Category: Ethnicity and Race

Franco-Americans and the Construction of Race

Mention race and the conversation to follow may prove to be a powder keg. Some folks are likely to bring up (with contempt) woke ideology and critical race theory; others, systemic racism and persistent inequities. These issues are political, as they should be, politics being the space where we discuss society-wide issues to find solutions, […]

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Franco-American Archives: Lowell and Irasburg

Last month, we revisited one of our recurring characters in light of new archival evidence. This post also brings us to Vermont, but it takes us away from politics and away from archives as we usually imagine them. Our “guest” did not have the name recognition that J. D. Bachand enjoyed in his day. He […]

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Back-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 […]

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The Lost Wor(l)ds of Franco-America

This post marks the fifth anniversary of this Franco-American history blog. Sincere thanks to everyone who has read, encouraged, and supported its research and reflections. The author delivered the following remarks as the opening lecture of the University of Maine at Fort Kent’s Scholars Symposium on April 26, 2022. The transcript appeared in the summer […]

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A Bash for Quebec

For more on Franco-American history, please check out the following links: Franco-American political history from our friends at the French-Canadian Legacy Podcast; A history of religious and public education in the St. John River valley on the Acadian Archives blog; An essay on the “prehistory” of the great migration from the St. Lawrence River valley […]

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Smash This Un-American Exclusion

War and peace. A pandemic. The League of Nations debate. Nationwide women’s suffrage. Prohibition. Unending strikes and the Red Scare. Runaway inflation and a deep recession. Race riots. Intense Americanism (read: xenophobia), and proposals for English-only education and immigration restriction. And more. From 1917, the United States experienced rapid transformations that revolutionized—at least for a […]

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Ethnic Anxiety and the Race Problem

One of my most challenging moments as a teacher occurred ten years ago, when, as a fresh-faced teaching assistant at Brock University, I was leading a seminar on the Holocaust. Among my students was an Indigenous girl who eagerly raised her hand to make—quite tangentially—a comparison between Nazi-led ethnic cleansing and the historical experience of […]

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