View source for French Americans

{{Short description|Americans of French birth or descent}}
{{For|the language spoken by some of these people|American French}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| native_name_lang = 
| group            = French Americans
| native_name      = {{native name|fr|Franco-américains}}
| image            = French ancestry in the USA and Canada.svg
| image_caption    = French Americans and [[French Canadian]]s as percent of population by state and province.{{efn|This map does not display data of people identifying solely as Acadian/Cajun, Creole, French-Canadian, Haitian, Métis or Québécois alone, due to the difficulty of determining overlap for multiple-ancestry or ethnicity responses. Many identified with "French" Census responses in the United States and Canada will have some overlap with "French – French-Canadian" and "French – Cajun", "Haitian – French" and other responses.}}
| total            = {{small|Including French-Canadian:}}<br/>
'''25,853,902 (7.4%) alone or in combination'''<br/>
'''2,384,822 (1.3%) French or French-Canadian alone'''<br/>
{{small|Excluding French-Canadian:}}<br/>
'''22,964,646 (6.9%) alone or in combination'''<br/>
'''1,603,732 (1.5%) French alone'''<br/>
{{small|2024 estimates, self-reported}}<ref name="ACS2021">{{cite web|url=https://usa.ipums.org/usa/|title=IPUMS USA|publisher=[[University of Minnesota]]|access-date=October 12, 2022}}</ref>
| popplace         = Predominantly in [[New England]] and [[Louisiana]] with smaller communities elsewhere; largest numbers in [[California]]. Significant  communities also exist in [[New York (state)|New York]], [[Wisconsin]], [[Michigan]], and [[Illinois]], as well as throughout the [[Mid-Atlantic (United States)|Mid-Atlantic]].
| langs            = [[French language in the United States|French]], [[Louisiana Creole]], [[American English|English]], [[Franglais]]
| rels             = Predominantly [[Christians|Christian]]<br>(majority [[Roman Catholicism|Catholic]], minority [[Protestantism|Protestant]])
| related          = [[French Canadians]], [[French-Canadian Americans]], [[Basque Americans]], [[Belgian Americans]] ([[Wisconsin Walloon]]s), [[Breton Americans]], [[Catalan Americans]], [[Corsican Americans]]
}}

{{French people}}

'''French Americans''' or '''Franco-Americans''' ({{langx|fr|Franco-américains}}) are [[Citizenship of the United States|citizens]] or [[United States nationality law|nationals of the United States]] who identify themselves with having full or partial [[French people|French]] or [[French Canadian|French-Canadian]] heritage, [[Ethnic group|ethnicity]] and/or [[Ancestor|ancestral ties]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/french-americans|title=French Americans – Dictionary definition of French Americans {{!}} Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary|website=www.encyclopedia.com|language=en|access-date=January 18, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Franco-American-Alliance|title=Franco-American Alliance {{!}} French-United States history [1778]|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=January 18, 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SOvskj0HNt8C&q=french+americans+definition&pg=PT2187|title=Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration [4 volumes]: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration|last=Barkan|first=Elliott Robert|date=January 17, 2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781598842203|language=en}}</ref> They include [[French Canadian Americans|French-Canadian Americans]], whose experience and identity differ from the broader community.

The state with the largest proportion of people identifying as having French ancestry is [[Maine]], while the state with the largest number of people with French ancestry is California. Many [[List of U.S. cities with large French American populations|U.S. cities have large French American populations]]. The city with the largest concentration of people of French extraction is [[Madawaska, Maine]], while the largest French-speaking population by percentage of speakers in the U.S. is found in [[St. Martin Parish, Louisiana]].

Country-wide, as of 2024, there are about 25.8 million U.S. residents who declare French ancestry, 7.4% of the U.S. population<ref name="ACS2020">{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2020.B04006|title=Table B04006 - People Reporting Ancestry - 2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=October 12, 2022}}</ref> or French Canadian descent, and about 1.32 million<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-29.pdf|title=Language Use and English-Speaking Ability: 2000|author=U.S. Census Bureau|author-link=U.S. Census Bureau|year=2003|publisher=[[U.S. Department of Commerce]], Economics and Statistics Administration|access-date=March 2, 2012}}</ref> per the [[2010 United States Census|2010 census]], spoke [[French language in the United States|French at home]].<ref name="factfinder2.census.gov">{{cite web|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_B16001&prodType=table|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212213140/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_B16001&prodType=table|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 12, 2020|title=LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME BY ABILITY TO SPEAK ENGLISH FOR THE POPULATION 5 YEARS AND OVER : Universe: Population 5 years and over : 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates|publisher=Factfinder2.census.gov|access-date=March 14, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Du-Ha/French-Americans.html|title=Language Use and English-speaking Ability: 2000|author=Shin, Hyon B.|author2=Bruno, Rosalind|date=October 2003|work=2000 U.S. Census|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|format=PDF}}</ref> An additional 750,000 U.S. residents speak a [[French-based creole language]], according to the 2011 [[American Community Survey]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-22.pdf |title=Language Use in the United States: 2011 – American Community Survey Reports |page=3 |author=Ryan, Camille |year=2013 |publisher=U.S. Census |access-date=September 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205101044/http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-22.pdf |archive-date=February 5, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> French Americans represent the 4th largest [[Race and ethnicity in the United States|ancestry group]] in the [[United States]] after [[Mexican Americans]], [[Irish Americans]] and [[German Americans]], based on the self-reporting ancestry data from the [[U.S. Census Bureau]].

Franco-Americans are less visible than other similarly sized ethnic groups and are relatively uncommon when compared to the size of France's population, or to the numbers of German, Italian, Irish or English Americans. This is partly due to the tendency of Franco-American groups to identify more closely with North American regional identities such as [[French Canadians|French Canadian]], [[Acadians|Acadian]], [[Brayon]], [[Louisiana French people|Louisiana French]] ([[Cajuns|Cajun]], [[Louisiana Creole people|Creole]]) than as a coherent group, but also because emigration from France during the 19th century was low compared to the rest of Europe. Consequently, there is less of a unified French American identity as with other [[European American]] ethnic groups, and Americans of French descent are highly concentrated in [[New England]] and [[Louisiana]]. Nevertheless, the French presence has had an outsized impact on American [[toponym]]s.

==History==
{{main|New France|History of the Franco-Americans}}

Some Franco-Americans arrived prior to the [[American Revolution|founding of the United States]], settling in places like the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], [[Louisiana]] or [[New England|Northern New England]]. In these same areas, many cities and geographic features retain their names given by the first Franco-American inhabitants, and in sum, 23 of the [[Contiguous United States]] were colonized in part by French pioneers or French Canadians, including settlements such as Iowa ([[Des Moines, Iowa|Des Moines]]), Missouri ([[St. Louis]]), Kentucky ([[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]]) and Michigan ([[Detroit]]), among others.<ref>{{cite book |last=Maurault |first=Olivier |url=https://archive.org/details/frenchofcanadane00maur/page/8 |title=The French of Canada and New England |date=November 1950 |publisher=The Newcomen Society of England in North America |location=New York |author-link=Olivier Maurault}}</ref>
Settlers and political refugees from the [[Kingdom of France]], including [[Huguenots]], also settled alongside French-speaking [[Flanders|Flemish]] [[Walloons]] in the Dutch colony of [[New Amsterdam]], the capital of [[New Netherland]], which later became [[New York City]].<ref>{{cite web |title=A Brief Outline of the History of New Netherland |url=https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/NNHistory.html |website=Coin and Currency Collections |publisher=University of Notre Dame Libraries |access-date=31 July 2024}}</ref><ref name="LeFevre">{{cite journal |last1=LeFevre |first1=Ralph |title=The Huguenots - The First Settlers in the Province of New York |journal=The Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Association |date=July 1921 |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=177–185 |jstor=43564497 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43564497 |access-date=31 July 2024}}</ref> While found throughout the country, today Franco-Americans are most numerous in [[New England]], <!-- North Country, New York -->northern [[New York (state)|New York]], the Midwest, Louisiana, and [[northern California]]. Often, Franco-Americans are identified more specifically as being of [[French Canadians]], [[Cajuns]] or [[Louisiana Creole]] descent.<ref>US census 2010</ref>

A vital segment of Franco-American history involves the [[Quebec diaspora]] of the 1840s–1930s, in which nearly one million [[French Canadian]]s moved to the United States, mainly relocating to New England mill towns, fleeing economic downturn in Québec and seeking manufacturing jobs in the United States.
Historically, French Canadians had among the [[La Revanche des berceaux|highest birth rates]] in world history, explaining their relatively large population despite low immigration rates from France. These immigrants mainly settled in [[Québec]] and [[Acadia]], although some eventually inhabited [[Ontario]] and [[Manitoba]]. Many of the first French-Canadian migrants to the U.S. worked in the New England lumber industry, and, to a lesser degree, in the burgeoning [[mining]] industry in the upper [[Great Lakes]]. This initial wave of seasonal migration was then followed by more permanent relocation in the United States by French-Canadian millworkers.

===Louisiana===
{{Further|Louisiana French people|Louisiana Creole people|Cajuns}}
[[File:Nouvelle-France map-en.svg|thumb|right|255px|Map of [[New France]] about 1750 in North America]]

Louisiana Creole people refers to those who are descended from the colonial settlers in Louisiana, especially those of French and Spanish descent but also including individuals of [[Multiracial people|mixed-race]] heritage (cf. [[Creoles of color|Creoles of Color]]). Louisiana Creoles of any race have common European heritage and share cultural ties, such as the traditional use of the French language and the continuing practice of [[Catholicism]]; in most cases, the people are related to each other. Those of mixed race also sometimes have African and Native American ancestry.<ref>Helen Bush Caver and Mary T. Williams, "Creoles", Multicultural America, Countries and Their Cultures Website, accessed February 3, 2009</ref> As a group, the mixed-race Creoles rapidly began to acquire education, skills (many in New Orleans worked as craftsmen and artisans), businesses and property. They were overwhelmingly Catholic, spoke Colonial French (although some also spoke [[Louisiana Creole]]) and kept up many French social customs, modified by other parts of their ancestry and Louisiana culture. The [[free people of color]] married among themselves to maintain their class and social culture.

The Cajuns of Louisiana have a unique heritage, generally seeing themselves as distinct from Louisiana Creoles despite a number of historical documents also classifying the Acadians' descendants as ''Créoles''. Their ancestors settled [[Acadia]], in what is now the Canadian provinces of [[New Brunswick]], [[Nova Scotia]], [[Prince Edward Island]] and part of [[Maine]] in the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1755, after capturing [[Fort Beauséjour]] and several other French forts in the region, British authorities demanded the Acadians swear an oath of loyalty to the [[The Crown|British Crown]], which the majority refused to do. In response, the British deported them to the [[Thirteen Colonies]] in the south in what has become known as the [[expulsion of the Acadians]]. Over the next generation, some four thousand Acadians made the long trek to Louisiana, where they began a new life. The name ''Cajun'' is a corruption of the word ''Acadian''. Many still live in what is known as the [[Acadiana|Cajun Country]], where much of their colonial culture survives. [[Louisiana (New France)|French Louisiana]], when it was [[Louisiana Purchase|sold]] by [[Napoleon]] in 1803, covered all or part of fifteen current [[U.S. states]] and contained French and Canadian colonists dispersed across it, though they were most numerous in its southernmost portion.

During the [[War of 1812]], Louisiana residents of French origin took part on the American side in the [[Battle of New Orleans]] (December 23, 1814, through January 8, 1815). [[Jean Lafitte]] and his Baratarians later were honored by US General [[Andrew Jackson]] for their contribution to the defense of New Orleans.<ref>[[Charles Jared Ingersoll|Ingersoll, Charles Jared]]. ''[https://archive.org/details/historysecondwa01ingegoog/page/n73 <!-- pg=69 --> History of the second war between the United States of America and Great Britain: declared by act of Congress, the 18th of June, 1812, and concluded by peace, the 15th of February, 1815]'' Vol.2, Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1852, pp. 69ff.</ref>

In Louisiana today, more than 15 percent of the population of the [[Cajun Country]] reported in the [[2000 United States Census]] that French was spoken at home.<ref>1.6 million Americans over the age of five speak the language at home; Language Use and English-Speaking Ability, fig. 3 [https://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-29.pdf www.census.gov] (PDF)</ref>

Another significant source of immigrants to Louisiana was [[Saint-Domingue]] (today [[Haiti]]); many [[Saint Dominicans]] fled during this time, and half of the diaspora eventually settled in New Orleans.<ref name="AAM">{{cite web |url=http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/topic.cfm?migration=5&topic=3 |title=Haitian Immigration: 18th & 19th Centuries - The Black Republic and Louisiana |website=In Motion: African American Migration Experience |publisher=New York Public Library |access-date=May 7, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915071124/http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/topic.cfm?migration=5&topic=3 |archive-date= Sep 15, 2008 }}</ref>

[[Biloxi, Mississippi|Biloxi]] in [[Mississippi]], and [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]] in [[Alabama]], still contain French American heritage since they were founded by the Canadian [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]].

The [[Houma Tribe]] in Louisiana still speak the same French they had been taught 300 years ago.

[[File:Gilbert_du_Motier_Marquis_de_Lafayette.PNG|thumb|180px|The [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|Marquis de Lafayette]], known as “''The Hero of the Two Worlds''” for his accomplishments in the service of the United States in the [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]].]]

===Colonial era===
{{main|Huguenot#North America}}

In the 17th and early 18th centuries, there was an influx of a few thousand [[Huguenots]], who were [[Calvinism|Calvinist]] refugees fleeing religious persecution following the issuance of the 1685 [[Edict of Fontainebleau]] by [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] of the [[Kingdom of France]].<ref name="Purvis p. 163">{{cite book|first=Thomas L.|last=Purvis|editor-first=Richard|editor-last=Balkin|title=Colonial America to 1763|year=1999|place=New York|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]]|isbn=978-0816025275|page=[https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/163 163]|url=https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/163}}</ref> Some of these refugees settled in the Dutch colony of [[New Netherland]] and its capital city, [[New Netherland]], including being among the first Europeans to settle on [[Staten Island]].<ref name="LeFevre" /> In 1674, with the signing of the [[Treaty of Westminster (1674)|Treaty of Westminster]] to end the [[Third Anglo-Dutch War]] (1672-1674), the [[Netherlands]] ceded the colony to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]], who renamed the colony [[Province of New York|New York]], and its capital to [[New York City]], after [[James II of England|Prince James, Duke of York]], the brother of [[Charles II of England|King Charles II of England]].

For nearly a century, French settlers fostered a distinctive French Protestant identity that enabled them to remain aloof from American society, but by the time of the [[American Revolution]], they had generally intermarried and merged into the larger [[Presbyterian]] community.<ref name="Harvard">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Higonnet|first=Patrice Louis René|author-link=Patrice Higonnet|editor-last=Thernstrom|editor-first=Stephan|editor-link=Stephan Thernstrom|editor-last2=Orlov|editor-first2=Ann|editor-last3=Handlin|editor-first3=Oscar|editor-link3=Oscar Handlin|title=French|page=382|encyclopedia=Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups|url=https://archive.org/details/harvardencyclope00ther|year=1980|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|isbn=0674375122|oclc=1038430174}}</ref> In 1700, they constituted 13% of the white population of the [[Province of Carolina]], and 5% of the white population of the [[Province of New York]].<ref name="Purvis p. 163" /> The largest number settling in [[South Carolina]], where the French comprised 4% of the white population in 1790.<ref>Kurt Gingrich, {{"'}}That Will Make Carolina Powerful and Flourishing': Scots and Huguenots In Carolina in the 1680s", ''South Carolina Historical Magazine'', Jan–June 2009, Vol. 110 Issue 1/2, pp 6–34,</ref><ref>Bertrand Van Ruymbeke, ''New Babylon to Eden: The Huguenots and Their Migration to Colonial South Carolina''. U. of South Carolina Press, 2006.</ref> With the help of the well-organized international Huguenot community, many also moved to Virginia.<ref>David Lambert, ''The Protestant International and the Huguenot Migration to Virginia'' (2009)</ref> In the north, [[Paul Revere]] of [[Boston]] was a prominent figure.

A new influx of French-heritage people occurred at the very end of the colonial era. Following the failed [[Invasion of Quebec (1775)|invasion of Quebec in 1775-1776]], hundreds of French-Canadian men who had enlisted in the [[Continental Army]] remained in the ranks. Under colonels James Livingston and [[Moses Hazen]], they saw military action across the main theaters of the Revolutionary War. At the end of the war, New York State formed the [[Canadian and Nova Scotia Refugee Tract]] stretching westward from Lake Champlain. Though many of the veterans sold their claims in this vast region, some remained and the settlement held. From early colonizing efforts in the 1780s to the era of Quebec's "great hemorrhage," the French-Canadian presence in Clinton County in northeastern New York was inescapable.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lacroix |first1=Patrick |title=Promises to Keep: French Canadians as Revolutionaries and Refugees, 1775-1800 |journal=Journal of Early American History |date=2019 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=59–82 |doi=10.1163/18770703-00901004 |s2cid=159066318 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jeah/9/1/article-p59_59.xml|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Midwest===
From the beginning of the 17th century, [[French Canadians]] explored and traveled to the region with their [[coureur de bois]] and explorers, such as [[Jean Nicolet]], [[Robert de LaSalle]], [[Jacques Marquette]], [[Nicholas Perrot]], [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]], [[Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac]], [[Pierre Dugué de Boisbriant]], [[Lucien Galtier]], [[Pierre Laclède]], [[René Auguste Chouteau]], [[Julien Dubuque]], [[Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye|Pierre de La Vérendrye]] and [[Pierre Parrant]].

The French Canadians set up a number of villages along the waterways, including [[Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin]]; [[Green Bay, Wisconsin|La Baye, Wisconsin]]; [[Cahokia, Illinois]]; [[Kaskaskia, Illinois]]; [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]; [[Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan]]; [[Saint Ignace, Michigan]]; [[Vincennes, Indiana]]; [[St. Paul, Minnesota]]; [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]]; and [[Sainte Genevieve, Missouri]]. They also built a series of forts in the area, such as [[Fort de Chartres]], [[Fort Crevecoeur]], [[Fort Saint Louis (Illinois)|Fort Saint Louis]], [[Fort Ouiatenon]], [[Fort Miami (Michigan)]], [[Fort Miami (Indiana)]], [[Fort St. Joseph (Niles)|Fort Saint Joseph]], [[Fort La Baye]], [[Fort de Buade]], [[Fort Saint Antoine]], [[Fort Crevecoeur]], [[Fort Trempealeau]], [[Fort Beauharnois]], [[Fort Orleans]], [[Fort St. Charles]], [[Fort Kaministiquia]], [[Fort Michilimackinac]], [[Fort Rouillé]], [[Fort Niagara]], [[Fort Le Boeuf]], [[Fort Venango]] and [[Fort Duquesne]]. The forts were serviced by soldiers and fur trappers who had long networks reaching through the Great Lakes back to Montreal.<ref>Eric Jay Dolin, ''Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America'' (W.W. Norton, 2010) pp 61–132</ref> Sizable agricultural settlements were established in the ''[[Pays des Illinois]]''.<ref>Ekberg, Carl J. (2000). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NOdf3FRXms0C&pg=PA31 French Roots in the Illinois Country]''. University of Illinois Press. pp. 31–100. {{ISBN|0-252-06924-2}}.</ref>

The region was relinquished by [[Kingdom of France|France]] to the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] in 1763 as a result of the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]]. Three years of war by the Natives, called [[Pontiac's War]], ensued. It became part of the [[Quebec Act|Province of Quebec]] in 1774, and was seized by the United States during the Revolution.<ref>Clarence Walworth Alvord, "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1836446 Father Pierre Gibault and the Submission of Post Vincennes, 1778]", ''American Historical Review'' Vol. 14, No. 3 (Apr. 1909), pp. 544–557, {{JSTOR|1836446}}.</ref>

===New England and New York State===
{{Further|New England French|Quebec diaspora|French-Canadian Americans}}

In the nineteenth century, many people of French heritage arrived from [[Quebec]] and [[New Brunswick]] to work in manufacturing cities, especially textile centers, in New England and New York State. They came together in enclaves known as "[[Little Canada (term)|Little Canada]]s". In the same period, Francophones from Quebec became a majority of workers in other regions and sectors, for instance the saw mill and logging camps in the [[Adirondack Mountains]] and their foothills. They amounted to an ever-growing share of the region's population; by the mid-twentieth century, Franco-Americans comprised 30 percent of Maine's population.<ref name="Richard 2002">Mark Paul Richard, "From 'Canadien' to American: The Acculturation of French-Canadian Descendants in Lewiston, Maine, 1860 to the Present", PhD dissertation Duke U. 2002; ''Dissertation Abstracts International'', 2002 62(10): 3540-A. DA3031009, 583p.</ref>

[[File:Statue of Liberty National Monument STLI 02-01.jpg|thumb|right|180px|The [[Statue of Liberty]] is a gift from the French people in memory of the [[American Declaration of Independence]].]]
Factories could provide employment to entire nuclear families, including children. Some French-Canadian women saw New England as a place of opportunity and possibility where they could create economic alternatives for themselves distinct from the expectations of their farm families in Canada. By the early twentieth century, some saw temporary migration to the United States as a rite of passage and a time of self-discovery and self-reliance. Most moved permanently to the United States, using the inexpensive railroad system to visit Quebec from time to time. When these women did marry, they had fewer children with longer intervals between children than their Canadian counterparts. Some women never married and oral accounts suggest that self-reliance and economic independence were important reasons for choosing work over marriage and motherhood. These women conformed to traditional gender ideals in order to retain their 'Canadienne' cultural identity, but they also redefined these roles in ways that provided them increased independence as wives and mothers.<ref>{{Citation |first=Florencemae |last=Waldron |title=The Battle Over Female (In)Dependence: Women In New England Québécois Migrant Communities, 1870–1930 |journal=Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies |year=2005 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=158–205 |doi=10.1353/fro.2005.0032 |s2cid=161455771 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |first=Florencemae |last=Waldron |title='I've Never Dreamed It Was Necessary To 'Marry!': Women And Work In New England French Canadian Communities, 1870–1930 |journal=Journal of American Ethnic History |year=2005 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=34–64 |doi=10.2307/27501562 |jstor=27501562 |s2cid=254493034 |url=http://jaeh.press.illinois.edu/24/2/waldron.html |url-access=subscription }}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
Women also shaped the Franco-American experience as members of religious orders. The first hospital in Lewiston, Maine, became a reality in 1889 when the Sisters of Charity of Montreal, the 'Grey Nuns,' opened the Asylum of Our Lady of Lourdes. This hospital was central to the Grey Nuns' mission of providing social services for Lewiston's predominately French-Canadian mill workers. The Grey Nuns struggled to establish their institution despite meager financial resources, language barriers, and opposition from the established medical community.<ref>{{Citation |first=Susan |last=Hudson |title=Les Sœurs Grises of Lewiston, Maine 1878–1908: An Ethnic Religious Feminist Expression |journal=Maine History |year=2001–2002 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=309–332 }}</ref><ref name="Richard">{{Cite journal |first=Mark Paul |last=Richard |title=The Ethnicity of Clerical Leadership: The Dominicans in Francophone Lewiston, Maine, 1881–1986 |journal=Quebec Studies |year=2002 |volume=33 |pages=83–101 |doi=10.3828/qs.33.1.83}}</ref>

[[File:Holyoke_Frenchmen_learning_to_read_English_at_Night_School_(1902).jpg|left|260px|thumb|Members of [[History of the Franco-Americans in Holyoke, Massachusetts|the French community in Holyoke, Massachusetts]] taking English classes at a YMCA night school, 1902]]
The French-Canadian community in the Northeast tried to preserve its inherited cultural norms. This happened within the institutions of the Catholic Church, though it involved struggling with little success against Irish clerics. According to Raymond Potvin, the predominantly Irish hierarchy was slow to recognize the need for French-language parishes; several bishops even called for assimilation and English language-only parochial schools. By the twentieth century, a number of parochial schools for Francophone students opened, though they gradually closed later in the century and a large share of the French-speaking population left the Church. At the same time, the number of priests available to staff these parishes diminished.<ref>{{Citation |first=Raymond H. |last=Potvin |title=The Franco-American Parishes of New England: Past, Present and Future |journal=American Catholic Studies |year=2003 |volume=114 |issue=2 |pages=55–67 }}</ref> Like Church institutions, such Franco-American newspapers as ''Le Messager'' and ''[[La Justice]]'' served as pillars of the ideology of ''survivance''—the effort to preserve the traditional culture through faith and language.<ref name="Stewart">{{Citation |first=Alice R. |last=Stewart |title=The Franco-Americans of Maine: A Historiographical Essay |journal=Maine Historical Society Quarterly |year=1987 |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=160–179 }}</ref> A product of the commercial and industrial economy of these areas, by 1913, the French and French-Canadian populations of New York City, Fall River (Massachusetts), and Manchester (New Hampshire) were the largest in the country. Out of the 20 largest Franco-American populations in the United States, only four cities were outside of New York and New England, with New Orleans ranking 18th largest in the nation.<ref name="AmLeader">{{cite magazine|magazine=The American Leader|publisher=American Association of Foreign Language Newspapers, Inc.|location=New York|volume=IV|issue=11|date=December 11, 1913|title=French Towns in the United States; A Study of the Relative Strength of the French-Speaking Population in Our Large Cities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j8HMDSORztsC&pg=PA672|pages=672–674}}</ref> Because of this, a number of French institutions were established in New England, including the Société Historique Franco-américaine in Boston and the [[Union Saint-Jean-Baptiste d’Amérique]] of [[Woonsocket]], the largest French-Catholic cultural and mutual benefit society in the United States in the early twentieth century.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ready to Dedicate Gatineau Shaft at Southbridge Today|date=September 2, 1929|work=The Boston Globe|location=Boston|page=5|quote=The memorial erected to State. Representative Felix Gatineau of Southbrldge, founder of L'Union St John the Baptist in America, the largest French Catholic fraternal organization in the United States, will be dedicated tomorrow. Labor Day and a parade in which 3000 persons will participate, will be a feature.}}</ref> Immigration from Quebec dwindled in the 1920s.

Amid the decline of the textile industry from the 1920s to the 1950s, the French element experienced a period of upward mobility and assimilation. This pattern of assimilation increased during the 1970s and 1980s as many Catholic organizations switched to English and parish children entered public schools; some parochial schools closed in the 1970s.<ref name="Richard 2002" /><ref>{{Citation |first=Mark Paul |last=Richard |title=From Franco-American to American: The Case of Sainte-Famille, An Assimilating Parish of Lewiston, Maine |journal=Histoire Sociale: Social History |year=1998 |volume=31 |issue=61 |pages=71–93 }}</ref> In recent decades, self-identification has moved away from the French language.

Franco-American culture continues to evolve in the twenty-first century. Well-established genealogical societies and public history venues still seek to share the Franco-American story. Their work is occasionally supported by the commercial and cultural interests of Quebec and state governments in the Northeast.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lacroix |first1=Patrick |title=Histoire des Franco-Américains: nouvelle utilité, nouvelle efflorescence? |url=http://histoireengagee.ca/histoire-des-franco-americains-nouvelle-utilite-nouvelle-efflorescence/ |website=HistoireEngagée.ca |access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref> New groups and events have contributed to the effort. Some observers have drawn a comparison between recent developments and the appropriation and modernization of “Franco” culture by young people in the 1970s. For some, a “renaissance” or “revival” is under way.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lacroix |first1=Patrick |title=Le Droit |url=https://www.ledroit.com/2021/04/26/une-revolution-tranquille-chez-les-franco-americains-a2588dff631b9366bab6f4ed36dc23a6?nor=true |access-date=9 October 2022 |date=April 25, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Vermette |first1=David |editor1-last=Stein-Smith |editor1-first=Kathleen |editor2-last=Jaumont |editor2-first=Fabrice |title=French All around Us – French language and Francophone Culture in the United States |date=2022 |publisher=TBR Books |location=New York City |pages=205–215 |chapter=The Question of a Franco-American Revival}}</ref>

The New Hampshire PoutineFest, founded by Timothy Beaulieu, uses an iconic Quebec dish to broaden interest in the culture.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Murphy |first1=Megan |title=New Hampshire PoutineFest to Return this October |url=https://wokq.com/new-hampshire-poutinefest-to-return-this-october/ |access-date=9 October 2022 |work=WOKQ 97.5 |date=March 15, 2022}}</ref> The French-Canadian Legacy podcast offers contemporary perspectives on French-Canadian experiences on both sides of the border. Through a collaboration with the Quebec Government Office and local institutions, the podcast's team established a GeoTour dedicated to Franco-American life in major New England cities.<ref>{{cite web |title=New England Franco Route GeoTour |url=https://www.geocaching.com/play/geotours/new-england-franco-route |website=Geocaching |access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref> Acts of commemoration have lately extended to pioneer suffragist Camille-Lessard Bissonnette.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Collins |first1=Steve |title=Lewiston's Lessard-Bissonnette to be honored with historical marker |url=https://www.sunjournal.com/2022/05/29/lewistons-lessard-bissonnette-to-be-honored-with-historical-marker/ |access-date=9 October 2022 |work=Lewiston Sun-Journal |date=May 29, 2022}}</ref> Abby Paige has, for her part, brought the community's history and its complicated legacies to the stage.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McKone |first1=Tom |title=Abby Paige and "Les Filles du Quoi?" Shine at Lost Nation Theater |url=https://montpelierbridge.org/2022/06/abby-paige-and-les-filles-du-quoi-shine-at-lost-nation-theater/ |access-date=9 October 2022 |work=The Bridge |date=June 22, 2022}}</ref> The culture and its manifestations in Louisiana, the Midwest, and the Northeast have become the focus of a course at Harvard University.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Carrier |first1=Léa |title=La francophonie nord-américaine en vedette dans un cours à Harvard |url=https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/education/2022-09-17/la-francophonie-nord-americaine-en-vedette-dans-un-cours-a-harvard.php |access-date=9 October 2022 |work=La Presse |date=September 17, 2022}}</ref> Francophonie Month (March) and St. John the Baptist Day (June 24) also provide an opportunity for celebration and increased visibility.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lacroix |first1=Patrick |title=Why Was the Quebec Flag Flown at the Statehouse in Connecticut? |url=http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/166428 |website=History News Network |date=August 13, 2017 |access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref> At the same time, some members of the community are inviting reconsideration of Franco-Americans’ place in conversations about race<ref>{{cite journal |last1=St. Pierre |first1=Timothy |title=Acknowledging and Confronting Racism in Franco Communities |journal=Le Forum |date=2020 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=10, 49}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Paige |first1=Abby |title=Beyond Whiteness: Imagining a Franco-American Future |journal=Le Forum |date=2021 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=3, 7–8}}</ref> and class.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Currie |first1=Ron |title=Paul LePage and I Feel the Same Way About the Poor |url=https://downeast.com/features/paul-and-me/ |website=Down East |date=November 2, 2018 |access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref>

Noted American popular culture figures who maintained a close connection to their French roots include musician [[Rudy Vallée]] (1901–1986) who grew up in [[Westbrook, Maine]], a child of a French-Canadian father and an Irish mother,<ref>{{Citation |first=C. Stewart |last=Doty |title=Rudy Vallee: Franco-American and Man from Maine |journal=Maine Historical Society Quarterly |year=1993 |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=2–19 }}</ref> and counter-culture author [[Jack Kerouac]] (1922–1969) who grew up in [[Lowell, Massachusetts]]. Kerouac was the child of two French-Canadian immigrants and wrote in both English and French. Franco-American political figures from New England include U.S. Senator [[Kelly Ayotte]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]], [[New Hampshire]]), Governor [[Paul LePage]] of Maine, and Presidential adviser [[Jon Favreau (speechwriter)|Jon Favreau]], who was born and raised in Massachusetts.

===California===
During the early years of the [[California Gold Rush]], over 20,000 migrants from France arrived in the state.<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230362703_11 | doi=10.1057/9780230362703_11 | chapter=The French in Gold Rush San Francisco and spiritual kinship | title=Spiritual Kinship in Europe, 1500–1900 | year=2012 | last1=Foucrier | first1=Annick | pages=275–291 | isbn=978-1-349-34856-5 }}</ref> By the mid-1850s, [[San Francisco]] had emerged as the center of the French population on the West Coast, with over 30,000 people of French descent, more than any other ethnic group except Germans.<ref name="Hiding">[https://www.kalw.org/show/crosscurrents/2015-11-30/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-french-of-san-francisco Hiding in plain sight - the French of San Francisco], 30 November 2015, [[KALW]]</ref> During this period, the city's [[Belden Place|French Quarter]] was established, along with important businesses and institutions such as the [[Boudin Bakery]] and French Hospital. Since the US was in high demand for labor between 1921 and 1931, it resulted in an estimated 2 million French immigrants coming to America for jobs. This not only portrayed a strong impact on the American economy, but also the French economy as well.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sauvy |first=Alfred |title=Assessment of French Immigration Needs |url=https://caccl-positas.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?&context=PC&vid=01CACCL_POSITAS:POSITAS&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&docid=cdi_proquest_journals_1849709515 |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=caccl-positas.primo.exlibrisgroup.com |language=en}}</ref> The latter half of the 19th century progressed, French immigrants continued to arrive in San Francisco in large numbers and French entrepreneurs played significant roles in shaping the city's culinary, fashion, and financial sectors. This led to the city earning the nickname "Paris of the Pacific".<ref>Sessums, Martha. [https://francetoday.com/learn/history/paris_of_the_pacific_celebrating_san_francisco_s_founding_french_community/ Paris of the Pacific: Celebrating San Francisco's Founding French Community], 
''France Today'', 28 April 2015.</ref>

French immigrants and their descendants also began settling in what is now the [[North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)|North Bay]], becoming instrumental in the development of [[Wine Country]] and the modern California wine industry.<ref>Franson, Paul. [https://sanfrancisco.consulfrance.org/french-influence-in-california-pacific-northwest-s-wine-business French influence in California/Pacific Northwest's wine business], French Consulate of San Francisco, April 2018.</ref> Following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]], French architecture (especially [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]]) was heavily used in the rebuilding of the city, as evidenced in its [[San Francisco City Hall|City Hall]], [[Legion of Honor (museum)|Legion of Honor Museum]], and downtown news kiosks.<ref name="Hiding" />

As a result of historic connections and cultural exchanges between France and the region, the majority of French multinational businesses have established their U.S. headquarters or subsidiaries in the San Francisco Bay Area since the rise of Silicon Valley and the [[Dot-com bubble]].<ref>Vasilyuk, Sasha.[https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/French-companies-transplants-grow-in-Bay-Area-3194664.php French companies' transplants grow in Bay Area], ''[[SFGATE]]'', 20 March 2010.</ref>

===Civil War===
Franco-Americans in the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union forces]] were one of the most important Catholic groups present during the [[American Civil War]]. The exact number is unclear, but thousands of Franco-Americans appear to have served in this conflict. Union forces did not keep reliable statistics concerning foreign enlistments. However, historians have estimated anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 Franco-Americans serving in this war. In addition to those born in the United States, many who served in the Union forces came from Canada or had resided there for several years. [[O Canada|Canada's national anthem]] was written by such a soldier named [[Calixa Lavallée]], who wrote this anthem while he served for the Union, attaining the rank of Lieutenant.<ref>Canada, French Canadians and Franco-Americans in the Civil War Era (1861–1865) D.-C. Bélanger, Montreal, Quebec, June 24, 2001</ref> Leading Confederate General [[P.G.T. Beauregard]] was a notably francophone Louisiana Creole.

===Politics===
Walker (1962) examines the voting behavior in U.S. presidential elections from 1880 to 1960, using election returns from 30 Franco-American communities in New England, along with sample survey data for the 1948–60 elections. According to Walker, from 1896 to 1924, Franco-Americans typically supported the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] because of its conservatism, emphasis on order, and advocacy of the tariff to protect the textile workers from foreign competition. In 1928, with Catholic [[Al Smith]] as the Democratic candidate, the Franco-Americans moved over to the Democratic column and stayed there for six presidential elections. They formed part of the [[New Deal Coalition]]. Unlike the Irish and German Catholics, very few Franco-Americans deserted the Democratic ranks because of the foreign policy and war issues of the 1940 and 1944 campaigns. In 1952 many Franco-Americans broke from the Democrats but returned heavily in 1960.<ref>{{Citation |first=David |last=Walker |title=The Presidential Politics of the Franco-Americans |journal=Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science |year=1962 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=353–363 |doi=10.2307/139667 |jstor=139667 }}</ref>

Additional work has expanded Walker's findings. Ronald Petrin has explored the rise of the Republican ascendency among Massachusetts Franco-Americans in the 1890s; the lengthy economic depression that coincided with President [[Grover Cleveland]]'s administration and Franco-Irish religious controversies were likely factors in growing support for the GOP. Petrin recognizes different political behaviors in large cities and in smaller centers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Petrin |first1=Ronald A. |title=French Canadians in Massachusetts Politics, 1885-1915: Ethnicity and Political Pragmatism |date=1990 |publisher=Balch Institute Press |location=Philadelphia}}</ref> Madeleine Giguère has confirmed the later shift to the Democratic column through her research on Lewiston's presidential vote during the twentieth century.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Madeleine Giguère |author1-link=Franco-Americans and a Century of Political Elections, 1892-1992 |editor1-last=Madore |editor1-first=Nelson |editor2-last=Rodrigue |editor2-first=Barry |title=Voyages : A Maine Franco-American Reader |date=2007 |publisher=Tilbury House |location=Gardiner |pages=474–483}}</ref> In the most in-depth study of Franco-American political choices, Patrick Lacroix finds different patterns of partisan engagement across New England and New York State. In southern New England, Republicans actively courted the "Franco" vote and offered nominations. The party nominated [[Aram J. Pothier]], a native of Quebec, who won his bid for the governorship of Rhode Island and served seven terms in that office. In northern New England, Franco-Americans faced exclusion from the halls of power and more easily turned towards the Democrats. During the 1920s, the regional disparity disappeared. Due to the nativist and anti-labor policies of Republican state governments, an increasingly unionized Franco-American working class lent its support to the Democrats across the region. Elite "Francos" continued to prefer the GOP.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lacroix |first1=Patrick |title="Tout nous serait possible": Une histoire politique des Franco-Américains, 1874-1945 |date=2021 |publisher=Presses de l'Université Laval |location=Quebec City}}</ref>

As the ancestors of most Franco-Americans had for the most part left France before the [[French Revolution]], they usually prefer the [[fleur-de-lis]] to the modern [[Flag of France|French tricolor]].<ref>{{Citation |first=François |last=Weil |title=Les Franco-Americains et la France |journal=Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer |year=1990 |volume=77 |issue=3 |pages=21–34 |doi=10.3406/outre.1990.2812|url=http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/outre_0300-9513_1990_num_77_288_2812.pdf }}</ref>

==Franco-American Day==
In 2008, the state of Connecticut made June 24 Franco-American Day, recognizing French Canadians for their culture and influence on Connecticut. The states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, have now also held Franco-American Day festivals on June 24.<ref>Edmonton Sun, April 21, 2009</ref>

==Demographics==
[[File:French1346.gif|thumb|right|300px|[[Maps of American ancestries|Distribution]] of Franco-Americans according to the [[United States Census, 2000|2000 census]]]]

===Colonial French American population in 1790===
The [[United States Census Bureau|Census Bureau]] produced estimates of the colonial American population with roots in [[France]], in collaboration with the [[American Council of Learned Societies]], by scholarly classification of the names of all [[White Americans|White]] heads of families recorded in the first [[1790 United States census|U.S. census of 1790]]. The government required accurate counts of the origins of [[Old Stock Americans|colonial stock]] as basis for computing [[National Origins Formula]] immigration quotas in the 1920s; for this task scholars estimated the proportion of names in each state determined to be of [[French language|French]] derivation. The report concluded that, in 1790, French Americans made up roughly 2.3% of the population inhabiting the [[Continental United States]]; the highest concentrations of French Americans resided in the territories that had historically formed colonial [[New France]] to the west of [[British America]]. Within the [[Thirteen Colonies]], the most significant French minorities could be found in the [[Middle Colonies]] of [[Province of New York|New York]] and [[Province of New Jersey|New Jersey]], and the [[Southern Colonies]] of [[Province of South Carolina|South Carolina]] and [[Province of Georgia|Georgia]].

{{small|{{flagicon|France|1790}} Estimated French American population in the [[Contiguous United States|Continental United States]] as of the [[1790 United States census|1790 Census]] {{flagicon|USA|1777-Ross}}}}<ref name="ACLS1929">{{cite book|author=American Council of Learned Societies. Committee on Linguistic and National Stocks in the Population of the United States|date=1932|title=Report of the Committee on Linguistic and National Stocks in the Population of the United States|publisher=[[U.S. Government Printing Office]]|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVA42JB6IYsC&pg=PA101|author-link=American Council of Learned Societies|oclc=1086749050}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|-  
! colspan=1 rowspan=2 style="text-align:center; background-color:#C8E5EE;"|'''State or Territory'''||colspan=2 rowspan=1 style="text-align:center; background:#C8E5EE;"|{{flagicon|France|1790}} [[French people|French]]  
|-
! style="background-color:#C8E5EE;"|#
! style="background-color:#C8E5EE;"|%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|Connecticut}}
|align="right"|{{nts|2,100}}
|align="right"|0.90%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|Delaware}}
|align="right"|{{nts|750}}
|align="right"|1.62%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flagcountry|Georgia (U.S. state)}}
|align="right"|{{nts|1,200}}
|align="right"|2.27% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|Kentucky}} & {{flagicon|Tennessee}}[[Tennessee|Tenn.]] 
|align="right"|{{nts|2,000}}
|align="right"|2.15%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|Maine}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|1,200}}
|align="right"|1.25%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|Maryland}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|2,500}}
|align="right"|1.20%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|Massachusetts}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|3,000}}
|align="right"|0.80%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|New Hampshire}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|1,000}}
|align="right"|0.71%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|New Jersey}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|4,000}}
|align="right"|2.35%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flagcountry|New York (state)|1778}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|12,000}}
|align="right"|3.82%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|North Carolina}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|4,800}}
|align="right"|1.66%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|Pennsylvania}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|7,500}}
|align="right"|1.77%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|Rhode Island}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|500}}
|align="right"|0.77%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|South Carolina}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|5,500}}
|align="right"|3.92%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|Vermont
}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|350}}
|align="right"|0.41%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{flag|Virginia}} 
|align="right"|{{nts|6,500}}
|align="right"|1.47%
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{Sort|1790 Area Enumerated|'''''{{flagicon|Thirteen Colonies}} [[1790 United States census|1790 Census Area]]'''''}} 
|align="right"|'''''{{nts|54,900}}'''''
|align="right"|'''''1.73%'''''
|- bgcolor="#EEF0F0"
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{Sort|Northwest|''{{flagicon|Ohio}} [[Northwest Territory]]''}} 
|align="right"|''{{nts|6,000}}''
|align="right"|''57.14%''
|- bgcolor="#EEF0F0"
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{Sort|French|''{{flagicon|New France}} [[French America]]''}} 
|align="right"|''{{nts|12,850}}''
|align="right"|''64.25%''
|- bgcolor="#EEF0F0"
|border = "1"; align="left"|''{{flagicon|Spanish Empire}} [[Spanish America]]'' 
|align="right"|''{{nts|-}}''
|align="right"|''-''
|-
|- class="sortbottom" bgcolor="#B8E2E9"
|border = "1"; align="center"|'''{{flag|United States|1795}}'''
|align="right"|'''{{nts|73,750}}'''
|align="right"|'''2.29%'''
|}

===2000 Census===

According to the [[U.S. Census Bureau]] of 2000, 5.3 percent of Americans are of French or French Canadian ancestry. In 2013 the number of people living in the U.S. who were born in France was estimated at 129,520.<ref name="netcapricorn.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.netcapricorn.com/newsletter/french_in_the_US.htm|title=French in the US|work=netcapricorn.com|access-date=January 14, 2017}}</ref> Franco-Americans made up close to, or more than, 10 percent of the population of seven states, six in New England and Louisiana. Population wise, California has the greatest Franco population followed by Louisiana, while Maine has the highest by percentage (25 percent).
{| border="1" style="float:left; margin:1em; border-collapse:collapse;" class="wikitable"
|+ ''States with the highest percentage of Francos''
| valign="top" |
{|
! style="background:#cccccc;" | State
! style="background:#cccccc;" | Percentage
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Maine]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:25.0}}%
|-----
| [[New Hampshire]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:24.5}}%
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Vermont]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:23.9}}%
|-----
| [[Rhode Island]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:17.2}}%
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Louisiana]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:16.2}}%
|-----
| [[Massachusetts]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:12.9}}%
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Connecticut]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:9.9}}%
|----- 
| [[Michigan]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:6.8}}% 
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Montana]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:5.3}}%
|----- 
| [[Minnesota]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:5.3}}%
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
|}
| valign="top" |
{|
! style="background:#cccccc;" | State
! style="background:#cccccc;" | Percentage
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Wisconsin]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:5.0}}%
|----- 
| [[North Dakota]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:4.7}}%
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Washington (state)|Washington]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:4.6}}%
|-----
| [[Oregon]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:4.6}}%
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Wyoming]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:4.2}}%
|----- 
| [[Alaska]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:4.2}}%
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Missouri]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:3.8}}%
|-----
| [[Kansas]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:3.6}}%
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Indiana]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:2.7}}%
|-----
| [[Ohio]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:2.5}}%
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
|}
|}
{| border="1" style="float:left; margin:1em; border-collapse:collapse;" class="wikitable"
|+ ''States with the largest Franco communities''
| valign="top" |
{|
! style="background:#cccccc;" | State
! style="background:#cccccc;" | Population
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[California]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:1303714}}
|-----
| [[Louisiana]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:1069558}}
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Massachusetts]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:947319}}
|----- 
| [[Michigan]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:942230}}
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[New York (state)|New York]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:834540}}
|----- 
| [[Texas]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:673606}}
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Florida]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:618426}}
|----- 
| [[Illinois]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:485902}}
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Ohio]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:464159}}
|-----
| [[Connecticut]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:370490}}
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Maine]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:347510}}
|-----
|}
| valign="top" |
{|
! style="background:#cccccc;" | State
! style="background:#cccccc;" | Population
|----- bgcolor="efefef" 
| [[Wisconsin]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:346406}}
|----- 
| [[Missouri]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:345971}}
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Washington (state)|Washington]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:339950}}
|----- 
| [[Pennsylvania]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:338041}}
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[New Hampshire]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:337225}}
|----- 
| [[Minnesota]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:321087}}
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[New Jersey]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:213815}}
|----- 
| [[Virginia]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:212373}}
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Oregon]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:209239}}
|----- 
| [[Rhode Island]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:206540}}
|----- bgcolor="efefef"
| [[Vermont]] || align="right" | {{formatnum:165623}}
|----- 
|}
|}

===Historical immigration===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|- bgcolor="#E3E3E3"
!colspan="6" bgcolor="#E3E3E3" | French immigration to the United States from 1827 to 1870<ref>{{Cite journal | last = Fohlen | first = Claude | title = Perspectives historiques sur l'immigration française aux États-Unis | journal = Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales | volume = 6 | issue = 1 | pages = 29–43 | year = 1990 | url = http://www.persee.fr/articleAsPDF/remi_0765-0752_1990_num_6_1_1225/article_remi_0765-0752_1990_num_6_1_1225.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160112004036/http://www.persee.fr/articleAsPDF/remi_0765-0752_1990_num_6_1_1225/article_remi_0765-0752_1990_num_6_1_1225.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 12, 2016 | access-date = December 4, 2012 | doi = 10.3406/remi.1990.1225 }}</ref>{{rp|39|date=November 2012}}
|- bgcolor="#E3E3E3"
! Year
! French Immigrants
! Year
! French Immigrants
|-
| align="center"| 1827 || align="center"| 1,280 || align="center"| 1849 || align="center"| 5,841
|-
| align="center"| 1828 || align="center"| 2,843 || align="center"| 1850 || align="center"| 9,389
|-
| align="center"| 1829 || align="center"| 582 || align="center"| 1851 || align="center"| 20,126
|-
| align="center"| 1830 || align="center"| 1,174 || align="center"| 1852 || align="center"| 6,763
|-
| align="center"| 1831 || align="center"| 2,038 || align="center"| 1853 || align="center"| 10,170
|-
| align="center"| 1832 || align="center"| 5,361 || align="center"| 1854 || align="center"| 13,317
|-
| align="center"| 1833 || align="center"| 4,682 || align="center"| 1855 || align="center"| 6,044
|-
| align="center"| 1834 || align="center"| 2,989 || align="center"| 1856 || align="center"| 7,246
|-
| align="center"| 1835 || align="center"| 2,696 || align="center"| 1857 || align="center"| 2,397
|-
| align="center"| 1836 || align="center"| 4,443 || align="center"| 1858 || align="center"| 3,155
|-
| align="center"| 1837 || align="center"| 5,074 || align="center"| 1859 || align="center"| 2,579
|-
| align="center"| 1838 || align="center"| 3,675 || align="center"| 1860 || align="center"| 3,961
|-
| align="center"| 1839 || align="center"| 7,198 || align="center"| 1861 || align="center"| 2,326
|-
| align="center"| 1840 || align="center"| 7,419 || align="center"| 1862 || align="center"| 3,142
|-
| align="center"| 1841 || align="center"| 5,006 || align="center"| 1863 || align="center"| 1,838
|-
| align="center"| 1842 || align="center"| 4,504 || align="center"| 1864 || align="center"| 3,128
|-
| align="center"| 1843 || align="center"| 3,346 || align="center"| 1865 || align="center"| 6,855
|-
| align="center"| 1844 || align="center"| 3,155 || align="center"| 1866 || align="center"| 6,855
|-
| align="center"| 1845 || align="center"| 3,155 || align="center"| 1867 || align="center"| 5,237
|-
| align="center"| 1846 || align="center"| 10,583 || align="center"| 1868 || align="center"| 1,989
|-
| align="center"| 1847 || align="center"| 20,040 || align="center"| 1869 || align="center"| 4,531
|-
| align="center"| 1848 || align="center"| 7,743 || align="center"| 1870 || align="center"| 5,120
|-
| align="center"| || align="center"| || align="center"| Total || align="center"| 242,231
|}
Between 1820 and 1920, 2,530,000 French people, most of them were [[Basque people|Basque]] came to the United States
{{col-break}}
{| class=wikitable
! colspan = 6 |Distribution of French Americans in certain parts of the United States<ref>Source of the data: US Census Bureau, [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:533;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:533;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:533;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:533&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=045&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en « Population Group: French (except Basque) »] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20200212034244/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:533;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:533;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:533;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:533&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=045&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en |date=February 12, 2020 }}, recensement de 2010 ({{formatnum:9529969}} habitants)</ref><ref>US Census Bureau, [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:534;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:534;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:534;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:534&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=045&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en « Population Group: French Canadian »] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20200212212526/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:534;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:534;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:534;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:534&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=045&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en |date=February 12, 2020 }}, recensement de 2010 ({{formatnum:2265648}} habitants)</ref>
|-
! colspan = 6 |Deportation of Acadians from Acadia to Thirteen British Colonies in 1755<ref name="autogenerated1978">
Source of the data: Histoire des Acadiens, Bona Arsenault, Éditions Leméac, Ottawa, 1978</ref>
|-
! State
! Acadians
! Percentage
|-
| [[Massachusetts]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2,000
| style="text-align:center;"| 26.75%
|-
| [[Virginia]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 1,500
| style="text-align:center;"| 20.06%
|-
| [[Carolinas]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 1,027
| style="text-align:center;"| 13.74%
|-
| [[Maryland]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 1,000
| style="text-align:center;"| 13.38%
|-
| [[Connecticut]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 700
| style="text-align:center;"| 9.4%
|-
| [[Pennsylvania]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 500
| style="text-align:center;"| 6.7%
|-
| [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 450
| style="text-align:center;"| 6.0%
|-
| [[New York (state)|New York]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 300
| style="text-align:center;"| 4.0%
|-
! Total
! style="text-align:center;"| 7,477
! style="text-align:center;"| 100%
|}
{| class=wikitable
|-
! colspan = 6 |Acadian immigration to Louisiana from Canada, New England, and France <br /> from 1763 to 1790<ref name="autogenerated1978"/>
|-
! From
! Acadians
! Percentage
! Years
|-
| [[Canada]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 4,000
| style="text-align:center;"| 56.34%
| style="text-align:center;"| 1763–1790
|-
| [[New England]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 1,500
| style="text-align:center;"| 21.13%
| style="text-align:center;"| 1765–1770
|-
| [[France]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 1,600
| style="text-align:center;"| 22.54%
| style="text-align:center;"| 1785
|-
! Total
! style="text-align:center;"| 7,100
! style="text-align:center;"| 100%
! style="text-align:center;"|
|}
{{col-end}}

==Religion==
[[File:Pope Leo XIV 3 (3x4 cropped) (2).jpg|thumb|[[Pope Leo XIV]] is of French descent.]]
[[File:CreoleGirlsPlaquemines1935.jpg|right|250px|thumb|[[Louisiana Creole people|Creole]] girls, [[Plaquemines Parish]], [[Louisiana]], 1935]]

Most Franco Americans have a [[Roman Catholic]] heritage (which includes most French Canadians and Cajuns). Protestants would arrive in two smaller waves, with the earliest arrivals being the [[Huguenots]] who fled from France in the colonial era, many of whom would settle in Boston, Charleston, New York and Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite news|title=Huguenots sought freedom|last=Rouse|first=Parke|work=Daily Press|location=Newport News, Va.|date=July 7, 1996|archive-date=September 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921002921/https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-19960707-1996-07-07-9607050216-story.html|url=https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-19960707-1996-07-07-9607050216-story.html}}</ref> Huguenots and their descendants would immigrate to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Provinces of Pennsylvania and Carolina due in large part to colonial anti-Catholic sentiment, during the period of the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]].<ref name="LOCBlog">{{cite web|website=4 Corners of the World; International Collections|last=Spiegel|first=Taru|date=September 30, 2019|archive-date=October 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006135426/https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2019/09/teaching-french-at-harvard-and-labeille-franoise/|url=https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2019/09/teaching-french-at-harvard-and-labeille-franoise/|title=Teaching French at Harvard and L'Abeille Françoise|publisher=Library of Congress}}</ref> The 19th century would see the arrival of others from Switzerland.<ref>Auto racer [[Louis Chevrolet]] was a Swiss Catholic. He made automobiles bearing his name before selling out in 1915; General Motors purchased the brand in 1917.</ref>

From the 1870s to the 1920s in particular, there was tension between the English-speaking [[Irish Catholics]], who dominated the Church in New England, and the French-Canadian immigrants, who wanted their language taught in the parochial schools. The Irish controlled all the Catholic colleges in New England, except for [[Assumption College (Worcester)|Assumption College]] in Massachusetts, controlled by the French and one school in New Hampshire controlled by Germans. Tensions between these two groups bubbled up in Fall River in 1884–1886, in Danielson, Connecticut and North Brookfield, Massachusetts in the 1890s and in Maine in the subsequent decades.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rumilly|first1=Robert|title=Histoire des Franco-Américains|date=1958|publisher=[[Union Saint-Jean-Baptiste d'Amérique]]|location=Montreal}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lacroix|first1=Patrick|title=A Church of Two Steeples: Catholicism, Labor, and Ethnicity in Industrial New England, 1869–1890|journal=Catholic Historical Review|date=2016|volume=102|issue=4|pages=746–770|doi=10.1353/cat.2016.0206|s2cid=159662405}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lacroix|first1=Patrick|title=Americanization by Catholic Means: French Canadian Nationalism and Transnationalism, 1889-1901|journal=Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era|date=2017|volume=16|issue=3|pages=284–301|doi=10.1017/S1537781416000384|s2cid=164667346}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lacroix |first1=Patrick |title=À l'assaut de la corporation sole : autonomie institutionnelle et financière chez les Franco-Américains du Maine, 1900-1917 |journal=Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française |date=2018 |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=31–51 |url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/haf/2018-v72-n1-haf03953/1051145ar/|doi=10.7202/1051145ar |doi-access=free }}</ref> A breaking point was reached during the Sentinelle affair of the 1920s, in which Franco-American Catholics of Woonsocket,<ref>Woonsocket Rhode Island, A Centennial History, 1888-2000 The Millennium Edition pg. 87</ref> Rhode Island, challenged their bishop over control of parish funds in an unsuccessful bid to wrest power from the Irish American episcopate.<ref>Richard S. Sorrell, "Sentinelle Affair (1924–1929): Religion and Militant Survivance in Woonsocket, Rhode Island," ''Rhode Island History'', Aug 1977, Vol. 36 Issue 3, pp 67–79</ref> In a 1957 treatise on urban history, American historian [[Constance Green]] would attribute some disputes between French and Irish Catholics in Massachusetts, Holyoke in particular, as fomented by Yankee English Protestants, in the hopes that a split would diminish Catholic influence.<ref>{{cite book|oclc=786169259|title=American Cities in the Growth of the Nation|year=1957|last=Green|first=Constance McLaughlin|publisher=J. De Graff|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/americancitiesin0000gree/page/88 88]|url=https://archive.org/details/americancitiesin0000gree|url-access=registration}}</ref>

[[Marie Rose Ferron]] was a mystic [[stigmatic]]; she was born in Quebec and lived in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Between about 1925 and 1936, she was a popular "victim soul" who suffered physically to redeem the sins of her community. Father Onésime Boyer promoted her cult.<ref>Hillary Kaell, {{"'}}Marie-Rose, Stigmatisée de Woonsocket': The Construction of a Franco-American Saint Cult, 1930–1955", ''Historical Studies'', 2007, Vol. 73, pp 7–26</ref>

==Education==
{{Further|Category:French international schools in the United States}}
Currently there are multiple French international schools in the United States operated in conjunction with the [[Agency for French Education Abroad]] (AEFE).<ref>"[http://www.aefe.fr/reseau-scolaire-mondial/rechercher-un-etablissement Rechercher un établissement]". [[Agency for French Education Abroad]]. Retrieved on October 24, 2015.</ref>

==French language in the United States==
{{Further|French language in the United States}}

According to the National Education Bureau, French is the second most commonly taught foreign language in American schools, behind Spanish. The percentage of people who learn French language in the United States is 12.3%.<ref name="netcapricorn.com"/> French was the most commonly taught foreign language until the 1980s; a subsequent influx of [[Hispanic]] immigrants aided the growth of Spanish into the 21st century. According to the U.S. 2000 Census, French is the third most spoken language in the United States after English and Spanish, with 2,097,206 speakers, up from 1,930,404 in 1990. The language is also commonly spoken by Haitian immigrants in Florida and New York City.<ref>{{cite book|author=Melvin Ember|title=Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QEjPVyd9YMC&pg=PA528|year=2005|publisher=Springer|page=528|display-authors=etal|isbn=9780306483219}}</ref>

As a result of French immigration to what is now the United States in the 17th and 18th centuries, the French language was once widely spoken in a few dozen scattered villages in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]. Migrants from Quebec after 1860 brought the language to New England. French-language newspapers existed in many American cities; especially New Orleans and in certain cities in New England. Americans of French descent often lived in predominantly French neighborhoods; where they attended schools and churches that used their language. Before 1920 French Canadian neighborhoods were sometimes known as "Little Canada".<ref>{{cite book|author=Ronald Arthur Petrin|title=French Canadians in Massachusetts Politics, 1885–1915: Ethnicity and Political Pragmatism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_B3j-1DAg4C&pg=PA38|year=1990|publisher=Balch Institute Press|page=38|isbn=9780944190074}}</ref>

After 1960, the "Little Canadas" faded away.<ref>Claire Quintal, ed., ''Steeples and Smokestacks. A Collection of essays on The Franco-American Experience in New England'' (1996) pp 618-9</ref> There were few French-language institutions other than Catholic churches. There were some French newspapers, but they had a total of only 50,000 subscribers in 1935.<ref>Quintal p 614</ref> The World War II generation avoided bilingual education for their children, and insisted they speak English.<ref>Quintal p 618</ref> By 1976, nine in ten Franco Americans usually spoke English and scholars generally agreed that "the younger generation of Franco-American youth had rejected their heritage."<ref>Richard, "American Perspectives on La fièvre aux États-Unis, 1860–1930," p 105, quote on p 109</ref>

==Flag==
[[File:Drapeau français-américain.svg|thumb|The Franco-American flag]]
[[File:French flags of America.jpg|thumb|Francophone flags of North America]]
The '''Franco-American flag''' is an [[ethnic group|ethnic]] [[flag]] adopted at a Franco-American conference at [[Saint Anselm College]] in [[Manchester, New Hampshire]] in May 1983 to represent their [[New England]] community. It was designed by Robert L. Couturier, [[lawyer|attorney]] and one-time [[mayor]] of [[Lewiston, Maine]], to have a blue field with a white fleur-de-lis over a white five-pointed star.<ref>{{cite book |title=The French-Canadian heritage in New England |date=1986 |publisher=University Press of New England |isbn=0-7735-0537-7 |edition=[International version]|pages=160–161}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Robert Couturier Collection - Audio-Visual Materials  |url=https://usm.maine.edu/franco/robert-couturier-collection-audio-visual-materials |website=Franco-American Collection {{!}} University of Southern Maine |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602190903/https://usm.maine.edu/franco/robert-couturier-collection-audio-visual-materials |archive-date= Jun 2, 2019 }}</ref> This flag extends a tradition of designing flags for the [[List of Canadian flags#Francophone peoples|French communities of each Canadian province]] to the United States.

Blue and white are colors found on the flags of both the [[United States]] and francophone nations such as [[France]] or [[Quebec]]. The star symbolizes the United States and the fleur-de-lis symbolizes [[French people|French]] culture. It can also be seen as representative of [[French Canadians]] who form a sizable population in the American Northeast.

==Settlements==
===Cities founded===
{{Further|List of U.S. place names of French origin}}
[[File:Classic New Orleans Architecture.jpg|thumb|Buildings with [[Gallery (New Orleans)|iron galleries]] at St. Philip Street and [[Royal Street, New Orleans|Royal Street]], [[French Quarter]], [[New Orleans]]]]

* [[Biloxi, Mississippi]] was founded in 1699 by [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]].
* [[Boise, Idaho]], founded in the 1820s by French fur traders, means "wooded".
* [[Bourbonnais, Illinois]] was named after French Canadian fur trader Francois Bourbonnais. The first permanent resident was French Canadian fur trader Noel LeVasseur in the 1830s.
* [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]] is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word ''shikaakwa'', translated as "wild onion" or "wild garlic", from the [[Miami-Illinois language]].<ref>For a historical account of interest, see the section entitled "Origin of the word Chicago" in Andreas, Alfred Theodore, ''History of Chicago'', A.&nbsp;T.&nbsp;Andreas, Chicago (1884) pp 37–38.</ref><ref name="Swenson, John F. 235–248">{{Cite journal| author=Swenson, John F. | title = Chicagoua/Chicago: The origin, meaning, and etymology of a place name | journal=Illinois Historical Journal | volume = 84 | issue = 4 | date =Winter 1991 | pages = 235–248 | issn = 0748-8149 | oclc = 25174749 }}</ref><ref name="mcc">{{cite web|url= https://linguistlist.org/issues/12/12-3157/|title= "Chicago" Etymology|author=McCafferty, Michael|date=December 21, 2001|publisher=The LINGUIST List |access-date=October 22, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=McCafferty|first=Michael|date=Summer 2003|title=A Fresh Look at the Place Name Chicago|journal=Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society|volume=96|issue=2|publisher=Illinois State Historical Society|issn=1522-1067|url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3945/is_200307/ai_n9266765/?tag=content;col1|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110505023752/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3945/is_200307/ai_n9266765/?tag=content;col1|url-status= dead|archive-date= May 5, 2011|access-date=October 22, 2009}}</ref> The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as "Checagou" was by [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle|Robert de LaSalle]] around 1679 in a memoir written about the time.<ref>Quaife, Milton M. ''Checagou'', (Chicago: [[University of Chicago Press]]., 1933).</ref> [[Henri Joutel]], in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called "chicagoua," grew abundantly in the area.<ref name="Swenson, John F. 235–248"/>
* [[Coeur d'Alene, Idaho]] French Canadian fur traders allegedly named the local Indian tribe the ''[[Coeur d'Alene Tribe|Coeur d'Alene]]'' out of respect for their tough trading practices. Cœur d'alêne literally means "heart of an awl".
* [[Davenport, Iowa]] was founded by [[Antoine LeClaire]], an interpreter for the [[United States Army]], in 1836.
* [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]] was founded by [[Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac]] in 1701, a [[French Royal Army]] captain, and was originally called ''Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit'', after the minister of marine under [[Louis XIV]] and the French word Détroit for "[[strait]]".
* [[Dubuque, Iowa]] was established as a lead mining site by Canadian [[Julien Dubuque]] in 1788.
* [[Duluth, Minnesota]], so-named for an Anglicization of [[Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut]], modern city established by English, first founded as early French fur-trading post.
* [[Dupont, Colorado]], [[Du Pont, Georgia]], [[Dupont, Indiana]], [[Dupont, Ohio]], [[Dupont, Pennsylvania]], [[Dupont, Tennessee]] and [[DuPont, Washington]], were all founded by the [[Du Pont family]] or other French settlers.
* [[French Camp, California]] was the terminus of the Oregon-California Trail used by French-Canadian fur traders (including [[Michel Laframboise]]) in the 1830s and 1840s, making it one of the oldest settlements in [[San Joaquin County]].
* [[Galveston, Texas]], first European settlement was established in 1816 by French pirate, [[Louis-Michel Aury]], succeeded by [[Jean Lafitte]], until the island's raiders were evicted by the US Navy in 1821.
* [[Grand Forks, North Dakota]], originally "Les Grandes Fourches", when it was settled in the 1740s by fur traders.
* [[Green Bay, Wisconsin]] or La Baye, was founded by [[Jean Nicolet]] in 1634. Many residents of Green Bay are direct descendants of the [[French Canadian]] ''[[inhabitants]]'' and their families.
* [[Juneau, Alaska]] was founded in 1891 and named in honor of [[Joseph Juneau]], a gold prospector from the region of [[Montreal]], who settled the first mining camp in the area.
* [[Kaskaskia, Illinois]] was founded in 1703 by French Jesuit missionaries and was Illinois's first capital.
* [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]] was founded settled by French traders most notably [[Jacques Vieau]] and established as a city by [[Solomon Juneau]].
* [[Mobile, Alabama]] was founded in 1702 by [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]] and his brother [[Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne]]. It was the first capital of Louisiana.
* [[Natchitoches, Louisiana]] was founded in 1714 by [[Louis Juchereau de St. Denis]].
* [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]] was founded in 1718 by [[Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne]] and named after [[Philippe II, Duke of Orléans]].
* [[New Paltz, New York]] was founded in 1678 by French [[Huguenots]] settlers, including [[Louis DuBois (Huguenot)|Louis DuBois]].
* [[New Rochelle, New York]] was founded by French [[Huguenot]]s and named after [[La Rochelle]], France.
* [[Peoria, Illinois]] was first settled with the establishment of [[Fort Crevecoeur]] in 1680, ceded to British after 1763; area of downtown was once site of [[History of Peoria, Illinois|"La Ville de Maillet"]]
* [[Pierre, South Dakota]] was named after [[Pierre Chouteau Jr.]], a fur trader of French Canadian origin, who built [[Fort Pierre, South Dakota|Fort Pierre]], where the capital of Pierre stands today.
* [[Pittsburgh]], [[Pennsylvania]] was originally surveyed in 1669 by [[Robert de La Salle]] and was a post of French and Dutch fur traders, prior to the construction of [[Fort Duquesne]] and modern founding by the English.
* [[Poteau, Oklahoma]] was founded by French traders
* [[Portage Des Sioux, Missouri|Portage Des Sioux]] was founded in 1799 by Zenon Trudeau and François Saucier.
* [[Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin]] was established in 1685 by [[Nicholas Perrot]] as a fur trading post.
* [[Prairie du Rocher, Illinois]] was founded in 1722 by Sister Thérèse Langlois, four years after [[Fort de Chartres]] was built by [[Pierre Dugué de Boisbriand]].
* [[St. Charles, Missouri|Saint Charles, Missouri]] was founded by Louis Blanchette, a French Canadian, in 1769.
* [[St. Louis|Saint Louis, Missouri]] was founded by a French trader, [[Pierre Laclède]], and his stepson, a trader from Louisiana, [[René Auguste Chouteau]] in 1764.
* [[Ste. Genevieve, Missouri|Sainte Genevieve, Missouri]] was founded in 1735 by ''habitants''.
* [[St. Ignace, Michigan|Saint Ignace, Michigan]] was founded by father [[Jacques Marquette]] in 1671.
* [[St. Joseph, Missouri]] was founded by [[Joseph Robidoux IV|Joseph Robidoux]] c. 1826.
* [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]] was established in 1838 by [[Pierre Parrant]] and settled by French Canadians. In 1841, it was named Saint-Paul by Father [[Lucien Galtier]] in honor of [[Paul the Apostle]].
* [[Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan|Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan]] was founded in 1668 by fathers [[Jacques Marquette]] and [[Claude Dablon]].
* [[Vincennes, Indiana]] was established in 1732 by [[François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes]] and rallied to the cause of the American revolution with Father [[Pierre Gibault]].

===States founded===
* [[Arkansas]] – named by French explorers from the corrupted Indian word meaning "south wind". [[Arkansas Post]] was its first French establishment in 1686 by [[Henri de Tonti]].
* [[Illinois]] – French for the land of the [[Illinois Confederation|Illini]], a Native American tribe. Also named from the [[Pays des Illinois]] which had a substantial population at the time of [[New France]]. French explorers [[Jacques Marquette]] and [[Louis Jolliet]] explored the [[Illinois River]] in 1673. In 1680, other French explorers constructed a fort at the site of present-day [[Peoria, Illinois|Peoria]], and in 1682, a fort atop [[Starved Rock]] in today's [[Starved Rock State Park]]. French Canadians came south to settle particularly along the Mississippi River, and Illinois was part of the French empire of [[La Louisiane]] until 1763, when it passed to the British with their defeat of France in the [[Seven Years' War]]. 
* [[Indiana]] – In 1679 the French explorer [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]] was the first European to cross into Indiana after reaching present-day [[South Bend, Indiana|South Bend]] at the [[St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan)|Saint Joseph River]].<ref>Allison, p. 17.</ref> French-Canadian [[fur trade]]rs soon arrived, bringing blankets, jewelry, tools, whiskey and weapons to trade for skins with the Native Americans. By 1702, [[Louis Juchereau de St. Denis|Sieur Juchereau]] established the first trading post near [[Vincennes, Indiana|Vincennes]]. In 1715, [[Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes|Sieur de Vincennes]] built [[Fort Miami (Indiana)|Fort Miami]] at [[Kekionga]], now [[Fort Wayne]]. In 1717, another Canadian, [[Picote de Beletre]], built [[Fort Ouiatenon]] on the [[Wabash River]]. In 1732, Sieur de Vincennes built a second fur trading post at Vincennes. French Canadian settlers, who had left the earlier post because of hostilities, returned in larger numbers. 
* [[Louisiana]] – from the French ''Louisiane'', in honor of King [[Louis XIV of France]]. Named by [[Cavelier de La Salle]] who founded Louisiana and died in [[Texas]]. Many [[Acadians]] migrated to Louisiana and are today known as [[Cajuns]]. 
* [[Maine]] – Two [[Jesuit]] missions were established by the French: one on [[Penobscot Bay]] in 1609, and the other on [[Mount Desert Island]] in 1613. The same year, [[Castine, Maine|Castine]] was established by [[Claude de Saint-Étienne de la Tour|Claude de La Tour]]. In 1625, [[Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour]] erected [[Fort Pentagouet]] to protect Castine.
* [[Michigan]] – French transcription of [[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]] word ''Mishii'igan'' (syncopated as ''Mishiigan'') which means "great lake". The French forts of [[Fort St. Joseph (Niles, Michigan)|Fort Saint-Joseph]] and [[Fort Michilimackinac]], as well as the French establishments of [[Detroit]] and [[St. Ignace, Michigan|Saint Ignace]] were located in the area of Michigan which was part of New France. 
* [[Minnesota]] – The first Europeans in the area were French [[fur trade]]rs who arrived in the 17th century. Explorers such as [[Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut]], Father [[Louis Hennepin]], and [[Joseph Nicollet]], among others, mapped out the state.
* [[Missouri]] – The first European settlers were mostly ethnic [[French Canadian]]s, who created their first settlement in Missouri at present-day [[Ste. Genevieve, Missouri|Ste. Genevieve]], about an hour south of St. Louis. They had migrated about 1750 from the [[Illinois]] Country. St. Louis was founded soon after by French from New Orleans in 1764.
* [[Vermont]] – comes from a contraction of French words, ''Vert'', green, and ''mont'', mount, mountain. It was named by the French explorer [[Samuel de Champlain]]. French seigneuries were subdivided along Lake Champlain at the time of New France, which was later given to the British colonies by the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] in 1763.
* [[Wisconsin]] – named after the [[Wisconsin River|Meskousing River]]. This spelling was later corrupted from the local Native American language to "Ouisconsin" by French explorers, and over time this version became the French name both for the Wisconsin River and for the surrounding lands. [[La Baye]] was Wisconsin's main community at the time of New France. English speakers anglicized the spelling to its modern form when they began to arrive in greater numbers during the early 19th century.<ref name="infoplease.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0854966.html|title=Origin of State Names|work=infoplease.com|access-date=January 14, 2017}}</ref>

==Historiography==
Richard (2002) examines the major trends in the historiography regarding the Franco-Americans who came to New England in 1860–1930. He identifies three categories of scholars: survivalists, who emphasized the common destiny of Franco-Americans and celebrated their survival; regionalists and social historians, who aimed to uncover the diversity of the Franco-American past in distinctive communities across New England; and pragmatists, who argued that the forces of acculturation were too strong for the Franco-American community to overcome. The 'pragmatists versus survivalists' debate over the fate of the Franco-American community may be the ultimate weakness of Franco-American historiography. Such teleological stances have impeded the progress of research by funneling scholarly energies in limited directions while many other avenues, for example, Franco-American politics, arts, and ties to Quebec, remain insufficiently explored.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Richard|first1=Sacha|title=American Perspectives on La fièvre aux Etats-Unis, 1860–1930: A Historiographical Analysis of Recent Writings on the Franco-Americans in New England|journal=Canadian Review of American Studies|date=2002|volume=32|issue=1|pages=105–132|doi=10.3138/CRAS-s032-01-05|s2cid=161389855}}</ref>

While a considerable number of pioneers of Franco-American history left the field or came to the end of their careers in the late 1990s, other scholars have moved the lines of debate in new directions in the last fifteen years. The "Franco" communities of New England have received less sustained scholarly attention in this period, but important work has no less appeared as historians have sought to assert the relevance of the French-Canadian diaspora to the larger narratives of American immigration, labor and religious history.

Scholars have worked to expand the transnational perspective developed by Robert G. LeBlanc during the 1980s and 1990s.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pinette|first1=Susan|title=Franco-American Studies in the Footsteps of Robert G. LeBlanc|journal=Quebec Studies|date=2002|volume=33|pages=9–14|doi=10.3828/qs.33.1.9}}</ref> Yukari Takai has studied the impact of recurrent cross-border migration on family formation and gender roles among Franco-Americans.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Takai|first1=Yukari|title=Gendered Passages: French-Canadian Migration to Lowell, Massachusetts, 1900–1920|date=2008|publisher=Peter Lang|location=New York City}}</ref> Florence Mae Waldron has expanded on older work by Tamara Hareven and Randolph Langenbach in her study of Franco-American women's work within prevalent American gender norms.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Waldron|first1=Florence Mae|title='I've Never Dreamed It Was Necessary to Marry!': Women and Work in New England French Canadian Communities, 1870–1930|journal=Journal of American Ethnic History|date=2005|volume=24|issue=2|pages=34–64|doi=10.2307/27501562 |jstor=27501562 |s2cid=254493034 }}</ref> Waldron's innovative work on the national aspirations and agency of women religious in New England also merits mention.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Waldron|first1=Florence Mae|title=Re-evaluating the Role of 'National' Identities in the American Catholic Church at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: The Case of Les Petites Franciscaines de Marie (PFM)|journal=Catholic Historical Review|date=2009|volume=95|issue=3|pages=515–545|doi=10.1353/cat.0.0451|s2cid=143533518}}</ref> Historians have pushed the lines of inquiry on Franco-Americans of New England in other directions as well. Recent studies have introduced a comparative perspective, considered the surprisingly understudied 1920s and 1930s, and reconsidered old debates on assimilation and religious conflict in light of new sources.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ramirez|first1=Bruno|title=Globalizing Migration Histories? Learning from Two Case Studies|journal=Journal of American Ethnic History|date=2015|volume=34|issue=4|pages=17–27|doi=10.5406/jamerethnhist.34.4.0017}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Richard|first1=Mark Paul|title='Sunk into Poverty and Despair: Franco-American Clergy Letters to FDR during the Great Depression|journal=Quebec Studies|date=2016|volume=61|pages=39–52|doi=10.3828/qs.2016.4|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lacroix|first1=Patrick|title=A Church of Two Steeples: Catholicism, Labor, and Ethnicity in Industrial New England, 1869-1890|journal=Catholic Historical Review|date=2016|volume=102|issue=4|pages=746–770|doi=10.1353/cat.2016.0206|s2cid=159662405}}</ref>

At the same time, there has been rapidly expanding research on the French presence in the middle and western part of the continent (the American Midwest, the Pacific coast, and the Great Lakes region) in the century following the collapse of New France.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gitlin|first1=Jay|title=The Bourgeois Frontier: French Towns, French Traders, and American Expansion|date=2009|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Englebert|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Teasdale|editor2-first=Guillaume|title=French and Indians in the Heart of America, 1630–1815|date=2013|publisher=Michigan State University Press|location=East Lansing}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Barman|first1=Jean|title=French Canadians, Furs, and Indigenous Women in the Making of the Pacific Northwest|date=2014|publisher=UBC Press|location=Vancouver}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Teasdale|editor1-first=Guillaume|editor2-last=Villerbu|editor2-first=Tangi|title=Une Amérique française, 1760–1860: Dynamiques du corridor créole|date=2015|publisher=Les Indes savantes|location=Paris}}</ref>

==Notable people==
{{main list|List of French Americans}}

==See also==
{{Portal|France|United States}}
* [[American French]]
* [[Acadians]]
* [[Canadian Americans]]
* [[Cajuns]]
* [[Franco American literature]]
* [[French Canadians]]
* [[French Polynesian Americans]]
* [[French language in the United States]]
* [[The Huguenot Society of America]]
* [[French language in Minnesota]]
* [[Louisiana Creole people]]
* [[History of the Franco-Americans]]
* [[Americans in France]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist|30em}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin|35em}}
{{Further|French-Canadian Americans#Further reading}}
* {{cite book|title=A Franco-American Overview|publisher=National Assessment and Dissemination Center, Lesley College; US Department of Education|location=Cambridge, Mass.|date=May 1979|volume=I-V|last1=Albert|first1=Renaud S|last2=Martin|first2=Andre|last3=Giguere|first3=Madeleine|last4=Allain|first4=Mathe|last5=Brasseaux|first5=Carl A|url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED260000.pdf|via=Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)}}
* [[Charles Washington Baird|Baird, Charles Washington]] (1885). ''History of the Huguenot Emigration to America'', Dodd, Mead & Company, (online: [https://books.google.com/books?id=BakNAAAAQAAJ Volume I])
* Blumenthal, Henry. (1975) ''American and French Culture, 1800–1900: Interchanges in Art." Science, Literature, and Society''
* Bond, Bradley G. (2005). ''French Colonial Louisiana and the Atlantic World'', LSU Press, 322 pages {{ISBN|0-8071-3035-4}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=_aWXrQd-u98C online excerpt])
* Butler, Jon. (1992) ''The Huguenots in America: A Refugee People in New World Society'' (Harvard UP)
* Brasseaux, Carl A. (1987). ''The Founding of New Acadia. The Beginnings of Acadian Life in Louisiana, 1765–1803'', LSU Press, 229 pages {{ISBN|0-8071-2099-5}}
* Childs, Frances Sergeant. (1940)''French Refugee Life in the United States 1790–1800: An American Chapter of the French Revolution''  [https://archive.org/details/frenchrefugeelif008264mbp/page/n10/mode/2up online]
* Cote, Rhea Robbins. (1997) ''Wednesday's Child'', Rheta Press, 96 pages {{ISBN|978-0-9668536-4-3}}
* Cote, Rhea Robbins. (2013) '' 'down the Plains' '', Rheta Press, 226 pages {{ISBN|978-0-615-84110-6}}
* Ekberg, Carl J. (2000). ''French Roots in the Illinois Country. The Mississippi Frontier in Colonial Times'', University of Illinois Press, 376 pages {{ISBN|0-252-06924-2}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=NOdf3FRXms0C online excerpt])
* [[Patrice Higonnet|Higonnet, Patrice Louis René]]. "French" in [[Stephan Thernstrom|Thernstrom, Stephan]]; Orlov, Ann; [[Oscar Handlin|Handlin, Oscar]], eds. [https://archive.org/details/harvardencyclope00ther ''Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups''], Harvard University Press, {{isbn|0674375122}}, (1980) pp 379–88.
* Jones, Howard Mumford. (1927) ''America and French Culture, 1750–1848'' [https://archive.org/details/americafrenchcul0000jone online free to borrow]
* Lagarde, François. (2003). ''The French in Texas. History, Migration, Culture'' (U of Texas Press, 330 pages {{ISBN|0-292-70528-X}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=EcT3dJJ38sYC online excerpt])
* Laflamme, J.L.K., David E. Lavigne and J. Arthur Favreau. (1908) {{CathEncy|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06271c.htm|title=French Catholics in the United States}}
* Lamarre, Jean. ''Les Canadiens français du Michigan: leur contribution dans le développement de la vallée de la Saginaw et de la péninsule de Keweenaw, 1840-1914'' (Les éditions du Septentrion, 2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=wFiZ8vTtT1QC&pg=PA8 online]
* Louder, Dean R., and Eric Waddell, eds. (1993). ''French America. Mobility, Identity, and Minority Experience Across the Continent'', Louisiana State University Press, 371 pages {{ISBN|0-8071-1669-6}}
* Lindenfeld, Jacqueline. (2002). ''The French in the United States. An Ethnographic Study'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 184 pages {{ISBN|0-89789-903-2}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=1BANzjrDe1EC online excerpt])
* Monnier, Alain. "Franco-Americains et Francophones aux Etats-Unis" ("Franco-Americans and French Speakers in the United States). ''Population'' 1987 42(3): 527–542. Census study.
* Pritchard, James S. (2004). ''In Search of Empire. The French in the Americas, 1670–1730'', Cambridge University Press, 484 pages {{ISBN|0-521-82742-6}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=kK9wa98I4eEC online excerpt])
* Rumily, Robert. (1958) ''Histoire des Franco Americains''. a standard history
* Valdman, Albert. (1997). ''French and Creole in Louisiana'', Springer, 372 pages {{ISBN|0-306-45464-5}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=te0zFNTEFuEC online excerpt])
* Weil, François. "Les Franco-Americains et la France' ("Franco-Americans and France") ''Revue Francaise d'Histoire d'Outre-Mer'' 1990 77(3): 21–34

{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{commonscat}}
* [http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/frncdns/studies/default.htm Extensive studies, Documents, Statistics and Resources of Franco American History]
* [http://www.fawi.net/ Franco American Women's Institute]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070104045758/http://www.assumption.edu/dept/Institutes/Frinstitute.html Institut français]
* Dave Martucci, [https://www.fotw.info/flags/us-reg.html#fr ''Franco-American flags''], in Flags of the World
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080517024825/http://www.vivreenoc.com/ Vivre en Orange County] – French Community in [[Orange County, California]]
* [http://www.bonjourla.com Bonjour L.A. !]- Bonjour L.A. ! Los Angeles with a French touch
* [http://www.codofil.org Council for the Development of French in Louisiana] – a state agency.
* [http://www.reynoldstonnewyork.org Oral History of French Canadians in Franklin County, New York and of a small sawmill and logging community in the Northern New York State populated by French Canadians]

{{French Americans by location}}
{{French diaspora}}
{{Demographics of the United States}}
{{European Americans}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:French diaspora in the United States| ]]
[[Category:American people of French descent| ]]
[[Category:European diaspora in the United States]]
[[Category:Demographics of Maine]]