The Creoles of Louisiana are the descendants of the French and Spanish inhabitants of the region before it became American, with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The identity of “Creole” or “Louisiana Creole” was not historically a racial label and did not suggest a racial origin.

But “Louisiana Creole” has come to mean Creoles of color, a gens de coleur libre or free people of color. Many people in Louisiana, particularly in New Orleans, are descendants of French, Spanish, African, and Native Americans, with many of the free blacks being transplants from the Caribbean Islands.

Since one of the several settings of The Cornfield is New Orleans, one of the principal characters is, of course, a gens de coleur libre.

The story of the Louisiana creoles of color – before, during, and after the American Civil War – has been rarely told and it too needs to be retold again and again. One of the best is Creole, subtitled The History and Legacy of Louisiana Free People of Color, a collection edited by Sybil Kein.

The story of free blacks and slaves is told only tangentially in this story. It has been told before and needs to be told again. And again.

The painting at the top of the page is Free Women of Color with their Children and Servants, an oil painting by Agostino Brunias in the late 18^th Century.