The province of Acadien, today known as Nova Scotia and its sourroundings in Canada, was being settled by French emigrants in the 17th century. Soon the British took the country in possession. Around 1755, when the war between England and France broke out, the British expected the renouncement of the Roman-catholic faith of the Acadians and their loyalty to the English crown. The French Acadians were deported either to West India, back to France or to Louisiana.

The settled with small farms along the Mississippi, Bayou Teche, Bayou Lafourche and other rivers in the southern part of this region. The Cajun (A-ca-jan) worked as farmers, fishers and trappers.

The poem about "Evangéline - a tale of Acadie" describes the deportation of the Cajun from Canada. Evangéline and her lover Gabriel Lajeuness were parted and she is brought to Louisiana. She waits for ten years just to finally find out, that he already married another women. Evangéline dies from a broken heart in the shade of an oak that is now named after her. Evangéline's tragedy is a symbol for the fate of the Acadians. Her sculpture stands next to the church of St. Martinsville, Louisiana.