Keywords: Syria
Item 102666
Gerard Kiladjian, Portland, 2009
Courtesy of Jan Pieter Van Voorst Van Beest, an individual partner Date: 2017 Location: Portland; Damascus Media: Digital photograph
Item 103104
Lest They Perish World War I poster, ca. 1917
Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1917 Location: New York Media: Lithograph
Exhibit
"Twenty Nationalities, But All Americans"
Concern about immigrants and their loyalty in the post World War I era led to programs to "Americanize" them -- an effort to help them learn English and otherwise adjust to life in the United States. Clara Soule ran one such program for the Portland Public Schools, hoping it would help the immigrants be accepted.
Exhibit
Immigration is one of the most debated topics in Maine. Controversy aside, immigration is also America's oldest tradition, and along with religious tolerance, what our nation was built upon. Since the first people--the Wabanaki--permitted Europeans to settle in the land now known as Maine, we have been a state of immigrants.
