CULTURE SHIFT
babies would be laid down in a bedroom,
and thedancingwould sometimes last till
dawn.“Somebodywillcookabigpotofduck
gumboor goose gumbo,” says 62-year-old
R.C.Carrier,whohasplayedfrottoirforboth
Thierry and the bandMotordude Zydeco.
“People frommilesaroundwouldcome,and
we allwoulddance andparty and eat. Dif-
ferentmusicianswouldswitcho .Mamma
andPopwouldbeat on apot or aboardor
awashboard. Andanybodywho couldplay
somethingwould jump in, beat on some-
thing,makesomenoise.”
For all the joy, thosewere tough times.
Basics like electricitywere slow to reach
SouthLouisiana, and standards of living
weremeager. “Every time the raincame, it
was raining inside: clack-clack-clack-clack-
clack-clack,”saysLenaPitre.“Inthemiddle
ofthenight, thewindwouldstartand itwas
raining on our forehead.We just put the
blanketontopofthehead,andthat’stheway
itwas.”What’smore,Creolesweresubjectto
Louisiana’sJimCrowlaws,alongwithracial
violenceandthemanyother indignitiesofa
segregatedsociety.
Starting aroundWorldWar II, Creoles
began looking forawayout.Jobsabounded
in theBayArea’s shipyards anddefense in-
dustry,particularlyafterPresidentFranklin
Roosevelt signedanexecutiveorder requir-
ingdefensecontractorstoenddiscriminato-
ryhiringpractices.Packingtheirbelongings
intopickup trucksor taking trains like the
SunsetLimited, theyheadedwest insearch
ofprosperityand freedom.
’
.
TheCreole
migrationwaspartofa largerphenomenon
that had starteddecades earlier. Between
1915 and 1970, 6millionAmericans of Af-
ricandescent left thesegregatedSouthand
headedtowardthebigcitiesoftheNorthand
West. IsabelWilkerson,whochronicledthe
GreatMigration inherbook
TheWarmthof
OtherSuns,
calls it “thefirstbigstep thena-
tion’sservantclassevertookwithoutasking.”
ThemigrationreshapedAmerica’scitiesand
producedagenerationof black leaders like
formermayorsTomBradleyofLosAngeles
andWillieBrownof SanFrancisco.Many
of our greatest cultural treasures—The-
loniusMonk, DianaRoss, OprahWinfrey,
JackieRobinson, SpikeLee,ToniMorrison,
RayCharles—weremigrants themselves
or“childrenof theGreatMigration,”writes
“Mammaand
Popwould
beatonapot
oraboardor
awashboard.
Andanybody
whocouldplay
something
wouldjumpin,
beatonsome-
thing,make
somenoise.”
FROMLEFT:
AndrewCarriereandhisbandperform
atAshkenaz inBerkeley.Wilbert Lewis at the23
Club inBrisbane.
56
FEBRUARY 01, 2012
AA.COM/AMERICANWAY
