Creoles of color
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Indeterminable | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| New Orleans, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Maryland, Florida, Georgia, Memphis, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco | |
| Languages | |
| English, French, Spanish and Louisiana Creole (Kouri-Vini) | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Roman Catholic, Protestant; some practice Voodoo | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| African Americans, Cajuns, Louisiana Creole people, Isleños, Alabama Creole people, Québécois
Peoples in Louisiana Acadians French Americans French-Canadian Americans Cajuns Native Americans Caribbean Americans Spanish Americans Portuguese Americans Afro Latino Cuban Americans Dominican Americans Stateside Puerto Ricans Canarian Americans Mexican Americans Italian Americans German Americans Irish Americans |
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| African Americans |
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The Creoles of color are a multiracial ethnic group of Louisiana Creoles that developed in the former French and Spanish colonies of Louisiana (especially in New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, and Northwestern Florida, in what is now the United States. French colonists in Louisiana first used the term "Creole" to refer to people born in the colony, rather than in Europe, thus drawing a distinction between Old-World Europeans and Africans from their descendants born in the New World. Today, many Creoles of color have assimilated into (and contributed to) Black American culture, while some retain their distinct identity as a subset within the broader African American ethnic group.
New Orleans Creoles of color have been named as a "vital source of U.S. national-indigenous culture." Creoles of color helped produce the historic cultural pattern of unique literature, art, music, architecture, and cuisine that is seen in New Orleans. The first black poetry works in the United States, such as Les Cenelles, were created by New Orleans Creoles of color. The centuries-old New Orleans Tribune was owned and operated by Creoles of color.
After the American Civil War, and Reconstruction, the city's black elite fought against informal segregation practices and Jim Crow laws. With Plessy v. Ferguson and the beginning of legal segregation in 1896, Creoles of color became disenfranchised in Louisiana and other southern states. Some moved to other states, sometimes passing into white groups as passé blanc, or integrating into Black groups. Creole of color artists, such as Sidney Bechet and Jelly Roll Morton, helped spread Jazz; and Allen Toussaint, the "beloved Creole gentleman", contributed to rhythm and blues.
Creoles of color who moved to other states founded diaspora communities, which were called "Little New Orleans", such as Little New Orleans, in Los Angeles and Little New Orleans, in Galveston.