Begin Again series hosted by the Maine Historical SocietyPanel Discussion featuring Van Gosse Thursday, July 22, 6:00 – 7:00 pm Register here This event is co-sponsored by the McGillicuddy Humanities Center at the University of Maine.In September 1826, a group of six African American men addressed a letter “To the Public” on behalf of about … Continue reading Event | Nineteenth-Century Black Politics in Maine: Historical Research and Legacies 7/22/21
Call for Papers | Maine History
The Maine History editors are seeking article manuscripts and have issued a Call For Papers for Summer 2021. This is a great summer project for faculty, students, and friends of Maine History! See flier below for further details. For more information, or to submit a manuscript, please contact the Editors at: journal@mainehistory.org.
Advocacy Alert: Hearing on Offensive Place Names in Maine Today
A public hearing for bill LD 1591 sponsored by Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross—"Resolve, Directing the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry To Identify Places with Offensive Names and Methods of Changing Those Names”—takes place today, Thursday, May 13 at 9:00 am before the Judiciary. Please consider offering testimony in favor of this important bill. Some context Rep. Gerald Talbot … Continue reading Advocacy Alert: Hearing on Offensive Place Names in Maine Today
Event: Kate McBrien presents “Malaga Island, Fragmented Lives” on 5/6/21
Hosted by The First Amendment Museum May 6, 2021 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Register here This 40-minute presentation and discussion explores the true history of the community who lived on Malaga Island, off the coast of Phippsburg, Maine, in the late 1800s. The program examines the individuals who were part of this community … Continue reading Event: Kate McBrien presents “Malaga Island, Fragmented Lives” on 5/6/21
Building a Better Black Box
By Meadow Dibble What you are looking at is a document chest believed to have belonged to Elijah Cobb (1768–1848), one of New England’s most celebrated sea captains and the founding father of my hometown on Cape Cod. You might even call it a 19th-century black box, since the purpose of this object, like that … Continue reading Building a Better Black Box
ABB Event | Whaling Captains of Color with Skip Finley on 4/29
ReMapping New England | 2021 Speaker Series Hosted by Atlantic Black Box and Indigo Arts Alliance Thursday, April 29, 2021 5:00-6:00 p.m. Register here ReMapping New England is an ongoing collaboration between Atlantic Black Box and Indigo Arts Alliance that aims to re-member our communities in all their diversity and radically shift public consciousness toward … Continue reading ABB Event | Whaling Captains of Color with Skip Finley on 4/29
Slavery and African Americans in early Castine
Castine, Maine is a small coastal town in Hancock County, Maine. Long used seasonally for fishing and trade by Native Americans, the area was first occupied by whites beginning in 1629. Over the course of 200 years, French, English, Dutch and Americans fought over this highly prized and strategically placed deep water port. Permanent settlement … Continue reading Slavery and African Americans in early Castine
Event: Patricia Q. Wall on The Era of Slavery in Southern Maine 3/25/21 @ 6 pm
Hosted by Rice Public Library Thursday, March 25, 6:00 PM register here Rice Public Library in Kittery, Maine presents historian and author, Patricia Q. Wall, to discuss the era of slavery in Southern Maine as revealed in her recently published book, 'Lives of Consequence: Blacks in Early Kittery & Berwick in the Massachusetts Province of … Continue reading Event: Patricia Q. Wall on The Era of Slavery in Southern Maine 3/25/21 @ 6 pm
Stand In Solidarity Against Racism on Juneteenth!
These words, posted on Facebook, were a call to action for our mostly white community. In response, almost 80 people gathered at Lafayette Park, in Kennebunk, Maine, on a warm spring evening. In the midst of a pandemic, the crowd included all ages: some who remembered demonstrating for civil rights back in the 1960s and … Continue reading Stand In Solidarity Against Racism on Juneteenth!
ABB Event: Parent University on Researching & Reckoning with New England’s Past 3/18 & 3/24
Hosted by Portland Public Schools Thursday, March 18, 2021 & Wednesday, March 24, 2021 | 5:30-7:00 pm Link to join Join members of the Atlantic Black Box Project for a two-part exploration of slavery in the North and New England’s complicity in the global economy of enslavement. Why have our history books and regional narratives left … Continue reading ABB Event: Parent University on Researching & Reckoning with New England’s Past 3/18 & 3/24
Event: Learning to Read the Maine Landscape Through the Lens of Racial History 3/4/21
With guest speakers Dr. Meadow Dibble and Dr. Kate McMahon Hosted by the Southern Maine Conservation Collaborative Thursday, March 4th | 4:30p.m.-6:00p.m. RSVP here New England has long repressed the memory of its complicity in Atlantic world slavery, just as our dominant narrative has suppressed the stories of the region's free and enslaved Black and … Continue reading Event: Learning to Read the Maine Landscape Through the Lens of Racial History 3/4/21
Event tonight: Atlantic Black Box, Reckoning with New England’s Complicity in the Slave Trade @ 7 pm
With Dr. Meadow Dibble and Dr. Kate McMahon Hosted by the University of Maine's McGillicuddy Humanities Center Thursday, February 25, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Register here Atlantic Black Box is a public history project that empowers communities throughout New England to take up the critical work of researching and reckoning with our region’s complicity in the global economy … Continue reading Event tonight: Atlantic Black Box, Reckoning with New England’s Complicity in the Slave Trade @ 7 pm
Event tonight: Hasan Jeffries on Bending the Arc of the Moral Universe: African Americans’ Struggle to Live Their Freedoms
Presented by the First Amendment Museum in Augusta, Maine February 18, 2021 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm Register here Join us as we speak to Hasan Kwame Jeffries for his presentation “Bending the Arc of the Moral Universe: African Americans’ Struggle to Live Their Freedoms.” Hasan Kwame Jeffries is an associate professor of history … Continue reading Event tonight: Hasan Jeffries on Bending the Arc of the Moral Universe: African Americans’ Struggle to Live Their Freedoms
Action: Weigh in to Remove Fuller Statue in Augusta 2/16/21 @ 12
Tuesday, February 16, 2021 at 12:00 pm Attend Meeting There will be a meeting of the Kennebec County, Maine County Commissioners Tuesday 2/16/21 at noon to determine the fate of the Melville Fuller statue in front of the Kennebec County Courthouse in Augusta. Roger Leisner made a motion at the Commission's January 21 meeting to remove … Continue reading Action: Weigh in to Remove Fuller Statue in Augusta 2/16/21 @ 12
ABB Event: Remapping New England | Righting History (Memory + Art + Place) on 2/23/21
Presented by Atlantic Black Box & Indigo Arts Alliance Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 7:00 pm EST Register here Indigo Arts Alliance and Atlantic Black Box invite you to join us for the second event in our ReMapping New England series devoted to exploring the role of public art in inscribing history in the built … Continue reading ABB Event: Remapping New England | Righting History (Memory + Art + Place) on 2/23/21
Event: Mapping African American History in Maine on 2/17/21
a virtual panel discussion Presented by the University of Southern Maine African American Collection of the Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine Wednesday, February 17, 20215:30 PM 6:30 Register here Mapping Maine; Digitizing and Charting Sites Connected to Maine’s Black History, presenter: Anastasia Azenaro-Moore. Anastasia Azenaro-Moore has worked in historic preservation since graduating with … Continue reading Event: Mapping African American History in Maine on 2/17/21
Event: Seth Goldstein Offers a Virtual Guided Tour of Portland’s Old Port
Hosted by Maine College of Art Thursday, February 25, 2021 at 9:15 amfree and open to the public | follow link to join event J.B. Brown Sugar House, from the collections of Maine Historical Society Historian Seth Goldstein will take you on a virtual walking tour of Portland's Old Port Neighborhood. Topics discussed will include … Continue reading Event: Seth Goldstein Offers a Virtual Guided Tour of Portland’s Old Port
Researching Slavery and Black Life in Early New England: An Introduction
By Jared Ross Hardesty Some of the most common questions I receive after giving a talk about my book or a workshop about slavery in New England concern research. Where do you start? What types of sources are available? How accessible are those sources? In this post, I hope to clarify some of these questions … Continue reading Researching Slavery and Black Life in Early New England: An Introduction
Event: Dr. Kate McMahon on “Land and Liberty: The Historic African American Community of Peterborough, Maine”
Hosted by Maine Conservation Voters Friday, January 15, 12:00 -1:00 p.m. Register here Rural African American communities are an important, yet understudied, part of Maine’s history and path to statehood. Peterborough, in the town of Warren, was once one of the largest African American communities in Maine. Dr. Kate McMahon of the Smithsonian National Museum … Continue reading Event: Dr. Kate McMahon on “Land and Liberty: The Historic African American Community of Peterborough, Maine”
Sighting a Slave Ship: The Logbook of the ship CORINNE, commanded by John K. Stickney in 1853
Entry for December 31, 1854, while off Pernambuco, Brazil: “At 3pm passed a bark steering about S by W afterwards. Exch[ange] colors. She proved to be a Buenos Ayrean. She look rather suspicious, had “windsails” fore and aft. Am inclined to think she was a “slaver.” 10am saw a vessel ahead standing same way, coming … Continue reading Sighting a Slave Ship: The Logbook of the ship CORINNE, commanded by John K. Stickney in 1853