Honoré Beaugrand was a prominent supporter of the Liberal cause in Canada. He left his mark on the Quebec press as the founder and proprietor of La Patrie. He faced down rioting anti-vaxxers as mayor of Montreal in 1885. At last, in Franco-American circles, Beaugrand is best known as the author of Jeanne la Fileuse, […]
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Franco-American Women as Political Actors, 1890-1920
This year we mark the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, which secured American women’s right to vote across the country. Beginning in the West, some states had begun to admit female suffrage in the late nineteenth century. Only gradually did the notion of equal political rights between men and women gain traction in the Northeast—and […]
Continue readingJean Rivard: American and Catholic
See Part I here. Themes In my edition of Jean Rivard, the editor establishes the influence of Don Quixote and Robinson Crusoe on Gérin-Lajoie’s novel. But the parallels that struck me first and foremost—parallels that will be familiar to American readers—involve Walden and Horatio Alger novels. Both Henry David Thoreau and Rivard go into the […]
Continue readingJean Rivard: A Pioneering Novel
How easily we overlook what was happening in Lower Canada in the early 1860s. While bloody conflict wrecked Mexico, the American giant was embroiled in a devastating civil war that would claim 700,000 lives and lead to “a new birth of freedom.” For a time, it seemed that the winds of war would sweep over […]
Continue readingFrench Canadians and the Epidemic of 1885
After drafting this post, I learned that James Myall (Parlez-Vous American) will be discussing disease and public health in connection with French-Canadian migrations on April 28. His talk will be carried on Zoom thanks to the Franco-American Centre at the University of Maine. Worth checking out I’m sure! Last week, on HistoireEngagée.ca, I contributed, en […]
Continue readingWomen’s History Month: The Franco-American Press
Accessing the historical experience of Franco-American women is not an instantly easy task, at least if we rely on written records. Many types of documents were, at their inception, purposefully gendered. The cult of domesticity, limited access to education, and entrenched barriers in the shaping of social narratives combined to conceal women’s lives. In addition, […]
Continue readingBender’s French-Canadian Holidays
Frequent blog readers need no introduction to Prosper Bender, whom I first introduced here. Though a homeopathic physician (yes, quite likely a contradiction in terms) by trade, Bender was most famous in his day for writing on the culture and political affairs of French Canadians.[1] As a contributor to prominent U.S. magazines, he helped nineteenth-century […]
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