A Little Known History of Discrimination in New England

Dr. Angelini will give a concise historical outline of the French connection between Canada and New England with special attention given to Ben Levine’s documentary, “Réveil – Waking Up French: The Repression and Renaissance of the French in New England,” and a particular emphasis on the KKK in New England.
In her article, “New England and Canada: Understanding the Language, Cultural, and Historical Connections,”  she writes:

By 1900, the population of Quebec had grown substantially. However, this large population now strained the available farmland. At the same time, New England was harnessing waterpower from large rivers for bigger and bigger textile mills that needed workers. Over one million French Catholic Quebecers flooded from Quebec into largely English Protestant New England towns creating so many petits Canadas, French neighborhoods, that New England was called Québec en sud, “Lower Quebec.”

Unlike European immigrants of the same period, these Quebecers lived just a day’s train ride away from their destination and only wanted to stay long enough to save a sufficient amount of money to return to Quebec and re-start their farms and re-commence the lifestyles that they had left behind. They were extremely loyal to their French-Catholic way of life, which emphasized community, cooperation and devotion over the individual, competitive, and materialistic life prevalent in the United States. So loyal were they to their French-Catholic way of life that they maintained their culture despite many obstacles.

Yet, English Protestant towns became fearful of this influx of people who spoke a different language and practiced a different religion. They blamed priests for encouraging Quebecers not to assimilate, not to learn English. In towns all over New England tensions rose. English-speaking Protestant elites formed branches of the Ku Klux Klan, threatened and attacked many French communities from Massachusetts to Maine. Boasting numbers greater than in the nation’s South, New England Klan members were powerful and well entrenched. Among several who served as civic leaders, one was elected governor of Maine. The New England KKK even had a women’s auxiliary!