Project Description

This project will explore the depiction of Louisiana creole women of color in nineteenth-century American literature. In a digital and interactive timeline, I will demonstrate how historical events shape white and creole men of color's depiction of creole women in their works. I will interpret these historical moments and creole centered works through a multiracial feminist lens. In more detail, multiracial feminism is an intersectional approach to understanding the condition of women of color. Mainly, for my project, multiracial feminism rightfully includes all women of color, which was the identity of nineteenth-century creole women of color.

Additionally, as Maxine Baca and Bonnie Dill find in " Theorizing Difference From Multicultural Feminism," multicultural feminism properly deals with the notion of difference among women of color and how difference impacts their racial stratification. Specifically, creole women of color had complex racial identities, as many were categorized as octoroons. To this end, I will approach this project through a multiracial feminist lens to consider how Louisiana creole women of color's gender and race uniquely impact their depiction in creole literature in nineteenth-century Louisiana.

Significance and Contribution

There is a missing online presence regarding Louisiana creole women in literature. Digital projects for the history of Louisiana creole people focus on historical records. For example, Louisiana State University's "Free People of Color in Louisiana: Revealing an Unknown Past" is a special collections digital project that gives users access to public records. There is also the Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers and the Louisiana Colonial Document Digitization Project that allows users to search for newspapers and judicial records. Though these projects intend to preserve Louisiana creole people's culture, these projects ignore the role of literature in the nineteenth century and how these records may shape Louisiana creole centered literature. If we look at other Black Atlantic cultures, there are vast digital projects on the Caribbean, African, and English role in the Black Atlantic. However, few digital projects specify the Louisiana creole women, let alone their depiction in the nineteenth-century American literature. This project intends to show how historical events shaped ideas concerning race, gender, and class, which undoubtedly shaped how white and creole men of color saw and depicted creole women in Louisiana creole literature.