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And be at home by you match.

Louisiana is a human gumbo that exists nowhere else in America.

Its founding predates the 13 colonies and its diversity comes from its European and African roots that gave rise to its existence more than five centuries ago, when New Orleans, not Ellis Island, not any other port, was the gateway to the new world.

It's the culture, stupid.

Yes, James.

It's the culture that makes us different.

There's an exuberance here, a joie de vivre, a love of life mixed with the religious zeal of multiple denominations.

Unlike other Southern states, almost a third of us are Catholic.

That's why we have parishes, not counties.

Mardi Gras is a state holiday.

We spell our words differently.

Our food is spicy.

The Holy Trinity has a double meaning.

Our civil laws are based on the Napoleonic Code.

We have drive through daiquiri shops.

And there's no ethnic majority.

40% of us are white Anglo-Saxon Protestants.

32% are African-American.

And 28% are everything else.

French, Spanish, Creole and Cajun.

This is the story of our disproportionate contribution to America's music, art, sports, history and politics.

None of which would be possible without the mighty river that empties into the Gulf of Mexico through just one state.

Ours.

It's why Louisiana, eight Mississippi or anyplace else would the emotion of any discussion of Louisiana must begin with water.

It buffers our bottom most rhythm.

It pools serenely in lakes and bayous and almost every parish of the state.

It nourishes the agricultural ground in which we are rooted.

Its manifestation is the mighty Mississippi River from its source in Lake Itasca, Minnesota.

The river begins in a trickle, coursing its way through ten states, traveling more than 2300 miles before gushing into the Gulf of Mexico City.

They reach the river, water and the weather define us as Louisianians, I guess.

And this mighty river is really the reason we're here in the most fundamental of ways, starting with geology.

This very landscape here to a degree of 100%, is the product of sediment deposited by that river.

And to put even finer point on it, you could go so far to say that if 70% of the human body is comprised as water and their water source is the Mississippi River, that if you live here long enough, 70% of your body is Mississippi River water.

Now, I'm hard pressed to think of a more intrinsic relationship of a river to its people.

The rest of it is Sazerac.

I was going to say coffee, but.

Okay.

Well, mix of both.

Perhaps.

It is majestic, but it hasn't always been kind.

In 1927, the river overflowed its banks, puncturing the erratically placed earthen levees and 145 places.

27,000 square miles of America were inundated most dramatically in Alabama, Mississippi and 20 of the 64 parishes in Louisiana.

Hundreds of people died, thousands more were displaced, and the national economy devastated by $400 million in losses.

Six feet of water in the streets of orange also swept away.

Was the levees only policy of the Mississippi River Commission?

What this policy entailed was a faulty understanding of river dynamics.

What they said is that what you want is strong high levees to scour out the bottom and thus create more space to store excess water.

What it does is simply shift the bottom sediment to the next section of the river.

Instead of deepening the river, it raises the bottom of the river.

And so, you know, it's a tiger by the tail scenario.

You have to make the levees that much stronger and stronger as it races higher and higher and threatens even more so eventually, this is going to lead to the moment when you have a mega disaster, extreme excess water that eventually starts breaching those levees.

That's what happened in April of 1927.

In response, Congress passed the Flood Control Act of 1928 and charged the Corps of Engineers with adopting other strategies to tame the river.

What this led to was the creation of spillways like the bottleneck barrier spillway, the Morganza Spillway.

Ways of storing, retaining water, routing them laterally as rivers like the Mississippi are want to do in the first place.

We haven't had a flood like 1927 ever since then.

It was man's effort to manipulate Mother Nature.

And so far, it's worked.

But it has deprived Louisiana of the nutrient rich sediment called Alluvium that has been deposited on both sides of the swollen river for 7000 years, where it was the life source of the first people to occupy this land.

By the end of it, no matter how great it does and people how many lives they've decided to say no to fixing to make money, all the ingredients that make a good gumbo are literally analogous to the human gumbo that shaped Louisiana's earliest days and remain evident even today.

There's no better person to make a great gumbo and explain the origin of those ingredients.

And Chef John sold it no matter how, chef, we all know Louisianans love their gumbo.

But what is a gumbo?

What a great question.

A lot of people would say just a mixture of everything, a mixture of culture, a mixture of music, food, ingredients from the swamp land.

So, John, this was a pretty important early ingredient.

One of the most important because without this, the sassafras or the leaves of the sassafras tree, which we ground dry and ground into filet powder, as we call it, it's a thickening agent and a flavoring agent for our soup.

Without the Native American gift of sassafras.

We wouldn't have a gumbo.

What would Louisiana be without it?

Well, before we put the fillet in there, too thick and we got to have a stock.

Yeah, exactly.

And one of the great things about the stock and Louisiana, again, another great gift from all of those nations that came in.

But again, the Native Americans were the first to add to the stock and it came in the form of fish bones.

They would eat the fish, but of course, the bones would be boiled in the Mississippi River water to pick up the flavor of the fish and then any wild herbs and seasonings.

Just imagine margin way back in the 50 and 60 and hundreds that these people were able to come up with these flavors that we're still using today.

We know Native Americans have been on this land longer than anyone else.

And some of the fascinating evidence of the sophisticated civilization they built, is it poverty point in West Carroll Parish?

We're reentering the ridge system.

So that was Ridge.

I'm here with Dr. Diana Greenlee, an archeologist who has studied the ancient mounds at poverty point for years.

Poverty point.

It's really just such a special place.

It's so remarkable.

Built by American Indians has these urban monuments, these mounds, in a scale and design that's just not known anywhere else.

Although the early occupants who gathered and traded here have never been known as Louisianans.

They were our first citizens.

A mound.

It goes back 3500 plus years.

Yeah.

The mound itself probably dates to sometime after about 1350 B.C.

and it's called Mound, but it was originally called the Bird Mound, right?

Mm hmm.

Why was that?

Well, the first archeologists here thought that it resembled a bird in flight.

Birds are important in the iconography of the Southeastern Indians.

Is it correct that there's no evidence of agriculture on this site?

That is true.

Perhaps as many as 10,000 people came here at any one time.

You'd think there would be some evidence of agriculture and how they fed themselves and and how they live.

But no agriculture.

But this is Louisiana.

It's so rich.

The the resources were so abundant.

You had the floodplain just off the edge of the ridge.

You had these upland resources.

So, you know, you had fish and turtles and waterfowl, deer nuts.

These folks were hunters and gatherers.

They went out and got things and what they got the most of was dirt or mud to build these mounds.

These mounds didn't start like this.

They had to be constructed.

If you think about it in terms of £50 basket loads of dirt, that's probably about 15 and a half million basket loads that crazy.

All right.

Well, let's go see the mound.

A.

The escalators on the other side.

Yeah.

I'm glad we don't have to carry on a conversation the whole way.

Because I'll be panting.

Yeah, I know.

Most of the speculation, I guess, is speculation centers around the fact that this was some type of ceremonial spot or gathering spot, either commercially or from a religious standpoint.

Right.

Well, our speculation is that it was some sort of ceremonial kind of thing.

But usually when archeologists say that, it just means we don't really know.

The belief is that a mound this size took how long to build.

Well, there have been some archeologists who have looked at the dirt that's within the mound, and they have estimated it could have been, you know, as few as 90 days.

Come on.

You know what's really fascinating?

We can identify individual oil basket loads.

And within those basket loads of dirt, there is actually dirt that comes from different depths or different sort of locations on the site all mixed together in one basket load.

It actually is engineered.

I, I want to see some of the stuff that you've dug up from around here.

All right.

Okay.

Let's head on back to the curatorial facility.

People tend to downplay how sophisticated these people were, but, you know, they knew their environment, they knew where to get resources.

They had great craftsmen ship.

These people had the time and the energy and the resources to do some amazing stuff.

What's behind the door?

That is our artifact storage area.

So you can see we have artifacts from excavations going back into the early seventies, into the 80 years the nineties.

All right.

Let's go check this out.

That's an owl.

Well, they're all kind of little owls that have been found all over the property.

They were a symbol, presumably, of this place and a calling card.

Yeah.

People took it with them to show where they'd been here.

You can actually see little eyes and a nose.

So now you've got some arrowheads here, huh?

Actually, these would be dart spear points.

Something to hunt with, obviously.

Yes.

This is one of the sort of classic poverty point types.

It's called a motley Point.

But the tip is very sharp and it's obviously some kind of stone.

It's chert.

Chert, chert.

Chert is a combination of charcoal and dirt.

Sounds like it, doesn't it?

But no, it's a kind of rock.

And that's really interesting.

It's a figurine.

What's interesting is that they're female.

They're mostly headless torsos.

A lot of them look like they may be pregnant.

Was this some kind of a fertility symbol?

We don't know.

We don't know.

But they're clearly defined where the arms would be and where the legs would be.

There are no heads.

They don't have heads on any of them?

No, some of them do have heads.

And there are also ones like this that don't appear to be pregnant.

There are, yes.

That are slender.

Actually, I have one.

It's pretty awesome.

So you can see there's a little bit of a head.

Yeah, well, normal.

Well, look at this.

This clearly legs and where the arms would be.

And there's a head and there's a belt.

But this doesn't look like she's pregnant.

We don't know what language we're speaking and we don't know how they said wow, or This is awesome, but this is pretty cool.

In 2014, Poverty Point became only the 22nd site in America and the 1001 site in the world to be named a UNESCO's World Heritage site based on its cultural and historical significance.

What's even more interesting is the recent discovery that the mounds on LSU's campus are even older than those at Poverty Point dating back some 11,000 years.

That makes them the oldest manmade structures, not just in Louisiana, but in the Americas.

And the descendants of these indigenous communities are still here today.

Still time to come on out.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to be really entertained by the biggest granny tree here in Kindler, Louisiana.

Some, like the Tunica Biloxi tribe in Marksville and the Corchado tribe in Kinder, are federally recognized as sovereign nations within the territorial United States.

And, you know, a lot of times, people, they really don't realize there's an Indian tribe here.

There's four federally recognized within the state of Louisiana.

Down here in the corner of southwest Louisiana is the crowd of people.

And a lot of times it's just forgotten.

And mostly because people are just unaware will also bring in our ladies categories.

And all that category will explain it all.

We really try to push our culture.

We we just recently had our shot of Powwow, which really put it on display when you have tribes from all over the country coming in.

Definitely.

If you haven't been to a Powell, try and go to one.

They have amazing food.

Love the music.

Really, really interesting dancing.

When you're in your traditional regalia, you're showing your colors.

This is a fun time to come out and celebrate your culture.

People think of Kushida and they think of our business down the road.

Casino.

However, just a few miles away, the birthplace case of the Kushida tribe is right here.

I'm in Elton, Louisiana, the home of the Kushida tribe with Chief Jonathan Skurnick.

Chief.

Not a lot of people in Louisiana are going to believe that we have a buffalo herd right here in our state.

But we do.

That's right.

Right here in a the corner of Allen Parish.

We actually have had these buffalo for close to two decades now.

How many are there?

We have a herd of over 20 now that were actually a gift to us from my tribe in Oklahoma.

Started the herd.

The herd has grown into what it is today.

You have some native born buffalo, native buffalo, right?

Yeah.

We're so proud of them.

Matter of fact, we built a gas station convenience store to showcase the buffalo.

Run Buffalo Run open in 2016.

Live Buffalo viewing patio in the back of society cultural center inside that displays all of our handmade Cassadee Baskett and you haven't yet put an EU hex on the end of buffalo.

Not yet.

Not yet.

But if we go up I-10 you never know because that's Cajun country.

The home Indians date back to at least 1686 when they settle in the area of Baton Rouge and near the current site of the Angola Prison eventually home, a tribe members migrated to Lafourche and Tara Bone, thus the name of the parish seat and Native American names remain important pages of any Louisiana dictionary.

Centuries ago, this very spot marked the dividing line between the hunting grounds of the Houma Indians and the Bayou Gooley Indians.

A cypress stick, a bloody cypress stick marked that dividing line.

French explorer sailing up the Mississippi River saw that bloody red stick and named this place like Baton Rouge.

The Baton Rouge Bicentennial Commission erected this sculpture by the late Frank Haydon to commemorate that sighting of the bloody red stick and the naming of Baton Rouge.

Even the Mississippi River itself has a respectful Indian name.

The word Mississippi is generally translated as Father of Waters.

So it's a beautiful word, and I think every schoolchild realizes how fun it is to spell it that you could almost see the sinuous channels of the river as you write it.

The river flow measures 3 million gallons per second.

If a levee were to be breached right here, it's Skip Bartman Drive.

God forbid the water would fill Tiger Stadium in 30 seconds.

New meaning to roll Tide.

Barely get them off.

Let me make two points right here.

I mean, right here.

Daniel's for the wind.

God bless you.

Does it?

The volume and force of the Mississippi carries with it nutrient rich sediment known as Alluvium.

The river actually filters 40% of the dirt in America, ultimately giving rise to the nation's largest flood plain.

And within it Louisiana's alluvial valley.

That rich river sediment creates the finest farmland in the country, and it's made Louisiana an agricultural giant in the production of beef and dairy cattle, cotton, corn, rice and soybeans.

Oh, and who could forget crawfish?

We're the nation's largest domestic producer, £150 million of the delicacies each year.

But the Mississippi River didn't build those fertile fields all on its own.

If the Mississippi had its way and the levee system had not been created to harness the river, it would eventually overtake the Atchafalaya River and hasten its rise to the Gulf.

The Atchafalaya flows south to the Gulf and 130 miles.

The Mississippi Serpentine path through Louisiana requires 315 miles before it reaches the Gulf.

It's a good thing for the economy that the two rivers remain separate and distinct.

Otherwise, Baton Rouge would not be a port city in New Orleans would become a saltwater estuary.

Of course, in true colonization fashion, it was the Spaniard, Hernando de Soto, who was credited with discovering the Mississippi River in 1541.

The Spanish were the first European outsiders with whom the Native Americans had to contend.

The Spaniards were explorers.

They wanted to expand their Catholic faith in the 16th and 17th centuries, traveling from Mexico and South America from what is now Florida and from what would become Texas.

But it would take another 100 years before the real roux and the human gumbo was introduced to the New World.

First, we got to make a room, though, huh?

That's exactly right.

Everything in Louisiana begins with the roux when you're talking about a guy.

Well, let's make a roof.

Okay.

And Iru is equal parts of oil and flour, and it's a thickening agent.

And without the oil in the flour combining, we would just have a watery dish rather than that.

Right.

Nice, rich, thick dish that we're going to.

We're going to call it gumbo.

So I'm putting in oil.

In the old days, we would use animal fat.

We would use any kind of fat coming in from you.

Get one of these.

And gee, I'm going to let you take this.

All right.

Now, equal parts of oil and flour.

And you're going to see see the steam coming out of here.

The flowers going to water is going to evacuate that pot quickly.

And you want to stir like crazy.

You don't want it to stick to the bottom of the pot.

And this is another one of our early gifts from the French explorers who came in and found the Native Americans doing this.

And they said, you know, we like it, but let's thicken it.

And this is a and just like you want it to do.

And, of course, as you start is going to change color because the flour is going to toast.

And through the toasting, there's going to be a richness and flavor that's going to just be compounded when we add this beautiful, beautiful stock.

And you want to get all in the corners of that so you don't burn it.

And the more you cook it, the darker it'll get.

And of course, that's the secret to a good gumbo are the French.

Their first expedition began in 1682, when Robert Cavalier Sur de La Salle set sail from the Great Lakes in a canoe.

He disembarked near what is now known as Venice, Louisiana.

He started to smell and taste saltwater, and he knew he was near the mouth of the river.

He landed and famously planted the the Florida lee and the cross and claimed the entire watershed sight unseen as the land of his king.

King Louis, and hence Louisiana claimed this land for King Louis.

Louis, Louisiana.

LaSalle comments as he begins to understand the nature of the lower Mississippi and how it relates to this vast basin through which he just sailed.

And these are his exact words.

A fourth or two here will make us mass does as a whole as is common there.

Less than a decade later, the French crown recognized that it needed to act on Lasalle's claim, or else the Spanish or English would they deploy once again out of French Canada, the LeMoyne brothers.

Now, Abbeville is the older brother.

He's 36 years old.

He's a war hero in French count and a battle of the English on the Great Lakes.

Bienville is his younger brother, very interesting character.

He's a tough read.

I'd like to meet him.

And I often wonder what he would be like in person.

He's 19.

He's got got something to prove in front of his big brother.

And they probe along the Gulf Coast.

They come to a little island and there they see about 60 or 70 skeletons with bags, shells and completely dismembered bodies.

They call it Massacre Island.

So they proceed along and they find a shallow draft, which is not good for these oceangoing vessels and fortuitous the come upon ship island off today's Gulfport.

So they use that and that region as sort of a jumping off point to try to find that river that LaSalle had discovered that Great River back in 1682.

Abbeville records excellent journals, and he records every movement as he's penetrating up the river.

And it so happened on March 3rd, 1699, they pull over at a certain meander that had a little bayou there.

And gloriously it's Mardi Gras.

I witnessed today something called mud.

And he writes it in his journal.

Mardi spills over the why Mardi Gras?

Mardi Gras never have I seen something so vile, so raucous and so debaucherous.

I must come back again.

It doesn't go into any more dimensions.

It twice.

But the very fact that he took the time to note that it was Mardi Gras is really quite remarkable.

This is the first primary source, clear reference to Mardi Gras in the early French colonial era, this so called Mardi Gras.

This is a combination of pomp, circumstance and lowered inhibitions that would make the kings and queens of Europe weep.

In 1699, while canoeing upriver, Bienville came upon an English warship.

Move aside for Her Majesty the Queen's Royal British Navy.

We must stay claim to this land for England.

I would not continue down this river if I were you.

You would the captain move French scoundrel.

You will meet 500,000 French soldiers to lie teeth, which are themselves very sharp.

They will ambush you and you will be walking directly into certain death.

We are but a single vessel.

We would not survive an attack.

How can we trust him?

He's just a man.

Go in a canoe.

Can we afford to not trust him?

Englishmen, please turn around.

You're walking into an ambush and you cannot say No one warned you.

Would you help us up?

Turn around English, turn into English, turn around English, turn right, turn good English port.

And that's how French trickery denied the British control of the river.

Bienville served as our second territorial governor shortly after his governorship ended, his successor ordered Louisiana's first land grant to the entrepreneur sand in the sand, and he made his way along the red River and founded Natchitoches in 1714, making it the first settlement in the territory of Louisiana and in 1718, Choctaw Indians helped guide Bienville to a place that would change the course of history on the banks of the river, wrote Bienville, is a place very favorable for the establishment of a post with one of the finest crescents in the river.

Thus, the Crescent City was born.

How did New Orleans get its name?

Well, it was named for Phillipe Duke de Leon, who unexpectedly came to power when King Louis the 14th died.

Breaking news today, September 1st, 1715.

King Louis, the 14th has died in Vici.

He ruled France for 72 years.

And now all eyes are on his successor since Louie Louie, as his friends called him, outlived his son and eldest grandson.

The throne will be passed.

His five year old grandson, the deceased King's nephew, Felipe.

The second will make decisions until the boy comes of age.

In studio now is Duke of Orleans Felipe, the second his mother, Elizabeth, and famed writer Voltaire.

Felipe, I'm so sorry that this happened.

Are you up for the job?

Thank you for having me.

No, I do not think I will do well.

So you'll step aside then, Neville, I never giving up power.

Well, I'm just letting everyone know I'm going to look out for number one and lower expected options.

But your mother is here.

Surely she believes in you.

The fairies have given him every gift except that of how to use them.

Sykes.

That's his mom.

Folks saying he was born on third base and doesn't know how to run home.

Well put.

Do you understand what they're saying about you?

No, thank you.

Voltaire.

You're a prominent French writer, A wizard of words.

How would you describe Phillipe the second?

Oh, we've had many unscrupulous kings.

Phillipe, however, is a man of few scruples.

In fact, scruples themselves prefer not to be mentioned in the same sentence as elite.

Well, I think you hold out.

It's really.

That's.

That's.

It's not a compliment.

We'll be back with more after this message from our sponsor, Maurice Cakes.

Let them eat it.

And that, my friends, is for whom New Orleans was named.

France had a strategic military interest in protecting Louisiana from the British, who were seeking to expand in the new world.

The Duke dearly ah appointed Antoine Crozet for the job.

Five years into his 15 year contract, Crozet relinquished the property back to France, promising that tobacco would be the top crop in the territory, perhaps confirming that he was smoking something long before it became legal.

In certain states, they only tobacco that would be grown in Louisiana.

It turned out to be Perrigo Tobacco, a particularly powerful strain still grown exclusively in St James Parish.

After Crow's odds failure.

Along came John Locke, an economic theorist and financial wizard who had the skills and savvy to woo wealthy investors.

But Lore had one fault he couldn't live up to his name.

He was the Bernie Madoff of the 18th century making off with everyone's money.

John Law is almost a cinematic character.

He was brilliant, The Scotsman, and he was a gambler.

He was also a womanizer.

He was a hobnob.

And he knew that the way you got things done was by hobnobbing with the powerful.

And so he was one of the first to conceptualize the use of paper currency rather than real wealth, such as gold.

It's called a stock.

It's better than real money.

This was this exciting new concept, and investors, buyers of stock in this company went wild for it.

They didn't just go wild for in the streets of Paris, they went wild for it in Leipzig and Berlin.

Throughout the continent, everyone wanted in on this deal.

Law established a national bank in France and in 1717 created the company of the West.

The French government gave the company control of trade between France and its Louisiana and Canadian colonies.

That territory of trade stretched for 3000 miles and gave rise to the company's more popular name.

The Mississippi company.

The lure of gold and silver brought out many eager investors.

Aristocrats with names like new Porsche industry, hand dough, tree Gallery Delran dealer who say the Lieberthal live a de Mandeville more a Paul and Paul Phaedrus all familiar names in Louisiana today and all joined by a single German family named Greensburg.

These wealthy aristocrats were accompanied by moralists and misfits.

MOralists in the sense that there were nuns and priests to provide for the spiritual guidance of these Catholic pioneers and misfits.

Well, as one historian, they ransack jails and hospitals looking for incorrigible and those with social ills disorderly soldiers, paupers, prostitutes and unsophisticated peasants are our ancestors.

Again, I get the price of their shares kept rising like a balloon, and then suddenly it popped.

Things start to sour within a year or two, when rumors start to make it back from Louisiana that things are rough going, that things are slow going.

And just like a run on the bank, rumors get are out there.

You better cash out now and there's panic.

By 1731, the company is now all but bankrupt.

The sordid saga is referred to as the Mississippi bubble.

As for law, he is exiled.

He dies poor.

I believe in 1729.

But his impact is made.

And today we have something called monetary policy.

And we have stock and we have corporations and we have commercial wealth.

And we don't think twice about it.

Hello and welcome.

I'm Charlie Wynn.

I'm supporter and friend of LP.

You are watching Why Louisiana ain't Mississippi or any place else.

We have heard from so many of you asking LP to broadcast this series again and we listen to this LP documentary and Celebration of Louisiana is a collaboration with DJ Darden, who many of you already know as a great ambassador for our state.

Jay will join us in just a moment, along with LP executive producer Linda mitchell.

They will share news about the program's curriculum developed by LP for educators as well as LPS Teacher Scholarship Initiative.

Aren't we fortunate to have Lpv to tell the story of Louisiana?

Show us you value what you see by calling or texting.

Give to 888, seven, six nine 5000 pledging online at LTP dot org or by scanning the QR code on your screen when you support LP during this program, we have exclusive thank you gifts created especially for this documentary.

So let's take a look right now.

Support LP and celebrate Louisiana by becoming a sustaining member at $35 a month and receive the Y Louisiana Ain't Mississippi combo.

That includes the signed hardcover book, The Limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carole Highsmith that includes Mike the Tiger, Big Chief, Mardi Gras Indian fireworks over Cane River, the Preservation Hall, Jazz Band and Coastal Marsh.

The Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi DVD set and the commemorative poster for $20 a month Receive the Why Louisiana Photography Collection of five Limited edition signed photograph prints.

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Choose the DVD set of this documentary.

We also have two very special credit card offers for a pledge of $500.

Receive a stunning aerial photograph of Louisiana State Capitol on a metal canvas titled Red Stick Blue Sky For a pledge of 1200 dollars or more.

You and your guests will enjoy dinner at Commander's Palace in New Orleans.

You'll also receive the red stick blue sky photograph of the state capitol and all gifts from this show.

As promised, we have Jay Darden, the creator and host of the program, as well as Linda Midget, executive producer and series producer.

They'll be welcome.

Thanks, Jill.

Nice to have you here and talk about what is a fantastic program.

And and I guess really tell me why, Jay, the story was was told.

How important is this story?

It's a story that has to be told.

I mean, Louisiana is unique culturally and historically, geographically, and has had such a disproportionate impact on American society.

That's really what this show is all about.

And I hope and I think it helped makes Louisianans appreciate who we are and why we are the way we are.

Linda, a lot of things that play a lot of people, a lot of wheels in motion.

How did this series come about?

Well, the series is based on a presentation that Jay has given around the state for many years, and it's a PowerPoint presentation.

It has music.

And Jay invited me to take a look and see what I thought we could do with it for LP.

And to be honest, I didn't know what to expect, but I went to a group on Lake Charles and he was presenting it to and was really blown away by the response of the audience there.

They were captivated and it's a long presentation, which is why we ended up with 4 hours here.

Right?

But they were they were riveted.

They were emotional.

They laughed.

They cried.

And I met with Jay afterwards and said, we need to turn this into a documentary series.

Jay It's really a labor of love.

And some people, I would agree, would say it's a love letter to Louisiana.

Well, in many ways it is.

It hopefully it's a legacy for Louisiana to reflect on all the great things that come from this state.

And as I mentioned, with a relatively small population and a relatively small geography as part of America, the impact of our state is so much greater.

We punch way above our weight in so many different areas.

I'll tell you a very special folks all around the state, including I want to make mention that this is our corporate challenge.

Roy O. Martin is challenging all viewers to donate tonight, and they will match dollar for dollar up to the first 1500 dollars called in during this program.

And in effect, it will make your donation worth twice as much to help.

So talk about punching over your weight.

That's what Roy Martin is also doing for the the viewers all around Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Alabama and actually all around the country, because these are shows that not only we get to tell our own story to ourselves, it's also pretty important to tell that to the rest of the country and the rest of the world.

Absolutely.

I mean, this is part of our our nation's history as well.

We think about Ellis Island being the gateway to the new world.

And so many immigrants came to America through Ellis Island.

Well, Louisiana existed centuries before Ellis Island was even on the map.

And so that's this is where people entered the new world is through New Orleans and the Mississippi River.

And that's a big part.

It's the very start of the show.

This is also a part of an educational element, a classroom component for this series called Curriculum Support.

Linda, tell me more about what that means.

Well, we are just very excited.

Our education team here at OPB has developed educational resources that are available to teachers.

You know, it's going to cover math, science, the arts history.

And we were actually able to get an endorsement from Betsy.

I'll explain that.

Yeah, Well, we're real pleased that Betsy recognize the value of this in the classroom, endorsed it for teachers to use and grade six through 12 covering all these subject areas and actually bringing the parts and portions of the video into the classroom.

And we think it's going to be a real asset for teachers to engage students in a different kind of way visually with something that was the come from a movie, in essence, that they'll be able to see in the classroom.

And Linda, what I think a teacher's scholarship initiative is also part of this.

Yeah, we are really are really excited to be able to support teachers in a really unique way.

So we have started the LPI Lagniappe Scholarship Fund.

Charlie Some 90% of teachers report using their own money to buy classroom supplies.

And so we are going to take 10% of all of the viewership and membership revenue that is generated from these breaks that we're doing right now.

10% is going to go straight to teachers.

They just need to go to our website to Y Louisiana dot lp dot org and there they can enter their email using their school address.

It's first come first serve.

So you know, don't delay.

And as long as these funds are available, we'll be making some scholarships that they can use to buy supplies for their classroom.

They can use them to buy supplies that they might need for the curriculum supports be developed, but it's their discretion how they use them.

That's great.

And let's hear more about those educational resources in the hit miniseries While Louisiana Ain't Mississippi or Anyplace Else, LBB explores all the ways that Louisiana is just a little bit different.

If you live here long enough, 70% of your body is Mississippi River Water.

This fun and educational series is now being brought to classrooms across Louisiana.

LP BS Education Division and Select Advisors have developed a collection of 24 media rich, standard aligned curriculum supports to engage students, enhance learning and support educators.

This new offering from LBB brings that concept from the TV screen to the classroom.

Now we're running out of time during this break, but before we go and go back to our program, I want to remind you, this is a corporate challenge.

Roy O. Martin is challenging all viewers to donate tonight.

They will match dollar for dollar up to the first 1500 dollars called in during this show.

So, in effect, your pledge will be worth twice as much.

I got twice as much information and good news with these two folks.

And Jay and Linda, thank you so much.

We stay for the next break.

Absolutely.

Sure.

Now, before we go to the show, let's take a look at some of those amazing, amazing thank you gifts we have to offer you.

And then on to the next episode, support LP and celebrate Louisiana by becoming a sustaining member at $35 a month and receive the Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi combo that includes the signed hardcover book, the limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith.

That includes Mike the Tiger, Big Chief, Mardi Gras Indian fireworks over Cane River, the Preservation Hall, Jazz Band and Coastal Marsh The Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi DVD Set and a commemorative poster for $20 a month receive the While Louisiana photography collection of five limited edition signed photographic prints for $13 a month.

Choose the companion book signed by Jay Darden and Carol Highsmith for just $10 a month.

Choose the DVD set of this documentary.

We also have two very special credit card offers for a pledge of $500.

Receive a stunning aerial photograph of Louisiana State Capitol on a metal canvas titled Red Stick Blue Sky For a pledge of 1200 dollars or more, you and your guests will enjoy dinner at Commander's Palace in New Orleans.

You'll also receive the red stick blue sky photograph of the state capitol and all gifts from this show.

Among the new arrivals were also those who did not come voluntarily.

IBM Wing Louisiana was part of the Triangle of Trade between North America, Europe and West Africa that began in the 1700s as the nature of the slave trade during colonial times was mostly the story of the Middle passage.

The two main waves during French and Spanish colonial times, one entailed about 5000 victims who survived.

And that was in the 1720s during French colonial times.

And they disproportionately came from the center Gambia region.

There were many others, but the next major wave was in the 1780s during Spanish colonial time, and they tended to come from the Spanish colonies in Africa, which tended to be the bight of Benin and the Congo region.

And it's a big mistake to think of them as just Africans or just West Africans.

They're really as varied in their ethnicity and their cultures as other groups coming under their own volition.

Co-operative tribal leaders in Africa profited by providing men, women and children to be bound in bondage on the coast of Africa, people being held in cells to be transported over the Atlantic.

The purpose of this ship was to transport as many people as possible as people are getting sick.

People are dying.

There is a very brutal legacy with the transatlantic slave trade and that journey across the Atlantic.

The slave trade became an established part of the Louisiana economy, and the practice was regulated in Europe by a code of laws known as the Code Noir or the Black Code.

Code Noir is a group of laws put in place by the French to govern mostly enslaved people, but black people more generally.

These things restrict the movement of enslaved people.

How many enslaved people can gather at any given point in time?

They also demand that you convert enslaved people to Catholicism, and so you end up with this very large black population of Catholics.

Thus, the ultimate irony teaching Christianity to those imprisoned by human slavery.

The code also dictated that a master who has a child with the slave girl must free both the child and the slave.

It's a situation that was far too common.

Let's be real.

You know, the prevalence of sexual assault of young girls and young women who then go on to have mixed race children.

If you go back and some of the the records, you will see people identified or characterize as mixed or mulatto.

And these forced unions became the topic of a 1971 Rolling Stones classic, Brown Sugar, a song that probably wouldn't be recorded today, but kind of be a song in a market that is soon the debauchery evidenced by the treatment of natives and slaves, as well as the presence of prostitutes, created tension between the government and the church.

Early on, New Orleans was known as the City of Sin, a new Sodom.

One of the nuns, Sister Madeleine Marie Rashad, observed, The women here are extremely ignorant as to the means of securing their salvation.

But they're very expert in the art of displaying their beauty.

The territorial governor lamented, If I send away all these loose females, there would be no women left here at all.

Eventually, Lady Bienville pleaded with the leaders in France If brides send me wives for my Canadians.

Meanwhile, Sister Hajjaj sent an urgent message to the church elders.

Bear in mind there were no telephones, faxes, emails or other means of communication aside from sending a note on a boat to the homeland.

Our message, nevertheless, was quite urgent.

The devil has a vast empire here, which she hoped to overcome with God's love.

But overcoming yellow fever ultimately proved easier.

The Ursuline nuns arrived soon after to civilize the city.

They also built themselves a convent.

It is really exceptional because it is our sole remaining whole fully document ID, French colonial era structure and whole quarter in not just the corridor but the city, the region.

Amazing that here we are in a modern American city and it's still standing.

And that's the treasure of living in a neighborhood like this.

In a city like this.

Of that tactile experience of history, emphasis on neighborhood.

This is a neighborhood.

It is where people live as well as you have the craziness of the French Quarter and Bourbon Street.

And they all seem to get along just like Louisiana seems to get along with this nice, interesting mix culture.

It all works despite it all.

The arrival of the nuns helped the church, but it did not provide respectable wives for the lonely soldiers.

God went to the chapel and we're gonna get married.

The solution was the arrival of young ladies with small chests called corsets, which later morphed into caskets.

They came to be known as the Casket Girls.

Literally, the mothers of the New World had the foundation of European influence on the territory of Louisiana.

Was shared by the French with the Spanish.

The territory was Ping-Pong back and forth between French and Spanish control throughout the late 1700s.

I'm going to make my rounds, my grandpapa.

Remember a Spaniard, Hernando de Soto, discovered the Mississippi River and the first settlement in Louisiana?

Natchitoches was controlled by the Spanish.

When the Frenchman Santini arrived.

Now, Santini was an entrepreneur who developed a good relationship with the Spaniards who already occupied the area, which bordered on what is now Texas.

He also had the good sense to marry the granddaughter of the Spanish general who control the territory.

My grandfather is the Spanish general who controls the entire territory.

Oh, I did not know that.

But I will not hold it against you.

Will you marry me?

Oh.

He then established Fort Jean-Baptiste in Natchitoches and became a wealthy man in what became the crossroads of the El Camino Real.

The road of the Kings, as it was known, extended across Texas into Mexico.

This was the route traveled by Davy Crockett and Jim Buie to reach their fate at the Alamo.

It will surprise many Texans to know that this historical landmark Loza is near Roebling, Louisiana, stood as the capital of Texas for 40 years before Texas statehood put on the line to advance by the Spanish influenced our 20th century music to the lead singer of that group, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs was actually Domingo Sadio, who had a Tex-Mex band in Leadville.

The band played regularly on the border until the release of Wooly Bullae, which was supposedly the name of his cat.

It became a huge national hit and more than one.

And now Spanish influence later moved westward from New Orleans to parishes like Assumption and Ascension.

There, you'll travel through towns named Galvez and Gonzalez and meet families named Martinez Diaz as Saverio, Hidalgo, Ouzo and Falcon.

Even more notable is the Spanish influence in Iberia Parish.

Spain sits on the Iberian Peninsula.

Thus the parish name, which they very soon began speaking French because they were outnumbered by French speakers and intermarried with the local population.

And so you have a lot of even today, a lot of people with Spanish last names that can be traced back to 1779.

Romero Da has migas Segura.

And yet, you know, since at least the early 19th century and until the mid 20th century, their primary language was French.

But the surnames persist to the to the present while under Spanish control.

From 1766 to 1803, Louisiana prospered.

In particular, New Orleans.

The French Quarter burned twice during this period.

The French Quarter was restored, as we see it today.

And there there's little French about it.

It is Spanish in design.

The wrought iron slat roofs and colors are reminiscent of Havana, Cuba, and Quito, Ecuador.

The great Louisiana novelist James Lee Burke, perhaps best describe New Orleans in his book The Tin Roof Blowdown.

When he said traditional New Orleans is like a piece of South America that had been sawed off of its moorings and blown by trade winds across the Caribbean till it affixed itself to the southern rim of the United States.

Well, we're making our way to perhaps the most historically significant plot of land in the city.

Jackson Square plus two arms, the absolute historical and psychological heart of New Orleans.

And everyone knows it.

And probably one of the best preserved or most symmetrical plaza ensembles in the nation.

If you feel like you might be in France or Spain or Latin America, as you arrive here and it is spectacular, the stuff, who do you think you are?

The Spaniard, Don Andre Sal Monastir is considered the true developer of New Orleans.

He built the first public school, the Charity Hospital and Saint Louis Cathedral, among other structures.

It's his daughter, however, the Baroness Punta Alba, who made the biggest mark.

She designed and built the first apartment houses in America.

The Punta Alba Apartments flanked the Saint Louis Cathedral, the builder and the Presbyter and Baroness Pinetop a probably.

She was at the forefront of a trend of the circa 1850 that has since come become iconic for the French Quarter.

And that is the spectacular cast iron balconies as opposed to the more modest wrought iron balconies that you saw previously and make much more elegant shapes and scrolls and if you look carefully, of course, you could see the initials of the Almond Astor and Palm Harbor families there, too.

And at the same time, the prior Saint Louis Church, now Cathedral, was largely disassembled except for the first 30 feet to the front wall and rebuilt in the form that you see today.

And eventually the statue of Andrew Jackson.

Which place?

Then it was renamed Jackson Square.

What you're really seeing here is a very inspired woman led transformation of circa 1850.

Nowhere in Louisiana, however, is the Spanish influence more clearly celebrated than in Saint Bernard Parish, which was settled by Canary Islanders known as this Llanos.

They're familiar surnames read like a roll call of well known elected officials.

Nunez Perez Fernandez.

Hernandez, Alvarez Barrios.

There are six words that put fear in the heart of Louisiana.

There's a storm in the Gulf.

Saint Bernard Parish was virtually destroyed during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 to Miss New Orleans, when the very lifeblood of Louisiana engulfed the state's southeastern coastal parishes in a 27 foot storm surge.

Massive evacuations for the first time in history, the city of New Orleans and soon after, the nation and indeed the world watched in horror.

This is absolutely a catastrophe as the levees in and around the city of New Orleans buckled under the pressure of catastrophic rains ushered in by 115 mile per hour winds masking and by wealthy homes along the lakefront and in Uptown were equally as devastated as homes in working class Saint Bernard and the Lower Ninth Ward, proving that water knows no racial or political boundaries.

You could probably gauge exactly how high up the water is.

However, social and economic frailties and inequities quickly took center stage.

Police and firefighters are still trying to reach people in largely poor black areas ravaged by floodwaters ten feet deep or more.

People who are just literally stranded.

More than 1800 Louisianans died.

Rita sustained high winds.

One month after Katrina, Hurricane Rita devastated southwest Louisiana.

Hurricane Laura slamming ashore as a monster Category four, a seen eclipsed by Hurricane Laura.

15 years later, in 2020.

Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana, into New Orleans, and one year later, that destruction was replicate it yet again.

When Hurricane Ida struck on the anniversary of Katrina, rescuers unable to reach them.

Over the last 50 years, 20 hurricanes and dozens of tropical storms have taken a disastrous toll on our state, causing billions of dollars in damage.

Well, then I miss New Orleans.

Arguably, the greatest loss we suffer is to our coastal marshland.

Harnett came describe this part of Louisiana in an apt way.

It is a place that seems unable to make up its mind if it will be earth or water.

So it compromises the big loser in that compromise is land on maps.

Louisiana resembles a boat.

In reality, its soul and heal are in tatters.

The two critical resources that fluvial deltas like southeastern Louisiana critically need to stay land and not water.

One of them is occasional doses of fresh water to push back the saltwater wedge.

And the other one is the deposition of new sediment particles, alluvial sand, silting clay particles.

Both of these need to happen in order to to build up delta topography and to keep it fresh so that there are cypress forests and other vegetation holding this all in place by straitjacketed ing the river in these artificial levees.

We eject both of those resources uselessly out on to the continental shelf.

Since 1932 and the construction of the levees on the Mississippi River, 2000 square miles have been lost.

That's 25% of the state's landmass.

It's the equivalent of losing a football field of land every 90 minutes.

If Delaware or Rhode Island had lost that much territory, the United States would have only 49 states.

Right now, we are on Lake Barrett.

Leverett is on the outside of the trough along your base.

And now during the 1940, you build the lavish shortage area would flourish much and look like the last 20 years we've been sinking our water networks from when I was a young kid.

These cypress trees didn't start growing in water.

They were growing in mode in our water higher.

And now adding to water with the rise in sea levels is already disappearing quick because we got too much coastline.

So, you know, your hurricanes are going to cause more damage because they're going to come for the area and all your Gulf Coast states are going to be impacted.

I think Louisiana is going to be the worst and even the East Coast, you know, all the way up to New York.

All your low lying areas.

I mean, I don't care if you're on the East Coast or a golf course, you're going to be in trouble.

Efforts are underway to stem the tide and rebuild the coast, thanks to settlement diversion projects like this one.

You're looking at the newest land in Louisiana.

If you walk four feet in there, you would disappear not far out, but you can turn around and walk back.

But this was all open water, all of it.

All the birds.

There's 184 species of birds here and one at a time on the other side, ten.

So my name is Captain Ryan Lambert.

I mean, got in these waters for 45 years now in Buras, Louisiana.

I've watched the land on the west Side with no diversions completely disappear, 100% devastation at the same time with a very few little crevasses and diversions on this side.

I watched it grow.

See that levee over there?

In 1969, Hurricane Camille blew holes all through in 19 holes and a levee that opened up these little crevasses.

And since then, they've been growing land.

And that's how I've learned everything I know about restoration and watching those little crevasses and the little diversions build, laying.

I mean, we did this by building the levees after the flood of 27 for flood control and navigation of the Mississippi River.

But we didn't have a mandate for restoration.

We didn't know what it was going to do for 90 years.

Now we haven't replaced.

It is just sinking out of sight.

Here we are.

We lost 2400 square miles of Louisiana.

Look at all the Army crowds filling crowds on the bank.

Look at that.

Look at that.

So all this land that we're seeing here to the left, this is all new, all brand.

And how?

How long ago?

Two years.

Just two years change.

This was made a nice.

It was a bay, as far as you can see those trees back there.

This will all open water.

And within two years we built all this.

When you have river sediment, you can manipulate it, slow the water down, experience the growth ten times.

And what we're seeing right here is just that.

That's the sediment that has been deposited from the river as a result of this diversion.

Within another month, all of this will be vegetated all the way to the end and then it just extrapolates and it just keeps growing and growing and growing.

You build in landfills for habitat and this tidal surge, this is a win win any way you look at it.

So what we're seeing here is a double for Louisiana.

For every mile of marsh you have, it knocks the storm surge down one foot.

Louisiana and New Orleans in particular cannot survive if we don't do this because the water is lapping or it's going to break down marsh down to there's nothing left to protect us.

This is awesome because we've talked so much about the land loss we've suffered in Louisiana.

We're now reversing that in building land in areas that used to be land, then became water and is now being restored to land again.

And I thought this was all existing.

All right.

This is all new to Libya.

This island popped up.

Look, last month, this was underwater because not a river dropped out.

Jump out and go back a bit.

I'm four miles out from the Mississippi River and Quarantine Bay and I'm standing on a sandbar that stretches for about a mile.

It's newly created land sediment from the Mississippi River, manmade Mother Nature made.

And this is what we need to do to save Louisiana.

This will be our next barrier island.

However, it's a massive challenge not only to Louisiana, but to the nation and the world.

In fact, it is as important to the people in Chicago, Sheboygan, Shanghai and Shreveport and Changa Lou, as it is to those in Shark Bay, Schriever and Chauvin.

Many facets of Louisiana life and the many contributions Louisiana makes to the world are dependent upon the viability of the coastal marsh.

Unlike our neighbors to the east who beckon tourists to their white sandy beaches, Louisiana has a working coast and it feeds the nation in more ways than one.

The state quenches the nation's thirst for oil and gas.

We're the second largest producer of oil in the country.

Goes long.

We also generate 25% of America's natural gas and petrochemicals, most of which are manufactured and shipped from the coastal marsh, Louisiana.

We in Louisiana also satisfies the world's hunger for seafood.

We're the second largest commercial fishing state in America, and the number one producer of shrimp, oysters and crawfish.

Louisiana washes away.

The ports of New Orleans and Baton Rouge are engines of the south Louisiana economy.

In addition, the port of south Louisiana, which is centered in LA Plus and stretches for 54 miles along the river.

Parishes between Baton Rouge and New Orleans is the largest tonnage port in the Western Hemisphere, as well as the largest grain exporter, that man in leadership.

But it's not just who depend on Louisiana's coast for survival.

Louisiana's wetlands also provide sanctuary to some 300 species of native and migratory birds.

The sights and sounds have drawn millions of birdwatchers over the years, including former President Theodore Roosevelt.

Filmed walking the once flourishing in 1915, a mere century ago.

Today, the coast is a mere fragment of its former self.

When French explorers first arrived, the Grand Isle is the only habitat barrier island that remains, and it was decimated by Hurricane Ida in 2021.

Yet those who call the coast home are filled with the same tenacity and perseverance of those early settlers who braved the New world ever resilient in the face of change and the challenges wrought by Mother Nature.

Hello, I'm Charlie Win.

I'm friend of LPD.

Welcome back to this inside look at the LP documentary Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi or Any Place Else.

If you love watching Louisiana history come to life as it does in this original production, you can tell us with your call right now.

It's an easy process to support your public television network in Louisiana.

Simply call or text give to 8887, six, nine, 5000.

Become a member online at LTP dot org or scan the QR code that is on your screen.

You will want to do that during program because where else can you choose?

The award winning companion book signed by America's photographer Carole Highsmith, and series creator and host Jay Darwin nowhere else.

So add this coffee table book to your library while you can.

Let's hear more right now about the gifts created exclusive for this program.

Support LP and celebrate Louisiana by becoming a sustaining member at $35 a month and receive the Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi combo That includes the signed hardcover book, the limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith.

That includes Mike the Tiger, Big Chief, Mardi Gras Indian fireworks over Cane River, the Preservation Hall, Jazz Band and Coastal Marsh The Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi DVD and the commemorative poster for $20 a month Receive the Why Louisiana Photography Collection of five Limited Edition signed photographic prints for $13 a month.

Choose the companion book signed by Jay Darden and Carol Highsmith for just $10 a month.

Choose the DVD set of this documentary.

We also have two very special credit card offers for a pledge of $500.

Receive a stunning aerial photograph of Louisiana State Capitol on a metal canvas titled Red Stick Blue Sky For a pledge of 1200 dollars or more, you and your guests will enjoy dinner at Commander's Palace in New Orleans.

You'll also the red stick blue sky photograph of the state capitol and all gifts from this show.

And I am in the studio with Jay Dardenne, who is the creator and host of this program.

You're watching, as well as Linda Midgette, who is the executive producer and series producer of this once again fabulous show.

Welcome back to this entertaining segment.

And we have a companion book that also goes with this, and I'm excited to.

Hear more about it.

Carol Highsmith's photography is unbelievable.

She really is America's photographer.

All of her work is in the Library of Congress.

She's dedicated her entire body work to the Library of Congress.

And she took all the photographs of Louisiana, amazing Louisiana in the book.

And I wrote the copy that's accompanying it in the book.

And we decided to have a coffee table book and is a companion item.

It is an incredible book.

I can also attest that as part of Louisiana Office of Tourism Assistance with the show drove Carol around the state.

We had a great time.

She is a a pure professional.

She's been traveling the country for 40 years and I envy her.

But I also know this work is not easy as well to get the stuff done.

So what she's done is it's unusual.

It is very unique.

It has replicated by anyone in this country.

I mean, for more than 40 years, she has traveled everywhere and donated all of our work to the Library of Congress.

So these images in the book are actually donated to the Library of Congress as well as well.

And we're really proud of that.

Did I hear this book has also won some awards already?

We have some more words.

We're very excited about that.

I'm going to read this.

I say it correctly, but we we actually won a the Printing and Graphic Arts Association mid-Atlantic Award.

And this is a printing award that our printer submitted the book to.

We won in three categories.

We've won the Grand Q Award, which was the highest overall honor We won the best use of photography and the best four color Reproduction award.

And so one of the representatives from the printing company said that he has been attending the awards competition for over 40 years and has never seen any piece dominate the competition the way yours did.

So that was just amazing feedback to good folks.

This is the real deal.

I kid you not.

I have a copy that proudly sits in my coffee table as well.

It's a page turner and, just classic quintessential Louisiana at its best that you can have that in your own home.

If you give us a call right now, if you give us a call right now, this is also the corporate challenge.

And Roy Martin is challenging all viewers to donate tonight.

And they will match dollar for dollar up to the first 1500 dollars called in during this program only so call right now.

This, in effect, will make your donation worth twice as much to help.

Carol is such an amazing photographer and let's hear from her herself.

I'm Carol Highsmith.

Carol McKenney.

Highsmith, I love America.

I love it.

So when I came up with a harebrained idea of recording it as a documentarian, you know, people looked at me like, Right, there's no way you're going to get this done.

We're usually gone about eight months a year.

The whole point of this is to give a collection to the Library of Congress so that many, many hundreds or thousands of years from now, we can see what America look like now.

Okay, Now I'm donating every image take to the Library of Congress.

I feel so honored, you know, that the Library of Congress has been interested in this collection that they value.

It means a lot to me.

Not only is this a wonderful program to watch, Linda mentioned this is a wonderful program that's also going to be entering into the classrooms in its own way, right?

It is.

You know, our motto with the series has been go big or go home.

So in addition to having the 4 hours in the book, we have educational curriculums for teachers, which we are super excited about.

So this content is available for teachers.

They can go online and use this in classroom.

And we also have a scholarship fund for teachers to help them with their classroom supplies.

So 10% of all of the membership revenue that we raise during these breaks will be available to teachers.

They just have to go to a website.

They sign in with their email, and they will get basically a scholarship from us to use.

What a wonderful resource, an opportunity for Louisiana teachers.

JAY This has to have a surreal feeling of of of a presentation that's, gone to a documentary and a film that is now going to be entering into Louisiana classrooms.

It's a great little bit of Louisiana land.

You have to help teachers in this in this fashion.

Those of us who grew up in Louisiana remember Louisiana history in the eighth grade, and I always enjoyed that.

But this is adding a little bit different twist to learning about Louisiana history and people always told me during the course of doing the presentations, I wish my children could see this.

And so being able to have this educational component to it is really just icing on the cake.

Well, we have wonderful.

Thank you gifts as well.

And we want to show you just exactly what you can get right now.

If you call, help support LPI and celebrate Louisiana by becoming a sustaining member at $35 a month and receive the Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi combo.

That includes the signed hardcover book, The Limited Edition photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith.

That includes Mike the Tiger, Big Chief, Mardi Gras Indian fireworks over Cane River, the Preservation Hall Band and Coastal Marsh, The Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi DVD Set and a commemorative poster for $20 a month receive the while Louisiana collection of five limited edition signed photographic prints for $13 a month.

Choose the companion book signed by Jane Darden and Carol Highsmith for just $10 a month.

Choose the DVD set of this documentary.

We also have two very special credit card offers for a pledge of $500.

Receive a stunning aerial photograph of Louisiana State Capitol on a metal canvas titled Red Stick Blue Sky for a pledge of 1200 dollars or more.

You and your guests will enjoy dinner at Commander's Palace in New Orleans.

You'll also receive the red stick blue sky photograph of the state capitol and all gifts from this show at any level.

Receive Visions LP TV's Monthly Program Guide, a subscription to Louisiana Life Magazine and LP Passport, the PBS streaming service.

Carol Highsmith, America's photographer.

Her work speaks for themselves.

And Linda, I'm sure you enjoy some of these photos as well.

We have some amazing ones.

We have.

I think the best picture of Mike the Tiger that I've ever seen.

We have a mardi Gras Indian at Jazz Fest.

Such a colorful vibrant photo.

And we pick five of our favorites.

And we also have Preservation Hall in New Orleans, fireworks in Natchitoches and a great view of the coastal marsh.

Absolutely.

There's more great photography as well.

Well, actually, there's also the poster that you can get as part of your gifts selection and this beautiful drone aerial Photography of the Capital by Chris Lecoq.

Photography is is the specialty of a good story and they'll be and Carol Highsmith is is exception so take advantage right now and give a call and support Help.

Now let's go back to the show.

I suspect the second wave of French immigrants to make their way to Louisiana, those we call Acadians did not come directly from France.

Cajuns are the descendants of exiles from Acadia.

Acadia, What's now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island in Canada, who originally came from France in the 1600s.

So Cajuns are the descendants of those people, some of them who came to Louisiana for more than 100 years.

These French Catholics flourished.

But when the British won the Seven Years War also known as the French and Indian War, things took a tragic turn.

The British victors became convinced that the settlers had sided with their French countrymen.

They demanded the residents to renounce their French identity and their Catholic faith and pledge never to take up arms against.

The crown.

The settlers said, Man, No, I don't think so.

And the British government began an ethnic cleansing designed to destroy the Acadians identity beginning in 1755.

Le Grand.

Arrange them, Jamal.

The great expulsion began.

Thousands were drowned, starved or even murdered.

It would take the British crown almost 250 years to apologize for the brutality inflicted on Acadian ancestors.

You are looking at the Queen's Royal Proclamation of 2003, which is signed by Adrian Clarkson of the upper Right, who represented the Queen as a Governor-General of Canada.

And on the left, it's in English.

On the right.

It's in French.

It is first time in the history of the British Empire that they admitted the deportation of the Acadians was done in the name of the Crown.

That's number one.

Number two, it's an admission that many Acadians died and suffered as a result of the British action.

And thirdly, and most, it expresses sorrow and regret and finally establishes a day of commemoration, July 28th of every year as a day remembrance of the suffering of our ancestors and the fact that we survive today as a culture in North America and throughout the world at this time.

This is the sixth apology ever rendered in the name of the British Crown in 1200 years.

It took nine years from 1755 to 1764 for many to make the trek.

They came to the Port of New Orleans and other makeshift ports along what came to be known as the Acadian Coast.

At the time, the area was known as Attack Apollo after the Native American tribe already living there.

The legislature eventually identified 22 parishes to comprise Acadiana included our seven parishes named for Saint John, Charles, Bernard, Helena, James, Mary Martin and Landry.

And then there's the eighth parish.

There's one interesting parish that has a same name that we see all the time today, but was not a canonized Catholic saint in the Saint Tammany Parish Tamarind.

Many people refer to him as kind of this indigenous America and saint who was a peacemaker and advocated for peace.

And there's certain elements of mythology here and there's certain elements of truth.

But this notion of a saint, Tamara and in Saint Tammany came out of that.

If another parish were to be added, it would no doubt be named.

Saint Drew, the exiled Acadians, were led by the legendary Joseph Beausoleil Broussard, who had commanded the resistance in Leucadia for less than Louisiana, was the perfect fit.

They were a close knit, family oriented group.

They were French speaking.

The language already spoken here, and they were Catholic.

They became a part of the religious majority, not the unwelcomed minority.

The Acadian people ultimately became known as Cajuns.

It seems the word Cajun is a corruption of the word Acadian in Louisiana, French The word was Acadiana, and then that became Cajun.

The Acadians had found the Promised Land.

Early settlers lived solely off the land, hunting, trapping and fishing.

The swamps, marsh and bayous were fertile ground, and the bounty of South Louisiana overflowed like bowl of shrimp stew.

And their age old skills of seamanship were handed down through generations, laying the groundwork for what would ultimately become billion dollar seafood industry.

The Cajuns could not easily escape their perceived status as second class French people, but they overcame it with the tenacity and independence and utter Joie de Vee, that love of life which permeates Louisiana today.

Oh 50 Whoa.

Coleman Campbell, did you make one?

Oh, you make it the big one.

I'm the 10th generation Landry from France and the eight generation from Nova Scotia all still okay.

And the Cajun, the people that live in these bayous that sheltered here a couple of hundred years ago, they didn't have no choice.

There wasn't they didn't shadow here.

They were too out here hoping that they wouldn't survive.

Well, we'll come help your book.

Okay.

Warren Daughtry.

Sure.

You know, we've been back here all our lives, and we just do what we got to do to make a living.

You know what to do.

You can survive off the land.

Really?

When my grandpa died with my dad at dawn, and even what I'm doing now, there's always changing.

And that's my problem.

I'm kind of old school.

I don't like the hard to change, you know?

Their unique dialect is a wonder to the world and even to some in Louisiana.

You ain't got no fight left in.

It often blends broken English with their own brand of French or foreign from that busker share camaraderie.

Can't wait too long.

Sure.

My mom bought my grandma and grandpa Russian from Russia.

Two more up three at the cookout.

In other words, I say Chuck, Martin, we are probably on Barack Obama should push our policy more chronologically for like a father and older keeper, defied all their and plus our lord don't all with the on piety.

Yeah yeah Kate Mulcair could you fight on we're polar blue grocer to party.

I've been real busy.

Cajuns love to tell tales and they love to laugh both at themselves and about the world's foibles.

I ran into my cousin last.

Yeah.

How is your wife?

I said, Oh, she's an angel.

But I told I said, Angel, I am now a star.

Oh, she said, You're right.

Because if you look up star in the dictionary, it says that it's a mass of compressed gas.

Cajuns have long infused Louisiana's culture with merriment.

Our state hosts more than 400 festivals every year, most of which are in South Louisiana, making Cajun Country the festival capital of the world.

We have two going on here.

Just chicken and sausage a little TLC.

You got a little road kill a fly.

If something walks, crawls, flies or swims, we have a festival to salute it.

And then we throw it in a gumbo and eat it.

What's often thought of today as the most quintessential Cajun dish?

It's really arguably a Creole dish, which is not to say the cages didn't add to it.

But if you look at the ingredients that go into the roux comes from, you know, pre-revolutionary France.

The red pepper comes from the Spanish who got it from Native Americans.

The sassafras, which is what filet is.

Brown.

Sassafras came the Native Americans here and the okra came from Africa.

And the name gumbo came from Africa.

It's got a beautiful roux close, au close, even though it's a little bit hackneyed to use gumbo as a metaphor for South Louisiana.

It's incredibly apt in ways that people don't often think of, because when you look at what goes into making the actual dish gumbo, the ingredients come from several different ethnic groups.

Perhaps the biggest festival of them all is the Cajun Mardi Gras known as the Career du Mardi Gras.

This celebration is completely different than the traditional parades in Louisiana's large cities, but no less entertaining.

Dating back to the earliest days of the late 19th century.

Towns like Eunice Church Pointe in Mamou featured masked riders on horseback like chicken chasing general revelry and no shortage of adult beverages.

It's only going to get on the roof.

We're going to one guy's house now.

When we get there, when you get going, you going to some you're going to want a chicken.

You don't want a guinea, you don't want to ride south.

And some grottoes, maybe 50.

San Clemente got you got to walk up and you don't.

Well, no piece of paper, no yoga saying you're going to get your crow.

Are you going to beg you do whatever you got to do so we can get what they got all Let's get you back to us.

Let's go get that bird.

Make sure the babies come home.

There is no question Cajuns have left their indelible mark on Louisiana from their infectious music to legendary politicians to their spicy food.

I I'm glad you to see me.

I guarantee.

Literally larger than life characters like Justin Wilson.

We're going cook a pot roll.

We take this wine now for a cup of Joe smoked salt, Worcestershire sauce.

I smell good already.

Who was really a folk Cajun from Livingston Parish in Paul Prudhomme, a true Cajun from Opelousas, became celebrity chefs long before the Food Network whetted viewers appetites.

Much more better, I guarantee.

They in turn pass the torch to Susan Spicer, Donna Lake and John Foles.

I Was lucky to be born and reared in the swamps of Louisiana Saint James Parish.

That torch also got passed to a wannabe native Massachusetts transplant, Emeril Lagasse.

Lessons like that.

Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

All made names for themselves, blending Cajun cooking, usually fried or blackened with Creole, largely a product of New Orleans kitchens run by pioneers like Chase and his indomitable wife, Leah.

I wanted to get a chance to get some.

We Louisianans love to eat.

From po'boys to Rockefeller oysters, that is.

There's gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish, a buffet, kosher underlay catfish, red fish, boiled, broiled, blackened and fried bread.

Pudding, bananas.

FOSTER Benny's pralines, meat pies and tamales washed down with a wide variety of beverages like Dixie Jacks, a bit of beer, box root beer and a host of other craft beers Hurricane Sazerac, Cafe, Olé and multiple brands of coffee.

And one of tastiest creations and the least photogenic dish in world history.

Boudin.

Things are changing in kitchens everywhere, and some of Louisiana's most iconic food products come from Cajun country.

Of course, there's Tony Sasser seasoning.

Tony, it makes everything taste great.

And there are countless hot sauce brands, most notably the original Louisiana Hot Sauce and the world famous Tabasco manufactured on Avery Island near New Iberia, to name just two.

And who could forget that sweet, sticky goodness manufactured right here in the heart of Cajun country?

I'm talking about stains, cane sirup and this is the next ingredient to go in the holy drives, the Holy Trinity.

And of course, we call it the Holy Trinity because it's omnipresent in our pot.

Onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic and a lot of it.

And this stops the roof from cooking, but it automatically adds the great flavor that's necessary to to know that we're making a good, traditional South Louisiana gumbo.

So the Trinity is in the pot.

And the Holy Trinity, of course, has a double meaning in Louisiana because of our Catholic origins, as well as these ingredients that represent what the human gumbo contributed to the real.

Right.

And I think the early cooks were basically saying, like the good Lord in our life, he's everywhere in south Louisiana.

So is onion celery, bell pepper.

And that cast on with their exodus to South Louisiana.

The Acadians also brought with them a love of music.

Saturday Night and the Moon, despite its catchy beat.

Cajun music is rooted in the ballads that describe the suffering of the Acadian people.

We know the Acadians when they came here starting in 1764.

They did not have accordions.

I mean, that would not be introduced to them until much, much later.

You know, they had lost a lot of their property when the British kicked them out and burned their dwellings and destroyed their crops.

So we don't really know what they but they showed up with.

They may have been performing on a cappella.

Obviously, eventually they got their hands on fiddle and guitars and added the accordion.

Cajun music later transformed to dance and became essential to the Cajun lifestyle.

Small get togethers on the front porch balls, amazing in public dances and dance halls called Fado.

Those were essential.

After a hard week's work in the twenties and thirties, early Cajun legends like Harry showed.

And I'm a diehard Dwyane made the lilting love song Jolly Blond, the unofficial Cajun national anthem.

She was a white Acadian born on Cat Island.

He's generally considered the godfather of Cajun music.

Ardoin was a Creole born near Brazil who fancied the accordion like ERA's legendary Dale Maynard and Eunice Dennis McGee.

Cajun musicians through the years have been mostly white, but the Acadian population is rich with Creole influence to share all of the French speaking blacks in Acadiana.

Some slaves and some Jean de coolie leave or free people of color also contributed to the culture of their Cajun cohabitants.

Collectively, they created new genres of music.

First there was La la, the forerunner of Louisiana's truly original genre zydeco.

Eighth generation Creole born and raised in Saint Landry Parish, where the Bayou Meet the Prairie, Go, Go on a shock.

Louisiana Creole is the people who create Zydeco music.

Zydeco throughout the years have evolved, and a lot of people don't go back far enough to explain the way people can understand where it actually comes from emotionally and physically.

Instances the you leave home would be the to that.

There were moments that included it.

But Zydeco music started off from people singing in the fields and at gatherings there was a gathering called as you come on every day.

But what from the start, this jury stuff was done just by using your voice clap and your hands and stuff in your feet.

The jury gatherings were done around the fire in a circle and they pass around a jar.

And if you took the jar and took a drink out of it, then you had to add a verse to the song.

And it was like, you know, sometimes even Mosaddeq was supposedly all of them Zydeco.

So personally, you know, the Zydeco supposedly came from the jury.

There's a little song they call Zydeco, possibly.

This is no salt in your snap Bean.

Clifton Junior was the father of Zydeco.

He was an accordionist who teamed with his brother Cleveland to introduce the Francois or rub board worn around the shoulders and rubbed with a spoon.

The triangle and the fiddle were added later, along with other instruments.

Clifton Chenier received a posthumous Lifetime Achievement award from the Grammy organization in 2014.

His Role as the King of Zydeco was filled by Boogaloo Chavez and then Stanley Dural, junior known as Buckwheat Zydeco, a queen of zydeco, also emerged in Ida Guillory, a Grammy winning accordionist.

But it was Sidney Simeon, known as Rockin Sidney, who elevated Zydeco to the national stage when Don't Mess with my Beauty.

Don't mess with my team, too.

That song won a Grammy in 1985 for best ethnic or traditional folk recording.

He was born in.

It feels.

I can't even describe it.

In recent years, multiple Louisiana Grammy winners have celebrated the Cajun and Zydeco sounds on the national stage.

Chubby Carrier.

Terrance Simeon.

Gino Dela Fosse.

Joel.

Sonia Wayne Tubes, Michael Doucet and Beausoleil and the Lost Bayou Ramblers.

Perhaps the most beloved of all Cajun music performers is a rock star in Quebec.

In Nova Scotia, from where the Cajun people were exiled.

Zachary Rishard, a songwriter, a poet, a storyteller and historian.

Exotic, also bustling, whose eloquence and love of his ancestry make him the Cajun par excellence.

Because obviously there as that recall the other things all Louisiana musicians are my brothers and sisters.

And for me to be part of this community is very inspiring me.

Crossover country cousins Sammy and Doug Kershaw also cemented their places in history.

Captain Sammy Kershaw hit number one on the country chart with Chito.

No, she's beautiful.

In 1993, she, along with his musical mom and Pop, called a little boy near Doug, who didn't speak English until the age of eight, but mastered the fiddle at five, put Cameron Parish on the map when his autobiographical Louisiana man became a top ten country hit How to Make a Living.

He's a movie and a man got to make a living to do the album.

The song was broadcast back to Earth by the Apollo crew as they were about to land on the moon in 1969 at Port au Prince.

I'd say I'm about to make a movie out of out of the marshes and swamps of Acadiana Rises the Louisiana prairie.

Well, wait a minute.

You say Louisiana doesn't have a prairie?

Well, yes, we do.

The great flat grasslands that begin in Canada and stretch all the way through the heartland of America actually end in the southernmost part of the state in veal plan, otherwise known as Flat Town.

In the American Midwest, the chief crops of the prairie are wheat, oats and barley.

In Louisiana, our grain is rice.

On Interstate ten, you'll see this exit for Iowa mispronounced by those Midwesterners who settle there in the late 1880s, the president of the Iowa State School of Agriculture came south to confirm that the land was suitable for rice growing.

There was more than a grain of truth to that theory.

Like the Midwest, our prairie land is flat.

But unlike the Midwest, Louisiana gets a lot of rain.

The proven formula for success when Rice, the I-10 corridor from Lafayette to the Texas border, is lined with rice fields which double as crawfish ponds during the off season of oil's parish is the northernmost tip of Cajun country.

The geographic center of the state is three miles north of the parish seat of Marksville.

If you're at a convention in New York City and you see a name tag identifying someone as Bordelon, Coco Coville goes on to sell Gremio Laborde, Lemoine Miyu Moreau, Roy Rabelais or Tarzan?

Write it down.

You can be assured their immediate forebears are from a Voyles parish.

And if you're at that same convention and you see a name tag reading our Doyen Montano Foray LaFleur, Swallow or Vidrine, you can know that their family roots trace back to Evangeline Parish.

Now the parish seat of Evangeline is filled plat.

It's only 25 miles from Marksville as the crow flies.

But back in the day when there were phone books, if you compare the two, as I have done, you would find in Marksville there were dozens of LA boards.

Not a single Vidrine and only nine Fontana.

But in the Ville Platte phone book lower, only two LA boards and 185 of the drains and more than 500 font in those.

It's like the Berlin Wall between those two communities.

Who could forget the other evangelists synonymous with Louisiana?

Nearly 90 miles south of Marksville is Saint Martinville, the setting of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Classic poem Evangeline, where a lonely Cajun girl awaits the arrival of her long lost lover, Gabriel.

The site is memorialized by the magnificent of Angel and Oak.

This historical Evangeline is believed to have been an orphan girl named Emmeline Le Beach, who was said to have been separated from her fiancee, Louis Arsenault, during the expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia.

The whole romance about the Cajuns was really tied up in that poem, and that went international.

So everybody felt like they knew South Louisiana, and to a degree they did.

So when you have that kind of history and that kind of romance surrounding the state's history, I mean, what state can really compete with us on that?

They really can't.

I mean, there's no state that has stories like that.

You know, Texas has its revolution and Mexican, all that.

Okay.

But you got Longfellow's poem.

A nearby statute was commissioned by the actress Doris Del Rio, who played Evangeline the 1929 movie of the same name.

Nearby St Mary Parish was the location of the very first Tarzan movie in 1917.

Tarzan the Apes, starring Elmo Lincoln, was filmed in Franklin.

The bayous of St Mary Parish replicated the African jungle long before special Effects and CGI members of the New Orleans Athletic Club dressed up as apes to round out the cast.

Elmo actually killed a lion that went berserk during filming.

That's true.

Afterwards, the cast and crew retired to the local Casey Hall to enjoy a lion saw speak all.

Not really.

Tarzan was the precursor of what is now a thriving film industry in Louisiana, where everything from Steel Magnolias to pitch perfect.

In 12 Years a Slave has been filmed in recent years.

Raising horses and racing horses are part of life on the Louisiana prairie and throughout Cajun country.

Small towns like Erath, Morris, New Iberia and Catahoula and further stretch win number 142 for Randy Romero sired Randy Romero, Kent Desormeaux, Eddy Della who say and Calvin Borel, all Hall of Fame jockeys and Triple Crown winners.

And speaking of races and winners, politics has been a contact sport in Louisiana for decades.

And many of our most colorful politicians come from Cajun country.

Like Representative Emile Carroll, he would never vote for attacks but always wanted to bring home the bacon.

To Evangeline Parish.

He made a profound statement about Louisiana politics when he said, My friend, let me tell you the first and most important rule of politics never, ever let the cold, clammy hand of consistency rest upon your shoulder.

Louisiana native James Carville, who was the lead strategist for President Bill Clinton, knows a thing or two about politics.

I invited him to sit down for a chat about some of the state's greatest political legends.

James, first of all, I want to thank you for dressing up, for helping me out.

I never miss an opportunity to brand, ever worn or direct shirt on Meet the Press.

We're we're in the secret tunnel room of the Heidelberg, the Old Heidelberg Hotel.

It's down the Hilton in Baton Rouge, where a tunnel leads to the King Hotel across the street.

Huey Long used it for private purposes and to escape the press.

Let's fast forward to Edwin Edwards, because he's the he's the first Catholic governor elected in the in the 1900s.

You've talked about the Protestant governor's had to carry the Catholic population, but here comes Edwin Edwards.

Totally different in messaging and in style and in personality than all of his predecessors other than Bill Clinton.

I've never been around a politician that had to engage skill that Edwin Edwards had.

I a friend.

His father came from Scottish origins.

His mother's family was blue.

Yes, they came from continental France.

So they didn't come by way of Nova Scotia.

And truthfully, Edwin Edwards was never Cajun who got the cape and gone, who paved the parking lot of the football game, who played on the highway like a man.

But because she taught him French, Cajun culture and language and he could talk it fluently.

Then everybody assumed he was Cajun and he just lets you believe that he's in a jail house, not just as a pirate.

Jean Lafitte captured the imagination and admiration of New Orleans in the early 1800s.

Edwards captured the hearts of Louisiana and maintained his electability throughout the last three decades of the 20th century.

He was the greatest politician you've seen in Louisiana during your lifetime.

My lifetime?

It would have to be every time I shave and look the mirror, I see him.

The state was seemingly infatuated with the lovable rogue.

Despite the cloud of federal investigations and brazen womanizing that dogged him as both a congressman and a governor.

Many people in Louisiana considered me to be shady, dishonest, crooked, slick.

Watch what you have.

And it's something that I'm prepared to live with if for no other reason, because my mother and I know it's not so.

But she's probably the only other person who's who fully believes that.

A flamboyant populist champion, Edwards shied away from his flashy lifestyle as a gambler and ladies man.

So, you know, so he became known as the silver zipper.

Edwards quick wit, political savvy have proven unparalleled in Louisiana history.

He gave us memorable quotes, particularly when he was running against David Crane.

He said, My opponent, Dave Train, is so slow, it takes him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes.

And I've just been asked by a reporter what they think my chances are winning.

And I told him, I think it's pretty good because at this point I could not be defeated unless I was caught in bed with either a dead girl or alive boy.

What politician?

Anywhere could get away with a line like that?

Edwin Edwards.

Edwards did win that election with 62% of the vote.

Equally as memorable was when he compared himself to his 1991 gubernatorial opponent, KKK grand wizard David Duke.

When some reporters asked, Nobody's more diametrically opposed politically than you and David do.

Is there any place conceivable for you two could be alike?

And without even thinking, Edwards says yes.

As a matter of fact, there is.

We were both wizards under the sheets, and there was the subsequent Edwards Duke runoff that prompted the state's most memorable bumper sticker ever.

Vote for the Crook.

It's important.

Ladies and gentlemen, the governor of the state of Louisiana, Edwin Edwards.

Well, enough people did.

Edwards won again in a landslide.

When I first got elected to the state Senate, Republicans from Baton Rouge expected to be very conservative.

I went and saw him.

This was when he was elected for his final term, and he told me, he said, I know your district better than you know your district.

He was he was right.

And he said, you're not going to vote with me very much.

But when you can, I hope you'll do so and I hope you'll listen and help us where we can.

And that's the way he treated his foes or his perceived foes.

The idea that he would not like you because you were a Republican or you were black or you were Jewish or you were anything else that didn't.

He really was pretty much absent of any kind of prejudice, that being a little more than a decade later, a Catholic Cajun lady married to a Spaniard was elected governor.

Today marks the first time that an honor such as this has been earned by a daughter, a wife, a mother, a grandmother.

Another one of Diana's most colorful political legends was a perennial candidate who was never elected.

Still, he could have made the hatchet man Hall of Fame.

This is Warren Jeffs, foggy Mountain number 66 on your voting machine.

His name was Warren J. Moti of New Iberia.

But he was better known as Pudgy.

He ran numerous times for Congress insurance commissioner in the state Senate.

He was usually in the race to attack a candidate on behalf of another candidate, the triggerman against me.

Carlos Marcello is against me, although this was never admitted by any of the principals.

But it became fairly obvious who benefited from Peggy's antics.

He always knew who he was against, but you never knew what or who he was for.

Oh, why call him Visalia?

Sheriff for Saint Martin Parish is against me.

The coaches of Iberia Parish, Jerry of what?

Ne is against me.

I'm in downtown Winnfield, Louisiana, at the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame.

Let's check it out.

Another one of a kind Cajun politician was Daily Joseph Cat Doucette, who served off and on from the 1930s to the 1960s as sheriff of Saint Landry Parish.

He couldn't speak English fluently until he was 19 years old.

He spoke perfect Cajun French.

He hired someone to help him with his pronunciation and diction when he decided to run for office.

I'm not sure it worked.

In one of the reelection campaigns, he pounded on a podium and said, Me, I'm going to win this race.

I'm going to win by landscape.

He said, My opponent over there, he got all kinds of things, wrote down and he read them to you.

Me When I talk, I talk of my head.

One time the press asked the sheriff, What do you think about juvenile delinquency?

He thought for a moment and said, Well, I don't know too much about it, but if it's good for the kids I'm for it.

And then he was asked what he thought about the civil rights bill.

He said, well, if we owe it, we ought to pay it.

Their political posters and memorabilia everywhere, even in here.

You can wait here.

Well, some 30 miles south of Saint Landry Parish, approximately 10% of the population still French.

Of course, that's down in Lafayette, the unofficial capital of Cajun country with a 65% Catholic population.

Lafayette Parish has the distinction of having the highest number of Catholics of any parish or county in America.

Lafayette is one of 20 cities in the country named for the Marquis de Lafayette, an aristocrat who became a general in the Revolutionary War at age 19.

He counted George Washington among his closest friends.

He was one of three European transplants with Louisiana connections who had a profound impact on America's victory in the war.

The second was the Spanish governor, Bernardo de Galvez, who led victories over the British in Mobile, Natchez, in Baton Rouge, the only battles outside the 13 colonies.

The third was an Irishman Oliver Pollock, a wealthy New Orleanian who contributed today's equivalent of $1,000,000,000 to the war effort.

He was also responsible for creating the dollar sign with poor penmanship, writing the dead as pesos.

The pianists ran together, resulting in the modern day symbol of money.

Lafayette Parish is also home to one of the most unusual characters in Louisiana history.

Dudley Jay Loblaw If you had to tell me the most interesting person of that era in Louisiana politics was Cassandra Dudley, jailable.

She always supported Protestant dominance because he knew he could get anything that he wanted, and those Protestant governors needed his support.

He carries Jefferson, in their word, they need the character they needed to get.

They to get 40%.

I mean, they'd get 80 and everything north of Bunkie.

He was a native of Youngsville, outside of Lafayette.

He represented southwest Louisiana for one term in the House of Representatives beginning in 1924.

And then served four terms in the state Senate from 1940 to 1964, interrupted twice by unsuccessful runs for governor, Dudley made a profound impact on Louisiana in three distinct ways.

First, politically, he literally served in elected from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

The news Every Sunday from 12 to 1230.

Dudley J. Loblaw had the news in French He had, and people would stop and turn the radio on, quit eating lunch to listen to Kooser.

But he gave the news in French for a lot of time.

It was interjected with politics.

Secondly, Dudley was proud of his Acadian heritage and was a champion of the French language in Louisiana.

This is hard to believe, but it was against the law to speak French in the public of Louisiana until late in the 20th century because she elected John McCain and Governor Mike Kiss and returned the favor by creating state agency code ifill Council for development of french in louisiana.

So he was very close to McKissick and he knew he was going to France for a big Acadian reunion.

And he asked marketing to andrew to get him a meeting with Pope Pius the 12th in Rome.

And so here's a photograph of Dudley Leibler greeting Pope Pius the 12th.

And shortly after this was taken in 1996, Dudley pulled out a rosary and asked the pope to bless.

So he has a picture of the pope consecrating Dudley's rosary.

As soon as Dudley got back to Louisiana.

He bought three of rosaries, and he spent the next two years telling women, Look, I'm going to give you this rosary was blessed by the pope.

But thirdly, and most importantly, Dudley made his mark as an entrepreneur.

He became a salesman supreme and started several companies all developing and, poised, carry on was for prostate problems and sell toys.

He had comics, T-shirts, had a call man.

The marketing.

This man did was just phenomenal and ultimately creating an elixir.

14% alcohol call had a call as a jokester.

They'd ask him, Why don't you call?

It had a call.

He says, I had a call or something.

Actually, the name comes from this poster here.

Happy day.

Company started a headache medicine.

And so he took a D, a C, O, and that's how Harry Call comes from Happy Day Company.

What he did, he knew the Cajun diet wasn't the healthiest, so he used a combination of vitamins that he had gotten from a doctor and he added or 10% alcohol.

And on that time he had blue laws where certain days and in many places you couldn't buy alcohol, which you could buy, had a cough and you could get just as drop with 14% alcohol as 14% wine.

But he was a genius.

He'd do a caravan show.

They would go all over the country.

The habit called Caravan was an extravaganza.

It was a ride to the show.

And they had movie stars like Dorothy Lamour, Mickey Rooney, Carmen Miranda, to name a few.

And the way to get into the show was with a box top.

And my dad used to always say, If you didn't like the show, well, then we will refund your box.

P.O.

Box, Stop.

We selected a housewife from our studio audience, Mrs. Audrey Cooper.

Her partner is a special guest, Senator Dudley Le Blanc.

Dudley became a national figure.

He was a guest on the Groucho Marx show.

You bet your life.

Do you know who your state senator is?

Oh, no.

I don't know.

Senator, what do you think of a voter who doesn't know who the senator is?

Well, it's not necessarily her fault.

It must be something wrong with him, because everybody in Louisiana knows who I am.

A senator.

Do you have any particular political philosophy?

I've always advocated the idea of helping the and soaking the rich and make those able to pay pay the taxes.

Well, do you still believe in that?

Oh, I tell you, you still believe in that battle headed?

Not so much now.

Well, what caused this sudden change in your political philosophy?

Well, you know, last I made $5 million.

How did you manage to make $5 million in one year, Senator?

Well, you know, I own the corporation to make it.

That makes had it called we manufacture it called Attica.

What's that good for?

Well, it was good for $5 million for me last year.

And that's good enough for me.

Well, the next year it was $25 million.

And by the time the Federal Trade Commission came in and shut down, the production of had a Carl Dudley had pocketed a small.

What was had a cow good for.

Well the promotional brochure enclosed in the box said that had a cow cured diabetes paralysis, epileptic fits, delirium tremens, neuralgia, migraines, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, high or low blood pressure.

And that rundown condition following colds.

Of course, it did nothing of the sort, but at 14% alcohol by volume, it didn't much matter.

Bill Nettles and the Dixie Blue Boys performed a little ditty that was Dudley's not so subtle way of marketing how to call as an aphrodisiac down in Louisiana in the bright Sunshine.

If we kept playing that song, you'd hear the second verse.

I went down to the farm to rest about a week, but the farmer's wife, she started walking in her sleep.

She did the had a cow boogie.

You won't get all the time or the third verse.

If you're radiator leaks in your motor, stand still.

Give her had a call and watch her boogie up the hill.

It's not hard to see why many see coups and Dud is the most interesting Louisianan of them all.

Although others might argue that top billing goes to a New Orleans woman who could cast a spell on you.

Dally M where the black tree, the third wave of French immigrants to Louisiana, occurred in 1809.

The Islanders arrived in New Orleans.

Like the Acadians, they did not come directly from France.

They were inhabitants of Caribbean islands like Martinique and San Domain.

The present day Haiti, long after the Haitian Revolution left Santo Maine's plantation economy in shambles.

Many relocated to Cuba and then Louisiana.

America had banned the importation of slaves in 1808, but a congressional exemption allowed entry to these 10,000 refugees, including slave owners, both white and of color, and the enslaved people who had fled alongside them.

Doubling the population of New Orleans, they brought with them the voodoo religion, which they added to the city's preexisting version of voodoo, a synthesis of African and Native American rituals and worldview and Roman Catholicism.

It's unclear how voodoo originally entered Louisiana.

The problem is under the code noir in colonial French Louisiana, it's illegal to practice any religion that's not Roman Catholicism.

So even if somebody was practicing a different religion, they wouldn't tell you for fear of prosecution.

We get a lot of stories about voodoo going all the way back the 18th century, but those are all from people who don't practice voodoo, who talk about things that they claim to have seen.

These people are all outsiders.

They're invariably white and hostile racially to the practitioners.

Man He better stay with Marie Laveau, the legendary Voodoo Queen was a prosperous Catholic Creole woman, one of the many powerful property owning women of color who dominated the French Quarter in the 1800s.

Marie and other spiritual leaders use the unique blend of African native and European folk traditions that make up New Orleans voodoo to heal those in need and honor the spirits.

Both she and her daughter of the same name, enthralled and entertained spectators on Sundays in Congo Square.

Now Louis Armstrong Park.

Congo Square is sacred ground.

This was the place where Africans started to gather in the 1700s on Sundays for markets and for gatherings, because Sunday was the free day for people who were enslaved under this brutal system of slavery in the South.

So they knew that this was their free day.

They could trade, they could make some money and things like that.

But it was also a time over the whole hundred year period or more that Africans gather here where they did their dances from Senegal and the dances from the Congo and the dances from Benin, which was Dahomey, or the dances from Haiti or Cuba.

So people danced.

They tried to create the drums or the instruments that they had in Africa.

So this is probably a place that Africans did not want to miss.

On every Sunday throughout the year, the great the other contribution offered by these former island inhabitants was a crop sugar cane.

It Had been introduced into the Louisiana economy in 1751 by Jesuit priests.

But the influx of sugar farmers from the Caribbean helped to make it a giant in the American economy.

Every year in harvest, when the black smoke filled the sky, Louisiana produces approximately million tons of cane yearly in 22 parishes, generating an overall economic value of $3 billion.

Mardi, the very first mayor of New Orleans, was an Islander named Etienne Borah.

But perhaps Mayor Burridge greatest contribution was that he invented the process of granulated sugar.

Thank you.

Yes.

So, for Mayor Borah, we'd all be stirring our coffee with a stock of sugar cane.

Hello, and welcome back.

You are watching the story of our great state in this original LPI production.

Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi or any place else.

I'm Charlie.

With them.

We will be rejoined by series creator and host Jay Darden and LPI executive and series producer Linda Midget.

In just a few moments.

I'm curious to learn more about the comedy skits and animation we are seeing here.

I Bet Linda and Jay can share the story behind the story with us if you stay tuned.

If you love LP's ability to bring history to life, tell us.

So by joining us a member or making an additional pledge of support.

Right now it is our members who make possible everything you see on LP.

So please call us at 888769 5000 text.

Give to that same number.

Make your pledge online at LP dot org or scan the QR code you see on your screen.

You will want to take advantage of these exclusive offers created for this series, but more importantly, created just for you.

Let's take a look.

Support LP and celebrate Louisiana by becoming a sustaining member at $35 a month and receive the why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi combo That includes the signed hardcover book, the Limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith.

That includes Mike the Tiger, Big Chief, Mardi Gras Indian fireworks over Cane River, the Preservation Hall, Jazz Band and Coastal Marsh The Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi DVD and the commemorative poster for $20 a month receive the While Louisiana Photography collection of five limited edition signed photographic prints for $13 a month.

Choose the companion book signed by Jay Darden and Carol Highsmith for just $10 a month.

Choose the DVD set of this documentary.

We also have two very special credit card offers for a pledge of $500.

Receive a stunning aerial photograph of Louisiana State Capitol Ornamental titled Red Stick Blue Sky for a pledge of 1200 dollars or more.

You and your guests will enjoy dinner at Commander's Palace in New Orleans.

You'll also the red stick blue sky photograph of the state capitol and all gifts from this show, I'm joined by Jay Darden, the creator and host of the show, as well as executive producer for LPD and series producer of this wonderful show, Linda Midget.

This has been a fun, entertaining, refreshing way to tell Louisiana story into a new level of excellence storytelling.

Linda, tell me just exactly how did this the comedy and the skits get all involved here?

Well, it's really a reflection of Jay's original presentation.

I mentioned earlier that Jay this is based on his intellectual property of a presentation he's given around the state.

And the thing that really struck me the first time I saw it was how funny it was because it was unexpected.

I think when people hear it was a presentation about history.

They think, Oh, it's going to be dry and, boring, and passively, and this was anything but that.

So when we sat down and started mapping out how do we turn this into a series, we both knew that it was incredibly important that we keep the humor and also that we kind of swing for the fences and and take a few chances, which is what we did.

Jay You got everyone got to work with Academy Award winner and Emmy Award winner Bill Joyce, too, to build on those creative juices.

What was that process like?

It was very exciting to have Bill join us.

We Lynn Light at the outset talked about having this this not so serious component to the story, and I always wanted to have animation.

And then Bill Joyce is the preeminent animator and certainly in Louisiana history, an Academy Award winner.

And we called him and just asked him, would you be involved in the project?

And he jumped it.

And so we've got some great little animations that he created in each segment of the show.

And Jay even interviewed William Joyce, and let's hear from him then a few comments he made as well we felt like Cuba was a big part of a documentary.

And this was not intended to be just a straight here the facts documentary.

And I'm wondering what how important do you think humor is in telling a documentary of story or this?

I mean, it seems paramount almost in a way.

I mean, I think our history and everything that you guys are trying to talk about in the documentary has a certain absurdist, you know, aspect to it.

And so to make your point, sometimes using humor makes the makes it easier to get the point across and makes people more receptive to being sort of suggested a world view that might not be their own.

So I was like, Yeah, let's tell a joke and try to get this thing across.

Now, Linda Levy went all out, had some incredible drone photography to also tell this story.

Tell me more.

We did.

I mean, we really put everything that we had into the production of this.

And the drone drone footage is part of what makes it so striking.

This particular shot of the Capitol, you know, the show opens with Jay at the top of the Capitol.

It's just a view that most people have never seen and I wish that people could appreciate in person this this print is actually on metal and it's just super cool.

It's hard to it's hard to convey when you look at it, but when you pick it up.

It's there like a 3-D dimension to it.

So, yeah, just getting those unique views of Louisiana and viewing Louisiana through fresh eyes was really important to us.

Yeah, the special feelings with once again Bill Joyce and with the drone photography and working with him specifically, it was a real treat and he's got a great sense of humor and he's got a great story that he tells about his his introduction to Mardi Gras.

My parents took me to New Orleans.

I was five years old, and I think it was the first time I went to New Orleans that I was aware of.

And but they didn't tell me that it was Mardi Gras and they didn't explain what Mardi Gras was.

So all of a sudden, when the streets were over with grown ups dressed as something like out of a cartoon and behaving in mass like like crazy children or cartoon characters, I was like, this is really awesome.

It set the stage right?

And so as I watched animation and watched movies as a kid and what I really wanted to do was recreate that feeling I had at Mardi Gras.

Anything is possible.

And so once I got a little older and found out there was a job to help, animation and filmmaking and storytelling out of it signed me up once again.

Listen up.

This is a very important pledge break because.

This is the corporate challenge.

Roy O. Martin is challenging all viewers to donate tonight.

They will match dollar for dollar up to the first 1500 dollars during this program only.

So, in effect, your donation to help is worth twice as much.

And I also want to thank Jay and Linda for sharing us some behind the scenes stories that you can only find right here on OPB if you're watching help right now.

Thanks so much, guys.

Thanks, Joe.

And once again, here are some wonderful thank you gifts that you can take advantage of.

And after that, back to our program, Support LP and celebrate Louisiana by becoming a sustaining member at $35 a month and receive the Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi combo.

That includes the signed hardcover book, the Limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith includes Mike the Tiger, Big Chief, Mardi Gras Indian fireworks over Cane River, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Coastal Marsh The Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi DVD Set and the commemorative poster for $20 a month receive the While Louisiana photography collection of five limited edition signed photographic prints for $13 a month.

Choose the companion book signed by Jay Darden and Carol Highsmith for just $10 a month.

Choose the set of this documentary.

We also have two very special credit card offers for a pledge of $500.

Receive a stunning aerial photograph of state capitol on a metal canvas titled Red Stick Blue Sky For a pledge of 1200 dollars or more, you and your guests will enjoy dinner at Commander's in New Orleans.

You'll also receive the red stick blue sky photograph of the state capitol.

And all gifts from this show at any level receive visions LP V's Monthly Program Guide, a subscription to Louisiana Life Magazine and LP Passport, The PBS streaming service.

While the French may have settled in Louisiana in waves from the Early Aristocrats to the Acadians to the Islanders, Louisiana remains awash in that heritage today.

Just take a look at the most common French surnames in Louisiana.

According to the Louisiana Atlas of Louisiana, surnames of French and Spanish origin.

Although the List has not been formally updated, I have informally reviewed phone books and voting records and believe it remains a fairly accurate ranking.

So here's the top Thibodeaux Coming in at number nine is Bro AEW X or AEW D Boudreaux Rishard Fontenot, Guidry, Loblaw, Broussard, Landry, and number one ABA.

What I'm asking for in the study resolution, which was the Baker clan, was represented in the legislature in the 1980s by Representative Murry, a bear who was once accused of being two faced.

A colleague remembers a Bears response.

Two faced, two faced.

If I had to face, as you think, I'd be using this one.

Speaking of two faced, the greatest example of two face consensus building actually comes from, well, Mississippi.

But the story is just too good not to tell.

In the 1950s, our neighboring state was dry.

It was illegal to sell alcohol.

There were some counties apparently ignoring the law and realizing significant revenue from the sale of whiskey.

Well, the legislature was called in the session to determine once and for all whether whiskey should be legalized.

Representative Noah Swett was one of the leaders of the legislature.

His nickname was Soggy.

That's right.

Soggy Sweat.

He was called upon to deliver an address at the opening of the session in order to provide the definitive answer as to whether or not whiskey should be legalized.

And so he gave the greatest example I've ever seen of a politician being two faced in talking out of both sides of his mouth.

So, my friends, I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time.

However, I want you to know that I do not shun controversy.

On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be.

You have asked me how I feel about whiskey.

All right.

Here is how I feel about whiskey.

If when you say whiskey, you mean the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster that defiles the innocents, dethrone treason, destroys the family, literally takes bread from the mouths of little children.

If you mean that evil drink that topples a Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation and, despair and shame and helplessness and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it.

But if when you say whiskey, you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the elite is consumed.

When Goodfellas gathered together, puts the song in our heart, laughter on their lips and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes.

If you mean Christmas cheer, if you mean that drink that puts a spring in the old gentlemen step on a frost, a crisp morning.

If you mean that drink that enables a man to magnify his joy and happiness and, forget if only for a moment.

Laughs, heartaches and sorrows and tragedies.

If you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasury untold millions of dollars to provide the tender care we need for our little crippled children are deaf, dumb and blind.

Our pitiful aged and infirm to build highways, hospitals and schools.

Look, certainly I'm for it.

This is my story and I will not retreat.

I will not compromise.

Well, soggy Sweat certainly could have been elected in Louisiana with his ever so colorful reminder that they're always two sides to every story.

Hey, you know, we're different.

All right.

Okay.

Coming up tomorrow night, more flavors in the gumbo.

If you didn't know how to make meatballs by the time you were five years old, maybe you're not Italian, a man.

Me said your Jim before.

Yes, but who is your distributor?

I said, The Holy Spirit, the Holy soup, and the pot really begins to boil.

Do you remember when you were given the name the Queen of New Orleans?

Jay, Pick it up, but don't tell Kosher Rabbi Louisiana and excited that you're back.

This is the only place where people at the airport will gather around the TV to watch a college baseball game.

It feels to me like people should know more about your contribution to Louisiana history.

I'm kind of a big deal.

Louisiana's disproportionate impact on music and sports and the arts for our size and for our population.

The impact Louisiana and made on the world is is unparalleled.

How'd we do?

Where do you get down the fiddle and you get down the bow, kick off your shoes and you throw them on the floor, Dance in the kitchen till the morning light.

Louisiana Saturday night, waiting in a front yard, sitting on the lawn, The single shot Raveling Anyone one.

I know you're in a coma.

Kinfolk in the moonlight, Louisiana Saturday night.

Where do you get down the middle And you get down the bow.

Kick off your shoes and your boom and the flow.

Dance in the kitchen till the morning light.

Louisiana Saturday night, when you get down to bed and you get down the bowl, kick off the shoes you form and the flow.

Dance in the kitchen till the morning light.

Louisiana Saturday night you got off your shoes and get home on the floor.

You dance in the kitchen till the morning light.

Louisiana Saturday night you get down the middle and you get down the bowl, kick off your shoes and you throw them on the floor.

Dance in the kitchen till the morning light.

Louisiana Saturday night.

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We're here through the stages of your life with the strength of the cross, the protection of the shield, so you can stay young at heart.

The Goldring Family Foundation of New Orleans is proud to support LPI and this program exploring Louisiana's unique history lasting contributions to our nation.

LW CC is the Louisiana lawyer and leading a movement to celebrate and elevate Louisiana.

Together we are Louisiana lawyer always more at LW second force less Louisiana lawyer The Healthy State by 2030 Initiative really has a goal of making sure that we increase screenings, thereby preventing cancers.

Those are the patients that are more likely to be cured and do well for a long time from the forest floor to your family's door for your mark rooted in excellence for 99 years and by Lamar Advertising, partnering with businesses large and small for 120 years with additional support from Kushida, a tribe Louisiana Envy one Bank and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

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