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Malaga Island

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Coordinates:43°46′54″N069°52′30″W/ 43.78167°N 69.87500°W/43.78167; -69.87500
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Malaga Island
Native name:
Brant Island[1]
Malaga Island is located in Maine
Malaga Island
Malaga Island
Geography
Coordinates43°46′54″N069°52′30″W/ 43.78167°N 69.87500°W/43.78167; -69.87500
Area0.0641 sq mi (0.166 km2)
Administration
United States
StateMaine
MunicipalityPhippsburg[2]

Malaga Islandis a 41-acre (170,000 m2) island at the mouth of theNew Meadows RiverinCasco Bay,Maine,United States. It was the site of an interracial community from theAmerican Civil Waruntil 1911, when the residents were forcibly evicted from the island.[3]It is now an uninhabited reserve owned and managed by theMaine Coast Heritage Trust.Public daytime access is permitted.

History

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Malaga Island residents posing with a missionary outside their home for the September 1909 issue ofHarper's Weekly.

Allen Breed writes that there are multiple theories of how the colony formed. "Some say the island was a convenient place for merchant seaman to drop their black paramours before sailing home to their wives" or being a stop on theUnderground Railroad,but neither of these theories have evidence to back up their claims.[4]Instead, it is believed that most Malaga settlers were descendants ofBenjamin Darling,aFreedmanwho settled nearby Harbor Island. The first resident of the island was a black man named Henry Griffin fromHarpswell,who is believed to have moved there in the early to mid 1860s.[4]By 1880, the island was believed to have 27 people.[4]

TheCasco Bay Breeze,Bangor Daily Newsand other newspapers investigated during the 1890s, then printed stories about a "degenerate colony" whose indiscretions included use of tobacco and of tea. Some reports allegedincestandwife swappingin the community, as well as children with blunted horns living underground.[4]The towns ofPhippsburgandHarpswellfought not to take control over the settlement (as they would have to pay to supportpaupersin the community),[4]but to build a hotel for business, and in 1905 the State of Maine named island residentswards of the state.[4]The state built a school and furnished a schoolteacher and began focusing its attention on the unorthodox community.

While some saw improvement in the island, GovernorFrederick W. Plaistedsaw blight on his state's reputation. Under the Governor's direction, Maine's authorities abducted and removed men, women, and children many of whom were forced into various institutions and, in 1912, undertook the mass eviction of the remaining 45-member interracial community.[5]To discourage resettlement, Maine authorities eventually even dug up the graves, and took the dead for burial at theMaine School for the Feeble-MindedinNew Gloucester.[5]

The island was bought by Eli Perry in 1818 for $150, though there are few records of continued ownership. The island was mentioned twice in the family's deeds over the next hundred years, "and never in any of the Perry family wills".[4]Tax records in Phippsburg found that no one had ever paid taxes on the island. In 1911, despite these questions on ownership, the Perry family ordered the residents to leave. The state then bought the island and evicted the islanders, paying them a relocation stipend. One family of seven and one other person were deemed feeble-minded and placed in an institution, although the accuracy of their diagnosis is disputed.[6]

Missionaries helping the Islanders had negotiated to buy the island from the Perry family in order to allow the residents to stay, but the governor outbid them and then evicted the residents. The governor's motivation is unclear, as he had previously pledged to help the community. It is speculated that this was a personal retribution against the missionaries, who had defeated him in a bitter political fight over Prohibition.[7]

In 1912, the state authorized advertising the sale of the island.[8]

The descendants of around fifty individuals once living on Malaga Island became scattered around different towns and cities in Maine.[9]

Following the eviction, the state of Maine tore down all structures on the island except for the schoolhouse, which was moved to nearby Louds Island.[10]

Recognition and legacy

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On April 7, 2010, Maine legislators finally issued an official statement of regret for the Malaga incident, but did so without notifying descendants and other stakeholders either before or after the fact. The "public" apology didn't become known to the public until nearly four months later, when an article appeared in a monthly magazine,Down East,which also procured a statement of regret by GovernorJohn Baldacci.[11]The island was listed on theNational Register of Historic Placesin 2023.[12]

In 2012, a retrospective exhibit at theMaine State Museumwas opened by governorPaul LePage.[13]From 2019–2020, the Tate Gallery in London presented an installation,Amalgam,by social practice artistTheaster Gates(b. 1973) interpreting the history of Malaga.[citation needed]

American novelistPaul Hardinguses the history of the island and its people as inspiration for a fictional narrative in 2023'sThis Other Eden.[14]Critics claimed the novel includes harmful myths about the island's residents that historians have tried to correct.[15]

Author Stephen Hemingway ofWoolwich, Mainehas used Malaga Island for his 2012 historical fiction novel, "The Malaga Chronicles."

See also

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Further reading

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References

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  1. ^"Malaga Island".Geographic Names Information System.United States Geological Survey.Retrieved2008-08-03.
  2. ^"Malaga Island in Phippsburg".Christian Science Monitor.1911-04-14.Attorney General Pattangallreported yesterday that in his opinion Malaga island in theNew Meadowsriver is owned by the heirs ofEli Perryand that the island is in the town of Phippsburg.
  3. ^Grieco, Jan (October 2004)."Shudder Island".Portland Magazine.Archived fromthe originalon 2008-08-28.Retrieved2008-08-03.
  4. ^abcdefgBreed, Allen (2006). "No Longer a Reproach: The Story of Malaga Island".Maine's visible Black history: the first chronicle of its people.By Price, H. H.; Talbot, Gerald. Gardiner, Me.: Tilbury House. pp. 69–75.ISBN9780884482758.
  5. ^abDubrule, Deborah (August 2005)."Malaga, revisited: On a Casco Bay island, a shameful incident in Maine's history comes to light".Working Waterfront.Archived fromthe originalon 26 April 2012.
  6. ^"Phippsburg.info - History".
  7. ^"Malaga Island - A Story Best Left Untold".
  8. ^"Order 371 for sealed proposal for purchase of Malaga Island, 1912-12-19 | Maine State Archives - ArchivesSpace".archives.maine.gov.Retrieved2023-10-06.
  9. ^Pedersen, Margo (2019)."Malaga Island: How the State of Maine Devastated a Resilient Island Community in the Name of the Greater Good".The History Teacher.53(1): 137–169.ISSN0018-2745.JSTOR27058569.
  10. ^"Malaga Island: An Overview of its Cultural and Natural History".Maine Coast Heritage Trust.2009-07-06.Retrieved2023-10-06.
  11. ^Colin Woodard (August 2010)."A Quiet Apology".Down East.
  12. ^"WEEKLY LIST OF ACTIONS TAKEN ON PROPERTIES: 9/15/2023 THROUGH 9/22/2023".National Park Service.Retrieved2023-09-26.
  13. ^Woodard, Colin (May 20, 2012)."Malaga Island: A century of shame".Portland Press HErald.Retrieved2 January2013.
  14. ^Corrigan, Maureen (January 20, 2023)."Racism tears a Maine fishing community apart inThis Other Eden".NPR.RetrievedJanuary 20,2023.
  15. ^Gray, Megan (2023-11-12)."Malaga Island-inspired 'This Other Eden' is fiction; critics say it revives harmful myths".Press Herald.Retrieved2023-11-12.
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