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Louisiana Creoles (French: Créoles de la Louisiane, Louisiana Creole: Moun Kréyòl la Lwizyàn, Spanish: Criollos de Luisiana) are a Louisiana French ethnic group descended from the inhabitants of colonial Louisiana during the periods of French and Spanish rule, before it became a part of the United States or in the early years under the United States. They share cultural ties such as the traditional use of the French, Spanish, and Creole languages, and predominantly practice Catholicism. The term Créole was originally used by French Creoles to distinguish people born in Louisiana from those born elsewhere, thus drawing a distinction between Old-World Europeans (and Africans) and their descendants born in the New World. The word is not a racial label—people of European, African, or mixed ancestry can and have identified as Louisiana Creoles since the 18th century. After the Sale of Louisiana, the term "Creole" took on a more political meaning and identity, especially for those people of Latinate culture. The Catholic Latin-Creole culture in Louisiana contrasted greatly to the Anglo-Protestant culture of Yankee Americans. Although the terms "Cajun" and "Creole" today are often seen as separate identities, Cajuns have historically been known as Creoles. Currently some Louisianians may identify exclusively as either Cajun or Creole, while others embrace both identities. Creoles of French descent, including those of Québécois or Acadian lineage, have historically comprised the majority of white-identified Creoles in Louisiana. In the early 19th century, refugees fleeing the Haitian Revolution arrived in New Orleans, some having been deported after residence in Cuba: both whites with their slaves and free people of color, they doubled the city's population and helped to strengthen its Francophone culture. Later 19th-century (mainly Catholic) immigrants to Louisiana, such as Irish, Germans, and Italians, also married into the Creole group. New Orleans, in particular, has always retained a significant historical population of Creoles of color, a group mostly consisting of free persons of multiracial European, African, and Native American descent. As Creoles of color had received higher rights and education under Spanish and French rule than did their Black American counterparts, many of the United States' earliest writers, poets, and civil activists of color (e.g., Victor Séjour, Rodolphe Desdunes and Homère Plessy) were Louisiana Creoles. Today, many of these Creoles of color have assimilated into (and contributed to) Black American culture, while some have retained their distinct identity within the broader African American ethnic group. Today, most Creoles are found in the Greater New Orleans region or in Acadiana. Louisiana is known as the Creole State. New Orleans Creoles at one point lived mainly in what is now the French Quarter or Vieux Carré (French “Old Square”). The broad Canal Street, with a large median for streetcars, divided the Creoles fr