Maine History Online

Escaping Strife, Seeking Opportunity

Especially after the American Revolution, American farmers and tradesmen from elsewhere in the region migrated into the District of Maine. The new nation's first census lists 96,540 residents in Maine in 1790, 538 of whom were non-white "free persons."

The District of Maine represented less than 3 percent of the nearly 3.9 million Americans in 1790. The following decades were profitable and trying as newcomers continued to arrive in greater numbers and diversity – for economic and other reasons.

All immigrants to the state, whether from other parts of the U.S. or abroad, have helped to mold the economic, cultural, and social character of Maine, even as they have made adjustments to fit into the existing communities.

For some immigrants, the process is more challenging, as various groups – Irish, French Canadians, Eastern Europeans, Africans, Southeast Asians – have faced discrimination based on race, religion, or a combination of factors. The efforts of these immigrants to fight discrimination and to become a part of the communities where they have settled also have helped shape Maine.

African-Americans came to Maine in early colonial days as slaves or servants to Europeans. One of the earliest documented African-Americans in the area is a woman named only Susannah. Alexander Woodrup of Pemaquid bought her in 1686. She and her owner left after an Indian attack in 1689.

While there were other slaves in Maine before the Revolution, the numbers were not great. Maine, like other parts of New England, did not have the staple farming for which slaves provided the workforce in the Chesapeake region and South. In addition, Massachusetts, of which Maine was a part, determined in 1783 that slavery was illegal.

African-Americans presence in Maine has been minimal statistically, but significant in terms of specific cities and towns, and significant culturally.

While African-Americans have lived throughout the state, Bangor and Portland, for example, housed full communities of African-Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries along with the institutional structures –– civic organizations, churches, shops, and schools –– such communities develop.

Even small communities such as Machias and Ellsworth held a handful of African-American families, some descended from slaves like London Atus who arrived in Machias just before the Revolution. Others came from nearby states or moved north following the failure of post-Civil War reconstruction efforts in southern states.

A number of Mainers channeled escaping slaves outward through the state in response to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Some African-American families in Maine have relatives in the Maritimes as a result of surreptitious activities among the approximately 75 homes, churches and other sites recognized as likely stops along the Underground Railroad in Auburn, Portland, Brunswick, Orono, Eastport, Fort Kent and elsewhere.

From colonial days on, African-Americans arrived from neighboring states and Canada, and by way of sea. Many African-Americans moved to Portland and, to a lesser extent, other port communities, because of their work in the maritime industry. About a quarter of all U.S. seamen in the first half of the 19th century were black. At least 67 black mariners lived in Portland in 1850. The black community built the Abyssinian Meeting House in Portland in 1826, an indication of the growing community and its effects on the economy and social structure of the city.

Other black churches, as well as organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, active in many Maine communities, have focused the attention of all Mainers on issues that people of color face in the state. Especially visible during the 1920s and the Civil Rights era of the mid 20th century, the groups and have worked to eliminate discrimination in housing, employment, accommodations, and education, much like efforts in other parts of the country.

African Americans as well as immigrants from the African nations of Somalia and Sudan have continued to migrate to Maine, albeit in relatively small numbers, arriving with the Navy and Air Force, coming for other types of employment and educational opportunities, and following family and resettlement efforts.