The Murphy family on Malaga Island. Photo by Peter K. Roberts
The Bath Area Family YMCA, in cooperation with the Patten Free Library, will host a new speaker series exploring the Midcoast’s history with race relations — particularly related to Malaga Island, an interracial colony systematically evicted and eradicated by the state government in the early 1900s. The series will focus on how we can learn from our past to inform a more just and equitable future for our communities, according to a news release.
“We’re excited to be able to offer this incredible speaker series to the community,” said Meriah Hope, grants manager and chair of the Bath YMCA’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Committee. “By familiarizing ourselves with this history, we hope to explore how we can avoid the terrible mistakes of our past and create more inclusive communities today and in the future. We welcome all in the community to participate in these programs and to help to be a part of that vision of a just, equitable community.”
The series begins in March and runs through May.
Kate McBrien, a historian, scholar and Maine State Archivist, will lead a presentation and discussion exploring the history of the community of Malaga Island in the late 1800s at 5 p.m. March 20 at Patten Free Library.
Pamela Cummings, author, board president and director of education programs for the Abyssinian Meeting House, will discuss this history of the Underground Railroad and its relevance and significance to Maine’s history at noon on April 12 at Patten Free Library.
Julia Bouwsma, Maine’s Poet Laureate, will lead a presentation on the forcible eviction and systematic erasure of the residents of Malaga Island by the state, the relevancy of this history to our current moment, and the process and implications of writing poems based on historic research. The talk will be paired with a reading of poems from Bouwsma’s award-winning collection “Midden.” That talk is scheduled for 3 p.m. May 10 at Patten Free Library.
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