Beginning in 1858, an American correspondent signing “S. M.” shared his impressions of life in Lower Canada for readers back home in Vermont. “Having lived many years in the midst of the French population, and being familiar with their manners, customs and language,” the author explained, “I propose to drop you a line now and […]
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Youth in Franco-American History
We are less than two weeks away from the third Young Franco-Americans Summit, an initiative launched by the Franco-American Centre in Orono, Maine, in 2021. This year’s YFAS will be held at Rivier University in Nashua, New Hampshire, and, like prior installments, it will connect Franco-Americans in their teens, twenties, and thirties around common cultural […]
Continue readingObstacles to Naturalization: The Case of Connecticut
We are fast approaching the second anniversary of the publication of “Tout nous serait possible”: Une histoire politique des Franco-Américains, 1874-1945, the first full-length regional synthesis of Franco-Americans’ political involvement. I am very grateful for the support of the Presses de l’Université Laval, generous reviews, and readers’ willingness to give it their time and attention. […]
Continue readingRecension : Deschênes, Un pays rebelle
Compte-rendu critique Gaston Deschênes, Un pays rebelle : La Côte-du-Sud et la guerre de l’Indépendance américaine. Québec : Septentrion, 2023. Ouvrage portant sur un aspect plutôt méconnu de l’histoire québécoise, Un pays rebelle arrive à la veille du 250e anniversaire de l’occupation de la vallée du Saint-Laurent par les troupes continentales. Son auteur, Gaston Deschênes, a été […]
Continue readingWriting a Scholarly Article: A Checklist
Well, a new academic year is upon us—and with it, the prospect of thousands of new research projects by enterprising graduate students. They will write papers and chapters that may eventually appear in peer-reviewed scholarly journals. In the spirit of academic collegiality, I offer here a basic checklist that may spare academics at all levels […]
Continue readingBack-Page Americans: Clippings
In conversation with Claire-Marie Brisson of the North American Francophone Podcast, several years ago, I introduced the concept of “back-page Americans,” which applies to many historically marginalized groups. In the context of Franco-American history, the concept grows out of the seeming invisibility of French Canadians in the mainstream (i.e. non-ethnic) American press. In reality, immigrants […]
Continue readingThose Who Returned: One Family’s Journey to the U.S. and Back
An earlier version of this essay appeared in the winter 2022-2023 issue of Le Forum, the quarterly publication of the Franco-American Centre (University of Maine). Please cite appropriately. On both sides of my family, I am a direct descendant of individuals who elected to live and work in the United States. See, on the migrations of […]
Continue readingMigratory Beachheads and Marauding Canadians
We might call it a consensus. Whereas most works of Franco-American history focus on the period between the U.S. Civil War and the Great Depression, scholars would generally agree that the great hemorrhage, la grande saignée, began around 1840. Amid the economic and political turbulence that followed the Canadian Rebellions of 1837-1838, French Canadians settled […]
Continue readingLes Franco-Américains et le Québec
Pour une mise en contexte par rapport à l’histoire franco-américaine, consultez mon billet détaillant les grandes lignes de ce passé ou encore mon survol du parcours politique des « Francos ». Mon dernier billet présente l’idéologie de survivance dans les grands centres franco-américains suite à la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. On ne saurait exagérer la complexité et la diversité du monde francophone […]
Continue readingLa Saint-Jean-Baptiste chez les Franco-Américains (1945-1956)
Pour une mise en contexte par rapport à l’histoire franco-américaine, consultez mon billet détaillant les grandes lignes de ce passé ou encore mon survol du parcours politique des « Francos ». Il y a quelques années, il a été question ici même des gigantesques défilés de la fête de Saint Jean-Baptiste en Nouvelle-Angleterre à la fin du […]
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