French American
Franco-Américain, Franco-Américaine

Brett Favre • Kate Chopin • Oliver Stone Robert Goulet • Jack Kerouac • Henry David Thoreau John C. Frémont • Eleuthère Irénée du Pont • William C. Durant John James Audubon • Rene Gagnon Angelina Jolie • Johnny Depp
Total population
17,000,000 [1] 4% of the U.S. population (2009)
Regions with significant populations
Predominantly in New England, The Midwest and Louisiana
Languages
American English, French(Cajun•Acadian•Canadian•Missouri•New England French)
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism Calvinist Protestantism
Related ethnic groups
French people, French Canadian, Québécois, Cajuns, Acadians

French Americans or Franco-Americans are Americans of French or French Canadian descent. About 11.8 million U.S. residents are of this descent, and about 2.0 million speak French and French Creole at home.^[2] While Americans of French descent make up a substantial percentage of the American population, French Americans arguably are less visible than other similarly sized ethnic groups. This is due in part to the tendency of French American groups to identify more strongly with "New World" regional identities such as Acadian, Cajun, or Louisiana Creole. This has inhibited the development of a wider French American identity. The majority of Americans of French and French Canadian descent are descendants of those who first settled in Canada in the 17th century (known as New France at the time), which later became the Province of Quebec in 1763, Lower Canada in 1791, and a Canadian province of Quebec after Canadian Confederation in 1867. The majority of Americans of French descent, mostly resident in New England and the Midwest, are descendants of the Quebec Diaspora and the first Canadiens, while a few are of Acadian descent from the Canadian Maritime provinces. Immigration to the United States from France was much lower than from other parts of Europe, such as Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, or Poland.

History[link]

Unlike other immigrants who came to the United States from other countries, some French Americans arrived prior to the founding of the United States. In many parts of the country, like the Midwest and Louisiana, they were the founders of some of these villages, cities, and first state inhabitants. While found throughout the country, French Americans are most numerous in New England, northern New York, the Midwest, and Louisiana. French is the fourth most-spoken language in the country, behind English, Spanish, and Chinese.^[3] Often, French Americans are identified more specifically as being of French Canadian, Cajun, or Louisiana Creole descent.^[4] An important part of French American history is the Quebec diaspora of the 1840s-1930s, in which one million French Canadians moved to the United States, principally to the New England states, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Historically, the French in Canada had among the highest birth rates in world history, which is why their population was large even though immigration from France was relatively low.

Franco-American Flag

Some French Americans are descended from the casquette girls and comfort women who were sent to Louisiana from France as brides for the French colonists in the 18th century.

They also moved to different regions within Canada, namely Ontario and Manitoba. Many of the early male migrants worked in the lumber industry in both regions, and, to a lesser degree, in the burgeoning mining industry in the upper Great Lakes.

Louisiana[link]

The Cajuns of Louisiana have a unique heritage. Their ancestors settled Acadia, in what is now the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, in the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1755, after capturing Fort Beauséjour in the region, the British Army forced the Acadians to either swear an oath of loyalty to the British Crown or face expulsion. Thousands refused to take the oath, causing them to be sent, penniless, to the 13 colonies to the south in what has become known as the Great Upheaval. Over the next generation, some four thousand managed to make the long trek to Louisiana, where they began a new life. The name Cajun is a corruption of the word Acadian. Many still live in what is known as the Cajun Country, where much of their colonial culture survives. French Louisiana, when it was sold by Napoleon in 1803, covered all or part of than fifteen current U.S. states and contained French and Canadian colonists dispersed across it, though they were most numerous in its southernmost portion.

In Louisiana today, more than 15% of the population of the Cajun Country reported in the 2000 United States Census that French was spoken at home.^[5]

Another significant source of immigrants to Louisiana was Saint Domingue, which gained its independence as the Republic of Haiti in 1804, following a bloody revolution; much of its white population (along with some mulattoes) fled during this time, often to Louisiana, where they largely assimilated into the Creole culture.

Biloxi in Mississippi, and Mobile in Alabama, still contain French American heritage since they were founded by the Canadian Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.

The Houma Tribe in Louisiana still speak the same French they had been taught 300 years ago.

Colonial era[link]

In the 17th and early 18th centuries there was an influx of a few thousand Huguenots, who were Protestant refugees fleeing religious persecution in France. For nearly a century they fostered a distinctive French Protestant identity that enabled them to remain aloof from American society, but by the time of the American Revolution they had generally intermarried and merged into the larger Presbyterian community.^[6]:382 The largest number settling in South Carolina, where the French comprised four percent of the white population in 1790.^[7][8] With the help of the well organized international Huguenot community, many also moved to Virginia.^[9] In the north, Paul Revere of Boston was a prominent figure.

Midwest[link]

From the beginning of the 17th century, French Canadians explored and traveled to the region with their coureur de bois and explorers, such as Jean Nicolet, Robert de LaSalle, Jacques Marquette, Nicholas Perrot, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, Pierre Dugué de Boisbriant, Lucien Galtier, Pierre Laclède, René Auguste Chouteau, Julien Dubuque, Pierre de La Vérendrye, and Pierre Parrant.

The French Canadians set up a number of villages along the waterways, including Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; La Baye, Wisconsin; Cahokia, Illinois; Kaskaskia, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan; Saint Ignace, Michigan; Vincennes, Indiana; St. Paul, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; and Sainte Genevieve, Missouri. They also built a series of forts in the area, such as Fort de Chartres, Fort Crevecoeur, Fort Saint Louis, Fort Ouiatenon, Fort Miami (Michigan), Fort Miami (Indiana), Fort Saint Joseph, Fort La Baye, Fort de Buade, Fort Saint Antoine, Fort Crevecoeur, Fort Trempealeau, Fort Beauharnois, Fort Orleans, Fort St. Charles, Fort Kaministiquia, Fort Michilimackinac, Fort Rouillé, Fort Niagara, Fort Le Boeuf, Fort Venango, and Fort Duquesne. The forts were serviced by soldiers and fur trappers who had long networks reaching through the Great Lakes back to Montreal.^[10]

The region was relinquished by France to the British in 1763 as a result of the Treaty of Paris. Three years of war by the Natives, called Pontiac's War ensued. It became part of the Province of Quebec in 1774, and was seized by the United States during the Revolution.^[11]

New England, New York State[link]

In the late 19th century, many Francophones arrived in New England from Quebec and New Brunswick to work in textile mill cities in New England. In the same period, Francophones from Quebec soon became a majority of the workers in the saw mill and logging camps in the Adirondack Mountains and their foothills. Others sought opportunities for farming and other trades such as blacksmiths in Northern New York State. By the mid-20th century French Americans comprised 30% of the Maine's population. Some migrants became lumberjacks but most concentrated in industrialized areas and into enclaves known as 'Little Canadas.'^[12]

French Canadian immigrant women saw the United States as a place of opportunity and possibility where they could create alternatives for themselves distinct from the expectations of their parents and their community. By the early 20th century some French Canadian women even began to see migration to the United States to work as a rite of passage and a time of self-discovery and self-reliance. When these women did marry, they had fewer children with longer intervals between children than their Canadian counterparts. Some women never married, and oral accounts suggest that self-reliance and economic independence were important reasons for choosing work over marriage and motherhood. These women conformed to traditional gender ideals in order to retain their 'Canadienne' cultural identity, but they also redefined these roles in ways that provided them increased independence in their roles as wives and mothers.^[13][14]

The French Americans became active in the Catholic Church where they tried with little success to challenge its domination by Irish clerics.^[15] They founded such newspapers as 'Le Messager' and 'La Justice.' The first hospital in Lewiston, Maine, became a reality in 1889 when the Sisters of Charity of Montreal, the 'Grey Nuns,' opened the doors of the Asylum of Our Lady of Lourdes. This hospital was central to the Grey Nuns' mission of providing social services for Lewiston's predominately French Canadian mill workers. The Grey Nuns struggled to establish their institution despite meager financial resources, language barriers, and opposition from the established medical community.^[16] Immigration dwindled after World War I.

The French Canadian community in New England tried to preserve some of its cultural norms. This doctrine, like efforts to preserve francophone culture in Quebec, became known as la Survivance.^[17]

Potvin (2003) has studied the evolution of French Catholic parishes in New England. The predominantly Irish hierarchy of the 19th century was slow to recognize the need for French-language parishes; several bishops even called for assimilation and English language-only parochial schools. In the 20th century, a number of parochial schools for Francophone students opened, though they gradually closed toward the end of the century and a large share of the French-speaking population left the Church. At the same time, the number of priests available to staff these parishes also diminished. By the 21st century the emphasis was on retaining local reminders of French American culture rather than on retaining the language itself.^[18] With the decline of the state's textile industry during the 1950s, the French element experienced a period of upward mobility and assimilation. This pattern of assimilation increased during the 1970s and 1980s as many Catholic organizations switched to English names and parish children entered public schools; some parochial schools closed in the 1970s. Although some ties to its French Canadian origins remain, the community was largely anglicized by the 1990s, moving almost completely from 'Canadien' to 'American'.^[12][19]

Representative of the assimilation process was the career of singer and icon of American popular culture Rudy Vallée (1901–1986). He grew up in Westbrook, Maine, and after serving in World War I attended the University of Maine, then transferred to Yale, and went on to become as a popular music star. He never forgot his Maine roots, and maintained an estate at Kezar Lake.^[20]

Civil War[link]

French Americans in the Union forces were one of the most important Catholic groups present during the American Civil War. The exact number is unclear, but thousands of French Americans appear to have served in this conflict. Union forces did not keep reliable statistics concerning foreign enlistments. However, historians have estimated anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 French Americans serving in this war. In addition to those born in the United States, many who served in the Union forces came from Canada or had resided there for several years. Canada's national anthem was written by such a soldier named Calixa Lavallée, who wrote this anthem while he served for the Union attaining the rank of Lieutenant.^[21] The French government and British government supported the Confederate cause, but no soldiers were sent.^[22] Leading Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard was a noted French American from Louisiana.

Politics[link]

Walker (1962) examines the voting behavior in U.S. presidential elections from 1880 to 1960, using election returns from 30 French American communities in New England, along with sample survey data for the 1948-60 elections. From 1896 to 1924, French Americans typically supported the Republican Party because of its conservatism, emphasis on order, and advocacy of the tariff to protect the textile workers from foreign competition. In 1928, with Catholic Al Smith as the Democratic candidate, the French Americans moved over to the Democratic column and stayed there for six presidential elections. They formed part of the New Deal Coalition. Unlike the Irish and German Catholics, very few French Americans deserted the Democratic ranks because of the foreign policy and war issues of the 1940 and 1944 campaigns. In 1952 many French Americans broke from the Democrats but returned heavily in 1960.^[23]

As the ancestors of most French Americans had for the most part left France before the French Revolution, they usually prefer the Fleur-de-lis to the modern French tricolor.^[24]

Franco-American Day[link]

In 2008, the state of Connecticut made June 24 Franco-American Day, recognizing French Canadians for their culture and influence on Connecticut. The states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, have now held Franco-American Day festivals on June 24.^[25]

Population[link]

Distribution of Franco Americans according to the 2000 census

According to the U.S. Census Bureau of 2000, 5.3% of Americans are of French or French Canadian ancestry. French Americans made up close to, or more than, 10% of the population of:

In states that once made up part of New France (excluding Louisiana):

Franco Americans also made up more than 4% of the population in

States with the largest French communities including (according to the 2010 U.S. Census)

French and French Canadian

Religion[link]

Most Franco Americans have a Roman Catholic heritage (which includes most French Canadians and Cajuns). Besides the Protestant Huguenots who fled from France in the colonial era, there were some Protestants from Switzerland who came in the 19th century.^[27]

There was tension between the English-speaking Irish Catholics, who controlled the Church in New England, and the French immigrants, who wanted their language taught in the parochial schools. The Irish controlled all the Catholic colleges in New England, except for Assumption College in Massachusetts, controlled by the French, and one school in New Hampshire controlled by Germans. Tension reached a breaking point during the Sentinelle affair of the 1920s, in which Franco-American Catholics of Providence, Rhode Island, challenged their bishop over control of parish funds in an unsuccessful bid to wrest power from the Irish American episcopate.^[28]

Marie-Rose Ferron was a mystic stigmatic; she was born in Quebec and lived in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Between about 1925 and 1936, she was a popular "victim soul" who suffered physically to redeem the sins of her community. Father Onésime Boyer, promoted her cult.^[29]

French language in the United States[link]

According to the National Education Bureau, French is the second most commonly taught foreign language in U.S. high schools, colleges, and universities behind Spanish. French was the most commonly taught foreign language until the 1980s; when the influx of Hispanic immigrants aided the growth of Spanish. According to the U.S. 2000 Census, French is the third most spoken language in the United States after English and Spanish, with 2 097 206 speakers, up from 1 930 404 in 1990. In addition to parts of Louisiana, the language is also commonly spoken in Florida, northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York City; home to large French-speaking communities from France, Quebec, and Haiti.

As a result of French immigration to what is now the United States in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the French language was once widely spoken in much of the country, especially in the former Louisiana Territory, as well as in the Northeast. French-language newspapers existed in many American cities; especially New Orleans and in certain cities in New England. Americans of French descent often lived in predominately French neighborhoods; where they attended schools and churches that used their language. In New England, Upstate New York, and the Midwest, French Canadian neighborhoods were known as "Little Canada".

Cities founded by the French and French Canadians[link]

• Biloxi, Mississippi founded in 1699 by Canadien Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.
• Boise, Idaho, founded in the 1820s by French fur traders, means "wooded."
• Bourbonnais, Illinois named after French Canadian fur trader Francois Bourbonnais. The first permanent resident was French Canadian fur trader Noel LeVasseur in the 1830s.
• Chicago, Illinois founded by the French and the Indians, is pronounced with the French pronunciation of the sound ché as opposed to the English chi. It also contained a u at the end, Chécagou.
• Coeur d'Alene, Idaho French Canadian fur traders allegedly named the local Indian tribe the Coeur d'Alene out of respect for their tough trading practices. Coeur d'Alêne literally means "heart of the awl."
• Detroit, Michigan was founded by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701, a French army captain, and was originally called Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, after the minister of marine under Louis XIV and the French word Détroit for "strait."
• Dubuque, Iowa was established as a lead mining site by Canadien Julien Dubuque in 1788
• French Camp, California was the terminus of the Oregon-California Trail used by French-Canadian fur traders (including Michel Laframboise)in the 1830s and 1840s, making it one of the oldest settlements in San Joaquin County.
• Green Bay, Wisconsin or La Baye, was founded by Jean Nicolet in 1634. Many descendants of Green Bay are direct descendants of the French Canadian habitants and their families.
• Juneau, Alaska was founded in 1891 and named in honour of Joseph Juneau, a gold prospector from the region of Montreal, who settled the first mining camp in the area.
• Kaskaskia, Illinois was founded in 1703 by French Jesuit missionaries and was Illinois's first capital.
• Mobile, Alabama founded in 1702 by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and his brother Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne. It was the first capital of Louisana.
• Natchitoches, Louisiana was founded in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis.
• New Orleans, Louisiana was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne.
• Pierre, South Dakota was named after Pierre Chouteau, Jr., a fur trader of French Canadian origin, who built Fort Pierre, where the capital of Pierre stands today.
• Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin established in 1685 by Nicholas Perrot as a fur trading post.
• Prairie du Rocher, Illinois was founded in 1722 by Sister Thérèse Langlois, four years after Fort de Chartres was built by Pierre Dugué de Boisbriand.
• Saint Charles, Missouri was founded by Louis Blanchette, a French Canadian, in 1769.
• Saint Louis, Missouri was founded by a French trader, Pierre Laclède, and his stepson, a trader from Louisiana, René Auguste Chouteau in 1764.
• Sainte Genevieve, Missouri was founded in 1735 by habitants.
• Saint Ignace, Michigan was founded by father Jacques Marquette in 1671.
• Saint Paul, Minnesota was established in 1838 by Pierre Parrant and settled by French Canadians. In 1841, it was named Saint-Paul by Father Lucien Galtier in honor of Paul the Apostle.
• Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan was founded in 1668 by fathers Jacques Marquette and Claude Dablon
• Vincennes, Indiana was established in 1732 by François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes and rallied to the cause of the American revolution with Father Pierre Gibault.
• San Antonio

State names given to American states[link]

Most of the names were bestowed by early French explorers who were not permanent residents of the area that became the U.S. Upwards of 10 U.S. states have names of either direct French origin (Louisiana, Vermont, Illinois), indirect French origin through other languages (Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Delaware, New Jersey) or possible / disputed French origin (Maine, Oregon).

• Arkansas – named by French explorers from the corrupted Indian word meaning "south wind";
• Delaware – named after Lord de la Warr (Anglo-Norman surname originally de la Guerre meaning; "of the war");
• Illinois – French for the land of the Illini, a Native American tribe;
• Louisiana – from the French "Louisiane", in honor of king Louis XIV of France;
• Maine – most likely from the French province of the same name. because Henrietta Maria of France, queen of Charles I of England was said to have owned the province of Maine in France.^[30][31]
• Michigan – French transcription of Ojibwe word Mishigamaw which means "great lake"
• New Jersey – named after the Bailliage de Jersey, the largest of the British Channel Islands, whose inhabitants are of Norman descent and many of whom still speak a Norman-French dialect. English and French are the official languages of Jersey and Guernsey;
• Oregon – may have been named by early French explorers after "le fleuve aux ouragans", the hurricane river, a name used to describe the windiness of the Columbia River;
• Vermont – comes from a contraction of French words, Vert, green, and mont, mount, mountain. Hence the "Green Mountain" (la montagne verte) state;
• Wisconsin – named after the Meskousing River. This spelling was later corrupted from the local Native American language to "Ouisconsin" by French explorers, and over time this version became the French name for both the Wisconsin River and the surrounding lands. English speakers anglicized the spelling to its modern form when they began to arrive in greater numbers during the early 19th Century;^[30]

Historiography[link]

Richard (2002) examines the major trends in the historiography regarding the Franco-Americans who came to New England in 1860-1930. He identifies three categories of scholars: survivalists, who emphasized the common destiny of Franco-Americans and celebrated their survival; regionalists and social historians, who aimed to uncover the diversity of the Franco-American past in distinctive communities across New England; and pragmatists, who argued that the forces of acculturation were too strong for the Franco-American community to overcome. The 'pragmatists versus survivalists' debate over the fate of the Franco-American community may be the ultimate weakness of Franco-American historiography. Such teleological stances impede the progress of research by funneling scholarly energies in limited directions while many other avenues, for example, Franco-American politics, arts, and ties to Quebec, remain unexplored.^[15][17]

Immigration from France, Canada, and Acadia[link]

See also[link]

	United States portal
	Franco-Americans portal
	Quebec portal
	Canada portal
	France portal
	Acadia portal

• Acadians
• Canadian American
• European American
• French Argentine
• French Canadian
• Hyphenated American
• List of French Americans
• The Huguenot Society of America

Citations[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Robbins, Rhea Cote. Wednesday's Child (2008)
• Robbins, Rhea Cote, ed. Canuck and Other Stories (2006)

External links[link]

• Extensive studies, Documents, Statistics and Resources of Franco American History
• Franco American Center
• Franco American Women's Institute
• Institut français
• Dave Martucci, Franco-American flags, in Flags of the World
• Vivre en Orange County - French Community in Orange County, California
• Bonjour L.A. !- Bonjour L.A. ! Los Angeles with a French touch
• Council for the Development of French in Louisiana - a state agency.
• [2] Oral History of French Canadians in Franklin County, New York and of a small sawmill and logging community in the Northern New York State populated by French Canadians

Medal record
Competitor for  United States
Men’s freestyle skiing
FIS Freestyle World Skiing
Gold	World Cup Overall Champion 2002	Moguls
Gold	World Cup Overall Champion 2005	Moguls
Gold	2003 Deer Valley	Dual Moguls
Gold	Sauze D'Oulx ITA World Cup 2005	Moguls
Gold	Naeba JPN World Cup 2005	Moguls
Gold	Inawashiro JPN World Cup 2005	Moguls
Gold	Inawashiro JPN World Cup 2005	Dual Moguls
Gold	Deer Valley, UT USA World Cup 2005	Moguls
Gold	Deer Valley, UT USA World Cup 2005	Dual Moguls
Gold	Spindleruv Mlyn CZE World Cup 2004	Moguls
Gold	Madarao JPN World Cup 2003	Moguls
Gold	Steamboat USA World Cup 2003	Moguls
Gold	Lake Placid, NY USA World Cup 2002	Moguls
Gold	2003 Deer Valley	Dual Moguls
Silver	2003 Deer Valley	Moguls
Bronze	2005 Ruka	Dual Moguls

Jeremy Ryan Bloom is a three-time World Champion, two-time Olympian and eleven-time World Cup gold medalist in freestyle moguls skiing. In 2005, he won a record six straight World Cup events, the most in a single season in the sport's history. He was an All-American football player at the University of Colorado and has played professional American football as a wide receiver and return specialist in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers. In January 2008, Bloom founded the Wish of a Lifetime Charity, which grants lifelong wishes to 80, 90, & 100+ year old people (Seniorwish.org).

In April 2010, Bloom co-founded the internet company Integrate.com. On December 14, 2010 The Foundry Group invested $4.25 million into the start-up and on June 21, Integrate was named as the "Best New Company" at the 2011 American Business Awards in New York City. In March 2012, Integrate.com received an $11 million investment from Comcast Ventures and Liberty Global.^[1]

On December 19th, 2011 Forbes Magazine named Bloom to it's 30 under 30 list of influential people in technology. The company has offices in Denver, Colorado, Scottsdale, Arizona and New York City, New York.

Bloom is also a Fox Sports college football analyst and worked for NBC as on-air talent at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Personal life[link]

Bloom was born in Loveland, Colorado he helped lead both his football and track teams to state championships. Bloom was the quarterback (and a defensive back) on the freshman team. He switched to receiver his sophomore year and played on the junior varsity football team. As a senior, his most notable game was a 35–12 win over Lakewood in the 2000 state playoffs, where he broke three school records with nine receptions for 204 yards (187 m) and four touchdowns. He accepted a full scholarship to play college football at the University of Colorado. As a track athlete, Bloom helped lead his high school track team to back-to-back Class 5A state championship titles his junior and senior year. He competed in the 100 m, 200 m, 4x100 m and 4x400 meter.

Bloom has also studied karate since the age of 5 and earned a first degree black belt at the age of 12. He continues to study mixed martial arts.

Bloom completed a real estate and finance entrepreneurship degree at The Wharton Business School of Pennsylvania in 2006.

Bloom now lives in New York City, New York.^[2][3]

Skiing career[link]

Bloom grew up skiing in Keystone, Colorado. By the age of 15, Bloom became the youngest male freestyle skier to ever make The United States Ski Team. By the age of 14, Bloom was a National Champion and by the age of 19 he was a World Champion. From 2002 to 2004 he performed a balancing act with his university school work, college football and the world cup skiing tour. One month after he was named to the 1st Team Freshman All American list for college football, he won the World Championship Dual's Gold Medal at the 2003 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships in Deer Valley, Utah. In 2005 he dominated FIS World Cup Tour becoming the first freestyle skier to ever win six straight races in a single season. He ended 2005 as the #1 ranked freestyle skier in the world and number one in moguls for the second time (also 2002). After the 2006 Olympics, Bloom decided to focus his attention solely on football. However, on November 24, 2008, he announced his intention to attend the United States ski team's training camp to assess the possibility of a 2010 return to Olympic skiing.^[4] On December 16, 2008, Bloom was added to the 39 man roster of the U.S. Ski Team.

College football career[link]

Bloom is a former wide receiver and punt returner for the University of Colorado football team. As a freshman he was selected to the first-team Freshman All-America list by both the FWAA and collegefootballnews.com. He set many school records during his two years playing football for the Colorado Buffaloes, including a 96-yard (88 m) touchdown reception, the longest in school history. He had five career plays of 75 yards (69 m) or longer (two receptions, two punt returns, one kickoff return), tied with Byron White for the second most in school history. After a long fought battle with the NCAA to keep his skiing hopes alive for the 2006 Winter Olympics the NCAA declared him permanently ineligible, cutting short his college football career by two years. He went on to regain his #1 in the world skiing ranking in 2005 and competed for the United States in the 2006 Olympics. Two days after the Turin Olympics Bloom flew to Indianapolis to compete in the NFL Combine.

Professional football career[link]

Philadelphia Eagles[link]

On April 30, 2006, Bloom was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fifth round (147th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft. He was featured in the NFL's TV show Hey Rookie, Welcome To The NFL. He practiced with the team all through mini-camp as a punt and kick returner, but injured his hamstring during training camp. Due to this injury, he was placed on injured reserve and remained with the team for the 2006 season. He was later released by the Eagles.

Pittsburgh Steelers[link]

On December 31, 2007, Bloom was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers in preparation for the 2008 AFC playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He began 2008 training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers.^[5] However, he was released by the Steelers on August 25, 2008.^[6][7]

Philanthropy[link]

In the spring of 2008, Bloom launched The Donna Wheeler Foundation. Based in his home state of Colorado, the foundation was originally named in honor of his 82-year-old grandmother. The name was later changed to the Jeremy Bloom Wish of a Lifetime Foundation in order "to establish a solid brand identity."^[8] The non-profit, 501(c)(3) foundation's mission is to help low income seniors experience their lifelong wishes.

Other ventures[link]

Leading up to the 2006 NFL draft, Bloom, along with fellow rookies Vernon Davis and A. J. Hawk, appeared in ads for Under Armour's new line of football cleats, with the slogan "Click Clack (I think they hear us coming)." He was also the feature in an ABC Olympic commercial and 80-hour fitness commercial.

Bloom has also landed modeling jobs with Tommy Hilfiger, Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F:Rising Stars Christmas 2004), GQ Magazine and Cosmopolitan magazine. He is also a frequent guest host on Video Stew on Palladia and is a VJ for the channel. He has appeared on magazine covers; Cargo, Outside, Sports Illustrated on Campus, Hooked on the Outdoors and Mile High Sports.

In March 2003, Bloom won the 30th annual CBS Superstars Competition in Jamaica; he defeated 9 professional athletes that included the likes of; Dexter Jackson^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Ahman Green, Will Allen^[9] and Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward to win the competition. He ran a 100-yard (91 m) dash in 9.41 seconds, .01 off the events record set by Joey Galloway. He chose to donate his $45,000 prize money to help build youth football fields in his hometown of Loveland, Colorado.

After football practice with the Philadelphia Eagles, he interned for well-known professor and economist Peter Linneman.

In Warren Miller's 55th ski movie Higher Ground, Bloom narrated almost the entire movie with Warren only contributing a few lines.

World Cup Skiing Results[link]

In Bloom’s four years of competing on the World Cup Tour, he won 11 Gold Medals and earned 26 World Cup Podiums. He competed in 49 World Cup Races during those four years and his podium percentage of 53% may be the highest in the history of the sport.

References[link]

External links[link]

• U.S. Olympic Team bio
• Philadelphia Eagles bio
• Pittsburgh Steelers bio
• The Wish of a Lifetime

v t e United States Superstars Champions 1973: Bob Seagren 1974: Kyle Rote, Jr. 1975: O. J. Simpson 1976: Kyle Rote, Jr. 1977: Kyle Rote, Jr. 1978: Wayne Grimditch 1979: Greg Pruitt 1980: Charles White 1981: Renaldo Nehemiah 1982: Renaldo Nehemiah 1983: Renaldo Nehemiah 1984: Tom Petranoff 1985: Mark Gastineau 1986: Renaldo Nehemiah 1987: Herschel Walker 1988: Herschel Walker 1989: Willie Gault 1990: Willie Gault 1991: Kelly Gruber 1992: Mike Powell 1993: Dave Johnson 1994: Dave Johnson 1995: competition not held 1996: competition not held 1997: competition not held 1998: Jason Sehorn 1999: Jason Sehorn 2000: Jason Sehorn 2001: Hermann Maier 2002: Bode Miller 2003: Jeremy Bloom

Michael Moore
Moore in New York to promote his memoir Here Comes Trouble, September 2011
Born	Michael Francis Moore (1954-04-23) April 23, 1954 (age 58) Flint, Michigan, United States[1]
Alma mater	University of Michigan–Flint
Occupation	Actor, director, screenwriter, producer
Years active	1972–present[2]
Religion	Roman Catholic[3]
Spouse	Kathleen Glynn (1991–present)
Website
michaelmoore.com

Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist.^[4] He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time.^[5] His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries.^[5] In September 2008, he released his first free movie on the Internet, Slacker Uprising, which documented his personal quest to encourage more Americans to vote in presidential elections.^[6] He has also written and starred in the TV shows TV Nation and The Awful Truth.

Moore criticizes globalization, large corporations, assault weapon ownership, U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton^[7] and George W. Bush, the Iraq War, the American health care system, and capitalism in his written and cinematic works.