Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boys

I recently read an amazing book called, “Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.”

A novel written by Gary Schmidt, it is based on a true story which shows the heinousness of racism in our country.

There is in Maine a place called Malaga Island, located near the city of Phippsburg. Phippsburg at one time had a thriving economy based on the shipbuilding industry, but, as is the case in any location whose economy is based on one thing, when the shipbuilding industry began to suffer, so did the city.

The city fathers began to look for another way for the city to thrive, and turned to tourism … but as that discussion got underway, the powers that be began to voice their dissatisfaction with the fact that an otherwise beautiful island, which would be perfect for attracting tourists, was a scourge, an embarrassment and a burden to the city of Phippsburg because it was solely inhabited by “negroes.” It was a waste of valuable land, they reasoned.

Mind you, the residents of Malaga were there because they were not allowed to live in Phippsburg, and mind you, again, that they were the housekeepers, nannies, cooks and grounds men for the people of Phippsburg. But in this time of economic strain, the worth and work of the residents of Malaga was underplayed, and their “burden” lifted up.

The city fathers began to argue publicly, so as to get public support for their position. They were, in effect, supporting “those people,” they said. The people there had no rights; they owned nothing and were no more than squatters. They began to argue that another city, Harpswell, should really be supporting the residents of Malaga, and thus ease the tax burden on the city of Phippsburg.

The residents of Malaga, in the meantime, continued their meager existence. They and their ancestors had been residents of the island for at least 125 years, ever since Benjamin Darling, a freed slave, had settled there with his white wife. They lived and supported themselves by fishing, lobstering, farming and only working in town when they were allowed.

The discussion and argument about who should support Malaga continued until, in 1911, the Governor of Maine visited the island and decided that its squalor was not favorable to economic development. (The state of Maine had taken the island over in 1905). The Governor recommended burning down the shacks which served as the homes for the residents. The following year, the sheriff of Cumberland County visited the island and ordered all of the residents off the island by July of that year; they had about six months to move. One family floated their entire house off the island, but many other residents faced horribly hard times; it is reported that eight of the residents were taken to Pownal, to a place called the Home for the Feeble-Minded, where they soon died.

After all the islanders were gone, the state of Maine destroyed the remaining houses. All the graves were dug up and removed to zinc-lined caskets, five in all, beside the Pownal asylum.

By the way … no tourist business was ever begun on that island.