(East) Texas "geechee" redux

[Wilson Gray]

Do you remember the singer who called himself "Leon Redbone"? I've
long wondered whether "Redbone" was actually his name or a description
of his racial background.

WRT to the E TX BE use, I had in mind the fact that, AFAIK, the only
other use of "Geechee" is as an alternate term for "Gullah," applied
to the African-American people who live or used to live on the sea
islands of the Southern U.S. coast. Again, AFAIK, neither Geechee nor
Gullah refers to their racial/ethnic make-up or place of birth, though
it does, I believe, refer to their local dialect and culture.

Though people like Gen. Honore are stereotypically Geechees, the term
also extends to cover people like Fats Domino and the aptly-surnamed
bluesman, Jean-Baptiste "JB" LeNoir. Until the general came onto the
scene, the most widely-known Geechee was probably Aaron Neville.

I've glanced through DARE and HDAS, but I didn't find "Gumbo French,"
the E TX BE term for the version of French stereotypically spoken by
Geechees. Cf. the late Clifton Chenier, who sometimes sang
Gumbo-French versions of blues and R&B songs, e.g. "Mo Cochon Pou'
Toi" ("I'm A Hog For You, Baby") and "Eh, 'Tite Fille" ("Hey, Little
Girl"). Chenier also sang the latter in English. His pronunciation of
"girl" is more than worth the price of admission. And Fats Domino once
recorded an original Gumbo-French song entitled "Eh, La-Bas."

FWIW, Clifton Chenier and his mother are featured in one of Lomax's
folklore films. I was astounded to discover that Mrs. Chenier spoke
only Gumbo French and no English at all. Who would have thought that
there were people so isolated from the mainstream of American life as
not to be able to speak English, despite an American lineage
stretching back centuries?

-Wilson Gray

On 9/15/05, James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at aol.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: (East) Texas "geechee" redux
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In a message dated :Wed, 14 Sep 2005 17:12:51 -0400,  Wilson  Gray
> _hwgray at GMAIL.COM_ (mailto:hwgray at GMAIL.COM)   inquires:
>
> >Lieutenant-General Russel Honore is a textbook  example of the kind of
> >person that black (East) Texans refer to as a  "geechee": a black
> >person from Louisiana in general or from New Orleans  in particular,
> >especially one with a French or a Spanish surname and/or  of mixed
> >African-European ancestry. For readers of TIME, on p.57 of  the
> >September 19 issue, there are two more examples of the geechee type  to
> >be found.
>
> >Needless to say, black people who fit this  description are found all
> >over the United States, including Texas. Why  black (East) Texans
> >should apply the term "geechee" specifically to black  Louisianans I
> >have no idea. Indeed, my mother and her mother fit the  type. But,
> >being native Texans, they would be referred to only  as
> >"olive(-skinned)" and "bright(-skinned)," resp.
>
>
>
> In New Orleans before the Louisiana Purchase, and for years afterwards,
> rather than simply classifying people as either "white" and "Negro" (or "white",
> "Negro", and mixed-race), there was an elaborate classification system which
> sorted people by how many EIGHTHS of their ancestry was of white, African,
> and/or American Indian ancestry.
>
>  From _http://www.afrigeneas.com/forum/index.cgi?noframes;read=29721_
> (http://www.afrigeneas.com/forum/index.cgi?noframes;read=29721)  we  get the
> followibng list of these sort boxes:
> SACATRO - Negro & Griffe - 87.5 Black blood
> GRIFFE - Negro & Mulatto - 75% Black blood
> MARABON - Mulatto & Griffe - 62.5 Black blood
> MULATTO - Negro & White - 50 % Black Blood
> OS ROUGE - Negro & Indian - 50 % Black blood
> TIERCERON - Mulatto & Quadroon - 37.5 Black blood
> QUADROON - White & Mullatto - 25% Black blood
> OCTAROON - White & Quadroon - 12.5% Black blood
>
> There is a list in the WPA Writers' Guide to Louisiana which I have not  seen
> for many years but which if memory serves seems to be the same.
>
> The above list was posted in response to somebody's question about the term
> "grief colored" which may be someone's misrendering of "Griffe".
>
> Web site _http://www.likesbooks.com/neworleans.html_
> (http://www.likesbooks.com/neworleans.html)
> <begin quote>
> In New Orleans and Louisiana, before the Civil War there was a sizable
> population of free men and women of mixed race. They were known on legal  documents
> as gens de couleur and femmes de couleur. There was an elaborate caste
> system among them based on skin color. A mulatto was the offspring of a black  and
> a white. A griffe was the offspring of a mulatto and a black, a quadroon was
> the offspring of a mulatto and a white and an octoroon was the offspring of a
> quadroon and a white. There were other terms used as well (os rouge for
> example)  if the person had Indian ancestry. It all got to be very confusing.
> <end quote>
>
> To answer your query, it is quite possible that the term "geechee" results
> from a distant memory in East Texas that mixed-race people FROM LOUISIANA were
> at one time classified differently from mixed-race people who came from
> anywhere  else.  If so, then "geechee" is obviously an East Texas rendering of some
>  Louisiana term which may not be on the above list.
>
> OT:  during my quickie Google search I ran across a 1946 article at
> _http://www.melungeon.org/index.cgi?&CONTEXT=cat&cat=10057_
> (http://www.melungeon.org/index.cgi?&CONTEXT=cat&cat=10057)  on  populations of mixed black/Indian/white
> ancestry who (as of 1946) remained  isolated from the surrounding white and
> black population.  (I find to  my surprise that one such group, known as the
> "Nanticokes", lives or lived  near Bridgeton New Jersey, around fifty miles from
> where I live.)  The  article includes an interesting usage of "Native
> American":
>
> "These examples [of isolated mixed-race populations] show how outcast or
> pariah peoples come into existence and provide a ready parallel to the
> Untouchables of India and the Eta of Japan.
> "It is extremely urgent that a  program be devised as soon as possible for
> the assimilation and betterment of  the condition of these native American
> backward minorities."
>
> The article also says that one such population in Louisiana is known as the
> "Red Bones", that being an English translation of "os rouge".
> - James A. Landau
>


--
-Wilson Gray