France has been present and influential in American history. The
Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, is the
embodiment of a friendship that originated from the time of the
American Revolution. France was the U.S. first ally and its
thinkers like Montesquieu and Voltaire played a dominant role among
the founders of the American nation. This influence has lasted to
the present time. Most graduate schools require today knowledge of
at least one foreign language, and French is the most used language
at that level after English.
The Francophonie is also greatly represented in the New York
metropolitan area through its businesses, cultures and diverse
communities that have migrated to New York for over two hundred
years from countries like Haiti, Canada, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire,
Sénégal, Morocco, Tunisia, among many others. For more information
about the Francophonie in New York and the USA, please visit the
following sites: