News Releases

Leonard W. and Mary Jane Hill Cummings Donate Archives of The Bridge to USM’s African American Collection of Maine

January 10, 2008

Leonard W. and Mary Jane Hill Cummings, who have been involved with the restoration of Portland’s Abyssinian Church, gave an almost complete collection of The Bridge to the University of Southern Maine’s African American Collection of Maine. The Bridge was a minority newsletter the couple ran from 1994 to 2003. In 2006, the Cummings family donated the archives of the Eastern Real Estate Company, a Portland real estate investment company run by a group of African American men from 1911 through the 1980s.

In 1988, the Cummings established Opportunities: Minority News Network, which was certified by the Disadvantages Business Enterprise Program of the Maine Department of Transportation. The Bridge was a free bimonthly publication that highlighted and provided outreach to the minority communities of Maine. It included obituaries, ethnic cuisine, book reviews and articles on individuals making a difference within minority communities.

Maureen Elgersman Lee, faculty scholar of USM’s African American Collection of Maine, says, “The Bridge stands within a long and highly regarded tradition of independent African American publishing, a tradition that has produced such giants as the Chicago Defender, the Pittsburgh Courier, and the Baltimore Afro-American. The Bridge also speaks to the deep commitment of the Cummings family.”

For more information, contact Susie Bock director of the Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine at bocks@usm.maine.edu or 790-4269.

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