Alcée Fortier

Early life and education

Alcée Fortier was born on the Petit Versailles sugar plantation in St. James Parish, which belonged to his maternal grandfather, Valcour Aime. His parents were Florent-Louis Fortier and Marie-Edwige Aime, and both his father and grandfathers were French Creole sugar planters. The Fortier family had lived in Louisiana since the early 1700s, when it was still a French colony. Fortier was young when the Civil War started.

After the war, his family lost the value of their slaves and had trouble adjusting to paid labor during an agricultural downturn. He attended A.V. Romain’s classical school in New Orleans and then the University of Virginia, but a serious illness forced him to leave without finishing. He returned to New Orleans, studied law, and began working as a clerk.

Career

Fortier taught French in the city high school for a time. He was hired as principal in the preparatory department of the University of Louisiana. In 1880 Fortier was elected professor of French in the University of Louisiana. He was reelected when it became Tulane University.

He worked as a Professor of Romance Languages there his entire career. In addition to teaching European languages, he expanded his studies to include Louisiana Creole, Acadian French, and the Louisiana folklore of Acadians and African-American freedmen. Fortier was a prolific author, publishing a range of studies on the French literature of Louisiana and France; dialect studies of Louisiana Creoles, Acadians and Isleños; and Louisiana Creole folk tales translated into English.

In 1903 he published a four-volume history of Louisiana that was well reviewed by the New York Times. He was a contributor to the Catholic Encyclopedia. He was also active in a range of new local, state, and national professional organizations. He was president of the Louisiana Historical Society (founded 1835) and the national Modern Language Association (founded 1883).

He was appointed to the State Board of Education. In addition, he was active in the New Orleans Academy of Sciences (founded 1859) and American Folklore Society (founded 1888).

Works

Fortier's books include 'Sept grands auteurs du dix-neuvième siècle' (1899), 'Histoire de la Littérature Française', 'Louisiana Folk Tales: In French Dialect and English Translation' (1895), 'Louisiana Studies: Literature, Customs and Dialects, History and Education' (1894), 'A History of Louisiana' (1904), 'Louisiana; Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons' (1909), and 'The Louisiana Sugar Planters of the Old Regime' (1914). He presented papers to the Modern Language Association including 'The French Language in Louisiana and the Negro-French Dialect', 'The French Literature of Louisiana', 'Bits of Louisiana Folk Lore' (1887), 'The Acadians of Louisiana and Their Dialect', and 'The Yalinos [Isleños] of Louisiana and Their Dialect'.