Marie-Riene

Breton Brittany, France

Breton is a Celtic language spoken in the Brittany region of France. After moving to the northwest region of France, the Breton language was so suppressed by the French authorities that parents were not allowed to name their children with Breton names until 1993. Waves of settlers brought Celtic languages such as Breton to New York with a large wave of immigration in the 19th century. Hell’s Kitchen once buzzed with Breton. Today, one is hard-pressed to find a fluent speaker anywhere in the city.

Marie-Reine Jezequel, a Breton teacher and activist, is one of the founders of the Diwan bilingual school, which has played a key role in the survival of the language. She sits in the Cypress Hills Cemetery in Queens at a memorial to Breton sailors who died quarantined on the Hudson River. Her story feels even more relevant now, as New York emerges from a year of collective quarantine and incalculable loss.