27 Facts About Gerald Talbot

Gerald Edgerton Talbot was born on October 28,1931 and is an American civil rights leader, author, and politician from Portland, Maine.

Gerald Talbot was the eldest of five children and an eighth-generation Mainer; Talbot traced his ancestry to black Revolutionary War veteran Abraham Talbett.

Gerald Talbot attended Hannibal Hamlin Grammar School, Lagen Street Grammar School, and Bangor High School, graduating in 1952.

Gerald Talbot recalled meeting his eventual wife, Anita Cummings while playing football for Bangor High School.

Gerald Talbot recounted a desire to serve in the military, as no immediate family members had done so.

Gerald 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.

Gerald Talbot was assigned to Fort Dix and then Fort Devens outside of Boston.

Gerald Talbot 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.

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

Gerald Talbot was one of several Maine residents to attend the 1963 March on Washington.

Gerald Talbot was instrumental in the passage of the Maine Fair Housing Bill in 1965.

In 1968, Gerald Talbot successfully sued a landlord for housing discrimination.

In 1972, after viewing a debate on Maine's human rights act on the floor of the Maine Legislature, Gerald Talbot observed one lawmaker argue that "poor people should struggle".

Gerald Talbot decided more representation was needed in the Legislature and considered running.

Gerald Talbot recalled making a final decision days before nomination papers were due.

The 1972 Portland Democratic legislative ballot contained the names of more than twenty at-large candidates in alphabetical order, of which Gerald Talbot was listed second-to-last.

Gerald Talbot was the first Black chair of a legislative committee and the first Black speaker pro-tem of the Maine House of Representatives.

Gerald Talbot sponsored the first gay rights legislation in Maine, the 1977 "Sexual or Affectional Preference" amendment to the Maine Human Rights Act, 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.

Gerald Talbot was a member of the New England States Board of Education Commission during that time.

Gerald Talbot served on the Maine Vocational Technical Institute's Board of Trustees, the Board of Trustees of the University of New England, the Maine State Committee on Aging, and the Minority Affairs committee for the American Association of Retired Persons on both the local and national levels.

Gerald Talbot joined the Muskie Board of Visitors at the University of Southern Maine in 1990.

Rachel Gerald Talbot Ross was elected to the Maine House of Representatives from Portland in 2016,2018,2020 and 2022.

Gerald Talbot often travelled the state with the collection, visiting schools, community centers and churches and creating an annual display in the rotunda of the Maine State House.

In 1995, Gerald Talbot donated his collection to the Special Collections of the University of Southern Maine, where it is part of the African American Collection of the Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine.

In 1980, Gerald Talbot received a regional Jefferson Award for Public Service.

Gerald Talbot received a Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

Gerald Talbot and his grandson, Demetrius Brown-Phillips, who was a student at the school, did the honors.