“In the 1970s, when the bus was conducted in schools, teachers had the task of classifying students in their classrooms,” said Wendy Gaudin, 54, referring to effort in some cities to display public schools. His Creole grandparents left New Orleans for California. As an adult, Mrs. Gaudin returned and now teaches in New Orleans at the Xavier University, the only Catholic school between the historical colleges and universities of the nation. “I was categorized as a American native, and my sister Roslyn was categorized as Caucasica, and my sister Leslie was categorized as the Pacific island.”
Professor Gaudin, who has written a book about identity in the Creole diaspora, described how this racial ambiguity could help Creoles when they face obstacles in a place that was not the promised land they expected. When their grandparents found properties in Los Angeles to build a house, they discovered that the neighborhood had a racial pact that excludes blacks. His grandmother, who was “very, very fair with leather,” he said, went to the bank, paid the deposit and signed the documents. Then his grandfather, who was darker, built a house and moved.
“And nothing could be said, because the earth was already yours,” he said.
There were some who chose to live in their new cities of origin as white people, or who simply live in that way because nobody asked. This did not always imply explicitly creating a new identity; Often, it involved simply getting away and staying silent.
One of the Creole roots of Louisiana were unknown, at least for most of them, was George Herriman, who created the famous “Krazy Kat” comic strip, and that some of his associates were supposed to be Greek. The Creole heritage of Louisiana of Anatole Brayard, the influential writer and literary critic of New York who wrote a review of books written for The Times, was not publicly known until years after his death.
In 1946, Mr. Roudané’s grandmother presented that the family last name officially changed, probably abandoning the ‘Z’ because he could tip the authorities to her Creole heritage, and shortly after, her son was admired to the University of Tulane, at what white time. A few years after graduating, he moved to the west media and lived the rest of his life as a white man.
