A series of programs at the Holocaust and Human Rights Center (HHRC) at the University of Maine in Augusta includes the history and the difficulties encountered by French-Canadian immigrants.

A group of Maine’s Franco-Americans came together recently to discuss their special experiences in the context of human rights around the world.

Franco-Americans are often considered to be an insulated ethnic group connected by genealogy and history.  Only recently have Franco-Americans started looking at their historic past and culture in the context of world events, says Barry Rodrigue, a University of Southern Maine Associate Professor and a Franco-American scholar.

Rodrigue says a third of the population of Quebec immigrated to the U.S. to find work between the years of 1850-1960, a period of rapid industrial growth in New England’s textile mills and shoe factories.

Although an overwhelming majority of the French speaking immigrants were the descendants of Roman Catholic settlers who populated New France in Quebec, some were Jewish and a few were Muslim, says Rodrigue.

Jobs and economic security in New England’s mills also raised discrimination against the Francos, who did not speak English.  French Canadian immigrants experienced stress and insecurity when the French language they spoke created communications problems with their English speaking mill bosses.  Franco children who attended public schools were often prevented from speaking French.  Many Francos recall not being allowed to speak French outside of their homes.

Some recalled the frightening specter of harassment by the Ku Klux Klan, especially during the 1920s in Biddeford and Sanford.

“What Franco-Americans went through as an immigrant group that experienced discrimination is similar to what has gone on around the world with other ethnic groups,” says Rodrigue.  Nevertheless, the 1755 Acadian deportation of the French settlers in Nova Scotia by the British remains one of the most emotional examples of ethnic discrimination in world history, he says.   It’s called Le Grand Derangement, by the Acadians. “The Acadian deportation was a horrific example of ethnocide,” he says.

Severin Beliveau, Esq., of Hallowell and French Consul to Maine led the UMA HHRC panel discussion. Beliveau is a native of Rumford, a former state legislator and a Franco-American advocate.

Among the panel’s topics was a discussion about the activities of the Maine Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s and the failed attempt to reintroduce the group during the 1980s.  A 19th-century precursor of the Klan was the Know Nothing movement, a secret political group which emerged about 1830 and existed through the 1850s. The Know Nothings were in opposition to the immigration of Irish and French Catholics into America.  Maine’s Know Nothing movement was active, says Rodrigue.

Panel member Rita Dube, the executive director of the Franco-American Heritage Center, said she remembers hearing stories about cross burnings when she was growing up in Lewiston and Auburn.  “They were targeting their discrimination against the Francos,” she said.

Panelist Yvon Labbe said the Klan’s failed attempt to regain a Maine presence in the 1980s was organized by a group of alert citizens.  “A group of Maine citizens worked with leaders in the Franco community to keep the Ku Klux Klan from returning to Maine,” he said.

Rodrigue will lead a historic field trip to the Maine Know Nothing movement’s sites in Readfield on Saturday, Nov. 6, leaving from the UMA parking lot at 10 a.m. Participants are requested to bring a picnic lunch.

Other programs in the HHRC series include discussions about the state’s Scots-Irish settlements and Native American language and cultures.  “The Gangs of New York,” a feature film about the Know Nothing movement, is on the HHRC program scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 20, at 6:30 p.m.

HHRC programs are free, although donations are gratefully accepted. Check the website at www.hhrc.uma.edu for more information.

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