This week the blog takes a slightly different tack to recognize landmark anniversaries that had bearing on the history of French Canadians. The first of these comes a week from today. On March 5, 1770, a scuffle in the snow led British regulars billeted in Boston to open fire on civilians. Within minutes, three colonists […]
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Benjamin Lenthier: Sell-Out or Public Servant?
See Part I here. Lenthier was all in for Democratic presidential candidate Grover Cleveland and did likely find party monies to fund his efforts. Even with hindsight, it is unclear how much of this was a matter of ideological principle and how much an opportunity for personal gain. His papers depicted the Republican Party as […]
Continue readingA Franco Media Mogul: Benjamin Lenthier
Research on Franco-Americans’ political engagement is still in its infancy. Major works on their politics may be counted on a single hand. The assumption is that the Catholic Church, cultural societies, and textile mills were more central to Franco-Americans’ self-definition and daily lives. Perhaps. But none of these spaces was hermetically insulated from the world […]
Continue readingWhy Was Major Mallet Fired?
See Part I here. It might be argued that Mallet’s life only really conforms to the “great man” theory of history and therefore actually says very little about Franco-Americans’ lived experience. Perhaps. And yet, to late nineteenth-century Francos, Mallet mattered a great deal. His prominent role at the Rutland Franco-American convention, in 1886, made this […]
Continue readingThe Hero They Needed: Edmond Mallet
Thousands of French Canadians crossed the international border and served with distinction in the Union armies during the U.S. Civil War. Some of them went on to achieve more than passing historical fame. Rémi Tremblay survived incarceration in a Confederate prison and spent years in Woonsocket and Fall River. In the latter place, in 1885-1886, […]
Continue readingPlacemen, Knights, and Laborers: The Politics of Jeanne la Fileuse
Emigration was political. Most late nineteenth-century French-Canadian emigrants left Quebec for economic reasons. But there were political causes underlying the province’s economic woes; efforts to stanch this demographic hemorrhage and to repatriate the exiles inevitably reverberated into partisan politics. Early reports on emigration to the United States (issued in 1849 and 1857) suggested solutions; policies […]
Continue readingEthnic 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 […]
Continue readingThe Franco-American Pantheon
Last week’s blog post quoted Grégoire Chabot on a hypothetical Franco-American “hall of fame.” Chabot seemed to find few worthy models. Yet, surely, if Francos are to recognize the accomplishments of their community, they ought to find important and influential figures in their past. What famous individuals has the community produced? Who are its leading […]
Continue readingFinding Francos in Le Forum (1998)
In the Mainstream By 1998, Le Forum was a well-established centerpiece of Franco life. (For background, see last week’s post.) The Franco-American Centre in Orono had recently celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. The paper was in the capable hands of Yvon Labbé and Lisa D. Michaud. ActFANE provided regional stories and special features regularly graced Forum […]
Continue readingFinding Francos in Le Forum (1988)
Making Connections By the end of the 1980s, the Forum had broadened its horizons considerably by bringing in more voices and carrying items from other publications. (For background, see last week’s post.) It still included genealogical content and poetry—and in 1988 its pages captured new perspectives with short texts by Fort Kent high school students. […]
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