Black Salts: African Diaspora Sailors in Maine and New England

Join The Third Place and Maine MILL for the next installment of Finding Place: Maine’s Black Presence Then and Now,

On October 8, maritime historian Seth Goldstein, Development and Museum Director at the South Portland Historical Society, presents Black Salts: African Diaspora Sailors in Maine and New England.

Black sailors have been part of Maine and New England’s maritime world for centuries. People of African heritage also worked in related shore-side occupations, including as longshoremen, blacksmiths, and sailmakers. Goldstein’s presentation will trace this history from the African roots of Black maritime traditions through World War II, while examining the important role Black mariners played in regional trade and the growth of Portland’s Black community. He will also explore connections between that community and the Underground Railroad. Seth Bio and Talk Description

Goldstein brings a deep background in maritime and public history. He holds a bachelor’s degree in European History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a master’s degree in World History from Northeastern University. His research and writing have contributed to exhibitions at the Maine Historical Society, Portland Museum of Art, and Maine Maritime Museum, and he is affiliated with Atlantic Black Box. Seth Bio and Talk Description

This event is free and open to the general public.

A light reception will be provided.

About Finding Place

Finding Place: Maine’s Black Presence Then and Now was created to bring together historical research, storytelling, scholarship, and performance to make Maine’s Black history more visible and accessible in Lewiston-Auburn, ME. The project examines Black contributions to Maine’s maritime, economic, cultural, and community life while creating space for public learning and conversation across generations and communities.

The series launched at Bates College with Antonio Rocha’s Waves of Tears, Winds of Hope, which used performance and storytelling to illuminate Black presence within Maine’s maritime history. Finding Place continues throughout the fall with historians, scholars, artists, and community researchers whose work connects Maine’s past with questions of community, belonging, labor, memory, and place today.

Our intention: Belonging is shaped not only by where we live today, but often by whether we can see ourselves in the history of the place we call home. We seek to amplify these histories as a means of cultivating deeper connections and belonging to Maine as place – an oft overlooked strategy for recruitment and retention in predominantly white geographies.