The University of Maine at Augusta and the University of Southern Maine are partnering to host “One sun rose on us today: Stories from Maine's Long 20th Century,” a virtual half-day conference on June 4, 2021. This conference consists of three panels – Wabanakiscapes, 20th Maine Jewish Culture, and 20th Century Queer Maine – concluding with a keynote by Monica Wood, author of When We Were the Kennedys.

The conference will explore some of the many peoples that have claimed Maine as their home, bringing together scholars from across the state to discuss aspects of Maine’s long 20th century, which has received relatively little sustained critical attention to date. The panel discussions will seek to illuminate and articulate not only how we want to understand Maine's past and present, but also how we want to configure our future, according to a news release.

The conference takes place June 4, 2021, from noon to 6:30 p.m., via Zoom. The event is free and open to the public, however registration is required

This event is part of UMA’s Maine’s Mid-Century Moment events exploring the artists, writers, and innovators who shaped and chronicled Maine’s mid-century cultural evolution. Maine’s Mid-Century Moment has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and received financial support from the Maine Bicentennial Commission.

Conference Schedule and Panels

Noon -12:30 p.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks

12:30 - 2:00 p.m. Wabanakiscapes

Wabanakiscapes is a conversation with citizens of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Micmac nations and their allies about profound – as well as everyday – events of the twentieth century that have shaped Wabanaki lives, then and now.

Featured speakers include Micah Pawling, Donald Soctomah, Richard Silliboy, Maulian Dana, Anthony Sutton, Suzanne Greenlaw, Jason Brough, and Natalie Dana.

Introduced and moderated by Lisa Neuman and Darren Ranco, of the University of Maine.

2:15 - 3:30 p.m. 20th Century Maine Jewish Culture

Abe Peck, USM. "Between a Haven and a Home: The Historic Journey of Maine's Jewish Community"

Natasha Goldman, Bowdoin College. "William Zorach's Model for Holocaust Memory (1949)"

David Freidenreich, Colby College. “College attendance among Jewish Mainers during the interwar years”

3:45 - 5:00 p.m. 20th Century Queer Maine

Cathleen Miller, UNE. "‘What a lot o' queer folks there used to be about here’: Artistic community in Mid-Century Maine”

Erica Rand, Bates College. “Queer Indirections in the Maine 1990s”

Wendy Chapkis, USM. "Queering/Querying Maine: the LGBTQ Oral History Project"

5:30 – 6:30 p.m. KEYNOTE - Monica Wood

Monica Wood is a novelist, memoirist, and playwright. Her most recent novel, The One-in-a-Million Boy, has been published in 22 languages in 30 countries and won  a 2017 Nautilus Award (Gold) and the New England Society Book Award. She is also the author of When We Were the Kennedys, a New England bestseller, Oprah magazine summer-reading pick, and winner of the May Sarton Memoir Award and the 2016 Maine Literary Award.

For more information about National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor* please visit: http://www.neh.gov/ 

*Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in these programs, resources, and related websites, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

UMA transforms the lives of students of every age and background across the State of Maine and beyond through access to high-quality distance and on-site education, excellence in student support, civic engagement, and professional and liberal arts programs.  For more information, please visit https://www.uma.edu/

The University of Southern Maine is northern New England’s outstanding public, regional, comprehensive university, dedicated to providing students with a high-quality, accessible, affordable education. From campuses in Portland, Gorham, and Lewiston-Auburn, USM offers baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral programs. For more information, please visit: https://usm.maine.edu/.