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A Fiction Interlude: My Short Story "The Phrenologist"
Although I am a historian, and thus write non-fiction, I'm pleased to announce that one of my works of fiction, a short story titled "The Phrenologist," appears in the new anthology Southern Gothic:...
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Rough Rider Redux: A Photo of Theodore Roosevelt in Downtown New Iberia?
Two days ago an acquaintance sent me the below image from a cache of family photographs owned by his mother, a Broussard from Iberia Parish. (Incidentally, his mother turned ninety only yesterday.) No...
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A Railroad History of Avery Island
This is an article I wrote for someone else's blog back in 2010. I reprint it for the first time here:My name is Shane K. Bernard and I'm the historian and curator for McIlhenny Company and Avery...
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Welcome to Bayou Teche Dispatches. . . .
Bayou Teche Dispatchesis a collection of my writings about south Louisiana history and culture. Often it consists of material I could not use in my books for one reason or another, but which I...
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Coming Soon: My New Book about Bayou Teche
In late October my fifth and newest book, Teche: A History of Louisiana's Most Famous Bayou, will be released by my publisher, University Press of Mississippi. (To preorder the book from Amazon.com,...
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Another Civil War Gunboat on the Teche: The U.S.S. Glide, aka Federal Gunboat...
It is well-known that during the Civil War several Union and Confederate gunboats were active on Bayou Teche. These gunboats were the USS Calhoun, USS Estrella, USS Kinsman, USS Clifton, USS Diana...
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Article 4
Here you can purchase my books as well as items I designed with south Louisiana's intriguing history and culture in mind — including (on the lower half of this page) decals, shirts, mugs, hats, and...
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Portrait of a Cajun Girl: Andonia Thibodeaux of Bayou Tigre
My assistant found the below tin-type image in the archives I administer on Avery Island, Louisiana. The tin-type had been stored in an old letter envelope, and on that envelope someone had long ago...
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Of Cajuns and Creoles: A Brief Historical Analysis
I have observed a growing effort, particularly among south Louisiana's Creole population, to rein in use of the word Cajun to describe all things French in Louisiana. (I mean Creole in the broadest...
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A Tool for Fighting Fake News & Conspiracy Theories: Teach Critical Thinking...
One might consider the below essay off-topic for a history website, but I don't think so: as a professional historian I rely heavily on Critical Thinking skills, and I do so on a daily basis. And so...
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Electronic Cajuns and Creoles: Early Television as an Americanizing Agent
I recently ran across this previously unpublished work of mine, which I wrote around 1995 for Dr. Terry H. Anderson’s Recent U.S. History course at Texas A&M University. I now publish it nearly a...
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When Jimi Hendrix Appeared on My Father's Live TV Show in Lafayette,...
I am indebted to Steve Rodham of the Jimi Hendrix fanzine Jimpress for permitting me to reprint my below article from the Summer 2020 issue (Issue 117). I have added additional images and adapted the...
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Notes on the Founding of Opelousas
History is, like science, a self-correcting discipline: professional historians make their careers in part by correcting or refining the research and assertions of other historians. This is a laudable...
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Notes on the Birth of Cajun Ethnic Identity
I have noticed claims that Cajun ethnic identity did not originate until the late twentieth century — more particularly, that it did not emerge until the mid- to late 1960s. It has also been asserted...
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Thoughts on Cajuns and "Whiteness"
This essay is one of three in which I address current issues in Cajun and Creole studies. The other two essays can be found here and here.❧In a recent essay I noted the understandable trend among some...
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"Prairie de Jacko": Source of the Name?
I recently noticed an old Louisiana land document for sale on eBay. It concerned property located near the confluence of Bayou Teche and the Atchafalaya River. (What is called Bayou Teche on this map...
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Born of Elite White Reactionism?: Assessing Claims about the Rise of Cajun...
This essay is one of four in which I address current issues in Cajun and Creole studies. The other essays can be found here.I wrote these works not only as a historian, but as someone who identifies as...
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Essays on Current Issues in Cajun and Creole Studies
Writings about Cajuns & Creoles.The below four essays of mine address current issues in Cajun and Creole studies. Given my training as a historian (though one familiar with folkloric and...
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State of the Genre: Swamp Pop Music in the 21st Century
I thank John Broven, C. C. Adcock, Yvette Landry, and Count D. for proofing the below essay in whole or part and offering their insights.❧In early August 2021 local media outlets reported that a south...
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Petit Manchac: A Tale of Two Lafayettes
The year 2023 marks the bicentennial of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana — the seat of which was Vermilionville, renamed Lafayette in 1884 to honor the Marquis de Lafayette of American Revolution fame. This...
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Cajun, Acadian, Arcadian: Classical World Connections to South Louisiana
If I am known as a historian, I am known as one of Cajun and Creole history, and of south Louisiana history in general. My published work, after all, has always focused on these topics. When consulted...
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Race, Language, and Culture: A Note on Identity in Louisiana
I thank historians Dr. Carl A. Brasseaux (Ret.) and Dr. Michael S. Martin of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for evaluating this essay:❧I have seen it stated in a few journalistic and social...
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The Challenge of Storytelling by Numbers: Cajuns, Creoles, and the Limits of...
Historians and math do not always go well together. In fact, historians are notoriously bad when it comes to math. There are exceptions, as in the case of those odd creatures, quantitative historians,...
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French and Creole in Louisiana, 2010-2022: A Very Brief Analysis
As a follow up to my recent essay “Disappearing Cajuns and Creoles? Ethnic Identity and the Limits of Census Data,” I have produced line charts representing data for two Louisiana languages, French and...
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Banned in the Classroom: Notes on the Outlawing of French in Louisiana's...
"I Will Not Speak French on the School Grounds,"from an exhibit at the Vermilionvilleliving history museum, Lafayette, La.From approximately 1920 to 1960, educators routinely punished children in...
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