French-Canadian Americans
Américains franco-canadiens(French) | |
---|---|
![]() ![]() ![]() | |
Total population | |
1,998,012 (2020)[1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
New England(especiallyMaine,Massachusetts,New HampshireandVermont),New York,Michigan,CaliforniaandLouisiana) | |
Languages | |
French(CanadianandAmerican)·English·Franglais | |
Religion | |
PredominantlyRoman Catholicism,minority ofProtestantism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
French Canadians,French Americans,Canadian Americans,Breton Canadians,French people,Cajuns,Métis Americans,Métis |
Part ofa seriesof articles on the |
French people |
---|
![]() |
French-Canadian Americans(French:Américains franco-canadiens;also referred to asFranco-Canadian AmericansorCanadien Americans) are Americans ofFrench-Canadiandescent. About 2.1 million U.S. residents cited this ancestry in the 2010 U.S. Census; the majority of them speakFrenchat home.[2] Americans of French-Canadian descent are most heavily concentrated inNew England,New York State,Louisianaand theMidwest.Their ancestors mostly arrived in the United States fromQuebecbetween 1840 and 1930, though some families became established as early as the 17th and 18th centuries.
The termCanadien(French for "Canadian" ) may be used either in reference tonationalityorethnicityin regard to this population group. French-Canadian Americans, because of their proximity to Canada and Quebec, kept their language, culture, and religion alive much longer than any other ethnic group in the United States apart fromMexican Americans.[3]Many "Little Canada"neighborhoods developed in New England cities, but gradually disappeared as their residents eventually assimilated into the American mainstream. A revival of the Canadian identity has taken place in the Midwestern states, where some families of French descent have lived for many generations. These states had been considered part of Canadauntil 1783.A return to their roots seems to be taking place, with a greater interest in all things that are Canadian or Québécois.[4]
French-Canadian population in New England[edit]
In the late 19th century, many Francophones arrived in New England fromQuebecandNew Brunswickto work intextile millcities in New England. In the same period, Francophones from Quebec soon became a majority of the workers in the saw mill and logging camps in theAdirondack Mountainsand their foothills. Others sought opportunities for farming and other trades such as blacksmiths inUpstate New York.By the mid-20th century, French-Canadian Americans comprised 30 percent ofMaine's population. Some migrants becamelumberjacksbut most concentrated in industrialized areas and into enclaves known asLittle Canadasin cities likeLewiston, Maine,Holyoke, Massachusetts,andWoonsocket, Rhode Island.[5][6]
Driven by depleted farmlands, poverty and a lack of local economic opportunitunities, rural inhabitants of these areas sought work in the expanding mill industries. Newspapers inNew Englandcarried advertisements touting the desirability of wage labor work in thetextile mills.In addition to industry's organized recruitment campaigns, the close kinship network of French-Canadians facilitated transnational communication and the awareness of economic opportunity for their friends and relatives. Individual French-Canadian families who desired dwellings developed French Canadian neighborhoods, calledPetit Canadas,and sought out local financing. Most arrived through railroads such as theGrand Trunk Railroad.[7]
French-Canadian women saw New England as a place of opportunity and possibility where they could create economic alternatives for themselves distinct from the expectations of their farm families in Canada. By the early 20th century some saw temporary migration to the United States to work as a rite of passage and a time of self-discovery and self-reliance. Most moved permanently to the United States, using the inexpensive railroad system to visit Quebec from time to time. When these women did marry, they had fewer children with longer intervals between children than their Canadian counterparts. Some women never married, and oral accounts suggest that self-reliance and economic independence were important reasons for choosing work over marriage and motherhood. These women conformed to traditional gender ideals in order to retain their 'Canadienne' cultural identity, but they also redefined these roles in ways that provided them increased independence in their roles as wives and mothers.[8][9]
The French-Canadians became active in theCatholic Churchwhere they tried with little success to challenge its domination byIrishclerics.[10]They founded such newspapers as 'Le Messager' and 'La Justice.' The first hospital inLewiston, Maine,became a reality in 1889 when the Sisters of Charity of Montreal, the "Grey Nuns",opened the doors of the Asylum of Our Lady of Lourdes. This hospital was central to the Grey Nuns' mission of providingsocial servicesfor Lewiston's predominately French-Canadian mill workers. The Grey Nuns struggled to establish their institution despite meager financial resources, language barriers, and opposition from the established medical community.[11]Immigration dwindled with theU.S. immigration restrictionsafterWorld War I.
The French-Canadian community in New England tried to preserve some of its cultural norms. This doctrine, like efforts to preserveFrancophone cultureinQuebec,became known asla Survivance.[12]
Cities[edit]
City | Percentage of population[13][full citation needed] |
---|---|
Madawaska, Maine | 75.% |
Frenchville, Maine | 70.% |
Van Buren, Maine | 65.% |
Fort Kent, Maine | 63.% |
Berlin, New Hampshire | 53.4% |
Lewiston, Maine | 50.% |
Auburn, Maine | 46.2% |
Biddeford, Maine | 46.% |
Greene, Maine | 43.1% |
Hallandale Beach, Florida | 42.1% |
States[edit]
State | [clarification needed][13][full citation needed] |
---|---|
Maine | 23.9% |
New Hampshire | 23.2% |
Vermont | 21.1% |
Rhode Island | 17.2% |
Massachusetts | 12.9% |
Connecticut | 9.9% |
French Canadian immigration to New England[edit]
Distribution of French Canadians in New England, 1860–1880[14] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
State | Francophones | Percentage | Francophones | Percentage | |
Maine | 7,490 | 20.0% | 29,000 | 13.9% | |
New Hampshire | 1,780 | 4.7% | 26,200 | 12.6% | |
Vermont | 16,580 | 44.3% | 33,500 | 16.1% | |
Massachusetts | 7,780 | 20.8% | 81,000 | 38.9% | |
Rhode Island | 1,810 | 5.0% | 19,800 | 9.5% | |
Connecticut | 1,980 | 5.3% | 18,500 | 8.9% | |
Total | 37,420 | 100% | 208,100 | 100% |
Distribution of French Canadians in New England, 1900–1930[15] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
State | Francophones | Percentage | Francophones | Percentage | |
Maine | 58,583 | 11.3% | 99,765 | 13.4% | |
New Hampshire | 74,598 | 14.4% | 101,324 | 13.6% | |
Vermont | 41,286 | 8.0% | 46,956 | 6.4% | |
Massachusetts | 250,024 | 48.1% | 336,871 | 45.3% | |
Rhode Island | 56,382 | 10.9% | 91,173 | 12.3% | |
Connecticut | 37,914 | 7.3% | 67,130 | 9.0% | |
Total | 518,887 | 100% | 743,219 | 100% |
American cities founded by or named after French Canadians[edit]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/French1346.gif/250px-French1346.gif)
- Biloxi,founded byPierre LeMoyne d'Iberville
- Bourbonnaisnamed after François Bourbonnais
- Davenport, Iowafounded byAntoine LeClaire
- Detroit, Michigan,named by French explorerAntoine de la Mothe Cadillac*
- Dubuque,named afterJulien Dubuque
- Huron,founded by Jean-Baptiste Flemmond
- Juneau,named afterJoe Juneau
- La Barge, Wyoming,named afterJoseph Marie La Barge
- Laramie, Wyoming,named afterJacques La Remee
- Milwaukee,founded bySolomon Juneau
- Mobile,founded byPierre LeMoyne d'Iberville
- New Orleans,founded byLemoyne de Bienville
- Portage Des Siouxfounded byZenon Trudeauand François Saucier
- Provo, Utah,named forEtienne Provost
- Saint Joseph,founded byJoseph Robidoux
- Saint Paul,first settled byPierre Parrant
- Vincennesfounded byFrançois-Marie Bissot
Notable French Canadian Americans[edit]
- John C. Frémont,firstRepublicannominee forPresident of the United States,formerUnited States senator from California,formerMilitary Governor of California,formerGovernor of the Arizona Territory[16]
- John Cena,professional wrestler; has French-Canadian ancestry through his mother[17]
- Ross Perot,business magnate, politician, and philanthropist
- Alex Trebek,former host ofJeopardy![18]
- Annie Proulx,prolific writer, winner of thePEN/Faulkner Award for Fictionfor her first novel,Postcards.Her second novel,The Shipping News(1993), won both thePulitzer Prize for Fiction[19]and the U.S.National Book Award for Fiction.Her short story "Brokeback Mountain"was adapted as anAcademy Award,BAFTAandGolden Globe Award-winningmotion picturereleased in 2005.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^"Table B04006 - People Reporting Ancestry - 2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates".United States Census Bureau.RetrievedOctober 12,2022.
- ^"Languages Used at home"(PDF).2010 U.S. Census.U.S. Census Bureau. October 2010.
- ^l’Actualité économique, Vol. 59, No 3, (september 1983): 423-453 and Yolande LAVOIE, L’Émigration des Québécois aux États-Unis de 1840 à 1930, Québec, Conseil de la langue française, 1979.
- ^Harvard encyclopedia of American ethnic groups,Stephan Thernstorm, Harvard College, 1980, p 392
- ^Mark Paul Richard,From 'Canadien' to American: The Acculturation of French-Canadian Descendants in Lewiston, Maine, 1860 to the Present,PhD dissertation, Duke U., 2002;Dissertation Abstracts International,2002 62(10): 3540-A. DA3031009, 583p.
- ^"The Little Canadas of New England".November 17, 2015.
- ^Hudson, Susan (2013),The Quiet Revolutionaries: How the Grey Nuns Changed the Social Welfare, 1870–1930,Routledge
- ^Waldron, Florencemae (2005), "The Battle Over Female (In)Dependence: Women In New England Québécois Migrant Communities, 1870–1930",Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies,26(2): 158–205,doi:10.1353/fro.2005.0032,S2CID161455771
- ^Waldron, Florencemae (2005),"'I've Never Dreamed It Was Necessary To 'Marry!': Women And Work In New England French Canadian Communities, 1870–1930 ",Journal of American Ethnic History,24(2): 34–64,doi:10.2307/27501562,JSTOR27501562,S2CID254493034[permanent dead link]
- ^Richard, Mark Paul (2002). "The Ethnicity of Clerical Leadership: The Dominicans in Francophone Lewiston, Maine, 1881–1986".Quebec Studies.33:83–101.doi:10.3828/qs.33.1.83.
- ^Hudson, Susan (2001–2002), "Les Sœurs Grises of Lewiston, Maine 1878–1908: An Ethnic Religious Feminist Expression",Maine History,40(4): 309–332
- ^Stewart, Alice R. (1987), "The Franco-Americans of Maine: A Historiographical Essay",Maine Historical Society Quarterly,26(3): 160–179
- ^abAccording to theU.S. Census Bureauof 2000
- ^ Ralph D. VICERO,Immigration of French Canadians to New England, 1840–1900,Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1968, p. 275; as given in Yves ROBY, Les Franco-Américains de la Nouvelle Angleterre, 1776–1930, Sillery, Septentrion, 1990, p. 47
- ^Leon E. Truesdell,The Canadian Born in the United States,New Haven, 1943, p. 77; as given in Yves ROBY,Les Franco-Américains de la Nouvelle-Angleterre,Sillery, Septentrion, 1990, p. 282.
- ^Chaffin, pp. 21–22
- ^"John Cena | Actor, Producer, Writer".IMDb.
- ^"Alex Trebek: Who Is America's Favorite Game Show Host?".Forbes.June 12, 2019.RetrievedSeptember 1,2021.
- ^"Fiction".Past winners & finalists by category.The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
Further reading[edit]
- Anctil, Pierre. (1979).A Franco-American Bibliography: New England,Bedford, N. H.: National Materials Development Center, 137 p.
- Barkan, Elliott Robert. (1980) "French Canadians". in Stephan Thernstrom, ed.Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups388-401, comprehensive survey
- Brault, Gérard-J. (1986).The French-Canadian Heritage in New England,Hanover: University Press of New England, 1986, 282 p.ISBN0-87451-359-6(online excerpt)
- Brown, Michael. "Franco-American Identity at the University of Maine,"Maine History1997 36(3-4): 106-119
- Chartier, Armand, and Claire Quintal (1999).The Franco-Americans of New England. A History,Manchester and Worcester: ACA Assurance and Institut français ofAssumption College,537 p.ISBN1-880261-05-7.537pp; encyclopedic coverage, 1860 to 1990s.
- Doty, C. Stewart. "The Future of the Franco-American Past,"American Review of Canadian Studies,Spring 2000, Vol. 30 Issue 1, pp 7–17 calls for further research on trade unionism, politics, farming and logging, links with Quebec elites, and literary figures.
- Fecteau, Edward (1945).French Contributions to America.Methuen, Mass.: Soucy Press; Franco-American Historical Society (Société Historique Franco-Américaine).OCLC1312704.
- Fedunkiw, Marianne P. "French-Canadian Americans." inGale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America,edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2014), pp. 167–183.Online
- Fréchette, Louis(1900).The United States for French Canadians,345 pagesonline free
- Gagné, Peter J.and Adrien Gabriel Morice (2000).French-Canadians of the West. A Biographical Dictionary of French-Canadians and French Métis of the Western United States and Canada,Quintin Publications,ISBN1-58211-223-1
- Geyh, Patricia Keeney, et al. (2002).French Canadian Sources. A Guide for Genealogists,Ancestry Publishing, 320 pagesISBN1-931279-01-2(online excerpt)
- Gosnell, Jonathan. "Le base ball, Assimilation, and Ethnic Identity: The National Pastime in Franco-America."Quebec Studies66 (2018): 49-75.online
- Lacroix, Patrick (2016). "A Church of Two Steeples: Catholicism, Labor, and Ethnicity in Industrial New England, 1869–90".Catholic Historical Review.102(4): 746–770.doi:10.1353/cat.2016.0206.S2CID159662405.
- Lacroix, Patrick (2017). "Americanization by Catholic Means: French Canadian Nationalism and Transnationalism, 1889-1901".Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.16(3): 284–301.doi:10.1017/S1537781416000384.S2CID164667346.
- Lacroix, Patrick (2018)."À l'assaut de la corporation sole: autonomie institutionnelle et financière chez les Franco-Américains du Maine, 1900-1917".Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française.72(1): 31–51.doi:10.7202/1051145ar.
- Lamarre, Jean. (2003).The French Canadians of Michigan,Wayne State University Press, 209 pagesISBN0-8143-3158-0(online excerpt)
- Laflamme, J.L.K., David E. Lavigne and J. Arthur Favreau. (1908)
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)."French Catholics in the United States".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Louder, Dean R., and Eric Waddell, eds. (1993).French America. Mobility, Identity, and Minority Experience Across the Continent,Louisiana State University Press, 371 pagesISBN0-8071-1669-6
- Lindenfeld, Jacqueline. (2002).The French in the United States. An Ethnographic Study,Greenwood Publishing Group, 184 pagesISBN0-89789-903-2(online excerpt)
- Monnier, Alain. "Franco-Americains et Francophones aux Etats-Unis" ( "Franco-Americans and French Speakers in the United States).Population1987 42(3): 527-542. Census study.
- Murphy, Lucy Eldersveld,Great Lakes Creoles: A French-Indian Community on the Northern Borderlands, Prairie du Chien, 1750-1860.New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
- Perreault, Robert B.Franco-American Life and Culture in Manchester, New Hampshire: Vivre La Difference(2010)excerpt and text search
- Potvin, Raymond H. "The Franco-American Parishes of New England: Past, Present and Future,"American Catholic Studies2003 114(2): 55-67.
- Richard, Mark Paul. (2008)Loyal but French: The Negotiation of Identity by French-Canadian Descendants in the United States,on acculturation inLewiston, Maine,1860 to the 2000
- Richard, Mark Paul. (2016) "'Sunk into Poverty and Despair': Franco-American Clergy Letters to FDR during the Great Depression."Quebec Studies61#1: 39-52.online
- Richard, Sacha. (2002) "American Perspectives on 'La Fievre aux Etats-Unis,' 1860–1930: A Historiographical Analysis of Recent Writings on the Franco-Americans in New England,"Canadian Review of American Studies32(1): 105-132
- Roby, Yves. (2004).The Franco-Americans of New England. Dreams and Realities,Montreal: Les éditions du Septentrion, 543 pagesISBN2-89448-391-0(online excerpt) translated by Mary Ricard.
- Rumily, Robert. (1958)Histoire des Franco Americains.a standard history, in French
- Stewart, Alice R. (1987) "The Franco-Americans of Maine: A Historiographical Essay,"Maine Historical Society Quarterly26(3): 160-179
- Vermette, David G. (2018)A Distinct Alien Race: The Untold Story of Franco-Americans: Industrialization, Immigration, Religious Strife
- Warren, Jean-Philippe. (2017) "The French Canadian Press in the United States."Journal of Modern Periodical Studies7.1-2: 74-95.online
Primary sources[edit]
- Madore, Nelson, and Barry Rodrigue, eds.Voyages: A Maine Franco-American Reader(2009)
- Robbins, Rhea Cote. 'down the Plains,' (2013)http://www.rhetapress.com/
- Robbins, Rhea Cote.Wednesday's Child(2008)
- Robbins, Rhea Cote, ed.Canuck and Other Stories(2006)
External links[edit]
- American-French Genealogical SocietyA genealogical and historical organization for French-Canadian research