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 readingWright Revisited: The Frank Foster Controversy
Frank Foster wasn’t a nobody, but he was no Colonel Wright. In other words, Franco-Americans could with reason object to the disparaging remarks written into Carroll Wright’s report on labor conditions in 1881. This was a public report issued by a government agency whose claims were informed by Irish workers rather than Franco-Americans themselves. Foster […]
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 readingPlacemen, Knights, and Laborers: Honoré Beaugrand on Emigration
What’s in a name? For illustrious Quebeckers of the late nineteenth century, we might think that it was destiny. Honoré Mercier, Faucher de Saint-Maurice, and Prosper Bender, all born in the 1840s, each had a name to match his personality and preeminence. So it was with Honoré Beaugrand, who survives in Quebec’s historical memory chiefly […]
Continue readingNew Year Preview
This year will start with back-to-back posts on Honoré Beaugrand’s Jeanne la Fileuse, the classic Quebec novel on late nineteenth-century emigration. Although a fairly conventional love story drives the plot, Beaugrand did not hide his own politics. My blog posts will cover his treatise on emigration—and those he deemed responsible for the mass exodus. Moving […]
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 […]
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 […]
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