A white as Maine is—tied with West Virginia for first place in that regard—we are not without notable Black people. And no, I’m not talking about myself; I’m talking about those whose presence here (sometimes a form of activism in and of itself) and whose work in civil rights and related efforts made my work possible to begin with.
And the story has come to a close for one of Maine’s most storied Black people, Gerald Talbot, who passed away this week at the age of 94.
Talbot was the first Black person elected to the Maine Legislature, serving three terms from 1972 to 1978 during which time he helped pass laws to combat discrimination that included the Maine Fair Housing Bill and Maine Human Rights Act. He sponsored the state’s first attempts at gay rights legislation. He marched for civil rights, going all the way back to the Civil Rights Era and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He breathed life back into the NAACP in Maine. He was an advocate for the Maine Human Rights Commission. He worked to preserve Black history in Maine.
Hell, he was part of Black history in Maine, not just for his work but for being an eighth-generation Black Mainer.
Most of my readers by now probably know that I live in Maine and have for a little over two decades, but I am not a Mainer by birth and not even a New Englander. My family comes by way of Arkansas and Texas/Mexico, and I was born and raised in Chicago, where Black people are part of the normal ebb and flow of life. Not always welcomed to the table, but never invisible.
When I moved to Maine, there were very few Black people here. While they are still only a tiny percentage of the population, there are many more now, both U.S.-born and immigrants. Once I could go weeks without seeing a Black face. Now, it’s odd not to see at least one or two when I go out into the world. But Black people have always been here, long before Gerald Talbot.
But he worked hard for Black people here and for other marginalized folks, and to urge the continuation and expansion of his work and legacy. His daughter, Rachel Talbot Ross, served as the first Speaker of the House in the state legislature and currently is a state senator representing part of Portland. She is one of the relatively small number of native Maine Black people (mostly women) whom I have had the pleasure to know since not too long after arriving here. Black people who are elders, contemporaries, and younger folks that I have met and worked with over the years.
People who have shaped and refined my thoughts around race as I lived a whole new way of being Black in a place so much different than my native Chicago. People who helped pave the way on a path that led me to being executive director of a nearly 60-year-old anti-racism organization. People who inspired me to write about being Black in Maine and other topics, which has led to my platforms on Substack, Patreon, and my own website and inclusion in academic books and other publications.
People who helped me gain a voice because they demanded to be heard before I ever got here.
People like Gerald Talbot, who stands large and tall among them, even though we only briefly met a few times over the years. We appeared together back in 2013 on a Maine Public Radio show, that was about being Black in Maine, and he was gracious. It was an honor to share such a space with him. The last time we saw each other was when he was being honored at an event in the summer of 2024. People like his daughter, whom I have worked with and dined with; laughed with and cried with. People like my own children, who will always carry a part of Maine with them wherever they go.
Rest in power, Mr. Talbot. Your work was not in vain, despite how far this country has slipped. The burden fully slides from your shoulders to ours, and I accept my part in that with humility and thanks.
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