Register: https://tinyurl.com/MVMay2922
In person at the Library 2 Maple ST, Georgetown, MA doors open at 9:30am presentation at 10AM
https://georgetownpl.org
A Fresh Approach to an Old Question
by David Vermette
It is well-established that between 1840 and 1930 nearly a million immigrants left French-Canada, many to work in New England’s cotton textile industry. But who were these immigrants? What occupations did they have before they came to New England? What was their economic status before they left Québec and why did they leave? Most treatments of these questions claim that many of the emigrants were indebted farmers who intended to return to their homesteads in Québec. Based on research for his book, A Distinct Alien Race, including analyses of source data and recent scholarship on Québec’s economic history, Vermette will challenge the assumptions about who the Franco-American workers were, why they came to the USA, and the conditions in Québec that gave rise to the emigration movement.
David Vermette is the author of the book A Distinct Alien Race: The Untold Story of Franco-Americans(Montreal: Baraka Books, 2018). He is a writer, editor, researcher, blogger, and frequent speaker on the subject of New England’s Franco-Americans. He has spoken at universities, and at historical and genealogical societies. Vermette was born and raised in Massachusetts.