Hey, I have family members that used to live in a little town called Tuscola, fairly close to Champaign.....

Tuscola is just down the road about a half hour or so away. Thats getting into the Amish country. There are several Amish communities around there and it is exactly like you've seen in the movies. Horse and buggies, black clothes for the men, the older men all have beards, long dresses for the women, etc.

This is all farm land around here with a few medium size cities stuck right in the middle. Champain/Urbana is the location of the University of Illinois.

Yep, I've been there….My cousin's wedding was a very interesting one for us, going to a church in an amish town very close to Tuscola…..the corn capital of USA…and reception was in Champaign…..

The True Story of the Cajuns, is that after the French and Indian war the British took over Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and controlled that land, and the British made the Acadiens(Give up there land). Or they had to pledge allegiance to the King of England, and had to give up there Religion and pledge it to the Church of England, and to switch there religion to the Church of England.

In 1755 the British Troops came into Acadia and told everyone that if they are not going to do this they will be deported, and so they gathered all the Acadians up that did not pledge allegiance to England, and shipped them off, so they were exiled from there land, and some went back to France, others went to Maryland(Which refuse them but some snuck into Maryland.) Others came down to Louisiana, and started there whole new life about 7000 people came to Louisiana, mostly in the Lafayette area, Crowley, New Iberia, Morgan City. That is why the area is call Acadia, or Acadiana now, and 20% of the population still speaks Cajun French. Cajun is just a corrupt version for Acadian. Coona$$ is just a corrupt version of Cajun. That is why you see places like Acadiana, and St. Landry. It comes from the Roman Catholic Enfluence, and it comes from the Cajun People like Landry, Thibodeaux, Boudreaux, Richard pronounce(Risharde), Names you do not find anywhere else in the United States.

Also we have our own food, dialect, and culture even our homes are not built like other's which mostly resemble the homes built in Nova Scotia. Plus the people down here take great pride and where they come from. University of Louisiana probally has the most ethnicity or one group going to that University, you cannot say that for Notre Dame, or second name to our University is University of the Acadians.

The pepper just comes from Tobasco is the famous one, but all the Cajun Spices, and the Spices that we use in our cookings, like Crawfish Etouffee, Gumbo, Jambalaya, Boiled Crawfish, Red Beans and Rice. Stuff like that the Pepper is just a symbol of how we cook, and how we use spices.

We have had many discussions of what we should use as a mascot, many cameup with a Crawfish, Alligator, Catahoula, it is one of our many debates as fans, to what we should use as a mascot, but the pepper fits.

People want to compare it to South Florida, it may have the French side to it, but it is nothing like the people of South Florida(That is not a nock on South Florida), it is a totally a different culture in Acadia, or this part of Louisiana.

In 1755 the Louisiana territory was under French control as was all the land north of that all the way to Canada. This includes of course what is now the state of Louisiana. Napolean sold the territory to the USA in 1803 to finance the war going on in Europe. So I would assume at the time the Acadians emigrated to the southern Louisiana area they were probably welcome and assimilated well into what ever French settlements might already have been there. The only thing I can't understand is why would anyone move into an area below sea level.

I know this isn't a history board but I couldn't resist putting in my 2 cents.

well like Lafayette it is not under sea level, it is pretty close, but New Orleans has to be the worst, and Cameron Parish that is all marshland. It is lowland yeah, but Lafayette, Crowley is prarie land, it isnt as low as Morgan City, Houma, New Orleans or Cameron. The Cajuns actually settle in a good spot. I think the reason being is that it already had that French Influence. The Land was settled, Around Nachitoches, and Poverty Point they already had some settlements up there. So they just settle below that.

I guess Once we got off the boat we didnt feel like moving. Just decided this is good, and we moved on.

illinoisowl said

In 1755 the Louisiana territory was under French control as was all the land north of that all the way to Canada. This includes of course what is now the state of Louisiana. Napolean sold the territory to the USA in 1803 to finance the war going on in Europe. So I would assume at the time the Acadians emigrated to the southern Louisiana area they were probably welcome and assimilated well into what ever French settlements might already have been there. The only thing I can't understand is why would anyone move into an area below sea level.

I know this isn't a history board but I couldn't resist putting in my 2 cents.

I think the Cajuns moved out of Canada (Acadia) due to religious restrictions.

I have heard on history tours in Louisiana, that the French kind of snubbed the Cajuns. Thought the Cajuns were "beneath" them, FWIW. This could not have been further from the truth, in my opinion.