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Franco-American Identity At The University Of Maine, Michael Brown

Maine History

Nineteenth-century Franco-Americans enjoyed a rich cultural heritage buttressed by parish, community, and family institutions. Faced with pressures to assimilate, Francos abandoned “la survivance ”- strategies for preserving Franco identity in the 1920's. In the 1960's Franco-American students at the University of Maine responded to a national upsurge in civil rights activism and ethnic and gender consciousness by organizing the Franco-American Resources Opportunity Group (FAROG). The Group's accomplishments - a university resource center, a curriculum in Franco-American studies, and a journal with international readership - testified to revitalized Franco-American identity in the 1970s. Michael Brown, a native of Tachikawa, Japan, received …