Knowing Their Place: Two Stories (and the truth) About an African-American Settlement in Troy
Knowing Their Place: Two Stories (and the truth) About an African-American Settlement in Troy
African-Americans have been in Maine since the very beginning of settlement. In the 19th Century many lived side by side with their Euro-American neighbors, but some were settled together in their own communities. People in the rural town of Troy have traditions about such a settlement, said to have been large and self-sufficient at one time but now vanished. What was the reality of the place, and what was its fate? Unity College students interviewed Troy residents, sought out old records, and excavated the site of the original settlement to discover the stories--and the truth--about what happened to the African-Americans of rural Waldo County. Chris Marshall is professor of anthropology at Unity College. He researches the ecology and historical archaeology of early Euro-and Afro-American settlers in the Central Maine back-country, with emphasis on land-human interaction and landscape archaeology. PMM’s Main Street Gallery. Tickets $8 members and $10 non-members.