The town will celebrate its 9-year relationship with its sister city of Tuskegee, Ala., next weekend with a music festival, a community dinner and a presentation on the contributions of Black people in Maine during the American Revolution.
The visit and events recognize the second year South Berwick has celebrated Tuskegee Day to honor the relationship between the two communities, focused on healing the racial divide in this country.
“Tuskegee Day lets South Berwick residents form new friendships and gain a greater understanding of both the real and often imagined cultural differences that separate us,” said David McDermott, one of the event organizers. “There is so much common ground that unites us as humans and Americans.”
The free community dinner will begin at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, June 6, at the First Parish Federated Church.
At 3:30 p.m., just before the dinner, Vana Carmona, a Maine resident who has spent a decade researching her family’s ties to the slave trade, will give a presentation, “Shoulder to Shoulder: Uncovering free and enslaved Blacks from Maine who served in the American Revolution.”
The mission of the Prince Project, so named in honor of the first enslaved person whose grave Carmona discovered in her family’s cemetery plot, is to uncover and share information on the role of enslavement in Maine’s early days.
The weekend will culminate with a family music festival 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Shoetown Park. Tuskegee musicians Jerome Temple, Noah Hopkins and Doug Eaves will join local musicians Susie Burke, Kent Allyn, Chip and Madeleine Harding for the performances. A VFW food truck and the Rotary Club’s gelato truck will be selling food.
“We are so excited for the family music celebration,” Harding said. “It will feature musicians from both Tuskegee and Maine, playing sets of their own, but ultimately sharing the stage in the spirit of spontaneous collaboration.”
The Common Ground Tuskegee-South Berwick Sister City relationship began in 2017 as a way for two communities – one with a population over 90% white and other over 90% Black – to reach across the racial divide within an effort to create less division and more understanding. Their relationship has been featured on national news shows.
The three-day visit by sister city residents is being organized by members of the joint planning committee of the Common Ground Tuskegee South Berwick Sister City project as well as members of the First Parish Federated Church, Chip Harding, local businesses and many community volunteers.
Seating is limited and registration is requested for Saturday’s free community supper. Those interested should contact McDermott at dmcdermo@gmail.com by Thursday, June 4. In case of rain, the music festival will be held in the South Berwick Community Center.
