Correction Girls

59 points by yaa_minu 3 years ago | 14 comments

The Portuguese also had a scheme called Órphãs do Rei, where they sent marriageable girls to the colonies.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Órfãs_do_Rei

For the french side (in french) https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/le-pourquo...

It's of course not some specific move just for Louisiana, France was sending trouble makers and people they didn't want in their society, men and women, to many other remote places that needed warm bodies.

Neil44 3 years ago | |

I think everyone did that to be fair.

Nursie 3 years ago | | |

In Britain it was even a sentence handed down by judges - "Transportation" to one of the colonies. Better than hanging, but not by much if a lot of transportees died en-route.

devnull3 3 years ago |

Ironically, this reminds me of a quote from a French mathematician, philosopher:

“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” -- Blaise Pascal

readthenotes1 3 years ago | |

One of my favorites.

To balance it out, "Power corrupts" is nonsense.

Power reveals. --Robert Caro

LeeroyWasHere 3 years ago |

Did the author just make up a new term?

This doesn't feel accurate at all, but I'm not going to spend time debunking this with French sources.

Wikipedia really has to be taken with a grain of salt.

sph 3 years ago | |

The source and bibliography is available. The 1885 book listed at the bottom of the article refer to them as "Correction" girls (with quotes).

LeeroyWasHere 3 years ago | | |

Thank you - So apparently, the initial women that they sent were "casquette girls" then they sent these "correction girls" during a very specific period or region. I wasn't aware of that, was only familiar with the former and the Kings daughters which are seen from a positive light and had much better treatment.

lot3oo 3 years ago | |

As a french canadian this page sounds pretty similar to what we refer to as "les filles du roi"

frozencell 3 years ago |

> Later researchers would remark that while none of the correction girls had apparently had children, the casquette girls had been remarkably fertile.

What does it mean?

aikinai 3 years ago | |

It’s a joke. Since everyone claims they were descended from the first group and no one wants to admit being descended from the second group, if you take it at face value it appears that the first group has tons of children and the second group none.

candiodari 3 years ago | | |

Let's hope it doesn't mean there has been a large scale "transfer" of children from the second group to the first, as it did in many other instances of this happening.

the_third_wave 3 years ago | |

It seems quite obvious to me: the "casquette girls" volunteered and procreated with abundance while the "correction girls" were forced to the colonies and mostly refrained from procreation. The former found themselves a new home, the latter found this new home to be more of a place of exile.