Early Years
James R. "Jimmy" Domengeaux, an attorney and former congressman from Lafayette, served as CODOFIL’s first chairman. Overseeing the organization from 1968 until his death twenty years later, Domengeaux exerted a huge influence on CODOFIL's development. During that period he used CODOFIL to introduce French education in public schools from elementary to high school levels — a major shift in the Louisiana educational system, which for decades had punished Cajun children for speaking their native French dialect in the classroom. He also used the organization to combat what he perceived as misrepresentations of, or affronts to, Cajun culture. For example, he condemned use of the epithet "coonass" as a synonym for "Cajun," and he criticized humorists like Justin Wilson, who he thought portrayed Cajuns as ignorant.
CODOFIL attracted the support of numerous state legislators over the years, such as Allen Ray Bares of Lafayette, who himself spoke French. With the support of state government, CODOFIL awarded yearly scholarships to selected Louisiana college students for the study of the French language abroad at several institutions of higher learning, including the Centre international d'étude de la langue française (CIDEF) in Angers, France.
Read more about this topic: Council For The Development Of French In Louisiana
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