There is nothing more interesting and, at the same time, more heartening than a reading of the slim volume that Mr. Chandonnet has published at Desbarats. Our exiled compatriots have been so maligned; it has been so often said that on setting foot on foreign soil, they lose all memory of their God and their […]
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Those Other Franco-Americans: New Bedford, Part II
This week we resume and conclude our overview of New Bedford’s Franco-American history. See Part I here. Franco-Americans’ institutional network continued to grow in the 1890s and early 1900s. The Francs-Tireurs, one of the earliest and largest fraternal and cultural societies in New Bedford, played a significant role in community building. Other groups appeared in […]
Continue readingThose Other Franco-Americans: New Bedford, Part I
New Bedford gets a raw deal. Its Franco-Americans even more so. The city is known for its whaling history and images straight out of Moby Dick—rough, hardy Yankee whalers who in time passed the torch to Portuguese fishermen. Seafarers are more compelling, more romantic figures, we might suppose, than mill workers, whatever their ethnic background. […]
Continue readingThe Clever Woman: A French-Canadian Folk Tale
In the literary ferment of the late nineteenth century, Quebec authors sought to craft a new national identity that could be read back in time. Quite consciously, such authors as Louis Fréchette and Honoré Beaugrand jotted down and published old oral traditions that were at risk of being forever lost. (It seems they may also […]
Continue readingA 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 […]
Continue readingWinter Customs from Louis Fréchette
In prior years, this blog has looked at customs surrounding nineteenth-century holidays and shared a unique, French-Canadian take on A Christmas Carol. Following Prosper Bender and Honoré Beaugrand, our guide this year is again a prominent French-Canadian writer—one roughly of the same generation. In Christmas in French Canada, Louis Fréchette penned short stories in English—without […]
Continue readingFrench Canadians 100 Years Ago: May to August
Franco-Americans—and a larger community of French Canadians—were visible in 1921. This is the second part of a year-long tour of major stories concerning Quebec and its diaspora. See the first installment here. May All eyes turn to Manchester, New Hampshire, for a series of high-profile events. On May 11, Catholic residents celebrate the fiftieth anniversary […]
Continue readingOthering the Madawaska in Travel Narratives
Three month ago, this blog plunged into the Upper St. John Valley, an area whose history often falls on the margins of existing narratives. The hard work of reconstructing the history of the Madawaska, its relationship with neighboring regions, and its place within empires is complicated by surviving sources that tell (at best) a partial […]
Continue readingHauntingly Silent: Some Questions Concerning Maine’s English Education Bill
An earlier version of this essay appeared in the spring 2021 issue of Le Forum, the quarterly publication of the Franco-American Centre (University of Maine). Please cite appropriately. * * * …provided, further, that the basic language of instruction in the common school branches in all schools, public and private, shall be the English language. […]
Continue readingThose Other Franco-Americans: St. Albans, Part II
See Part I here. Six years after the invasion of St. Albans by Confederate agents, a different spectacle played out in the town center, though this one, too, was the doing of people who had descended from Canada: At 11 o’clock in the forenoon the Convention formed in procession, under escort of the St. John […]
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