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cover of episode 017  When the United States Spoke French

017 When the United States Spoke French

2015/2/17
logo of podcast Ben Franklin's World

Ben Franklin's World

Shownotes Transcript

*Parlez-vous Français? *

Do you speak French?

Believe it or not in the 1790s many Americans spoke French. They may not have spoken the French language, but they understood and embraced French culture, art, and culinary traditions. 

Early Americans experimented with and adopted many forms of French culture as they sought to define their new identity as Americans.

François Furstenberg), Associate Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University and author of When the United States Spoke French: Five Refugees Who Shaped a Nation), joins us to explore how and why the United States spoke French during the 1790s. 

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/017)

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