French History

A Sketch of 1854 New York Firemen, Sporting & Fancy

September 9, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

What follows is the essay “Esquisses a la Plume: Types du Bowery—le Pompier” [Pen Sketches: Bowery Types—The Fireman] by an anonymous French observer in the city of New York reprinted in George Goodrich Foster’s New York Naked (1854). It was annotated by John Warren.

The American fireman differs essentially from his French namesake. They have but a single point of correspondence, the common object of their mission. As to the organization of their bodies and their individual physiology, there is radical difference. [Read more…] about A Sketch of 1854 New York Firemen, Sporting & Fancy

300 Years of French Settlement at Prince Edward Island

September 6, 2023 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

On this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Anne Marie Lane Jonah, a historian with the Parks Canada Agency, explores the history of Prince Edward Island and why Great Britain and France fought over the Canadian Maritime region.

2020 commemorated the 300th anniversary of French presence on Prince Edward Island. [Read more…] about 300 Years of French Settlement at Prince Edward Island

New Netherlanders’ Views of Indigenous People

September 5, 2023 by Peter Hess 3 Comments

By 1642, the number of inhabitants of Rensselaerwyck (spelled Rensselaerswijck in Dutch), at the time basically what is now Albany and Rensselaer Counties, had grown and Patroon Kiliaen Van Rensselaer willingly complied with a requirement of the Dutch West India Company to secure a clergyman for a Dutch Church to conduct services for the settlers. [Read more…] about New Netherlanders’ Views of Indigenous People

The French and Indian War: A New York Perspective

August 31, 2023 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

In the early 1750s, the French were establishing trading posts and building forts along western the frontiers of the British colonies. In the fall of 1753, in part to protect his own land claims, Virginia Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie had sent 22-year-old George Washington (then a militia leader and surveyor) to deliver a letter to Fort Le Boeuf at what is today Waterford in northwest Pennsylvania, demanding they stop.

When Washington returned without success, Dinwiddie sent a small force to build Fort Prince George at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers (today Pittsburgh). Soon a larger French force arrived, torn down the small British fort, and began and built Fort Duquesne, named for then Governor-General of New France, Marquis Duquesne. [Read more…] about The French and Indian War: A New York Perspective

Harlem’s ‘French’ Hero: The Multi-Talented Eugene Bullard

August 29, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

What has gone down in history as the Peekskill Riot was an attack in 1949 by a horde of white supremacists on African-Americans attending a Civil Rights benefit concert in Peekskill, Westchester County, NY. The show, scheduled for August 27th, was headlined by bass-baritone Paul Robeson, the left-wing campaigner and advocate of racial equality.

Just before the singer’s arrival in Peekskill, concertgoers were brutally attacked by some three hundred troublemakers, many of them carrying baseball bats. As the local police did not intervene, thirteen people were wounded in the mayhem. The concert was cancelled and postponed until September 4th. With local labor unions providing security, the event proceeded that night before an audience of 20,000 people. Robeson was joined on stage by folk singers Pete Seeger, Hope Foye and others. [Read more…] about Harlem’s ‘French’ Hero: The Multi-Talented Eugene Bullard

Josephine Baker and Illustrator Paul Colin

July 25, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp 2 Comments

A century ago this year, Josephine Baker traveled on a one way ticket from Philadelphia to New York City, having left her recently-wed husband behind.

Born an illegitimate child in a St Louis ghetto on June 3, 1906, Freda Josephine McDonald had a dismal childhood of poverty living in an area of rooming houses, run-down apartments and brothels near Union Station. The city was beset by racial tension and violence. [Read more…] about Josephine Baker and Illustrator Paul Colin

New York’s Zouave Regiments: The Romance of War

July 3, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Warriors from the Zouaoua Berbers who inhabited the coastal mountain Djurdjura region of North Africa had served the Dey (ruler) of Algeria for centuries. In 1830, the French army under command of Marshal Louis de Bourmont conquered Algiers. The latter recruited local Berber fighters for support in the conquest of the rest of the country.

These colonial troops were called Zouaves. [Read more…] about New York’s Zouave Regiments: The Romance of War

Fort Ticonderoga Curator Dr. Matthew Keagle Interview

June 16, 2023 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

This week on The Historians Podcast, Fort Ticonderoga Curator Dr. Matthew Keagle discusses the Fort’s plans this season, which includes interpreting 1760 at Ticonderoga and see how British soldiers and American provincials ensured military dominance on Lake Champlain and deep into the heart of French Canada. [Read more…] about Fort Ticonderoga Curator Dr. Matthew Keagle Interview

Vulgarity & Vice: Times Square in the 1920s

May 7, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp 3 Comments

The 1920s was a decade of change and upheaval. While Europe was recovering from the First World War, the United States saw a period of economic growth and prosperity in which the country’s focus shifted from rural areas to the cities. It was also a time of great creativity in art and entertainment. New York City set the pace. [Read more…] about Vulgarity & Vice: Times Square in the 1920s

The Migration of European Modern Art to New York: Solomon Guggenheim & Karl Nierendorf

April 27, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Born on April 18, 1889, in Remagen am Rhein into a Catholic family, Karl Nierendorf was educated in Cologne. He worked as a banker before World War I, but his career was disrupted in 1913 by the social upheaval in the Weimar Republic. One of his acquaintances, an art collector, introduced him to the Swiss-born German painter Paul Klee who persuaded him to attempt a career as an art dealer. The two would remain close. When Klee died in June 1940, Nierendorf published Paul Klee Paintings Watercolors 1913 to 1939 (New York: Oxford UP, 1941) as a tribute and an act of friendship. [Read more…] about The Migration of European Modern Art to New York: Solomon Guggenheim & Karl Nierendorf