Translation of the book Souvenirs d’Amérique et de France par une Créole, by Hélène d’Aquin Allain

FAIN: FT-51094-03

Caryn Cosse Bell
University of Massachusetts, Lowell (Lowell, MA 01854-3629)

In her French-language memoir Souvenirs d’Amérique et de France par une Créole published in 1883, Hélène d’Aquin Allain recalls a family history impacted by slavery’s collapse in the Haitian Revolution and the U.S. Civil War. I am seeking support for an annotated translation that recaptures these momentous events while recovering Allain’s lost identity. Because her experiences encompassed multiracial immigration, women's artistic aspirations, and Latin European social relations, Allain's translated memoir will contribute to numerous fields of humanities scholarship including immigration, women’s studies, literature, African American history, and the history of the Atlantic world.