Maine Historical Society: Maine Historical Society Presents BEGIN AGAIN: Reckoning With Intolerance In Maine

Press release from the Maine Historical Society:

May 7, 2021

Portland, Maine: Maine Historical Society (MHS) launches a powerful new initiative in May that examines the roots of social justice topics and aims to stimulate civic engagement and foster dialogue among Mainers.

The Black Lives Matter movement, political unrest, and COVID-19 converged into a societal crisis. BEGIN AGAIN: reckoning with intolerance in Maine explores Maine’s historical role in these crises, and the national dialogue on race and equity through a physical exhibition and a virtual program series. (An online exhibit will reside on Maine Memory Network.)

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BEGIN AGAIN EXHIBITION:
Open May 27 through December 31, 2021

Co-curated by Anne Gass, Tilly Laskey, Darren Ranco and Krystal Williams, in collaboration with a network of advisors from diverse communities around the state, the exhibition at MHS’s Portland gallery invites the public to re-evaluate ideas, learned history, items, and policies of the past 500 years, and an entrenched system which has led to today’s civil, economic and environmental upheaval. Designed to engage visitors in a unique spatial experience, the exhibit provides a framework to consider perspectives other than the dominant narrative, and gauge inclusivity to envision a more equitable experience for all Maine's residents in the future.

The exhibit showcases MHS's copy of the Declaration of Independence (one of 26 remaining copies in existence) that expresses powerful ideals, but also reveals how governing benefited specific groups and disadvantaged others. Items made of wool, including a new Blanket Coat commissioned for MHS’s permanent collections by Penobscot artist Jennifer Neptune, demonstrate how actions of European settler colonialists broke treaties with Wabanaki people. Premier items from MHS’s collections and on loan explore how Maine industries like merchant trade and sugar refining were built on colonialism and a slave economy that helped establish foundations of privilege and wealth.

To schedule your in-person visit to the BEGIN AGAIN EXHIBITION CLICK HERE

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BEGIN AGAIN VIRTUAL PROGRAM SERIES:
May 12 through December 2021

This outstanding series offers the opportunity to engage with dynamic scholars, historians, community leaders, writers, and fellow citizens. The series opens May 12 with a co-curator panel talk on the exhibition. Featured presenters in the seven-month series include noted author and MSNBC contributor Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr., cultural anthropologist Dr. Andrea Louie, University of Maine Professor Dr. Darren Ranco, and author Edward Ball. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free and open to the public, and air via Zoom 6:00 to 7:00 pm ET.

To register for BEGIN AGAIN PROGRAMS and see the detailed schedule CLICK HERE.

A sampling of upcoming programs:

May 20: Doing One’s First Works Over: Imagining a New America. Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr.

"I would like to think that we have created an exhibit that informs, shows little known experiences, and also creatively challenges the visitors to the exhibit — whatever their previous knowledge about these issues."
~ Darren Ranco, Co-curator, (Penobscot) Chair of Native American Programs, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Coordinator of Native American Research, University of Maine.

This press release was produced by the Maine Historical Society. The views expressed here are the author’s own.