6th October 1841: Maine’s First Coloured Convention

The city of Portland in the US state of Maine held its first Coloured Convention on 6th October 1841.

Between 1830 and the 1890s, over 200 state and national Coloured Conventions were held throughout the United States. The Coloured Conventions Project defines these events as ‘political gatherings [that] offered opportunities for free-born and formerly enslaved African Americans to organise and strategise for racial justice.’

The first Coloured Convention was held in 1830 following Ohio’s 1829 exclusionary laws and a wave of anti-Black mob violence that had forced 2,000 Black residents to flee the state.

The 1841 Maine convention discussed civil rights, education and economic opportunities for Black people. Participants also emphasised establishing schools and better access to education to uplift Black people. In addition to this, the convention called for ways to develop Black economic independence through trade and vocational skills.

These conventions, held decades before Marcus Garvey built the Universal Negro Improvement Association that tied together Africans across the world and over a century before the Civil Rights Movement, helped develop the collective Black consciousness in the direction of sovereignty and self-determination.

Nearly two centuries later, and despite the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Black people in the US remain disenfranchised and continue holding the same conversations on how to obtain social justice and economic empowerment.

NOTE: Although Theo R Davis’ sketch depicts the 1869 National Coloured Convention in Washington, the Zinn Education Project considers it illustrative of the state conventions.

African Stream