They Spoke French: A Book about French Heritage in Minnesota ed. Mark Labine (review)

This book brings much-needed attention to the strong French-Canadian heritage that is alive and well in the Midwest. Across its preface, nineteen chapters (with contributions from Pierre Girard, Jerry Foley, Mark Labine, Greg Brick, Jane Skinner Peck, Jacqueline Regis, Rev. Jules O. Omalanga, and John Schade), and four appendices (Names of North Americans with French Ancestry; French-American Heritage Foundation; Americans with French Descent; and French Words in the English Languages), one learns that Minnesota and its surrounding area were settled by the French from Canada before other Europeans arrived there. Place names, villages, natural landscapes and waterways were named by Native peoples, French-Canadians and Métis. Étienne Brûlé (born in France) arrived in what is now northern Minnesota in 1622. He was followed by explorers, trappers, voyageurs, coureurs de bois, clergy, miners, and finally French-Canadian tradesmen and their families. This group of original settlers married with the local native populations and remained the only inhabitants in the area until the treaties of the 1840s and 1850s were signed and people from the east moved into the area via Chicago and the southern Midwest. Thus, Canadian French (Royal French) was the official language of the Minnesota area for over 220 years. However, the French-Canadians suffered discrimination at the hands of the Anglophones, who started the industrial culture of the Midwest in the 1850s. French-Canadians quietly endured discrimination and belittlement by the Anglophones and kept a low profile in their own lands. They held onto their language, customs and religion, building beautiful churches and cathedrals, schools, and establishing large families. But the history of French in Minnesota does not end there. They Spoke French addresses, for example, the French influence on education in Minnesota, Haitian immigration, the arrival of French-speaking Vietnamese in three distinct waves, and the Francophone-African Catholic communities. There are also chapters on French Huguenots, French and French-Canadian organizations in Minnesota, genealogy websites and resources for those who want to discover their French and French-Canadian roots, other interesting facts about famous Americans with French ancestors, and French words in the English language. An especially intriguing chapter is the one dedicated to French-Canadian influence on hockey in Minnesota:"Ice hockey began creeping into Minnesota and the northern United States in the 1890s through border towns like Roseau and Warroad and the Iron Range towns of Eveleth" (174). The popularity of hockey in Minnesota is striking (Minnesotans take pride in the number of players at Division I colleges/universities and in the NHL): "Hockey in Warroad, today styled as'Hockeytown U.S.A.,' started in 1904 when George Marvin got off a train from Manitoba to manage a grain elevator and a lumber and coal business" (174). They Spoke French provides a richly-detailed overview of French in Minnesota, inspiring readers to explore the state.