The French Community in Albuquerque

Overview and Brief History:
France is the third largest country in Europe after Russia and the Ukraine. Located in the southwestern portion of Europe, it borders the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel on the west, Spain and the Mediterranean on the south, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany on the east, and Belgium and Luxemburg on the north. It gets its name from the Germanic Franks who came to the country in the fifth century AD.

Archaeologists have found evidence of human occupation in France dating back as far as 90,000 years but the first documented inhabitants were the Gallic Celts in the first millennia BC. Romans under Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in the first century BC and the country became Christianized as a part of the Holy Roman Empire. As the empire collapsed, Gaul was overrun by Visigoths Franks, and Burgundii from the east. The Franks unified the nation, became Christians, and later, under Charles Martel fought off attacks from militant Muslims who were invading from the south. Martel’s grandson, Charlemagne, was decreed by the Pope to be the ruler of the West in 800 AD.

The Capetian dynasty began when Hugh Capet ascended the throne in 987 AD ushering in an era of prosperity and power in Paris. In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy invaded England, where he was crowned as king on Christmas Day. This began a symbiotic relationship between France and England that lasted until 1337, when Edward III claimed the French throne and began the Hundred Years War. The French King Charles VIII proved victorious and the English were driven back to Calais in 1453. Religious wars in the late sixteenth century, including the slaughter of the Huguenots in Paris, continued to destabilize the region. The seventeenth century began with a weak king, Louis XIII, and a harsh and powerful Prime Minister, Cardinal Richelieu, who, after crushing Huguenot dissidents at home, increased the prominence of France worldwide during the Thirty Years War. The century ended with Louis XIV, the Sun King, who persecuted the Protestant minority while also creating the first centralized French state. France’s eighteenth century involvement in both the Seven Years War and the American Revolution bankrupted the nation and an angry populace ushered in the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror that followed.

The French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte came to power at the beginning of the nineteenth century and remained until his disastrous foray into Russia in 1812, after which he was exiled to the Island of Elba. He escaped from Elba and was finally defeated by the British at Waterloo and exiled to the Isle of St. Helena in the South Atlantic. Napoleon’s lasting legacy is the Napoleonic Code which still remains as the basis of the French legal system. The French monarchy was finally and officially abolished in 1848. Napoleon’s nephew Louis became president in 1852 and ruled as Napoleon III until the disastrous Franco Prussian War of 1871.

Both world wars had a catastrophic effect on France, decimating both its population and its economy. The Nazi occupation of France during the Second World War and the establishment of a Vichy government in the south was one of France’s darkest hours and diminished its role on the world stage. Following the war, defeats in Viet Nam and Algeria further compromised the French as a world imperial power. Today, France is once again on the rise economically and is an important member of the European Union.

Immigration to the United States and Albuquerque:
In 1608 the French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, founded the first permanent French colony in Quebec. He also explored the area that is now northern New York State. Over sixty years later in 1673, Jacques Marquette and Luis Joliet explored the central portion of the Mississippi River. They were followed by Robert Cavalier de LaSalle who sailed down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico and claimed the entire territory for France. He named the territory Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV.

The French established settlements in Detroit, St. Louis, Memphis, Natchez, and Mobile. but the largest colonies were located in the lower Mississippi Valley where the fertile soil and warm climate enabled the settlers to establish successful farms and plantations. New Orleans was founded in 1718 and soon became a busy seaport and trading center. Because French immigration to Louisiana was restricted to Roman Catholics, French Protestants (Huguenots) tended to settle in English colonies. By the middle of the eighteenth century the scattered population of New France was estimated at 80,000.

In 1754, war broke out between the French and English settlers (French and Indian Wars). General Edward Braddock led an army of English regulars and colonial militia against the French controlled Fort Duquesne (near modern Pittsburgh) and were defeated by a combination of French and Native American forces. Reinforcements to the English regular army in 1757 enabled the English to capture Fort Duquesne and Fort Niagara and eventually defeat the French at Quebec in 1759. Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), Spain received St. Louis, New Orleans, and the Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi; but in 1803 it was returned to France. Three years later Thomas Jefferson purchased Louisiana for the United States.

French emigration to America resumed in the mid-nineteenth century with political refugees fleeing the failed 1848 French revolution. In 1851 over 20,000 French immigrants arrived in the United States and the French newspaper, Le Republican, began publication in New York. There were also French-language newspapers published in Philadelphia and Charleston. The loss of Alsace-Lorraine during the Franco-Prussian War also resulted in an increase in French immigration. Most settled in New York, Chicago and New Orleans. However, a few French settlements were established in the mid-west.

During the of the Civil War the French were keen to show support of the Union and the Lafayette Guards, an entirely French company fought on the Union side The 55th New York Volunteers was also mainly composed of Frenchmen. After the Civil War the number of French-Canadians arriving in the United States increased dramatically and by 1900 there were over 134,000 French-Canadians in Massachusetts alone. Other places that these emigrating French-Canadians settled included Rhode Island, Maine and Vermont. From 1820 to 1900 over 353,000 people from France emigrated to America. The 1930 Census of 1930 documented 135,592 French-born people living in the United States.

The first documented French to enter New Mexico were the brothers Paul and Pierre Mallat, who arrived in 1739. They were picked up by the Spanish military and promptly sent back to New Orleans. Between 1749 and 1752, at least four other parties of Frenchmen, primarily trappers, were apprehended in New Mexico, but were not so lucky as to be simply deported. They served jail sentences in Chihuahua first. A Frenchman, Pedro Vial, was employed by the government in New Mexico in 1786-93 to explore possible trails between Santa Fe and San Antonio and Santa Fe and St. Louis; but did not remain in New Mexico. The first Frenchman documented as a New Mexican citizen was Baptiste La Lande, who was first captured and jailed in Santa Fe. He was later released and moved to Taos where he married at least three times and sired five known children. Another Frenchman, Jose Charvet, formally petitioned to become a New Mexican citizen in 1805, offering his services as a translator. He was granted his wish and served translating for the Pawnee.

Under Spanish rule, almost all illegal French and American trappers and explorers caught in New Mexico were imprisoned in Chihuahua. This changed soon after Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. By 1924 French trappers had ensconced themselves in and around Taos. The most famous of these French trappers were the Robideaux brothers, Antoine, Louis, Joseph, Isadore, and Francois. Antoine Robideoux was a Taos fixture for over twenty years. Another famous Frenchman in Northern New Mexico at that time was Ceran St. Vrain.

One of the most controversial Frenchmen in New Mexico arrived in Santa Fe in 1850. His name was Jean Baptiste Lamy and he went on to become Archbishop. When the Sisters of Loretto needed a staircase built for their new Chapel in 1872, they brought in a French carpenter by the name of Francois-Jean Rochas, a member of les compagnon, a French guild of celibate and secretive craftsmen. After building a “miraculous” staircase for the Loretto Sisters, Rochas moved to southern New Mexico and settled in Dog Canyon, where he was murdered in 1895 by cattlemen after his water rights.

I have found no direct documentation or stories of early French immigration into Albuquerque, but the 1900 census reports 43 French living in the city. The person I interviewed who had lived here the longest arrived in 1960 to work at UNM’s French Department. She said that there were between thirty and forty French in the area at that time, many of whom were women, like herself, who had married Americans after the Second World War. Many newer immigrants to the city also came because they had married an American. Still others I spoke with came to Albuquerque for the same reasons as most, because of a job, or because of the climate and scenic beauty, or both. Some came because of romantic ideas of Indians and the Wild West fomented by dime novels and American movies. French scientists and computer specialists have come because of Sandia, Intel, and UNM. Still other French, sensing a favorable market here, have come to open restaurants, bakeries, or wineries.

Cultural Traditions:
The Alliance Française, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, has sponsored a French language school for over twenty-five years. The school promotes the French language and Francophone culture in New Mexico. In addition to offering classes at its classrooms, the Alliance sponsors French cultural immersion weekends at various locations in northern New Mexico. During these cultural immersions participants speak French, attend seminars on French culture, have poetry readings, present plays, take cooking classes, learn about art, and attend song workshops. The 2004 immersion weekend, the fifth of these weekends, featured the culture of Brittany and Normandy.

French cuisine is famous the world around. The French have developed cooking into a fine art and many consider it to be the epitome of food preparation. There are many fine French restaurants and a few bakeries in the Albuquerque area. Several local French restaurants were started and/or owned by non-French citizens but serve authentic cuisine. There are many other local French restauraunts, however, that are the real thing with real French owners and chefs trained in the vast complexities of the art form.

Volumes have been written about the intricacies of French cuisine and this report does not pretend to come close to describing them all; but this important part of French culture should be addressed. The heart of French cooking, it is said, are the sauces that are integral to the dishes. The most common categories of French sauces are white (béchamel), dark (roux - slow-cooked flour and butter), egg yolk and butter (Hollandaise) egg yolk and oil (mayonaise), and oil and vinegar (vinaigrette).

Flavoring vegetables and herbs form another integral part of the cuisine. Among these, garlic, leeks, shallots, green onions, mushrooms, and truffles rank high. Truffles, like mushrooms, are fungi, but truffles grow underground. Truffles are an important part of French delicacies such as pâté de foie gras (goose liver and truffle paste). Egg dishes play an important role in the French diet. The most common egg dishes are omelets, crepes, and quiches.

French baking, like all French cuisine, is highly specialized and very rich. There are breads, such as baguettes, brioché (egg bread), and croissants (layered, puffy, buttery rolls) and sweet pastries and cheese pastries too many to name here. To learn more about French pastries, I would recommend visiting one of the several fine French bakeries located in all quadrants of the city.

Cheese is another important part of the French diet. There are hard cheeses and soft cheeses, curd cheeses, goat cheeses, and many more. As one Frenchman commented to me, “How can you expect a Frenchman to be predictable when he has over one-hundred types of cheese to choose from?”

Wine making is another highly developed art form in France. There are two French wineries in Albuquerque, Gruet and Sandia Shadows. Both were begun by Frenchmen in 1983, Gruet by Gilbert Gruet and Farid Himeur and Sandia Shadows by Philippe Littot. Although both wineries are located in Albuquerque, both of their grapes are grown near Engle, NM, east of Truth or Consequences. Gruet specializes in Sparkling Wines, (champagne in France) and Pinot Noir while Sandia Shadows features custom labels and Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Merlot.

Artistic Traditions:
The Alliance Française has sponsored French lecturers and musical presentations throughout its more than 40 years in Albuquerque. The Alliance worked with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra during its 2004 Berlioz festival. The organization has also collaborated with the Albuquerque Museum to help with activities affiliated with traveling exhibits of French artists, such as the exhibit that featured the works of the sculptor Rodin.

The Alliance Française promotes French cinema in Albuquerque, and occasionally organizes Cinés-Dîners events for those who wish to attend a French film together and then go to a near-by restaurant to dine and discuss the film in French. The Alliance has many French movie videos available to its members to borrow from its library, which also has more than 1000 books for use by its members.

Annual Events and Celebrations:
A very popular annual tradition among the French in Albuquerque is the Beaujolais Nouveau (young red wine) festival, which is traditionally held on the third Sunday of November. In the past few years it has been held at the French restaurant La Crêpe Michel in Old Town. At this festival, people imbibe this year’s Beaujolais at a wine tasting and celebrate the fall harvest to the lively accompaniment of French music.

Religious holidays observed by French in Albuquerque and the customs that accompany them include St. Nicholas’ Day (December 2) on which it is traditional to exchange small gifts. Christmas is also a time of feasting and gift giving. Albuquerque French often gather for a Christmas lunch at the Petroleum Club. Other holidays around Christmas have quite a bit of significance as well. On January 1st it is traditional to give an etrennes (tip) to the concierge (house people). Some French give etrennes on Christmas instead of gifts. On the twelfth day of Christmas (Epiphany), in the north of France it is traditional to buy (or bake) a flat and flaky cake called a galette. The galette has a bean, or a small toy, or even a coin baked into it. In the south of France it is a brioche instead of a galette. Along with the galette or brioche comes a gilded paper crown. The person who cuts the galette or brioche into pieces typically knows which piece contains the prize and gives that piece to a lucky male, who then becomes king for the day. The king chooses a queen and then everyone drinks. This is usually a small celebration among family and close friends.

February 2nd is La Chandleur (Candlemas). On this day they bless the candles, but it is really pretty much the beginning of Mardi Gras. At a La Chandeleur celebration people make a crepe (or buckwheat cake in Brittany). While holding a coin in one hand, one must cook and flip the crepe into the air and back onto the crepe pan. If the coin is dropped in the process, the person will be poor in the coming year. If the crepe falls to the floor, the person will have bad luck.

Mardi Gras is celebrated by the French in Albuquerque much like is in New Orleans (but on a much smaller scale). For the past several years Mardi Gras has been celebrated at Pappadeaux’s restaurant. People dress up in costumes and celebrate before the coming of Lent.

At Easter, children will have Easter egg hunts, but instead of being hard-boiled chicken ones, the eggs are very large and are made of delicious French chocolate. In France, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, you don’t hear church bells in France. This is because all of the bells have gone to Rome. So on Easter it is traditional to give lots of chocolate bells as well.

Bastille Day is often celebrated by the Alliance Française with a picnic on the grounds of Expo New Mexico at the site of the restored WWII French boxcar, one of those given to all states, including New Mexico, in 1948 as thanks for America's help during the war. The Alliance Française played a leading role in the restoration of the boxcar, providing both manual labor and financial assistance. Everyone celebrates France's independence, there are speeches, and the French and U.S. national anthems are sung

This boxcar plays a central role in the French community. It was part of a train called the Merci Train which was a train of 49 French railroad boxcars filled with tens of thousands of gifts of gratitude from French citizens. The train was a return thank-you of appreciation for the more than 700 American boxcars of relief goods sent to French by individual Americans in 1948. The Merci Train arrived in New York Harbor on February 3rd, 1949 and each of the 48 American states at that time received one of the gift laden boxcars. The 49th boxcar was shared by Washington D.C. and the Territory of Hawaii. Like many of the other ones around the country, Albuquerque’s boxcar fell into disrepair. It was eventually “re-discovered” and restored to its original condition. Many of the original gifts it contained have been recovered or donated and the boxcar now serves as a small museum of French culture at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds.

Conclusions:
Unlike many other cultures, the French tend to be a very independent-minded people and take great pride in their individuality. As one French woman explained it jokingly, “France is a county that is divided into fifty-six million people.” Consequently they don’t tend to band together as much as immigrants from other countries. Many French in Albuquerque rarely get together with other French and see no reason to seek others out. That is not so say that all French are loners, but rather that they tend not to be joiners and are not fond of large group gatherings. They do like to socialize and party and converse with each other, but it is usually in smaller groups of 3-4 families. In spite of this tendency, the Alliance Française currently boasts a membership of over 250.

The Alliance Française is a central connecting place for many French speakers in Albuquerque; other Alliances play that role in other countries through a worldwide network of Alliances. The Federation of Alliances Françaises, U.S.A., recognizes and supports all Alliances in the network in their common mission to encourage and further French culture. Quoting the local organization's web site, the "Alliance Française is dedicated to promoting French language and culture, and to fostering friendly relations between Francophones and Francophiles of all racial, national and ethnic origins". Members pay a small annual dues fee in order to promote cultural activities and further interest in and study of French language and culture.

The Alliance Française d'Albuquerque, Inc., was formed in 1964 as a way to keep French culture alive in the city. In 1979, the Alliance began a French language and culture school. In addition to special events, the Alliance hosts a monthly conversation event at La Crêpe Michel, known as the Cafe-Causette, where people can speak French together over a meal. They also publish a newsletter, Le Lien, which informs members and prospective members of future activities.

The Alliance Française d'Albuquerque has office space located at 2917 Carlisle Blvd. NE, Suite 211, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110. They can be reached by phone at (505) 872-9288 or found on the world wide web at www.afabq.com.

Additionally there is Le Group Française d'Albuquerque which has been around since the late 1980's. Le Groupe hosts informal bi-monthly meetings of French conversation at various members' homes. Le Groupe is less formal than the Alliance Française and simply provides a venue for conversation and sharing. Also, Le Groupe charges no membership dues. Members of Le Groupe gather to drink French wine, nosh on French cheeses, listen to French music, and discuss current events. They boast of members from around the world, Algiers, Belgium, Canadians, Acadians, and more. To learn more about Le Groupe Francais d'Albuquerque and the dates and locations of their upcoming meetings, visit their web site at www.zes.aps.edu/wilson/francais.html.

Many of the needs articulated by the French community were similar to those of other cultural groups contacted during the survey. The Alliance would like to own a building to house their library and classrooms. They feel that the rent paid to house the Alliance Française could be used to better promote and preserve French culture. They participated a few years in Summerfest but pulled out of the program in 1990 of their own volition. I was told that the reason they withdrew from Summerfest was because too few people were doing all of the work and that the City changed the rules and no longer allowed the Alliance to make a small profit.

Some members of the French community would like Albuquerque to have a French Sister City, specifically Annonay, in the Ardenne region of South Central France. While Annonay is not a large city, they feel that its connection, as the home of the Montgolfier brothers and the birthplace of ballooning, is a strong and apt one. Many French balloonists participate in Albuquerque’s annual Balloon Fiesta and the Alliance has even provided them with a French translation of the Balloon Fiesta rule book.

One complaint I heard from the French had to do with punitive tariffs that the US Government has placed on French products in retaliation for official French resistance to opening their domestic markets to massive corporate trade. Because the French have resisted the importation of genetically modified beef and agricultural products and have prevented corporate dumping of cheaply produced agricultural goods that would jeopardize the livelihoods of rural French farmers, the US has imposed very high tariffs on French products such as wine, liqueur, cheese, and perfume. The French have merely shifted the focus of their trade to other emerging markets in South America and Asia and the effect of the tariffs has had minimal impact on the French economy; but it has negatively affected American consumers of French products.

With regard to the recent difficulties between the French and US governments over the US’s war in Iraq, there has been a lot of French bashing on the national level. The French we spoke with lauded the people of Albuquerque and said that they had not felt any animosity from them at all. It was noted however that a few years ago there were a lot more French wines and other products on the shelves of national grocery chains than there are today. But it was unclear whether this was a result of the anti-French sentiments promoted by pro-Iraqi war supporters or because the steep tariffs had reduced demand. Locally owned liquor stores do still maintain large selections of French wines and do a brisk business in selling them.