Instead of meeting in Hoover Auditorium at 8:15, the Sunday evening program is at 6 p.m. in the Steele Memorial in Central Park along the lakefront. This week the performer was Dennis Stroughmatt of Albion, Illinois et L’Esprit Creole with music and stories from an Illinois culture I’d never heard of—the French Midwest Creoles who lived in southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana, and southeastern Missouri. Stroughmatt has been researching and preserving the language and culture of these descendants of French speaking Canadians who emigrated to work in the mines for about 20 years.
https://france-amerique.com/en/fiddles-french-and-the-quest-to-save-a-forgotten-dialect/
https://france-amerique.com/en/la-resistance-des-dialectes-francais-aux-etats-unis/
“Illinois French stands halfway between Canadian French and Cajun French. You can hear influences from all the settlers who passed through the area — French from Brittany and Normandy, Irish, Germans, and Native Americans. “
The language is called Paw Paw, but today only 30-50 people speak the 300 years old language. Even 60+ years ago when I took Illinois history in school, I’d never heard of it. Similar dialects are spoken in northern Maine and in Louisiana.
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