Jose Morales

In my Illustration, I chose to use both the French and Spanish flag to represent the bloodlines of the people that came together and are known as Creole.

                In the beginning, the word Creole originally was referred as Criollo from the Spanish people. But it wasn’t until the Spanish took possession of New Orleans when the name was changed to Creole. This came about when both the French and Spanish came together and to make a name for anyone who was born in New Orleans.

In the story “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin there are many literary references that could be used to show a visual representation. I chose the word Creole to use in this representation because Chopin uses this term in her story.  Although this word has multiple meanings, Chopin uses this word as a description in a caste system. As described in her story “The Awakening,” a Creole is a person who has both Spanish and French blood within them.  She refers to Creoles as a society of people with mixed heritages of both Spanish and French. Although French was the dominate language, it was the Spanish who used their architecture to build the cities such as New Orleans.

 Looking into the modern history of Creoles, today they are known as people of color or non-white. One who decides to identify themselves as a Creole is usually a non-white person who has a mixed background within their family. Although there are very few bi-racial people who use the term today, there is the meaning of the word that is still used that shows rich culture in and around the New Orleans area.