Description: Franco-Americans brought their proud cultural legacy to Lewiston-Auburn beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. As their population grew, religious leaders became community leaders, building an independent parish and a support system, as well as providing child care. The Sisters of Charity cared for the sick and orphaned and ran the first bilingual school in Maine. Franco-Americans grappled with their own questions of patriotism, identity and culture, assimilating as Americans while preserving both their French and French Canadian backgrounds. Authors Mary Rice-DeFosse and James Myall explore the challenges, accomplishments and enduring bonds of the Franco-Americans in Lewiston-Auburn.
Brief description: Mary Rice-DeFosse is a professor of French and Francophone studies at Bates College. She and her students have collected oral histories from local residents as part of the department's Franco-American Oral History Project. She serves on the boards of Lewiston-Auburn's Franco Center for heritage and culture and the Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine's Lewiston-Auburn College. She holds a PhD from Yale University.