Celebrating Gerald Talbot and other leaders during Black History Month

February is Black History Month

Gerald Talbot is an American civil rights leader, author, and politician from Portland. He was the first Black legislator to serve in the state of Maine, and he was the first Black speaker pro-tem of the Maine House of Representatives (his daughter, Rachel Talbot Ross, is now speaker of the Maine House of Representatives). He is the founding president of the Portland, Maine, chapter of the NAACP, and he was one of several Maine residents to attend the 1963 March on Washington. His civil rights work has included addressing housing discrimination, voter’s rights, migrant workers’ rights, LGBTQ rights, tribal sovereignty, removing offensive names from geographic features and other places in Maine, and establishing Martin Luther King Day as a state holiday.

Talbot’s portrait is included in the Americans Who Tell the Truth series which is now on display through February 15 on campus in Alfond Hall, Baggot Street Café, Student Engagement Lounge, and the Library.