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Log inFreedom Trail keeps marking history
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Freedom Trail keeps marking history
by Outspoken on Sun Jul 13, 2008 5:20 am
Freedom Trail keeps marking history
The Portland Freedom Trail dedicates three new markers at significant anti-slavery movement sites.
By ANNE GLEASON
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
The Portland Freedom Trail celebrated its one-year anniversary Saturday with the dedication of three granite markers at significant anti-slavery and underground railroad sites.
Portland's first 13 granite markers went up in various locations in the Old Port and Munjoy Hill last summer. The marked sites are intended to help tell the story of the underground railroad and the abolitionist movement in Maine.
The three additional sites are the former Deacon Brown Thurston home, at Fore and Union streets; a barber shop owned by Charles Frederick Eastman, an anti-slavery activist and African-American entrepreneur, at Congress and North streets; and the former home of the Rev. Amos Noe and Christiana Williams Freeman, station masters on the underground railroad, at Hancock and Federal streets.
Sites dedicated last summer included the Abyssinian Meeting House, the Eastern Cemetery and homes and businesses of those involved with the anti-slavery movement.
In total, members of the Portland Freedom Trail group pinpointed 35 sites in the Greater Portland area -- including the 16 already marked -- that are significant to either the anti-slavery movement or former Underground Railroad sites. Further research is needed on certain sites, said Rachel Talbot Ross, one of the project's directors. The organization expects to mark a handful of sites at each anniversary.
Maine Freedom Trails is also developing a narrative intended to tell the collective story of the anti-slavery movement in Portland and others parts of Maine.
"It's not just about the markers -- there is a huge component of bringing our collective history to the public square," Talbot-Ross said. "Then people begin to see their own stories embedded in this struggle for freedom and equality."
The Portland Freedom Trail is the first part of the network of Maine Freedom Trails. Organizers hope other communities will also work to mark their significant sites. Daniel Minter, vice president of Maine Freedom Trails and the artist for the 16 granite markers, said the trail has made Portland's rich anti-slavery history more visible to the public.
"I was amazed at the history in Portland," Minter said. "(Before) when I would walk around, I wouldn't see it. I wouldn't have any way of knowing where it was."
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=199236&ac=PHnws
The Portland Freedom Trail dedicates three new markers at significant anti-slavery movement sites.
By ANNE GLEASON
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
The Portland Freedom Trail celebrated its one-year anniversary Saturday with the dedication of three granite markers at significant anti-slavery and underground railroad sites.
Portland's first 13 granite markers went up in various locations in the Old Port and Munjoy Hill last summer. The marked sites are intended to help tell the story of the underground railroad and the abolitionist movement in Maine.
The three additional sites are the former Deacon Brown Thurston home, at Fore and Union streets; a barber shop owned by Charles Frederick Eastman, an anti-slavery activist and African-American entrepreneur, at Congress and North streets; and the former home of the Rev. Amos Noe and Christiana Williams Freeman, station masters on the underground railroad, at Hancock and Federal streets.
Sites dedicated last summer included the Abyssinian Meeting House, the Eastern Cemetery and homes and businesses of those involved with the anti-slavery movement.
In total, members of the Portland Freedom Trail group pinpointed 35 sites in the Greater Portland area -- including the 16 already marked -- that are significant to either the anti-slavery movement or former Underground Railroad sites. Further research is needed on certain sites, said Rachel Talbot Ross, one of the project's directors. The organization expects to mark a handful of sites at each anniversary.
Maine Freedom Trails is also developing a narrative intended to tell the collective story of the anti-slavery movement in Portland and others parts of Maine.
"It's not just about the markers -- there is a huge component of bringing our collective history to the public square," Talbot-Ross said. "Then people begin to see their own stories embedded in this struggle for freedom and equality."
The Portland Freedom Trail is the first part of the network of Maine Freedom Trails. Organizers hope other communities will also work to mark their significant sites. Daniel Minter, vice president of Maine Freedom Trails and the artist for the 16 granite markers, said the trail has made Portland's rich anti-slavery history more visible to the public.
"I was amazed at the history in Portland," Minter said. "(Before) when I would walk around, I wouldn't see it. I wouldn't have any way of knowing where it was."
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=199236&ac=PHnws
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Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
