Date: Saturday, November 16, 2024
Time: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
PLACE: First Parish Church York

What does it mean to be a descendant?

What responsibility might we carry for the deeds and legacies of our ancestors?

What actions might our unique inheritances require of us today?

In a Proclamation Against Racism, Discrimination and Bigotry signed in July of 2020, the town of York made a commitment to “identify and eliminate anything within its control that supports or perpetuates systemic or institutional racism or discrimination.” Three hundred years ago, English colonists from the town of York played a significant role in the Norridgewock Massacre. Today, York residents invite you to join them in walking through York Village, considering the visible history of the landscape: private houses and public buildings, graveyards, monuments, street signs, and other elements of this four-hundred-year old English settlement. As we walk, we will consider what memories of historical violence and what legacies of racism remain embedded here, often obscured behind a romanticized Colonial Revival facade. As our two-mile route crosses the Wiggly Bridge and winds through Steedman Woods, we’ll have an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the area’s land use history and the impacts of climate change, considering whether there are connections between how we “other” certain people and how we “other” the land itself.

Schedule of events

10:00 am Welcome gathering at First Parish Church

11:00 am Two-mile walk through York Village

1:00 pm Performance of The Malaga Ship: a story of Maine and the Middle Passage, by Antonio Rocha

2:00 pm Community response and dialogue

Antonio Rocha’s

The Malaga Ship

A story of Maine and the Middle Passage

The Malaga was a 183 ton brig built in 1832,  in Brunswick Maine, in a shipyard owned  by Joseph Badger. The ship eventually found herself as part of the already Illegal transatlantic trade of African captives to the Americas, especially Brazil.

The Malaga Ship Story is a tour de force performance by Antonio Rocha, who vividly explores the reality and impact of the slaving industry, with which he has deep personal connections.

REGISTER

York History Partners

York History Partners (YHP) is a growing group of volunteers working to form a coalition of historians, educators, activists, and descendents with the goal of moving in solidarity toward historical truth. In the early spring of 2024, members of the York community came together to collaborate on the final leg of Atlantic Black Box’s WHERE2024 series. Beyond November, YHP will seek to initiate and support future projects that foster a holistic and inclusive history of this town and its connections to other sites throughout the place now known as Maine.

The goal of good scholarship is to carefully consider all relevant primary sources to develop complete and accurate understandings of historical events. The mission of York History Partners is to expand perspectives on local history and its enduring legacies by acknowledging and seeking to eradicate bias in our historical narratives. To this end, we recenter stories that previous historical narratives have marginalized or effaced and provide more inclusive and comprehensive educational tools for students, educators, and the general public.

York Diversity Forum

The York Diversity Forum envisions a community that is integrated and accepting – where everyone feels safe, welcome and at home.

Our mission is to be a visible, peaceful, active voice and resource that promotes understanding, acceptance and respect for people of all races, cultures, religions, sexual orientations, ages and abilities.

We realize our mission by presenting programs that foster understanding of diverse populations and also respond to specific instances of prejudice and discrimination in York.