Evangeline is a world-famous, yet fictional, character associated with the Acadians. While, Joseph Beausoleil Broussard is a real historical character tied to the history of the first Acadians to Louisiana in 1765. His story is one of the main driving forces behind the New Acadia Project/Projet Nouvelle-Acadie.
This project is designed to locate, identify, and investigate the early Louisiana settlements of the first Acadians. This is a developing multidisciplinary community research project headed by Mark Rees at University of Louisiana at Lafayette. pertaining to Louisiana’s Acadian identity and history. Listen to hear more on the project’s goals and importance from Dr. Mark A. Rees himself, as well as Cheryl Perret, Warren Perrin, Mayor Al Broussard, Dr. Barry J. Ancelet, and Dr. C. Ray Brassieur.