Shoulder to Shoulder: Uncovering Free and Enslaved Blacks Who Served in the Revolution

Name: Shoulder to Shoulder: Uncovering Free and Enslaved Blacks Who Served in the Revolution
Start: 2026-02-28T15:00:00-05:00
Location: 938 Post Rd, Wells, ME, United States, Maine 04090

Schedule

Sat, 28 Feb, 2026 at 03:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

938 Post Rd, Wells, ME, United States, Maine 04090 | Wells, ME

As we commemorate 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, we’re exploring the roles people of color played in the American Revolution. Join us on Saturday, February 28th at 3 pm for our program: Shoulder to Shoulder: Uncovering Free and Enslaved Blacks Who Served in the Revolution, presented by Vana Carmona and Kathy Ostrander Roberts.
Combining their years of research on the topic of free and enslaved people of color in Maine, Carmona and Roberts will jointly present stories relating to the Revolution. Attendees will learn about people of color, including people from Wells, Ogunquit, and Kennebunk, and the sources used to uncover their lesser-known narratives.
Free, suggested donation of $5
In-person
The Historical Society of Wells and Ogunquit at 938 Post Road, Wells, ME.
No registration required.
For more information, please contact the Historical Society at 207-646-4775.
Vana Carmona is the founder of the Prince Project, a database of over 2000 people of color who lived in Maine prior to 1800. She is a docent for several historic sites in the Portland area, including Maine Historical Society and Spirits Alive (Eastern Cemetery in Portland). She is descended from a number of early European settlers, with the first of these arriving in New England in 1620, and moving into Maine in 1633. Many, she discovered, were enslavers and complicit in the slave trade.
Kathy Ostrander Roberts is the appointed Town Historian of Kennebunk, Maine, and the author of three books on local history, including the recently published Unmarked Graves and Forgotten Lives, The Enslaved Persons of Color in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Arundel, and Wells, Maine. She also led the discovery and documentation of the site known as the “Freed Slave Community” of Kennebunk, aka “The Ridge.” The site has been the subject of six archaeological surveys and has yielded hundreds of artifacts relating to the former residents of The Ridge.