Midcoast Senior College kicks off its annual Summer Wisdom lecture series on June 1.
The series is free of charge and will be held this year on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. on Zoom. Registrants will receive the Zoom link shortly before each lecture.
The schedule is as follows:
June 1: Samoset and Indigenous-European Interactions at the Beginning of the 17th Century. This lecture presents the life of Samoset — a Sagamore of the Wawenock tribe in Maine, chosen to be the first indigenous person to make contact with the colonists at Plymouth Plantation in 1621 — life in Pemaquid as coinciding with war, epidemics, and the clash of the Indigenous/European cultures. Lecturer Jody Bachelder grew up in Pemaquid and is the author of “Here First: Samoset and the Wawenock of Pemaquid, Maine.”
June 8: The Diseased Ship: A Cautionary Tale About New England’s Twin Plagues. This lecture tells the story of a prominent Yankee sea captain, a tragedy on the high seas, a viral outbreak, a major political cover-up, and a conspiracy of silence that has lasted two centuries surrounding New England’s involvement in the slave trade. Lecturer Meadow Dibble is director of community-Engaged Research at the Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous, and Tribal Populations in Maine, and a visiting scholar at Brown University’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice.
June 15: The Underground Railroad in Maine. This lecture will discuss how the underground railroad facilitated many slaves’ hazardous journeys and how Mainers from Kittery to Fort Fairfield risked heavy fines and prison to violate the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Lecturer Mark Alan Leslie holds a journalism degree from the University of Maine-Orono and is a former editor of the Lewiston Sun. He is the author of 14 books, including “True North: Tice’s Story,” a fictional (but based on fact) tale about Maine’s Underground Railroad and has won six national magazine writing awards.
June 22: Welcoming New Mainers: Exploring Recent Communities of Asylum-Seeking People in Maine and One Town’s Response. In 2019, the influx of asylum-seeking people from The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola overwhelmed Portland, so about 25 families were moved to the Bath/Brunswick area, changing the landscape of the schools, social services, and the communities themselves. This presentation will touch upon the reasons why, the journey many of these families took to get here and how the community of “old” Mainers came together to support their new neighbors. A resident of Brunswick, lecturer Erin Mangalam was part of the founding board of the local nonprofit The Emergency Action Network (TEAN) that supports Brunswick’s most vulnerable community members, which led her to work with the new asylum-seeking residents of Brunswick.
For more information including registration, visit midcoastseniorcollege.org.
Copy the Story LinkComments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
