Ku Klux Klan in Maine

This is my report by Maine Writer, published in the Bangor Daily News "Franco-American News and Culture".  

Additionally, an echo report about the potential auction of a Ku Klux Klan coin, removed from the sale. *

Burning of Old South Church by the No Nothings, in Bath Maine by John Hilling

LEWISTON, Maine – A historical overview by James Myall, presented during a seminar on March 19th in Lewiston, described how Franco-Americans were subjected to immigration discrimination during the 19th and into the 20th century. Anti-immigration discrimination campaigns were led by the No-Nothings and the Ku Klux Klan. Myall writes a Bangor Daily News blog at this site here.

Myall included news reports and pictures he obtained during his research.

Three resources I often refer to in my writings about the discrimination demonstrated towards French-Canadian immigrants and Franco-Americans are:
1.  The Silent Playground, by Ross and Judy Paradis of Frenchville, Maine published in Voyages: A Maine Franco-American Reader, pp 428-440.

2.  Réveil-Waking Up French the Repression and Renaissance of the French in New England, a documentary film by Ben Levine.

3.  Remarks of Severin M. Beliveau: 20th Biennial conference of the American Council of Quebec Studies, in Portland Maine on November 3, 2016 published in Hiver/Winter 2017, Vol. 38 # 4 “Le Forum, pp 19-20. (See excerpts below.)

An anti-Catholic riot that occurred on July 6, 1854, in Bath Maine, was one of a number that took place in coastal Maine in the 1850s, led by the No Nothings.

In fact, the horrible riots spread to other areas, including the tarring and feathering of Father John Bapst, in the town of Ellsworth, Maine. The violence in the 1850s was associated with the rise of the Know-Nothing Party.

Although the Ku Klux Klan is most often associated with white hooded mobs who preached white supremacy, the revival of the organization in Maine during the 1920s, was also anti-Catholic. In fact, from news reports of the Klan’s activities, it was evident that the organization was opposed to the burgeoning number of French-Canadian and Irish immigrants who were living in Maine and working in the industrial cities, especially in Lewiston, Waterville, and in York County, in Southern Maine.

In fact, the Klan incited the historic history of contentious relations between Maine’s Protestant ‘Yankee’ population (those descended from the original English colonials), and Irish-Catholic and French Canadian Catholic newcomers, who were immigrating in large numbers. The rise of the Know-Nothing Party in the 1850s even resulted in the burning of a Catholic church in Bath, Maine, and the tarring and feathering of the Jesuit priest Father John Bapst, in Ellsworth.

Following is an excerpt from Beliveau’s presentation:

“In Maine, the Franco-Americans were the targets of hate in communities like Rumford, where I grew up. My father, who was also a lawyer, Albert Beliveau, who became the first Franco-American to serve on the Maine Supreme Court, told me often about watching a cross burn above the Androscoggin River, near Rumford, on a ledge overlooking the tenement buildings occupied by Franco mill workers. This was the 1930s, when Owen Brewster, a Klan member, was first elected the Governor Maine, then one of its senators in Washington, and where, also, in Portland, the KKK held one of the largest parades in Portland’s history, promoting white supremacy and anti-immigration policies.”

Although the caustic history of Klan activities and anti-immigration demonstrations against French-Canadian immigrants may seem distant, the discrimination simmering against new French speaking immigrants was evident in remarks by the recently resigned Shane Bouchard, who abruptly left his position as Mayor of Lewiston, a move caused, in part, by racial remarks.

See my letter to the editor at this link here:

“Shane Bouchard and the Ku Klux Klan text message gives more evidence to the well known quote about those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”

Beliveau included an optimistic overview about how Franco-Americans have been able to overcome the past. “Nevertheless, there have been many changes. Maine is becoming a Franco-American homeland. Maine is the most ‘French’ state in New England.”

Ceux qui ne peuvent pas se souvenir du passé sont condamnés à le répéter.

Myall’s presentation was given during an evening program on March 19, 2019, held at the University of Southern Maine Lewiston Auburn College (USM LAC) and it was sponsored by the Franco-American Collection.

*A Thomaston Maine auction house was advertising a Ku Klux Klan token on its website, but pulled the item from a planned auction. The token, estimated to have a value of between $40 and $60, was listed on the Thomaston Place Auction Galleries website as a “Ku Klux Clan (sic) Token” and scheduled for an online auction starting Wednesday morning, but within a couple hours of a Portland Press Herald reporter’s inquiry about the item, it was removed.

Described as the size of a half-dollar coin, the token had the images of an eagle and a fiery cross on one side, which are thought by some scholars to be symbols of the founding of the KKK’s “second movement”, more than 100 years ago, in Georgia. 

Alongside the symbols were with acronyms SYMWAO and MIAFA, which stand for “Spend your money with Americans” and “Made in America for Americans” or “My interests are for Americans,” according to the description. On the other side, there is a KKK slogan, Non Silba Sed Anthar, intended to mean “not self, but others.”

Kathi Winchenbach, executive assistant at the auction company, said in an email Tuesday afternoon that the item had been removed. She did not respond to additional questions, including why it was removed. Her email came two hours after a reporter asked for more information about the token.

Thomaston Place Auction Galleries handles a wide array of items for clients, include real estate, antiques and collectibles. The KKK token was to be part of an auction that includes paintings, Asian antiques, rare books, art glass, furniture, folk art and decorative pieces.

In recent years, auctions of artifacts associated with groups that promoted hate and violence, like the KKK or the Nazis, have drawn wide attention and protests, including bans in some places. 

French Legion of Honor Presented to Maine Franco-American Severin Beliveau

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=184594&ac=PHnws

France to honor Beliveau on May 13

By JULIANA L'HEUREUX May 1, 2008

A tour of Severin Beliveau's legal office in Augusta is a Franco-American's historic treat. His family's Franco-American history is easily viewed among the pictures and framed archived documents hanging close to his professional work, handsomely decorating the bright walls of his busy legal office.

A photograph of his Franco-American father, Judge Albert Beliveau, born in 1887, is particularly interesting. "These photographs remind me of my ancestral roots as a French speaking Franco-American," he said during the tour. "My father taught me to believe that you can never deny your roots and your heritage."

On March 2, 1992, Beliveau was appointed the honorary French consular agent for Maine. His support for Franco-American and French heritage in Maine and New England will be honored by France, with the presentation of the premier order of The Legion of Honor (Legion d'Honneur), at ceremonies scheduled at the State House on May 13 in Augusta.

"I feel very humble about receiving this honor," said Beliveau. "It's actually a tribute to my French heritage, going back to 1636 when my family arrived in Acadia. In 1671, my Acadian ancestor Jean-Antoine Beliveau married Jeanne Bourg in Port Royal," he said.

Actually, the Beliveau name has French-Acadian origins, before the family became Quebecois, as a result of le Grand Derangement (the displacement).

In the middle 1600s, his ancestors sailed from Poitou in France, to Port Royal in Acadia (Nova Scotia). Beliveau's Acadian ancestral family was displaced by le Grand Derangement during the conflagrations of 1755, when they evaded the British expulsion of Acadians and fled to the Province of Quebec. In 1772, genealogy records show that Joseph Beliveau married Rosalie Richard in Quebec. The family later moved to Nicolet, then to St. Gregoire.

In the late 1800s, the family came to Lewiston, like so many other Quebecois, where the attraction of finding work among the growing textile mills provided economic security. They later moved to Rumford, where Beliveau was born.

Beliveau's legal career followed in the prestigious footsteps of other lawyers and judges in his family. In 1935, his father, Albert J. Beliveau Sr., was appointed the first Franco-American to Maine's Superior Court. In 1954, he was the first Franco-American appointed to Maine's Supreme Judicial Court. "It was when discrimination against French-Canadians and Franco-Americans was very high. My father was their advocate," he recalls.

Beliveau's Irish grandfather, Matthew McCarthy, was the first municipal court judge in Rumford.

Consul General of France in Boston, Franois Gauthier recognizes Beliveau's lifetime of support for the French language and culture in Maine.

"The Legion of Honor is pleased to recognize Severin Bliveau as a tremendous representative of our country's French heritage in North America," he said.

"He is a successful lawyer and businessman who is the head of the 'Forum Francophone des Affaires' in Maine. Severin is a decisive leader in some key projects for improving the relationship between the Pine Tree State and France, such as the governor's successful trade mission to France in October 2005. He is a proud member of the Franco-American community in Maine and New England. His family ties to France are very meaningful to him. We are grateful that he has put his talents to the service of Franco-Americans and France."

The Legion of Honor was established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte to recognize and pay tribute to people who demonstrate outstanding military and civilian service to the people of France.

Beliveau and his wife Cynthia and four sons live in Hallowell.

Juliana L'Heureux can be contacted at:

Juliana@MaineWriter.com