LEWISTON — The University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection will host a lecture by Prof. Rhea Cote Robbins on the topic “Franco-American Gender Roles: Motherhood and More” at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 13, at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College.

Robbins is a professor of Franco-American Studies at the University of Maine, and is the founder of the Franco-American Women’s Insitute, an organization of women who gather together as a force for the specific purpose of promoting Franco-American ethnic women’s voices in a variety of forms.

“Anyone with a Franco-American connection will know that women have a special place in that community,” said Collection Coordinator James Myall. “Mothers and memeres have been vital in preserving Franco-American culture for generations. But there have been plenty of Franco-American women who didn’t fit the traditional role of wife, mother and home-maker. Franco-American women have been entrepreneurs, authors, politicians, musicians — and have left their distinctive mark in a number of areas.”

The event is part of the Franco-American Collection’s Spring Lecture series, organized in partnership with USM LAC faculty and made possible by support from the University of Maine System’s Diversity Committee. For more information on the other events in the series, visit www.usm.maine.edu/franco.

The event is free and open to the public. USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College is at 51 Westminster St. For more information, call 207-753-6545 or emailfranco@usm.maine.edu.


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