What: Book party for “Voyages: A Maine Franco-American Reader”

When: 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20

Where: Room 170, Lewiston-Auburn College

A Franco mosaic


Assistant professor’s book reveals a diverse, interesting community

LEWISTON – Barry Rodrigue is still learning about being a Franco.

The Lewiston-Auburn College assistant professor – an expert on the migration of French-speaking people from Canada – never knew of Maine’s legalized discrimination until he began accumulating stories for a new anthology.

One of the pieces featured in “Voyages: A Maine Franco-American Reader,” describes an 1891 Maine law that denied French immigrants the right to vote unless they could explain the U.S. Constitution and write their names in English.

“It was a Jim Crow law aimed at the Francos,” Rodrigue said. “And it was never repealed.”

It was rarely enforced and, eventually, it was forgotten, he said.

The article is one of the surprises in the 600-page collection published as a joint venture between the University of Southern Maine and Gardiner’s Tilbury House Publishers.

The book includes more than 70 contributions: short stories, historical essays, photos, poems and recipes.

Rather than creating a single view of Francos and their place in Maine’s history, the book is meant to create a kind of mosaic, Rodrigue said.

“It’s pulling apart many of the stereotypes people have of the people,” he said. “There are all these stories out there that people don’t know about.”

The book was the idea of Nelson Madore, a professor at Thomas College in Waterville. When his schedule became too hectic – serving for a time as Waterville’s mayor – he asked Rodrigue to pick up the project.

Rodrigue teaches courses on Franco-American studies and serves as a scholar to the Franco-American Heritage Collection at L-A College.

He took up Madore’s cause, in part to create a textbook for his classes.

Many of the collections of Franco work continue the stereotype of humble mill workers and devout Catholics. There were many of those folks. But just as the story of Maine is not all lobsters and lighthouses, there were many exceptions.

For example, one of the earliest French settlements in Maine was founded by Protestant French people in Dresden, along the Kennebec River.

“There is this perception that the migration happened only from 1880 to 1930,” Rodrigue said. “We do have a lot of diversity in this state and it’s been here for 500 years.”

Rodrigue is already using the book for a class and expects it to be used by other teachers across Maine in colleges, high schools and even, selectively, in middle schools.

It is expected to be stocked by local bookstores and costs $30.

A book party is planned for Saturday at L-A College. Many of the people who helped with the book, including Rodrigue and Madore, assistant editors Corinna Miller and Chase Hebert and French language editor Normand Beaupre, plan to attend.

Also scheduled are several of the contributors, including “Papa Martel” author Gerard Robichaud, Mercedes Gastonguay, Helen Levesque and photographer Jere DeWaters.