In marking Maine's bicentennial, Maine Calling will look more closely at different aspects of our state's history in the coming year. One such aspect is the history of black people living here in Maine, even from before the state's founding.
We'll learn how African Americans in Maine helped create settlements and lay the foundations for the future of the state in various ways, from social to economic to cultural.
We'll also hear about the struggles that black residents have faced along the way, as well as the roles that particular individuals played in shaping their communities.
Guests
Patricia Q. Wall, author, "Lives of Consequence: Blacks in Early Kittery & Berwick in the Massachusetts Province of Maine"
Bob Greene, advisor and contributor, "Maine's Visible Black History: The First Chronicle of Its People"; teaches Maine's black history at USM's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
William David Barry (by phone), historian and writer, Maine Historical Society
Resources
- 'An African American', or 'a black'?
- Celebrating New England Black History
- Maine Memory Network: Blacks In Maine
- African American Soldiers in the Revolution
- Abyssinian Meeting House, Portland
- Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire
- Mainers engaged in the slave trade in the 1800s
- Man On The Gallows: Portland’s Nathaniel Gordon was the only person in the United States to be executed for slave trading
- USM Creates New Position To Honor Gerald Talbot
- Book review: Black lives mattered in early Maine
- New York Times: The 1619 Project
Why Is Maine So White? And What It Means To Ask The Question