We are also in the midst of working on a series of interviews in Breton together with Intercultural Productions. As of now, we have interviewed Fabienne Geoffroy, a veteran teacher at the bilingual Diwan school in Paris, and Rozenn Milin, an important figure in Breton television and director of Sorosoro. Clips can be seen in the playlist at the top of this page. We hope to complete these episodes in 2013.
Immigration from Brittany, the region of northwest France where this Celtic language is spoken, grew substantially in the early 20th century and reached its peak between the two world wars. During this time the majority of French immigrants in New York City may have been Breton, with several thousand having come to work at Michelin Tire Corporation’s factory in Milltown, New Jersey, or otherwise later as dishwashers or busboys at French restaurants, which often had Breton owners. By 1967, there were 12,000 Bretons in the city, representing over a third of the city’s total French population, according to the newspaper France-Amerique. Today, the Breton Association of New York (BZH-NY) still has a large membership and continues to hold cultural events on a regular basis. A newer organization, Breizh Amerika, builds transnational ties between Bretons in Brittany and those in the city, who now number 2-3,000 at most according to the organization’s founder Charles Kergaravat. Major areas of settlement have been Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan and later Astoria and Woodside in Queens.