Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100f e b r u a r y / m a r c h 2 0 1 7 6 1 WhenJamesAugustineHealy(1830- 1900)wasordainedBishopofPortland,he wasalsomakinghistoryasthefirst-everblack RomanCatholicbishopintheU.S.Borninto slaveryonaGeorgiaplantation,thesonofan AfricanAmericanmotherandanIrishfather, Healyhadgrownupinaworldwhereprejudice againstbothblacksandCatholicswasrampant intheNorthandSouth.Onbothcounts–his colorandhisfaith–Healywasintheminorityof MainerswhenhebecameBishopofallMaine andNewHampshireinAprilof1875,with barely50priestsinhishugediocese.[Portland Monthly,February/March1999] Breaking the Mold Danielle Conway,dean of UMaine School of Law Andafterthat?“Wewouldn’tdelayinadvo- catingforsomanymoretobeincluded.” WeaskedtheirdaughterRachelTalbot Ross,alegislatorandrepresentativeforPort- land,thefirstthingshe’dwanttoseeatthe Museum.Sheisforthright.“Honestly?I’dlike toseemyfatherintheMuseum.Ifindithard tothinkofanyoneelseinMainewho’scon- tributedsomuch.” While Maine’s presence in the Museum is profound, it is not yet definitive. Today, we celebrate the people of Maine who have earned their place in its halls and wait in an- ticipation for the inclusion of many more. game changers A few days after Ma- con Bolling Allen passed the Bar exam in Portland, a reporter from The Brunswick- er wrote, “We think we have heard of a colored physician somewhere at the South, in New York, probably, but we have never before heard of a colored lawyer in this country” [Maine’s Vis- ible Black History]. As it turns out, the paper’s speculation was spot on. On July 3, 1844, Allen passed an examination that established him as the first African American licensed to practice law in the U.S. “I can only imagine how dif- ficult that would have been,” says Danielle Conway, who in 2015, over 130 years after Allen’s admis- sion to the Bar, became the first African American dean of UMaine Law School. “Against a backdrop of slavery, against all the symbols of your supposed inferiority, you have to stand up and prove your- self. You’re carrying the weight of W hen exploring Maine’s black history, one name appears time and time again, an echo. Ger- ald E. Talbot’s work as an activist, educa- tor, historian, and the first African Ameri- can member of the Maine House of Rep- resentatives has shaped our state’s social landscape for over half a century. We asked Talbot, 86, and his wife, Ani- ta, what they’d most like to see in the new Smithsonian museum. “As the parents of four daughters, we’d like to visit any exhibit that focuses on the contributions of African American women. In particular, Fannie Lou Hamer, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Har- riet E. Wilson. We’d spend time with each of these women individually. We’d also feel proud to see those who played a significant role in the devel- opment of our own state: Tate Cum- mings, Kippy and Harold Richard- son, Eugene Jackson, William Bur- ney Sr. and William Burney Jr., and all of the women who were members of the Mister Ray Club in Portland and the Carver Club in Bangor. “We’dfeelforeverblessedtoseethese extraordinarylivesrecognized.Their sacrificehasbeenourcollectivereward.” meet some mainers immortalized in the museum. Lasting Legacies