Cultural
traditions and customs permeate nearly every aspect of our lives. Whether at
home, in the workplace, or parked in front of the television, we all prescribe
in some way to the social guidelines and expectations tied to our cultural
identities. But what does “culture” mean and where does it originate? Dr.
Melinda Jetté, associate professor of history at Franklin Pierce University,
tackles this complex issue in her latest book, At the Hearth of the Crossed Races: A French-Indian Community in
Nineteenth-Century Oregon, 1812-1859.
In
her work, Jetté examines the community of French Prairie in Oregon’s Willamette
Valley, adding depth and cultural diversity to the popular Anglo pioneer
narrative of the region. An astounding mix of French and Native American
culture formed the foundations of French Prairie—a tantalizing and often
overlooked history unearthed by At the
Hearth of the Crossed Races. Jetté joins us today to reveal the inspiration
and passion behind her work.
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As a youngster growing up in the
Portland area during the 1970s, I imbibed a steady diet of popular culture
through television, film, and radio. This included the great heyday of the
American miniseries, musical variety shows, disco music, reruns of Star Trek, and the start of the Star Wars franchise. These pop culture
creations were all quite interesting and exciting, especially when my
siblings—following the interests of my mother—became involved in the theater.
However, my own intellectual interests seemed to lie elsewhere: in the family
stories recounted by my father about his French Canadian and Indian ancestors
who had lived in and around Champoeg and St. Paul. And although we had some
Anglo ancestors who came along later, our French-Indian forebears were
apparently in the Willamette Valley prior to the Oregon Trail migrations of the
1840s. These family stories from my father, along with his own love of history,
influenced my later decision to study French and history in college and then
pursue graduate studies in history. I would often return to the intriguing,
though largely undocumented, history of the French-Indian settlers in French
Prairie. I would ask myself why their experience seemed less important than that
of the Anglo-Americans emigrants who trekked to the Pacific Northwest on the
Oregon Trail.
At
the Hearth of the Crossed Races attempts
to answer this question by placing the French-Indian community of French
Prairie at the heart of a formative and tumultuous period in Oregon’s history:
the Euro-American colonization of the Pacific Northwest that began with the fur
trade, the mass migration of Americans to the region, Indian wars and forced
removal, and the eventual incorporation of Oregon into the United States on the
eve of the Civil War. The book’s multi-dimensional history of a bicultural
community follows the lives of ordinary people facing extraordinary times—not
only in relation to Native peoples and incoming American settlers, but also in
relation to larger historical events and developments such as the transition to
a modern, commercial economy and the institution of a civil society grounded in
modern notions of racial separation, gender distinction, and social exclusion.
What makes the story of French Prairie inhabitants so interesting is how their
lives and decisions illuminate these changing times. In tracing the social
history of the French-Indian community of French Prairie—warts and all—I have
endeavored to dig deeper into Oregon’s history, to contribute to a more complex
representation of the nineteenth century and to a more thorough understanding
of the era’s ongoing legacy in the present. At the Hearth of the Crossed Races is
the beginning of a lifelong journey to document the history of French North
Americans in the United States. The next project awaits!
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Melinda
Marie Jetté maintains roots in the
very community she studies. A native Oregonian, she is a descendant of the
French Canadians and Native women who resettled French Prairie. Having received
an MA in History from Université Laval and a PhD from the University of British
Columbia, she now teaches as Associate Professor of History at Franklin Pierce
University in New Hampshire.
Dr.
Jetté will make several appearances in the Pacific Northwest this summer. See
her schedule below:
·
Wednesday, July 8 at 11:45 AM – OPB Think
Out Loud (Radio)
·
Wednesday, July 8 at 7 PM – Oregon
Historical Society
·
Thursday, July 9 at 7 PM – Washington
State Capital Museum
·
Saturday, July 11 at 1:30 PM – Benton
County Historical Society & Museum
·
Sunday, July 12 at 1 PM – Champoeg
State Historic Area
·
Monday, July 13 at 12 PM – Chehalem
Senior Center
·
Saturday, July 18 at 12-3 PM – Sons &
Daughters of Oregon Pioneers (Champoeg State Historic Area)