Gerald Talbot

Talbot was born on October 28, 1931 in Bangor, Maine[2] to Wilmont Edgerton Talbot, the head chef at the Bangor House Hotel,[3] and Arvella Luella (McIntyre) Talbot, a homemaker and community organizer.[4][2] He was the eldest of five children[4] and an eighth-generation Mainer[5]; Talbot traced his ancestry to black Revolutionary War veteran Abraham Talbett.[3]

Talbot attended Hannibal Hamlin Grammar School, Lagen Street Grammar School,[2] and Bangor High School, graduating in 1952.[3] He recalled meeting his eventual wife, Anita Cummings while playing football for Bangor High School.[2]

After graduating, Talbot worked at the Bangor House alongside his father and then moved to Cummings' hometown of Portland, Maine. He recounted a desire to serve in the military, as no immediate family members had done so. Talbot attempted to enlist in the Marines but was rejected for color-blindness, so he returned to Bangor and enlisted in the United States Army in 1953.[2][3]

Talbot was assigned to Fort Dix and then Fort Devens outside of Boston. He filed two requests to be sent to Korea, but was rejected both times and sent to Tulle, Greenland where he served for a full year.[2]

Upon discharge from the Army following his Tulle assignment, Talbot and his wife settled in Portland.[6][4] The family's consistent struggle to obtain housing in Portland inspired Talbot's livelong advocacy for fair housing laws.

In 1956, Talbot worked at the Community Center on Free Street in Portland as a fireman and housekeeper/custodian, spending several years between various jobs.[2] In a 2021 interview, he explained that as a "light-skinned Black" many employers "did not know what I was, but when they found it out, because if they ever asked, they did ask, they said, ‘What are you?’ Two days later, I was gone. I didn’t have a job anymore.”[7]

In 1964, Talbot ran the printing press at the Maine Printing Company,[2] and in 1966 began working for the Guy Gannett Publishing Company, where he remained until his retirement in 1991.[3][2]

In 1972, after viewing a debate on Maine's human rights act on the floor of the Maine Legislature, Talbot observed one lawmaker argue that "poor people should struggle". Talbot decided more representation was needed in the Legislature and considered running.[9] He recalled making a final decision days before nomination papers were due.[2]

The 1972 Portland Democratic legislative ballot contained the names of more than twenty at-large[5] candidates in alphabetical order, of which Talbot was listed second-to-last. Voters were asked to select eleven.[2] According to a New York Times article about his historic victory, Talbot won by about 1,700 votes "although his district, in Portland, could muster no more than 250 black voters."[9] Talbot became the first Black person ever elected to the Maine legislature.[11]

Talbot was also the first Black chair of a legislative committee (he chaired the Human Resources Committee for two terms) and the first Black speaker pro-tem of the Maine House of Representatives.[3] He served three terms, ending in 1978.[13][12]

In order to keep his insurance and contract with his job at Gannett Publishing, Talbot was required to work at least five hours each night at the printing company while he served in the Legislature. In a 2001 interview, Talbot described leaving Portland for Augusta around 7:00 am, returning anywhere from 6:30-9.00 pm, and then working a five-hour shift at Gannett before returning home to sleep.[2]

Talbot sponsored the first gay rights legislation in Maine,[4][12] the 1977 "Sexual or Affectional Preference" (1977) amendment to the Maine Human Rights Act,[3] and "An Act to Prohibit the Use of Offensive Names for Geographic Features and Other Places in the State of Maine," which passed, eliminating the n-word from a dozen place names in the state.[5][3] Other notable legislation of Talbot's addressed conditions and treatment for migrant workers, indigenous tribal sovereignty, fair housing, and recognizing Martin Luther King, Jr. day as a state holiday.[11][14]

Talbot served on the Maine State Board of Education from 1980–84 and was the chair during his final year.[5] He was also a member of the New England States Board of Education Commission during that time.[3] He also served on the Maine Vocational Technical Institute’s Board of Trustees,[3][14] the Board of Trustees of the University of New England,[12] the Maine State Committee on Aging; and on the Minority Affairs committee for the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) on both the local and national levels.[14] Talbot joined the Muskie Board of Visitors at the University of Southern Maine in 1990.[2][3][12]

The Gerald E. Talbot Community School is in the Riverton neighborhood of Portland, Maine.

In February 2019, the Portland City Council sent a letter to the Portland School Board requesting that they consider renaming one of Portland's elementary schools in Talbot's honor. On February 5, 2020, the Portland School Board voted unanimously to change the name of Riverton Elementary School to the Gerald E. Talbot Community School.[20] On Monday, August 31, 2020, the school was officially renamed in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Gerald Talbot and his grandson, Demetrius Brown-Phillips, who was also a student at the school, did the honors.[5]