“In parts of Louisiana, you can’t determine race by skin color. It’s a mixture of culture and legal definition. Makes for interesting situations...”
Isn’t that what “Creole” is?
It is complicated. I have heard the term ‘quadroon’, ‘creole’, ‘cajun’ ‘octroon’- all are different mixes of races and percentages. No one batted an eye when referring to a person using one of these terms. But, everyone seemed to know everyone’s heritage and used each term accordingly.
The line between Cajun and Creole can be a thin one not apparent to outsiders. It’s more of a variation in mindset, who do you claim, that sort of thing. Most Cajuns aren’t all that different from a redneck, albeit French-descended and historically if not actually Catholic. Others are a little more complex, racially and culturally, but even the rural Appalachian south has historical mixed race communities, part white, part black, part indian, not at all concerned with being somewhat outside the law in certain matters, usually located in very remote areas or on state lines to enable jumping jurisdictions when trouble found it’s way home and it eventually did. These people you don’t mess with. They’ve been at odds with the PTB for centuries and are used to taking matters into their own hands.