French Canadian Interview Project

"His great grandmother's brother was Geronimo."

"He wanted to tell us about the dead person buried under the tree in his front yard."

"She rode a horse to school, and her father paid the livery man $1 a year to stable the horse."

"For the senior class trip, they went to Rock Creek at the Kankakee River State Park."

These were some of the comments my students made after their first contact with the descendants of French Canadians whom they were about to interview.

Few experiences in my more than 30 years of college teaching have given me the joy I felt when my students became connected with their community and local history during this project.

Dr. James F. Paul
Professor of History and Philosophy at
Kankakee Community College