The Quai Amiral Douguet in Port-Launay, a town in Finistère, will inaugurate a three-metre-tall statue in 2027 to pay tribute to the Queffélec brothers, two local 18th-Century navigators who took part in the settlement and foundation of New Orleans, Louisiana.
More precisely, they identified the mouth of the Mississippi River and helped French engineer and cartographer Adrien de Pauger develop canals there for the expansion of commerce.
So says Claude Grajeon, the president of France Louisiane: Franco-Américanie, a French association which uncovered historical documents to back up this claim. It is one of the association’s many functions to maintain and preserve the links between France and Louisiana, which share a history through the migration of Cajun people and French colonisation from the 17th Century onwards.
Both its website and Facebook page are used for its promotion. They posted Zydeco musician Zachary Richard’s performance at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in April, advertised the upcoming 21st Semaine acadienne festival in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer (Calvados) next August, and revealed historical trivia.
What it has really been up to lately, however, goes further.
“We foster connections between French people interested in Louisiana and its history and Louisianans interested in their Louisiana roots,” said Claude Grajeon, its president.
The association has a dedicated member who is in charge of combing through historical documents and research papers for people interested in discovering their Louisiana roots.
It also organises trips to Louisiana, another of its longstanding traditions.
Last April, members returned from a 10-day trip centred on the state’s roots, French music and Francophonie.
They visited New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Saint-Martinville and Houma, and met members of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe as well as fellow francophones. The previous year honoured Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville, after whom Faubourg Marigny in New Orleans was named, as well as the Livaudais family, where more than 100 relatives reunited as part of a cousinade (gathering of cousins).
The Livaudais family reunionFrance Louisiane
It publishes Asteur!, the association’s quarterly gazette, which reports on the association’s latest endeavours and indexes various transatlantic remembrance events.
Founded in 1977, the association has been supported by the Ministry of Culture, which partners with Codofil, a Louisiana state-funded initiative for the preservation of the French language in Louisiana.
Louisiana French, referred to as Cajun French, is a variation of French brought by people from northeastern Canada, an area then called Acadia, who were deported during the English invasion in 1654. They travelled south to Louisiana, where they settled.
The term Cajun comes from a mispronunciation by English speakers, progressively transforming the term ‘acadien’ – people from Acadia – into ‘cadien’, then Cajun.
“There is a misconception that Louisiana is populated by Cajuns,” said Mr Grageon. “There were already many French colonies all along the Mississippi River before they were deported,” he added.
This is why the association launched Franco-Américanie, the second part of its name and a project launched in 2023 to highlight places where Americans of Acadian, Creole, French-Canadian or Native American descent work to revive the French language and francophone cultures in the US.
Its website geolocates Franco-American initiatives in the US that bolster Francophonie, spreading from northeastern states such as Maine to states bordering the Mississippi River. It is also a strong supporter of Nous Foundation, a US-based organisation founded by an American and a French student in defence of the French language in Louisiana.
Membership of the association costs €40 per person or €45 for a couple.
