A Thanksgiving Reflection on Joan of Arc
As a non-native inhabitant in the New World, Thanksgiving always provokes a time of deep reflection of my place in the colonial narrative. I live in a land that was claimed by France and named for Louis XIV…as though the land didn’t already have inhabitants. I specifically live in a city that already had a name (Bulbancha) and was renamed the New Orleans.
Alexandre de Batz rendered the earliest known depictions of Native Americans in Louisiana. This one is specifically in New Orleans. Note that there is an enslaved child also depicted in the painting. Desseins de Sauvages de Plusieurs Nations, Alexandre de Batz, 1735.
One of my favorite historical figures who resisted foreign occupation was Joan of Arc. During the Hundred Year’s War she was on the front lines of resistance to English invasion and the French powers that fraternized with them.
I have a prized Joan of Arc comic book from 1948 that was published by Timely Comics (now Marvel). As she is being burnt at the stake by the English and their French collaborators, the author of the comic has Joan foretelling of others like her that will resist conquest and strive for liberty.
A golden monument of Joan stands in the French Market along the Mississippi River. My French ancestry is from Lorraine, the same region of France Joan was from. Needless to say, when I pass her monument on my tours I do so with my head held high. I view her as more then a saint, to me Joan is a symbol of resistance.
This young French hero is romanticized in the monument, as she should be, but how often she is scorned in her various manifestations in those who struggle against imperialism and colonization today.
Last summer I traveled to Rouen and contemplated her life and death at the very spot she was executed. I must admit that as I stood there and contemplated her bravery I was overcome with emotion. Her bravery challenged me and my understanding of my place in the grand scheme of things.
Just as Joan of Arc resisted British Invasion, in 1729 the Natchez people along with escaped slaves led a revolt against the French here in colonial Louisiana. The French colonist were taking Native American lands to plant Tobacco. Just as Joan was burned at the stake for advancing the cause of liberty, the French colonist killed the Natchez people and sent those they captured and didn’t kill to be slaves in Saint-Domingue (Now Haiti).
Le transport du Grand Soleil by Antoine Simone Le Page du Pratz. (The transport of the Natchez Chef the Great Sun by Antoine Simone Le Page du Pratz).
Our history books do not note the name of the Native American person who led this rebellion. The leader of that rebellion however fought with the spirit of Joan of Arc. Colonization has multiple layers of complexity that manifest itself in modern society. May the spirit of Joan of Arc be an ever present reminder to resist the injustice it produces.
Coffee & Bicycles,
Eric Gabourel, Le Comte des Bicyclettes
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