Abstract
The annals of history have often disclosed the dark stories of strong peoples of this world who have seized their weaker neighbors, exiling them from their homes and firesides, and forcing them to begin life anew in a foreign land among strange and sometimes hostile people. Two centuries ago a gentle and courageous people of French descent, the Acadians, were forcibly driven from the rich and fertile lands of Nova Scotia, and through almost incredible hardships and sufferings, were literally dumped upon populations which, in many instances, were either fearful or unprepared to welcome them into their midst. Some of them came to Louisiana about 1758, where they were offered homes, friends, sympathy and opportunity. They in turn enriched the economic, educational, political, religious, and social life of the State. At the same time they have been able not only to preserve their distinctive culture to a remarkable degree, but also to impress their way of life on their non-Acadian neighbors. This way of life is so animated with la joie de vivre that a recently accultured(sic) Anglo-Saxon member expressed it thus: "easy to catch, and once caught, who in the hell wants to change?"|No attempt is being made here to write in great detail the story of the Acadians. Their history has been written; their exile has been immortalized in literature, music and art. After a brief account, the purpose of this thesis will be to present their distinctive culture, to show its influence on the other cultures around them, and to point out to what extent they have assimilated those other cultures or retained their own.|If the people of Southwest Louisiana possess today the religious faith, the cultural aggressiveness, and the .joie de vivre. which hold even greater promise for the future of their state than its almost unlimited resources, they can be thankful to their Acadian ancestors, who have passed on this heritage to them in spite of the obstacles that would have reduced a weaker people to nothing more than another page of history.