the great things about l.P
be these days, our ravels. There's a new one every season. Let's have a look at the latest. LAPD wants to help you enjoy your outdoor
space to the fullest. All you have to do is enter to win
LVB ultimate patio raffle. One lucky winner will receive
an amazing outdoor makeover. Perfect for entertaining. Whether it's a barbecue island
and smoke or a cozy fire pit. Comfy furniture and a big screen
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to designing the patio of your dreams with the 25000 dollar grand prize
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and go to l.P Bauchi for more information. Wow. So many good things
coming from Louisiana Public Broadcasting. But you know, LBW makes it happen
by getting good people like Mr. Bill Rodman to do these kinds of cultural and wonderful heritage
and histories of Louisiana. Bill, congratulations, man. You work too hard, you and your wife. I mean, you wrote this, you produced it,
you edited it, you did everything. I hope she made you
sweep the floor and not her. She sure did. So what you were talking about,
you got something else coming up soon, your whole. Yes. So we're working on a documentary
about no man's land, which is, again, it's also known
as the neutral strip along the Louisiana border there
and the Texas line. And fascinating story. I'm really looking forward
to sharing it with our viewers. Well, we're going to wrap things up. These are some incredible guests
that we've had tonight. Thank you. Bill Rodman
for doing all this work and your wife to thank you, Flo and Dr. Mark Guidry. Thank you. Thank you for keeping this alive
in the minds of people. And we really, really appreciate it. That's what l.P is all about. Thank you. We look
forward to hearing from you.
