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Introduction
Portland, Maine is known mostly for its tourism, lobster and beautiful coastline,
but rarely is its wealth as a center of African American history mentioned. Located just a
little over a hundred miles from Boston, Portland contains a black community that has
sustained itself since its inception. Portland’s history contains an abundance of African
American historical events that must be researched and academically acknowledged.
Portland remains one of New England’s coastal cities where the African American
presence is virtually hidden. Despite being a minority group in the city, African
Americans developed and continue to maintain a sense of community. The presence of
African American churches, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, and even fictive kin relationships provided a space for community building. This
space allowed African Americans a meeting place where they could reassert their
blackness in a majority white state, regardless of educational attainment, socioeconomic
status, and even citizenship status.
African American Portlanders are often asked, “Black people live in Maine?”
after revealing their state of origin—people are surprised that in a majority white state a
sizable black community is present and thrives. This notion is a problem that needs to be
rectified. African American communities can be found in every state within the United
States, whether small or large, and it is important that these communities be
acknowledged for the contributions that the members make to the states in which they
live. The history of Portland’s sizeable African American community and its impact from
1900 to 1960 is unknown in scholarly literature. Utilizing David M. McMillan and David
M. Chavis’s definition of community found in their article, “Sense of Community
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Building: A Definition and Theory,” the paper will explore the origins, transformations,
and elements that formed this community. The paper also examines the roles of church
communities, outstanding families, and civil and political activism in Portland’s African
American history and community. H.H. Price and Gerald E. Talbot, Maine’s Visible
Black History: The First Chronicle of Its People, provides much of the primary sources
for the study. The paper also relies on personal interviews—that the author conducted
with some of Portland’s African American residents. The secondary sources are mainly
statistical and theoretical, with a focus on United States census data, and research that
offers theories concerning the place of church communities, labor migration, and
residential segregation in African American community formation in Portland.
Research on the African American community in Portland, Maine is almost non-
existent. In fact, a skeptic might legitimately wonder why should Portland’s small
population of African Americans be considered a community. If one looks at its size and
its minority, it might not be considered a community that could influence politics. Its size
would have prevented the community from holding office in positions of power. Apart
from Sunday services and other events, African Americans would not have a
geographically centered community similar to Boston’s South End or Chicago’s South
Side. A counterargument might highlight the lack of African American labor unions in
Portland, and even address the low rates of employment to support claims that African
Americans lacked a community in Portland.
In order to understand the sociological perspective of community, the first part of
the paper will emphasize the theoretical framework of community that David McMillan
and David Chavis’ proposed in their article, “Sense of Community: A Definition and
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Theory”. The second part of the paper will explore the formation of community in
Portland. The last part of the paper relies on a range of primary and secondary sources to
argue that although often overlooked, an African American community existed in
Maine’s largest city.
Theory
Many scholars have defined community in different ways depending on their
respective discipline, and many disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, history, and
others, have their own definitions, as well. Although each definition provides a
description of a community, the formation of a community relies on understanding how
individuals become a community. In McMillan and Chavis’s article, the authors define
sense of community as an emotional, spiritual, and reciprocal connection.1 They note that
elements of membership, influence, reinforcement, and shared emotional connection
work together to create a sense of community.
In what way did Portland’s African American population conform to this
definition of community?
Identifying oneself as a member of a community is one of the crucial elements
that define a community. McMillan and Chavis describe membership in a community as,
“a feeling that one has invested part of oneself to become a member and therefore has a
right to belong,”2. In other words, a person can only become a part of a community if he
or she feels a sense of being a part of the community. In Portland, skin complexion
automatically served as entry into a membership—without knowing a person, skin color
1 David W. McMillan and David M. Chavis, "Sense Of Community: A Definition And Theory," Journal of Community Psychology 14, no. 1 (1986), 10. 2 ibid.
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almost always is an identifier for race. In a city where African Americans numbered 291
persons in Portland’s population of 50,145 in 1900, blackness was recognizable.3 The
element of membership in McMillan and Chavis’s definition of community includes: the
setting of boundaries to distinguish members and outsiders, the necessity for emotional
security and trust, a sense of belonging and identification, a level of investment and
commitment, and a common system of symbols.4
The second element of sensing and defining community is influence. Once a
sense of membership is established, a person or group wants to feel that the community’s
decisions are influenced by their membership, and that the community’s cohesion is
reliant on influencing others.5 The bifurcated concept of influence impacts both the
individual and the group. For example, leadership in communities emerges through a
person’s ability to acknowledge needs, values, and feelings of others—these persons are
the most influential. Leaders only become leaders because a group realizes the influence
a person could have on the community and individual. The influence of a member on the
community, and the influence of the community on a member operate concurrently.6 The
African American churches in Portland could not have been established without the
concept of influence and the influence of leadership within the community.
Another component of sensing community is the integration and fulfillment of
needs. This component deals with the idea that members in a community mutually
reinforce each other.7 McMillan and Chavis identify status, competence, and shared
values as reinforcers for members of the community. Status is defined by the amount of 3 U.S. Census, 1900: Population, Part I. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1901, 523 4 McMillan and Chavis, “Sense of Community,” 11. 5 ibid, 12. 6 ibid. 7 McMillan and Chavis, “Sense of Community,” 13.
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responsibility entrusted in a person within a group; the community identifies a need and
reinforces individual traits to fulfill those needs. Competence is when members in a
group realize the benefits of membership because every individual contributes a skill to
the group. Finally, shared values work to unify a group, as members who operate using
similar value systems will believe in each other to fulfill their communal needs.8
The final element is shared emotional connection—members within a community
with a shared history, social experience, and lifestyle develop an emotional connection.
The authors identify several concepts that explain the shared emotional connection
element. Contact hypothesis, quality of interaction, closure to events, shared valent event
hypothesis, investment, effect of honor and humiliation on community members, and
spiritual bond are principles that comprise an emotional connection.9 Contact hypothesis
is the idea that contact between members in a community fosters a mutual understanding
and closeness.10 McMillan and Chavis argue that the quality of interaction is premised on
continuous positive experiences that foster strong bonds.11 Communities cannot be
established if members and events, whether good or bad, never experience closure. In
order to maintain cohesiveness, communities must resolve all issues within and have
closure to events and tasks. The shared valent event hypothesis considers members’ sense
of shared importance in events, such as the births of children, the death of a member as
8 ibid, 14. 9 ibid. 10 Lee Sigelman and Susan Welch, “The Contact Hypothesis Revisited: Black-‐White Interaction and Positive Racial Attitudes,” Social Forces 71, no.3 (1993), 781. 11 McMillan and Chavis, “Sense of Community,” 14.
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holding significance in the community. These work to strengthen the community.12
Members of a community feel an emotional connection when they can invest in their
community. The investment of time, money, resources, and even interpersonal intimacy,
determines the importance of the community to the member. Whether a member is
openly rewarded or chastised in the community affects the desirability of the community
to a person—the effect of honor and humiliation on community. Lastly, the existence of a
spiritual bond in a community is based on shared beliefs and metaphysical beliefs. This
might be seen in the African Americans’ concept of soul or areas in New York City that
are predominantly Jewish, which are examples of how communities form based on
spiritual bonds.13
The four elements of sensing community that have been outlined above are
relevant to exploring how Portland, Maine’s African American community emerged and
changes. We can do this by first examining the social structure of its African American
churches, African American families, and the presence of political and civil rights
activism. The discussions of the three components of African American community in
Portland will use the four elements of community. The church, family, and activism form
the core of the analysis. This is particularly salient as they relate to senses of
membership, influence, reinforcement, and shared emotional connection.
The Church: A Center for Community Building
Religion and spiritual practices have been at the center of African American life
in the United States since the first Africans arrived in the “New World.” Many African
12 Warner Wilson and Norman Miller, “Shifts in Evaluations of Participants Following Intergroup Competition,” The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 63, no.2 (1961), 431. 13 McMillan and Chavis, “Sense of Community”, 15
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Americans regard the African American Christian church as part of their family.14 Church
for African Americans is more than a Sunday ritual. It is a place where relationships,
families, and communities are forged. After slavery, the church became and still is the
center of many African American communities. If there is an African American church in
a city, most likely there is an African American community.15 Unlike fraternal
organizations, gaining membership in a community does not include sacred rituals and
initiation rights; it requires a willingness to provide a reciprocal relationship with others,
and a shared investment in security and beliefs.16 Only by considering themselves a
community would twenty-one African American members of the all-white Second
Congregational Church ask to be dismissed for the purpose of establishing the Abyssinian
Congregational Church of Portland on July 27, 1835.17 African Americans in Portland
were church members, but the event on July 27, 1835 not only solidified control over
various church decisions and events, but also established a sense of membership within
the community. Without the existence of the African American church, it would have
been difficult to centralize the African American population in Portland. The event on
July 27, 1835 provides the first historical evidence that African Americans in Portland
identified themselves as a community as early as the nineteenth century, and shows that
there was an antebellum and pre-World War I African American community in Portland.
Despite their small numbers, these African Americans in Portland galvanized and forged
14 Mary Pattillo-‐McCoy, “Church Culture as a Strategy of Action in the Black Community,” The American Sociological Review 63, no. 6 (1998), 771. 15 C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya, The Black Church in the African-‐American Experience (Durham: Duke University Press), 8. 16 McMillan and Chavis, “Sense of Community,” 10. 17 Creation of the Abyssinian Congregational Church, July 27, 1835, Coll. 723, vol. 1, Maine Historical Society.
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a sense of membership among other African Americans. This act served as the foundation
for what would later become a booming community.
This sense of membership in Portland’s African American community also led to
the establishing of two other African American churches. Those two churches, Green
Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and Williams Temple Church of
God in Church, still operate in Portland. They remain the centers for African American
community. The sense of membership African Americans felt in Portland influenced the
community to fund and build their houses of worship, which continue to be influential
and central to the people.
Green Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
The first African American church, the Abyssinian Church, was built and funded
by white congregational churches after African American members protested the ‘Negro
pew’ concept. This idea forced African American members to sit in segregated sections
of the church, most of the time in the back or atop in the balcony.18 Green Memorial
Church, however, formally established in 1891, is widely recognized as the oldest
African American church in Portland, because it was organized by former members of
the Abyssinian Church along with African Americans in the city.19 With a sense of
membership, influence, fulfillment, and shared emotional connection, African American
residents in Portland petitioned the denomination’s senior leader, Bishop J. Hood to start
18 Gerald E. Talbot and H. H. Price, Maine’s Visible Black History: The First Chronicle of Its People (Portland, Maine: Tilbury House Publishers, 2006), 143. 19 Kenneth Lewis, Interview by author, Personal, Portland, Maine, December 3, 2013.
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a mission church.20 In 1907, the pastor, Reverend George F. Green is quoted to have said,
“There is no church society in this city that is at all interested in the spiritual uplift of our
people, except it is the churches among ourselves.”21 Rev. Green’s influence within the
African American community not only provoked members to act, but also established a
cohesive community through the church and helped reinforce the needs of a community.22
The membership of Green Memorial during the 1910-1920 period included African
Americans from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and even Canada. They came to
Portland because the railroad, navy, ports, and fishing in Portland presented opportunities
for employment for African Americans who were part of the Great Migration.23 Despite
their different backgrounds, African Americans galvanized and formed a community
centered around the church. Without having a stable membership and establishing
influence within the church, Rev. Green could have never galvanized church members to
fund the building of the church building, which was completed in 1914.24
In 1907, a stalwart member of the AME Zion Church of Portland, Moses Green,
in his position as the Chairman of Trustees, purchased the land, where the church still
stands today, for $2,000.25 Moses Green is the perfect example of an African American
who sensed community among the African Americans in Portland. Green not only
identified himself as a member, he respected the influence of the pastor and contributed
to the official decisions. Moreover, Green’s shoeshine business undoubtedly gave him
20 Kenneth Lewis, Green Memorial A.M.E Zion Church Anniversary Booklet: Historical Sketch, 2004. 21 ibid. 22 Henry Cisneros, Higher Ground: Faith Communities and Community Building (Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, 1996) 4. 23 Talbot and Price, Maine’s Visible, 150. 24 “Maine’s Only Colored Church,” Lewiston Journal, 06 Sep. 1919, 15 25 Talbot and Price, Maine’s Visible, 151.
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access to Portland’s entire community—black and white, allowing him to develop
extensive personal and entrepreneurial relationships. His leadership in church affairs how
significant a role he played in strengthening the community. Finally, Green’s sense of
shared emotional connection is evident in his commitment to his church. Not only did
Green make financial investments in the church, he served in it until his death in 1942.
Although a migrant from Virginia, Moses Green adopted Portland’s African American
community and helped advance it—so much so that in 1943, the membership voted to
rename the building in recognition of Green’s commitment to his church. When Green
Memorial Church celebrates its first centenary in 2014. The event will be a testament to
the longevity of the church as the center of the African American community in Portland.
The community was forged because of the role of the church in building the sense of
community; Green Memorial remains cohesive—a community of membership, influence,
positive reinforcement, and shared emotional connection.26
Williams Temple Church of God in Christ
The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) denomination has been a center for
African American religious services and community in the state of Maine since May 8,
1948, and in Portland since 1950.27 Similar to the story of Green Memorial, members of
COGIC in the Maine area sought to establish jurisdictions in Maine—before 1948, as
Maine was a part of the New England Jurisdiction.28 In 1950, Bishop Richard Williams
served as the pastor of the then Christ Temple COGIC and secured a place of worship at
23 Lancaster Street, not far away from Green Memorial. According to Williams Temple’s
26 Talbot and Price, Maine’s Visible, 152. 27 The History of the Church of God in Christ State of Maine, accessed December 3, 2013, http://www.williamstemple.org/history.php 28 ibid.
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history, the city of Portland bought the church in 1957 to build Kennedy Park, a low-
income housing project. The displaced congregation moved to 179 Franklin Street, a
short distance from Green Memorial. Undoubtedly, despite the denominational
differences, being located next to each other fostered a working relationship between
both churches and sowed the roots for the development of a more cohesive community
based on shared spiritual bonds. Despite being displace again after only nine years at
Franklin Street, Pastor Williams did not regard this dislocation as separating the
community.
Similar to Moses Green, Bishop Williams sensed a community in Portland and
sought to provide pastoral and spiritual advancement for the people in Portland. His
sacrifices and vision resulted in Williams Temple’s sustained place in Portland’s African
American community and influenced the building of a church compound on the land he
helped secure. The church is still located there. Williams’ sense of membership, influence
within his denomination, church and community, his ability to fulfill the needs of a
community, and emotional connection to the African American people of Portland
provide additional examples of an African American in Portland building a sustainable
community.
Church leaders and members sensed a community among Portland’s African
Americans and utilized the elements of community to fill a void. Involving African
Americans in the erection of churches and integrating all African Americans into the
church demonstrated commitment and investment in the community. Membership in the
churches gave African Americans a sense of ownership and pride in their churches and
strengthened the community.
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The Family: Establishing Kinship in Community
Besides the central role of the churches in helping to form and strengthen the
sense of community among the African American population in Portland, leading African
American families also played an essential role. The United States 1900 census listed
1,319 persons of Negro descent in Maine, compared to 692,226 whites. Of the 1,319
African Americans, 410 were in Cumberland County—including Portland.29 The
community most likely developed because of the presence of prominent, established
families.30 Prior to the 20th century, Portland had several well-established African
American families including the Eastman’s, Hillman's, and Barnett's. According to
personal accounts, the heads of the families created a standard of living, which
encouraged future members to maintain those standards while creating a community—
based first on family.31 Analyzing the experiences of the Eastman family in Portland,
using McMillan and Chavis concepts about community as well as other theories on
African American family structure provide additional evidence that a strong African
American community existed in Portland.
Developments connected to the Great Migration had much to do with the
emergence of an African American community in Maine. Although the state was never a
major destination for the Great Migration, like many northern cities, the movement of
African Americans from the South to Northern cities saw a surge in African American
families in the area. In 1910, Maine had 1,310 African American residents and by 1920,
29 U.S. Census, 1900 30 McMillan and Chavis, “Sense of Community,” 10. 31 Talbot and Price, Maine’s Visible, 48.
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the number increased 3.9 percent to 1,363.32 Although the increase was not substantial,
Portland’s African American families had roots that reached back to the period before the
1900s. Exploring the family experiences of some of the well-established, longstanding
families in Portland will provide further insights about how the African American
community in Portland developed.
The Eastmans
The Eastman family history in Portland begins with the patriarch, Charles
Frederick Eastman who was born in Portland in 1821. A man active in the Abyssinian
Church and a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, Eastman had a lot of influence
among African Americans in Portland.33 A native and prosperous African American
Portlander, Charles Eastman was an example of an African American family man,
entrepreneur, and member of the community in Portland. The Eastman family not only
established a solid family structure that is still evident among the many descendants
today, but also established other notably African American community centers during the
early 20th century. For example, four sons of Charles Eastman owned and operated their
own barbershop on Fore Street in what became prime real estate in Portland.34 The
Eastman family connections were instrumental in the developing of Portland and Maine’s
African American community. Just as the Eastman sons established a center for
blackness with their barbershop business and fulfilled a need within the Portland African
American community, the family structure served also as a ways to feel a part and feel
“at home”. Established families in Portland, like the Eastmans, were able to provide a
32 Henderson H. Donald, “The Statistics of Migration,” The Journal of Negro History 6, no. 4 (1921), 481 33 Talbot and Price, Maine’s Visible, 48. 34 ibid, 49.
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foundation for the families that migrated to the area. The newcomers became extended
family and fictive kin to those without an established sense of community.
Although the Eastman family cannot be the model for every African American
family in Portland because not all families owned businesses or were middle class, this
family’s experiences were crucial to how Portland’s African American community
developed. Family expectations, emotional support, and economic alliances were three
elements that informed the African American community.
Today, scholarship on African American communities argue that they are an
extension of the family unit, and operate on some levels based on shared expectations,
roles, and norms. In the African American community, members hold each other
accountable, and individuals are expected to act according to the community’s standards
and expectations.35 The Eastman family was (and is) an example of this idea; they
attended church, received education, and established family businesses. Their family
norms influenced how Portland’s African American community developed. Like a
family, communities are built through the distribution of roles; everyone cannot be the
leader; some people have to follow and contribute to the community in a way that is their
own. Leaders of Portland families such as Charles Eastman, along with Charles E.
Cummings, and Moses Green established businesses based on the idea of improving their
families’ economic status.
Fictive Kinship in Portland’s African American Community
Shared values also helped in the development of Portland’s African American
community. Like the elders in a family, elders in a community expect children to be
35 McMillan and Chavis, “Sense of Community,” 14
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respectful, and in an African American community the recent concept, “It takes a village
to raise a child” was visible, especially during the 1900s.36 The families in Portland
provided a sense of family and community and most members of Portland’s African
American community felt (and still feel) like one big family.37 Like the church, the
African American family provided and continues to offer directions on how to interact
with each other and how to forge relationships within the community.38 It is difficult for
one to claim membership within the African American community without viewing the
community as a family.
The African American community in Portland shared other values. Fictive kinship
was important in the community.39 Newcomers to Portland were welcomed as family and
community members in Portland.40 Carol B. Stacks wrote: “kin terms are frequently
extended to non-kin, and social relations among non-kin may be conducted within the
idiom of kinship.”41 In Portland’s African American community, fictive kin was evident
in the church. The crossover of family dynamics into the community further supports
McMillan and Chavis’ element of integration—outsiders essentially become a part of the
family.42
36 Diane K. Lewis, “The Black Family: Socialization and Sex Roles,” Phylon 36, no. 3 (1975), 237. 37 Kenneth Lewis, Interview by author. 38 Pattillo-‐McCoy, “Church Culture,” 769. 39 Margaret K. Nelson, “Whither Fictive Kin? Or, What’s in a Name,” The Journal of Family Issues 35, no. 2 (2014) 203. 40 Colleen L. Johnson, “Perspectives on American Kinship in the Later 1990s,” Journal of Marriage and Family 62, no. 3 (2000) 631. 41 Carol B. Stacks, All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), 42 McMillan and Chavis, “Sense of Community,” 12.
16
Although the sources do not provide extensive information on fictive kinships, in
Portland’s African American communities some evidence of this is available. For
example, children referenced elders in familial terms, such as: aunt, uncle, and cousin.
The use of the terms of kinship was perhaps owing to the fact that many of Portland’s
African American male residents worked on the waterfront, and the community cared for
the children who became fictive kin.43 In 1900, for example, Ward One, the district
including the waterfront area accounted for 114 of the 291 African Americans in
Portland.44 Portland’s community could not exist and survive without fictive kin relations.
Undoubtedly, the community had to aide each other through various means—whether it
was sharing a cup of sugar, or taking care of each other’s children.45 Fictive kinship exists
because real kinship exists, and in communities, fictive kinship is necessary, not only for
the membership, but for the influential relationships, the sense of emotional connection,
and spiritual bonds. The presence of unrelated African Americans in Portland and the
existence of a community support the existence of fictive kinship in Portland. Again, this
provides some evidence to explain why Portland had a strong, sustaining African
American community. Almost everyone in Portland knew each other, an ancestor, or a
family name. The situation has not changed, and is significant today.
Families’ Contributions to Portland’s African American Community
43 Talbot and Price, Maine’s Visible, 113. 44 U.S. Census, 1900, 45 Robert Joseph Taylor, “Receipt of Support from Family Among Black Americans: Demographic and Familial Differences,” Journal of Marriage and Family 48, no. 1 (1986), 67.
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McMillan and Chavis claim “investment [in the community] determines the
importance to the member.”46 In other words, a member’s commitment to their
community can be assessed by their investment in the community. Members of
Portland’s African American community demonstrated their commitment to the building
of a community by offering support to members, fundraising for churches, and providing
enrichment opportunities for the community’s children and adults.
During World War One and Two, the Portland African American community
galvanized to support the African American soldiers based at the nearby Brunswick
Naval base. To alleviate the financial and social stress of these African American
soldiers who faced discrimination during the wars, Portland residents Benjamin and Edie
Thomas owned and operated “The Green Lantern,” a rooming house that housed and fed
soldiers and residents who could not afford either.47 The couple provided a space where
soldiers could enjoy a beer and the company of other African Americans in the basement
of the sixteen-room house. Prior to the opening of the Marian Anderson USO Center,
Portland’s African Americans and resident soldiers formed the Colored Community
Center in the early 1940s. Together, African Americans wrote a letter to the United States
Office of Community War Services in 1943 complaining about the lack of places for
African American soldiers to congregate. The letter revealed that the only two places for
“Negro soldiers” were the rooming house and the AME Zion Church.48 The church
continued to be a major magnet for community affairs.
46 McMillan and Chavis, “Sense of Community,” 9. 47 ibid, 322. 48 ibid, 323.
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By 1921, the monthly chicken dinners at Green Memorial generated citywide
acclaim. The members of the church came together once a month to cook and sell African
American Southern food, such as fried chicken, collard greens, and baked macaroni and
cheese to help raise money for the church’s bills.49 This kind of activity to raise funds for
the church’s sustainability only ended in 2003.50 The dedication of the membership and
the support of the community made these dinners successful. Indeed, these events were
so successful that the church was able to raise enough money to payoff its mortgage in
1945, only 31 years after its construction.51
The community also came together to ensure African American children and
adults were able to enjoy the cultural advantages of living in coastal Maine. Green
Memorial had a system of busing to the beach people who did not have cars, and children
whose parents could not take them. Gerald Talbot recalled, “Then, after a long day, when
they could, grown-ups would go visit others in their homes and reminisce.”52 This
voluntary act was how the leadership organized as a community where members were
dedicated to each other and promoted familial relationships.
Families in Portland helped forge a community based on familial values.
Portlanders took care of each other, and supported each other when they could. They
housed those who could not house themselves, and fed others who did not have the
means to purchase food. African American Portlanders supported the efforts of the
49 Darryl B. Holloman, Marybeth Gasman, and Sibby Anderson-‐Thompkins, “Motivations for Philanthropic Giving in the African American Church: Implications for Black College Fundraising,” Journal of Research on Christian Education 12, no. 2 (2003), 151. 50 Talbot and Price, Maine’s Visible, 151. Lewis, Historical Sketch. 51 Talbot and Price, Maine’s Visible, 151. 52 ibid, 325.
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church and of the community by supporting the various African American businesses in
the city. African American families in Portland embraced one another with a sense of
membership and belonging and care. Most of all, African American families in Portland
recognized the need to galvanize. By the 1960s, African American Portlanders created
community centers, including barbershops, restaurants, and a rooming house, where
African American people could come together and not have to worry about the implicit
racism and prejudice they would face. African Americans did not have to present a
façade in order to be accepted. In their familial community, people could come as they
were. Most accepted the notion that they were among family who would chastise for
wrongdoing, and reward the good. Such a family encouraged educational achievement,
and also assisted in coaching sports. The families in Portland influenced others to join in,
to be a part, even if one’s name was not Greene or Talbot or Cummings. Portland’s
African American community not only existed, but it thrived and grew as years passed,
but never lost its sense of family.
Social Activism and its Role in Community Building
Along with the churches and the families, Portland’s African American
community during the Civil Rights period to the 1980s was heavily involved in social and
civil rights activism. Maine has a well-known reputation as an antislavery state with
abolitionist movements and ideology. It was part of the Underground Railroad in the
nineteenth century. African American Portlanders such as Gerald Talbot was a member
of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People during the 1960s-
70s. He focused on issues such as racial discrimination in the housing market, the
presence of the Ku Klux Klan, and the living conditions of African American residents of
20
Portland. As a political activist he sought to establish a safe, equal environment for the
community. Exploring the role of the NAACP and Gerald E. Talbot in civil rights matters
in Portland, Maine from the 1920s to the 1980s offers additional insights into how the
African American community continued to pursue common goals and activism during
and after the Civil Rights period.
NAACP’s Involvement in Portland’s African American Community
In a state where racism was not explicit, until “it was in your face,” the NAACP’s
focus was on subtle discrimination, most prevalent in the institutions in Portland53. For
example, as discussed earlier in the paper, African American soldiers in Portland during
the World Wars were subjected to segregated conditions in an “integrated” state. A
member of the community remembers “two separate communities…in Portland.”54
African American Portlanders were denied access to housing, and most only found
menial labor, such as cooks, caterers, porters, custodians, and truckers. In contrast to the
South, African Americans could not find work in African American schools as teachers,
because none existed. Moreover, African American Portlanders faced color
discrimination—“the lighter the skin, the better the chances [for economic and social
upward mobility].”55 Although the NAACP first appeared north of Portland in the town
of Bangor in the early 1920s, the African American community in Portland would not
start a chapter until twenty years later. The Portland Branch of the NAACP was founded
in 1947 through the initiatives of the African American community. The Portland branch
of the NAACP continued the organization’s goals of fighting injustice and
53 Talbot and Price, Maine’s Visible, 305. 54 ibid, 306. 55 ibid.
21
discrimination. The NAACP worked with other civil rights organizations and lobbied for
laws to prohibit racial discrimination in public accommodations, housing, and
employment during the state legislative biennial sessions from 1947 to 1953. The
NAACP partnered with Green Memorial, and the church served as its headquarters for
the meetings.56 As the Civil Rights Movement began to shift and African American
radicalism and the Black Power movement gained popularity, the Portland NAACP could
not unanimously agree on a common political strategy, so the Portland branch disbanded,
and nearby Brunswick chartered a Maine NAACP which would lead the larger African
American community in pushing for an end to housing discrimination in Brunswick, the
Greater Portland area, and central Maine.57
Following the founding of the NAACP, most cities with an African American
population established a branch with the aim of fighting discrimination and social
injustice locally. The presence of a Portland branch, which reemerged in 1964, was proof
of a mobilized and galvanized African American community. The NAACP sought to
fulfill the needs of its members by pressuring the Maine State Legislature to pass laws
prohibiting exclusion based on race in rental housing. The NAACP also encouraged the
African American community to march and voice their grievances publicly, pointing out
white Portland’s discriminatory treatment of the African American community.
Eventually, the members of African American community marched and protested and sat
in on hearings until Governor John H. Reed signed Maine’s first Fair Housing Act in
1965. The NAACP Portland branch not only fought against social injustices, but also
supported the African American youth in the Portland communities and helped them
56 ibid, 307. Kenneth Lewis, Interview by author. 57 Ibid.
22
achieve their goals. The branch supported college funds, and also hosted events to
showcase the youth talent. In this way, the NAACP in Portland provided another type of
community for African Americans, allowing members of the community to mobilize and
work to change their situation.
Gerald E. Talbot’s Social Activism and Its Effect on the Community
Gerald E. Talbot played a major role in social and civil activism in Portland
during the nationwide Civil Rights Movement era. Originally a resident of Bangor,
Talbot relocated to Portland in 1956.58 His influence within the African American
community encouraged the African American community to address the issues of
discrimination in their city. As a member of one of the oldest families in Bangor, Talbot
made his mark as a political activist against social injustice in Portland and in the state of
Maine at large. In 1972, he became the first African American ever elected to the Maine
State Legislature, but he did not allow this achievement to neglect issues that African
American Portlanders saw as important.59 Instead, Talbot used his position as a
springboard for election to the Maine Legislature to push aggressively for laws outlawing
racial discrimination and true integration. Not only did Talbot work for social change in
the legislative branch, he also worked with the NAACP, planning marches, rallies, and
legislative sit-ins. From 1964-1966, Talbot served as the Portland branch president,
traveled to Washington, DC for the NAACP national conventions, and even travelled to
Mississippi to work alongside southern activists.60 He led the African American
58 ibid, 282. 59 ibid. 60 ibid, 295.
23
community in a peaceful march to protest the treatment of civil rights activists in Selma,
Alabama61.
Gerald Talbot sensed a community in Portland, a community in which he invested
time and emotions, a community which accepted him and his activism. Talbot influenced
many people in the African American community to mobilize and seek equality in a city
that openly discriminated against them. Talbot’s influence crossed into the white
community as well. He became the first and only African American invited to join the
exclusive Elks Lodge. Talbot fought for the fulfillment of African American needs as a
African American resident of Portland. He also worked hard to get Portland and Maine to
treat its African American citizens equally in housing, employment, and society. During
Talbot’s activist years, Portland’s centralized African American community worked as
one. Had a community not existed, Talbot and other activists would not have had the
support they needed to pass civil rights legislation in the city and state-at-large.
Green Memorial and Its Involvement in Social Activism
It is impossible to mention civil rights and social change without mentioning the
AME Zion Church in Portland. As the headquarters for the NAACP, the church was at
the center of civil rights. Similar to the birth of the movement in the south, civil rights
started among church members, and grew into multiple national movements. Green
Memorial and its pastors were no different from other pastors such as Martin Luther
King, Jr. who mobilized African American communities to act on a national level. The
church supported the NAACP and civil rights activism efforts by hosting events in the
building and encouraging its members to join the NAACP. In fact, most of the members
61 The Associated Press, “Negro Voter Campaign Wins Support,” The Evening News (Newburgh), March 12, 1965.
24
of the NAACP Portland branch were members of the AME Zion Church. The African
American church was a center for community, and also a center for social change.
Without Green Memorial playing a leading role in the African American community, the
NAACP could not have had the impact it did on Portland.
A group of people becomes a community once they realize their struggles are the
same. As a group, African American Portlanders rallied for social change because they
viewed themselves as members of a community. The NAACP, Gerald E. Talbot, and
Green Memorial are just three factors in the grand scheme of the civil rights movements
in Portland. The disbanding and reuniting of the NAACP Portland branch provides proof
that the community was dedicated to equality and justice. By 1971, Gerald E. Talbot’s
role in the community and also in the state witnessed the formation of the Maine Human
Rights Commission. Talbot continues to be an advocate for civil rights in Portland. Green
Memorial also continues to be a center for social change. Each year the membership and
its pastor, Reverend Kenneth I. Lewis, participate in the NAACP Portland branch’s
Martin Luther King celebration and march alongside the NAACP and Portland residents
to commemorate Dr. King’s life. For example, Rev. Lewis spoke at a memorial service in
Portland’s Monument Square to honor Trayvon Martin’s life.62 Members of Portland’s
African American community continue the work of their ancestors, and are evidence of
the importance of their place in the community and history of Portland.
Conclusion
The African American community in Portland, Maine has sustained throughout
the years. The community, strengthened by the presence of the church, families, and the
62 Lyons, C. (2012, April 19), Residents gather to remember Trayvon Martin, The Portland Daily Sun, p. 9.
25
attention to social change, continues to thrive and grow. According to the United States
2010 census, African Americans represented 7.1 percent of Portland’s population, and
1.2 percent of the state of Maine. Although the population is still not large and its
members are still not represented in positions of power in politics, the African American
community is steeped in Portland and Maine’s history. When the community galvanized
and pushed for social change they succeeded in getting the legislature to pass the fair
housing act, which improved living conditions. Their actions also opened up
opportunities for socioeconomic upward mobility for the African American population in
Maine. This small, yet powerful community supports and maintains two African
American churches, both pivotal in the community.
McMillan and Chavis identified how a person senses community, and the research
on Portland’s African American population leaves no doubt that the sense of community
was well developed among African Americans. The evidence of faith-based
communities, economic standing in the population, and the activism in the city leads one
to conclude that Portland, indeed, had and still has an African American community. The
community continues to evolve and mature. This is very evident in the recent
achievements of the community. For example, in 2004, the city of Portland elected Jill C.
Duson, its first African American and African American woman as mayor.63 Moreover, in
2012, Emmanuel Caulk became Portland’s first African American public schools
superintendent.64 Finally, in 2013, the city of Portland elected Pious Ali, a native of
Ghana, but a member of the community, as a school board member at-large. Ali is the
63 Talbot and Price, Maine’s Visible, 64 Emmanuel Caulk, "My Background," Portland Superintendent Blog. Portland Public Schools, n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2014. <http://blogs.portlandschools.org/superintendent/about-‐me/>.
26
first African-born American to serve on the board.65 As Portland continues to diversify
and more African Americans relocate to the city, the African American community will
continue to get larger, and the community will become more visible. Although Portland,
Maine’s African American history and community is largely unknown, based on my
research and analysis, the community has grown over the last two centuries, and will
continue to do so.
65 Ben McCanna, "Ali makes history in Portland School Board election; Trevorrow leads all vote-‐getters," The Forecaster [Portland] 5 Nov. 2013: n. pag, The Forecaster, Web. 9 Jan. 2014.
Interviews
Kenneth Lewis, November 2013, Portland, Maine.
Merita McKenzie, October 2013, Portland, Maine.
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