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Keywords: French Americans

Historical Items

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Item 15935

French Row, Springvale

Contributed by: Sanford-Springvale Historical Society Date: circa 1905 Location: Sanford Media: Print from Glass Negative

Item 18880

Jean-Baptiste Couture, Lewiston

Contributed by: Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine Libraries Date: circa 1900 Location: Lewiston Media: Photographic print

Item 18865

Theater program, 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme,' Lewiston, 1978

Contributed by: Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine Libraries Date: 1978-04-08 Location: Lewiston Media: Ink printed on paper

Online Exhibits

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Exhibit

From French Canadians to Franco-Americans

French Canadians who emigrated to the Lewiston-Auburn area faced discrimination as children and adults -- such as living in "Little Canada" tenements and being ridiculed for speaking French -- but also adapted to their new lives and sustained many cultural traditions.

Exhibit

Maine Through the Eyes of George W. French

George French, a native of Kezar Falls and graduate of Bates College, worked at several jobs before turning to photography as his career. He served for many years as photographer for the Maine Development Commission, taking pictures intended to promote both development and tourism.

Exhibit

Les Raquetteurs

In the early 1600s, French explorers and colonizers in the New World quickly adopted a Native American mode of transportation to get around during the harsh winter months: the snowshoe. Most Northern societies had some form of snowshoe, but the Native Americans turned it into a highly functional item. French settlers named snowshoes "raquettes" because they resembled the tennis racket then in use.

Site Pages

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Site Page

Franco-American Collection

View collections, facts, and contact information for this Contributing Partner.

Site Page

Franco-American Heritage Center at St. Mary's

View collections, facts, and contact information for this Contributing Partner.

Site Page

Presque Isle: The Star City - Native Americans

"The first French explorers described the people of the region as Etchemin. This term probably included the current Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, and…"

My Maine Stories

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Story

Where are the French?
by Rhea Côté Robbins

Franco-Americans in Maine

Story

Biddeford and Maine Franco-American Hall of Fame Award recipient
by Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center

With options to be a college French professor, became a lawyer, mayor, DA & District Court Judge

Story

Dr. Norman Beaupré: Preserving his Franco-American culture
by Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center

Journey growing up as a Franco-American in Biddeford to his career as a professor and author.

Lesson Plans

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Lesson Plan

Bicentennial Lesson Plan

Maine's Acadian Community: "Evangeline," Le Grand Dérangement, and Cultural Survival

Grade Level: 9-12 Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
This lesson plan will introduce students to the history of the forced expulsion of thousands of people from Acadia, the Romantic look back at the tragedy in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous epic poem Evangeline and the heroine's adoption as an Acadian cultural figure, and Maine's Acadian community today, along with their relations with Acadian New Brunswick and Nova Scotia residents and others in the Acadian Diaspora. Students will read and discuss primary documents, compare and contrast Le Grand Dérangement to other forced expulsions in Maine history and discuss the significance of cultural survival amidst hardships brought on by treaties, wars, and legislation.

Lesson Plan

Longfellow Studies: The Exile of the People of Longfellow's "Evangeline"

Grade Level: 6-8 Content Area: Social Studies
Other materials needed: - Copy of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Evangeline" - Print media and Internet access for research - Deportation Orders (may use primary document with a secondary source interpretation) Throughout the course of history there have been many events in which great suffering was inflicted upon innocent people. The story of the Acadian expulsion is one such event. Britain and France, the two most powerful nations of Europe, were at war off and on throughout the 18th century. North America became a coveted prize for both warring nations. The French Acadians of present day Nova Scotia fell victim to great suffering. Even under an oath of allegiance to England, the Acadians were advised that their families were to be deported and their lands confiscated by the English. This event was immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem "Evangeline", which was published in 1847.