This undergraduate research project was funded by a grant from the Louisiana Independent College Foundation, sponsored by the following organizations: United Parcel Services Foundation; The Foundation for Independent Higher Education; Bank One, Louisiana; Louisiana Public Facilities Authority; Howard Computers.
The faculty advisor for this project was Dr. Dana Kress, Associate Professor of French at Centenary College. Jonathan Vidrine, a French major at Centenary, designed the website.
We take off Our Hats to theCentenary Collegeof Louisianait's Students and Faculty Who did such a marvelous Job in Preserving and reproducing these Historic Collections of Creole Poetry ..
With their oustanding effort The Culture of The Creole of Color will continue to be passed down to future Generations of Creoles and to the World as well
The Legacy of Our Creole Ancestors
The Louisiana Purchase gave thousands of future citizens whose heritage found its roots in France, in French-speaking Canada, in Germany, in Spain, in Africa and in the Caribbean. By fate, these settlers, slaves and refugees became American yet still retained their culture on the Louisiana territory.
On the contrary, they have left us in their newspapers, their books, their manuscripts and their songs a rich and varied account of their lives in the new world. This is the experience, expressed by means of languages which are less spoken today, that Les Cahiers du Tintamarre and Les Editions Tintamarre explore, and this with the people’s words, those people who lived it or are still living it.
Fils d’Africains! Tristes victimes,
Qu’un joug absurde abrutissait.
De monstres oubliant les crimes,
Pensons à Jésus qui disait: (bis)
« Peuples, plus de sang, plus de guerre
« Qui font rougir l’humanité,
« Moi je suis la Fraternité,
« Embrassez-vous, vous êtes frères. »
Debout! L’heure est venue, à chaque travailleur
Le pain (bis) qu’il a gagné, qu’importe sa couleur.
Assez longtemps! le fouet infâme
De ses sillons nous a brisés,
Sans nom, sans patrie et sans âme;
Assez de fers! De honte, assez! (bis)
Que dans une sainte alliance
Les noirs et les blancs confondus
À la mort des anciens abus,
Marchant tous pleins de confiance,
Debout! L’heure est venue, à chaque travailleur
Le pain (bis) qu’il a gagné, qu’importe sa couleur.
Debout! C’est l’heure solennelle!
Où sur le vieux monde écroulé
Le despotisme qui chancelle
Vient couronner la Liberté,
La discorde reprend sa pomme,
La raison humaine grandit;
C’est l’intelligence et l’esprit
Et non plus la peau qui fait l’homme.
Debout! L’heure est venue, à chaque travailleur
Le pain (bis) qu’il a gagné, qu’importe sa couleur.
Plus d’ombre! partout la lumière,
C’est l’Évangile qui paraît;
Le Blanc dit au Noir: mon frère,
À jamais Caïn disparaît
Plus de sang! L’impie ignorance,
Arme terrible du tyran
Aux peuples s’entredéchirant,
Ne dit plus: mort, sang et vengeance.
Debout! L’heure est venue, à chaque travailleur
Le pain (bis) qu’il a gagné, qu’importe sa couleur.
Allons! malgré votre race,
Hommes de couleur, unissez-vous;
Car le soleil luit pour tous.
Que chaque peuple heureux, prospère,
Au fronton de l’humanité,
Grave ces mots: en toi j’espère, Tu règneras, Égalité.
More Creole Poetry
English Version
La Marseillaise Noire Chant de paix
Camille Naudin, Nouvelle-Orléans, 17 juin 1867
Sons of Africa! Sad victims,
Brutalized by an absurd yoke
At the hands of monsters.
Let us forget their crimes,
And turn our hearts to Jesus who said:
“Peoples of the world, end your wars
That bloody humanity,Brotherhood am I;
Embrace each other, for you are brothers.”
Refrain:
Arise! Now, the time is come for every laborer,
Whatever his color, to claim the bread that he has earned.
Long enough! The infamous whip
Has crushed us with its lashes,
Rendered nameless, homeless, soulless,
Down with the chains and shame!
May there be a sacred covenant
Of blacks and whites together
Who, with the downfall of past abuses,
Go forward confidently.
Arise! The solemn hour has come
When, upon the collapsed and ancient order,
Staggering despotism
Will place the crown of Liberty,
Discord rescinds its fruit
Human reason advances;
Now intelligence and spirit—not color—
Make the man.
Down with the darkness! Let there be light!
The Gospel emerges
White calls black “my brother,”
Cain’s curse vanishes forevermore
Down with bloodshed—ungodly ignorance,
Tyranny’s horrific weapon,Tearing humanity apart
With death, blood, and vengeance!
Let us go forth! Regardless of race,
Men of courage, unite.
Here below, there is a place for everyone,
For the sun shines upon all.
May each happy nation prosper.
On the forefront of humanity
Etch these words: “My hope rests in you:
Equality, forevermore you will reign.”
