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Full-Text Articles in Political History
William Burney And John Jenkins: A Tale Of Maine’S Two African-American Mayors, Elwood Watson
William Burney And John Jenkins: A Tale Of Maine’S Two African-American Mayors, Elwood Watson
Maine History
William Burney and John Jenkins were, respectively, mayors of Augusta and Lewiston. While this in itself is not unusual, the fact that they were African-American city leaders in a state where African-Americans make up less than one percent of the population is quite distinctive. Burney was elected mayor of Augusta in 1988, and Jenkins mayor of Lewiston in 1993. The article discusses their childhood and teenage years, their coming of age in college, and their early careers in the private sector. It suggests that these formative experiences, particularly their religious upbringing and their relation to white peers, was important in …
Resistance In “Pioneer Territory”: The Maine Naacp And The Pursuit Of Fair Housing Legislation, Eben Simmons-Miller
Resistance In “Pioneer Territory”: The Maine Naacp And The Pursuit Of Fair Housing Legislation, Eben Simmons-Miller
Maine History
While Charles Lumpkins details the organizational strategies of the civil-rights movement in Maine, Eben Miller focuses on the politics of fair housing. Outlining the “geography of segregation” in Maine, he describes the resistance to fair housing and the means by which the NAACP documented civil-rights violations, drafted legislation, built coalitions of concerned black and white citizens, and advanced the “moral and ethical responsibility ” of all Mainers to work for fair housing legislation. Mr. Miller, from Woolwich, graduated from Bates College in 1996. His article is based on research done for an honors thesis. Mr. Miller shared some of this …