‘Dusty’ Fuqua receives Creole Peoples Award

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History is forever and cannot be changed, but cultures -- like gardens -- will disappear if they are left untended.

One of the state’s “gardeners” is Marksville native Dustin “Dusty” Fuqua, the chief of resources at Cane River Creole National Historical Park in Natchitoches Parish.

Fuqua was honored with a Creole Peoples Award at the Creole Heritage Celebration in Natchitoches on Sept. 14.

“It was a real honor for me to receive this award,” Fuqua said. “I have been working in the Cane River area for over 15 years, and this lets me know that the people in that area know what I am doing and that they accept me.”

Fuqua grew up in the Spring Bayou community. He is a 1999 graduate of Marksville High and obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Natchitoches State University.

WHAT IS CREOLE?

“‘What is Creole?’ That’s a question I face every day,” Fuqua said.

“Creole” means different things to different people, he noted. The “best” definition for most purposes is that it “encompasses every race of people of French descent. It is about the shared culture. It is about those things we have in common, and not about our differences.

“Everybody in the Creole culture hangs hogs. Most share the Catholic faith. They pock eggs at Easter,” he said. “These are shared traditions of the French Creole culture.”

The most common definition today is that “Creole” is a mix of African, French, Spanish and often Native American bloodlines in Louisiana.

In the colonial era, Creoles were those French -- and Spanish -- colonists born in Louisiana who were of only European descent. The term means “native born” and differentiated them from those born in the mother country.

Fuqua said the term Creole fell out of common use among French Louisianians “because the term ‘Cajun’ was so popular. Everyone wanted to be Cajun.”

While all descendants of the Cajuns are Creole, not all Creoles are Cajuns.

“‘Creole’ is an inclusive term while ‘Cajun’ is exclusive, applying only to a segment of French Louisianians,” he said.

Fuqua said he is descended from French colonists, and so is part of the expanded classification of Creole.

His mother, Darlene Fuqua, is deceased now, but he still has family in Avoyelles and visits often. He and his wife, Deidre Chevalier Fuqua, have one daughter Piper Cielle Fuqua.

Growing up in Avoyelles, he obtained a strong appreciation for the natural and cultural resources of Louisiana.

LOCAL PROJECTS

One of his first jobs was working at the state Prehistoric Indian Park & Museum in Marksville. It was then that he decided to make the study, teaching and preservation of the French history, culture and language his profession.

He said he is still interested in the future of the state historic site, which is only open part-time due to budget cuts.

“I’ve got my fingers crossed for the Indian Park,” he said.

One of his first projects at NSU was with the archaeology lab, excavating and relocating the remains of Lewis G. DeRussy to the site of the Civil War fort on Red River that bears his name.

“In addition to DeRussy’s remains, I had to transfer about 500 pounds of dirt with them,” Fuqua noted.

“We had a nice reburial service, including Civil War reenactors,” he continued.

Fuqua said he is also involved in trying to preserve the French language and its various dialects in Louisiana.

“One thing I am most proud of is obtaining a National Parks grant to enhance my French language skills,” he said. There were 450 applicants for the employee development grant. He was one of 29 recipients.

“This was the beginning of the development of the ‘French Table’ in Natchitoches.”

The purpose of the “French Table” is to encourage and improve the use of French in the community.

“There are fewer than five native French-speakers in Natchitoches,” he said. “We hope to increase that number through the French Table here.”

Fuqua recently served as the National Park Service’s Southeast Regional acting cultural anthropologist in Atlanta. He managed the Tribal Consultation program for more than 40 national parks and still maintains some budgeting responsibilities.

“That led to many opportunities at the national level, like the Advanced Tribal Consultation training I've recently completed,” he noted. 

ARCHAEOLOGISTS & ANTHROPOLOGISTS

Fuqua’s job also involves educating the public about the importance of their culture. From time to time he has to point out the difference between an anthropologist and an archaeologist.

“An archaeologist digs up items from the past to preserve the material aspects of a culture,” Fuqua said. “The anthropologist deals with the intangible aspects of the culture -- those things you can’t see and hold in your hand.

“An example would be discovering a home site ,” Fuqua continued. “The archaeologist would be interested in the items around the home and how they were used. The anthropologist wouldn’t be interested so much in the house or the household items, but rather in why those people chose to live there and their traditions and practices in everyday life.”

He said the reason the archaeologists and the anthropologists “do what we do is to preserve our culture. We must preserve our traditions and our culture. That is one of the most important things we can do for future generations.

“If we don’t keep the traditions up, our kids will lose them,” he said. “We have lost so much in our language and traditions over the generations because parents did not take the time to teach their children.”

Professionals like Fuqua and other concerned individuals are involved in preserving the state’s history, culture and language and in reviving traditions that may have slipped into near extinction.

Perhaps through their efforts, future generations will be able to appreciate all that makes Louisiana and its people unique among the other states of the Union.