The South Portland Historical Society will hold a lecture on Wednesday, April 19, at 6:30 p.m. at the South Portland Community Center, 21 Nelson Road. Museum Director Seth Goldstein is curating a new exhibit at the society’s Cushing’s Point Museum at Bug Light Park (the museum opens on May 1). The lecture is a preview of the upcoming exhibit, titled Immigration in South Portland, Past and Present. Throughout the exhibit, there will be a focus on individuals and families from South Portland to illustrate the immigrant experience.
Headline from the Portland Evening Express and Daily Advertiser, Nov. 8, 1923. South Portland Historical Society image
The Wabanaki, a confederacy of Eastern Algonquin nations, who share a similar language and cultural practices, believe that they have lived on the land today known as Maine since the beginning of time. All other people who currently reside here are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants.
The exhibit will begin with an examination of the forced migration of enslaved Africans to southern Maine. Colonel Ezekiel Cushing was a wealthy merchant who built the first two-story house near the point that still bears his name.
Today, the area is better known as Bug Light Park. He purchased enslaved Africans as part of his trade with the Caribbean. The Africans that Cushing considered to be his property – Cato, Phillis and Dina – will allow us to discuss the details of enslaved Africans’ lives in southern Maine including the types of work conducted by enslaved Africans, the way that they were dehumanized by their owners and how individuals of African heritage resisted their enslavement.
An 1869 advertisement for Patrick McGlinchy’s liquors and cream ale. South Portland Historical Society image
The exhibit examines the lives of Irish immigrants. The Irish began to arrive in Maine in significant numbers in the 1830s. This ripple of migration became a tidal wave in the 1840s due to a major potato blight in their homeland. Many of you might be familiar with the painting at the South Portland post office of the wreck of the RMS Bohemian.
When the RMS Bohemian sank off the coast of Cape Elizabeth in 1864, those who perished were mostly Irish immigrants traveling in steerage (a common space in the ship’s hull where the cheapest berths were available). Most of the roughly 40 individuals who drowned were Irish. Twelve of their bodies were never claimed by relatives and were buried in an unmarked mass grave at Calvary Cemetery in South Portland.
The Irish were not seen as racially “White” when they first arrived in the United States. For example, when shop owners would post signs in their windows seeking labor, they would also post signs that said, “No Irish Need Apply.” In the exhibit an examination of an Irish immigrant family, the McGlinchys, helps us review the types of persecution that recently-arrived Irish experienced and how they responded to it.
Wreck of the RMS Bohemian, from Harper’s Weekly, 1864. South Portland Historical Society image
Across the water from South Portland’s Willard Beach sits House Island. The island was the site of Maine’s immigration and quarantine station from 1907 until 1937. It was known as the “Ellis Island of the North.”
In the late-19th century, individuals from southern and eastern Europe began to outnumber immigrants from western Europe. It was during this period that large numbers of Italian, Polish, Russian, Greek and Eastern European Jews came to Maine. As with all immigrants, these groups had a notable influence in the region both socially and commercially.
In addition to other immigrants, the Lamports, a Jewish family who emigrated from Russia, will help inform us about this period.
Recently, South Portland has experienced another significant wave of immigration. Many of these more recent immigrants have arrived from sub-Saharan Africa seeking refuge from conflict or drought. Other recent groups of migrants hail from eastern and southeast Asia and the Middle East.
In 2021, Deqa Dhalac was elected by her fellow city council members to be the mayor of South Portland and became the first Somali-American mayor in United States history. The exhibit will feature an interview with Deqa, in which she shares details of her journey from Somalia to become the mayor of South Portland and a representative for her district at the State House in Augusta.
Today, more than 40 languages are spoken at South Portland High School, a testament to the continued significance of immigration in our community.
We hope you’ll join us in the Casco Bay Wing (formerly known as the Senior Wing) of the South Portland Community Center on Wednesday, April 19 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free for society members, $20 for non-members. Individuals will have the opportunity to become a member before the lecture. A family membership is just $25 and provides entry to our entire year’s worth of programming.
The South Portland Historical Society continues to search for information related to immigration in South Portland. If you have information related to this topic, contact the society at sphistory04106@gmail.com or 207-767-7299.
Seth Goldstein is the development director for the South Portland Historical Society and also serves as the director of the society’s Cushing’s Point Museum at Bug Light Park. The South Portland Historical Society can be reached at 207-767-7299, email at sphistory04106@gmail.com, or mail, 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106.
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