UMaine alumni figured prominently in the 2021 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration held on January 18 and co-sponsored by the UMaine Alumni Association and the Greater Bangor Area Branch NAACP.
The annual event was webcast on YouTube and within 24 hours had been viewed live or on-demand more than 750 times. Speakers included UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy and alumni Jojo Oliphant ’00, David Patrick ’16, ’19G, Michael Alpert ’72G, and Alumni Association President John N. Diamond ’77, ’89G.
Daryl Fort ’92 moderated a panel discussion titled “Being Black in Maine: Lived Experience and the Prospect for Change.” Panelists included Nancy Dymond ’97 as well as current UMaine students Madi Hemingway ’23 and Tessa Solomon ’23.
The sponsoring organizations also announced the establishment of the Robert Talbot Civil Rights Speaker Series, which will be held on campus each fall. The series is named after Talbot, a Bangor native and longtime civil rights leader in Maine. Information about the series may be found at UMaineAlumni.com/Talbot.
A recording of the MLK Day event may be viewed at bit.ly/3iXHupW.