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USM Exhibit Celebrates African American Life in Central Maine January 23, 2008 The University of Southern Maine African American Collection of Maine will open its annual exhibition on Friday, February 1, with an exhibition preview and reception. This year’s exhibition, “In the Center of It All: Glimpses of Black Life in Central Maine,” focuses on four themes: civil rights and social justice; political and organizational life; labor and commerce; and daily life of African American communities in Lewiston, Auburn, Waterville and Augusta. The opening reception will take place from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, February 1 (snow date Friday, February 8), in the University Events Room on the 7th floor of the Glickman Family Library, Forest Ave., Portland. A preview of the exhibition will take place from 4-5 p.m. on the 6th floor of the Library. Director of the Academic Council for Post-Holocaust Christian and Jewish Studies Abraham J. Peck and Faculty Scholar and Assistant Professor of History Maureen Elgersman Lee curated the exhibition. Gerald E. Talbot and H.H. Price of the Visible Maine History Project also helped with the exhibition. For more information, contact USM’s African American Collection of Maine, 780-4275. Special appearances will be made by William D. Burney, Jr., the first African American mayor in Maine (Augusta) and in northern New England in 1988; John Jenkins, the mayor of Auburn and former mayor of Lewiston; and Neville Knowles, co-founder in the 1960’s of the Central Maine Branch, NAACP and three-time president of the Portland Branch, NAACP. Featured in the exhibit are items from the Special Collections Department at Colby College, the Collection of William and Deborah Barry of Portland, and the Muskie Archives at Bates College. The items focus on two families: the Osborne family and the McAuley family. Samuel Osborne was an escaped slave in 1833 who was hired by Colby College as a maintenance worker and earned the title “Professor” from those who knew him. John “Jack” McAuley was kidnapped by slave traders in the early 1880’s and brought to Maine where he became involved in the lunch counter business. Researching and preserving the life histories of Maine’s African American residents is one of the goals of the African American Collection of Maine. For directions and parking information please see: www.usm.maine.edu/generalinfo.htm Photo Captions: Samuel Osborne escaped slavery in 1833 and was a maintenance worker at Colby College for 37 years, earning the title “Professor” from those who knew him. More than 300 articles and a book have been published about the life and contributions of Osborne, and two of his children attended Colby. Courtesy of the Collection of William and Debra Barry, Portland, Maine. John "Jack" McAuley (1870s to 1925) was born Adeymi Aloya in the Nigerian village of Ilesha before being kidnapped and sold into slavery. He was brought to Maine at the end of the nineteenth century. By 1900, he was already in the lunch counter business in Augusta and was followed by two generations of McAuley's who carried on as restaurateurs.Courtesy of Cinnamon McAuley Moreau, Scarborough, Maine.
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