Author(s)	David Vermette
Publisher	Baraka Books
Publication Year	2018

ISBN: 9781771861496

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A Distinct Alien Race

Name: A Distinct Alien Race
SKU: 9781771861496
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The Untold Story of Franco-Americans - Industrialization, Immigration, Religious Strife

“The French number more than a million in the United States…. They are kept a distinct alien race, subject to the Pope in matters of religion and of politics. Soon…they will govern you, Americans.” — British-American Citizen (Boston), 1889

Americans don’t think of Canada as a source of potential terrorists—speaking a foreign tongue, serving a foreign religion, and invading their country. But when a million French-Canadians crossed the border between 1840 and 1930, many seeking work in New England’s burgeoning textile industry, they were cast as foot soldiers in an alleged Roman Catholic plot.

A Distinct Alien Race places these Franco-Americans in the context of contemporary issues: the rise and fall of manufacturing in the U.S; Nativism and the fear of the Other; emigration to the U.S. across land borders; and the construction of race. Vermette traces individuals and families, from the textile barons whose profits in the Caribbean and China trades financed a new industry, to the rural poor of Québec who crowded into fetid tenements after the Civil War. His social history exposes the anti-Franco-American agitation of Protestant clergy, the Ku Klux Klan, and the eugenics movement.

Please Note: A collection can contain up to 30% of the chapters from this title

Contributors

David Vermette

David Vermette is a researcher, writer, and speaker on the history and identity of the descendants of French North America. He was born and raised in Massachusetts.

Chapter	Contributors	Pages	Year	Price
Introduction and Prologue A personal introduction to the topic, some broad context and history, and some definitions. View	David Vermette	28	2018	$2.80
Head of the Mercantile Community of Boston The chapter first looks at the story of the merchant Thomas Handasyd Perkins and the New England textile industry, using this merchant’s life and beliefs as a case study. It also examines … View	David Vermette	13	2018	$1.30
A Textile Industry for New England This chapter looks at the global economy and textile industry in different contexts at the beginning of the 19th century, then focuses on Boston specifically. It then looks at "Mill … View	David Vermette	15	2018	$1.50
Enter The Cabots This chapter tells the story of the renowned Cabot family of Massachusetts and their role in the textile industry in North America. View	David Vermette	19	2018	$1.90
Textiles in Brunswick – The First Half-Century This chapter looks at cotton manufacturing in what is now the State of Maine. It touches on the stories of various influential businessmen, the history of the Cabot Manufacturing Company, and the … View	David Vermette	15	2018	$1.50
Franco-Americans Rescue King Cotton This chapter further explores Franco-American history and the role that this group played in the cotton textile industry in America. It discusses the early and later mass emigration movements … View	David Vermette	31	2018	$3.10
Franco-Americans Come to Brunswick This chapter continues to trace the history of Franco-Americans from the middle to the end of the 19th century in New England. It looks at Franco-American/Canadiens experiences and communities, … View	David Vermette	17	2018	$1.70
The Case of the Cabot Mill The Cabot Company continued to house most of the rapidly growing Franco-American population throughout the 19th century; in this chapter, the author explores the history of this company and the … View	David Vermette	24	2018	$2.40
A Rich Uncle from the States? Despite the poor housing conditions in the mill towns, Canadiens continued to come to New England seduced by tales of fabulous salaries. This chapter examines the myth of Franco-American … View	David Vermette	23	2018	$2.30
Who Were the Immigrants? The standard theory claims that most of the Canadien immigrants to New England were debt-strapped farmers, but this is not the only important story about Franco-American origins in Québec; … View	David Vermette	16	2018	$1.60
They Came from L’Islet A large segment of Brunswick’s Franco-Americans came from the town of L’Islet; this chapter looks at the context surrounding this group’s emigration to New England. View	David Vermette	8	2018	$0.80
Franco-Americans and Americanism This chapter looks at Anglo-Protestant culture in the U.S. and the culture of Franco-Americans, and the tensions that emerged as Franco-Americans denied assimilation. The author argues that the … View	David Vermette	19	2018	$1.90
Fears of Franco-American Conspiracy In the twenty years before 1900, a segment of the U.S. press presented the view that the Québec Roman Catholic hierarchy conspired to conquer New England. The Franco-American workers, this … View	David Vermette	35	2018	$3.50
Eugenics and the Alien in Our Midst While tensions cooled in the early 20th century, there was renewed backlash against Franco-Americans in the era following the First World War was part of a nationwide trend targeting … View	David Vermette	24	2018	$2.40
A Klan For New England This chapter explores the history of the Ku Klux Klan, their activities in New England, and their views on/treatment of Catholic Franco-Americans, considering their religious crusade to defend … View	David Vermette	34	2018	$3.40
Textiles Go South This chapter explores the decline of the textile industry. By the mid-20th century the textile mills that attracted workers from Québec to the New England, and that once led the … View	David Vermette	17	2018	$1.70
Drifting Away from Little Canada in Body and Mind This chapter examines the phenomenon of Franco-Americans moving out of Little Canadas, even before the mills fell silent, and the reasons that so many left these communities, as well as where … View	David Vermette	12	2018	$1.20
A Distinct Alien Race No Longer This chapter looks at questions of race, culture, and self-identification in the United States, and the Franco-American experience. The assumption of Franco-Americans into non-Hispanic whiteness … View	David Vermette	8	2018	$0.80
Franco-Americans and Québécois This chapter looks at relations and differences between Franco-Americans and Quebecois. It explores some Quebecois history and cultural development during and after La Revolution Tranquille, and … View	David Vermette	11	2018	$1.10
EPILOGUE - Back to the Cemetery View	David Vermette	3	2018	$0.30

A Distinct Alien Race

The Untold Story of Franco-Americans - Industrialization, Immigration, Religious Strife

Contributors

David Vermette

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