The French Huguenots of Colonial South Carolina: Assimilation or Acculturation

The question of assimilation versus acculturation is one that should be tested. The Huguenots of Colonial South Carolina provide a forum to look at the experience of a minority group in colonial society and how they dealt with the process. This paper advocates that the French Protestants in Carolina did not disappear as a separate cultural group but rather, they adopted certain behaviors that brought them economic and political success in the colony. These behaviors included acquiring large pieces of land, amassing fortunes, and moving into elite South Carolina society. As a result, they threatened those who thought of them as aliens which caused conflict in the colony between political factions. These conflicts refute the notion that the Huguenots disappeared as a separate identity by 1750. Cultural groups that vanish do not threaten or create conflicts because the dominant group absorbs them. The story of Huguenot acculturation in South Carolina shows how immigrant groups can change the host society and how the dominant group is also altered as a result of the intermingling of cultures. jg