The State of French in Cleveland; The Influence of the Language, Culture and People

Abstract

The Cleveland Metropolitan Area has a population of over two million people comprising at least sixty distinct and active ethnic groups. For over a century, immigrants to the United States have flocked to this area because of its enticing industrial and economic prospects, and the growth and expansion undergone by Cleveland in that time is due largely to the members of those sixty nationalities who contributed their talents and hard labor to create new opportunities and new lives for themselves. Cleveland has become a mosaic of ethnic and racial groups and the vividness of cultural life here is not only well-documented in such publications as the 1974 Ethnic Directory, but evident in the newspapers, foreign language radio programs and colorfully-named streets and stores of certain Cleveland neighborhoods. Local news is seen on location at Polish picnics, rib burn-offs, the German Oktoberfest and the Ukrainian Debutante's Ball. But there is an ethnic group which is of considerable interest to most viewers and yet conspicuously absent from local media coverage. They are the French and the speakers of French in Cleveland.