Opposing Racism through the Lens of Franco-American Experiences

media release: "Opposing Racism through the Lens of Franco-American Experiences" showcases stories of New England's Franco-Americans who were targeted by white supremacy groups in the 1920s. New England's Franco-Americans were not assimilating into the American way of life as other immigrants were doing (e.g., they strove to preserve their French language). This event is one of a series of in-person workshops throughout the Midwest, using selections from Ben Levine’s “Waking Up French” documentary to share the little-known and startling history of Franco-American oppression.

Our goal is to connect Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois Franco-Americans with their heritage and with each other, sharing their stories and developing a sense of belonging to undo a legacy of forced isolation. For students of French and other humanities disciplines, this workshop will offer insights on how to ethically collect oral histories and use storytelling to advance goals related to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion. Furthermore, this workshop will help white people who want to be anti-racist gain a deeper understanding of how different European groups were offered access to white privilege; to comprehend how white supremacy and Protestant Christian supremacy interact today; and to use their personal relationship to this history to divest from white supremacy and inspire anti-racist action.

Presenters:

Eileen Angelini is the associate dean of the School for Graduate Studies at SUNY Empire State College, where she leads academic operations and serves on the Presidential Task Force to Enhance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She was named Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques in August 2011. Francophone Canada is a major focus of her studies and of her two Fulbright awards - she served as Visiting Research Chair in Globalization and Cultural Studies at McMaster University from 2010-2011 and was the Grantee for “Francophone Culture: Literature, Pedagogy, and Additional Language Acquisition” at the University of Manitoba in 2016. Relevant to this grant, she was a researcher and teacher for the Bureau of Jewish Education in Getzville, New York where she utilized her background in researching Jewish-Christian relations and documenting oral testimonies to teach the Holocaust from an interdisciplinary perspective. Eileen received her B.A. in French from Middlebury College and her M.A. and Ph.D. in French Studies from Brown University.

Eva Wingren is a member of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial and economic justice. SURJ is answering the call from activists of color to “organize our own,” providing a structure that supports millions of white people in taking sustained action in partnership with BIPOC-led organizations. She currently lives in Madison, WI and works in fundraising. Her professional experience includes public policy advocacy, fund development, grantmaking, facilitation, and community engagement. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Arizona State University, and an MPA from the University of Washington. In 2009, she served as a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Malaysia.

"Opposing Racism through the Lens of Franco-American Experiences" is funded through an Alumni TIES small grant from the U.S. Department of State.