Browse Items (3 total)

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  The French Canadians in New England

  Introduction to French-Canadian immigration to New England in the second half of the nineteenth century. Observations on distribution of population by town and the organization of Catholic parishes. Written by a professor at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine.

  Tags Baltic CT, Biddeford ME, Boston MA, Brewer ME, Bridgeport CT, Brockton MA, Brunswick ME, Burlington VT, Cambridge MA, Central Falls RI, Chelsea MA, Connecticut, Demography, Emigration and Immigration, Ethnicity and Collective Identity, Fairfield ME, Fall River MA, Farming and Agriculture, Fitchburg MA, Gardner MA, Great Falls NH, Grosvenordale CT, Hartford CT, Haverhill MA, Holyoke MA, Hudson MA, Indian Orchard MA, Labor History, Lawrence MA, Leominster MA, Lewiston ME, Lowell MA, Lynn MA, Maine, Manchang MA, Manchester NH, Manville RI, Massachusetts, Meriden CT, Millbury MA, Mills and Mill Work, Nashua NH, New Bedford MA, New England, New Hampshire, New Haven CT, Nonfiction, Nonfiction -- Immigration, North Adams MA, North Brookfield MA, Northampton MA, Pawtucket RI, Portland ME, Providence RI, Putnam CT, Québec, Religion, Rhode Island, Rochester NH, Rutland VT, Saco ME, Salem MA, Somerville MA, Southbridge MA, Spencer MA, Springfield MA, Taunton MA, Vermont, Waltham MA, Waterville ME, Webster MA, Winooski Falls VT, Woburn MA, Woonsocket RI, Worcester MA

• The Paradox of Ethnicity in the United States : The French-Canadian Experience in Worcester, 1870-1914

  Brief essay that examines the focus terms "ethnicity" and "assimilation" through a case study of the Franco American population of Worcester, Massachusetts, before 1914. McClymer tells how the French Canadian immigrant ethnic group negotiated the persistence of elements of its culture amid trends and forces of Americanization. Study is largely comprised of commentary on the statements of Massachusetts Commissioner of Statistics of Labor, Carroll D. Wright. From the author: "I will argue that there was a symbiotic relationship between ethnicity and assimilation for white immigrants to the United States in the decades between the Civil War and World War I. It is this symbiosis, between social processes usually considered to be contraries, that defines the 'paradox' of ethnicity in the United States" (16). Featured in a collection of essays on American immigration and ethnicity.

  Tags Acculturation and Assimilation, Ethnicity and Collective Identity, Government and Politics, Hudson MA, Labor History, Lowell MA, Nonfiction, Nonfiction -- Ethnic Studies, Social History, United States, Worcester MA
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  The Canadian French in New England

  Transcription of an 1881 "informal hearing" at the Massachusetts legislature regarding the publication of the annual report of the Massachusetts Labor Statistics Bureau in which the French Canadians are famously referred to as "the Chinese of the eastern states." The report argued on the point of a ten-hour workday in Massachusetts and denigrated the French Canadian immigrant population there for being an alleged hindrance to it. The hearing here contains local French Canadian reactions to the report, as well as responses from the author of the report, the Chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who compiled the book at hand. Discussions about processes of immigration, repatriation to Canada, Americanization, naturalization, French Canadian desire for education, and the desire to rid reported French Canadian stereotypes of their public weight. Letters from local leaders expressing support for the French Canadian populations of their communities by attesting to their public political involvement and admirable work habits. All comments driven by the Bureau's reported assumption that French Canadians would resist a mandate limiting the workday to ten hours. Concludes in saying, "we have proved by overwhelming evidence that the statements contained in this report are groundless. We have not proved that they are malicious, but we deduce from the fact that they are false, that they have been presented to you from a malicious spirit or in a spirit which is just as sordid and despicable..." (pp.84-85). Recognizes the report's flawed data collection methods, as well as flawed samplings in largely unrepresentative communities, and excuses the use of the famous racial remark as being of the economic parlance of the times.

  Tags Business and Economics, Cohoes NY, Demography, Education, Ethnicity and Collective Identity, Government and Politics, Hudson MA, Labor History, Lawrence MA, Lowell MA, Maine, Manville RI, Marlboro MA, Massachusetts, Mills and Mill Work, New England, New Hampshire, Nonfiction, Nonfiction -- Government and Politics, Nonfiction -- History -- Labor and Social, Rhode Island, Social History, Spencer MA, Troy NY, Woonsocket RI, Worcester MA