A History of African American Newspapers in New England: Maine

By Kenneth J. Cooper



The state has had one black newspaper, The Bridge, largely the product of a single individual, Leonard Cummings of Portland. The free monthly circulated from 1994 to 2003, but in late 2006, Cummings, a retired telephone company manager, was preparing to resume publication and planning to increase its frequency to bi-weekly.1



The Bridge started as a newsletter, but started to publish on newsprint in 1999 or 2000, said Cummings, a native Mainer. A few thousand copies were distributed for free. It did not have a presence on the Web. The paper was intended to serve the small populations of African Americans and other racial-ethnic minorities in the state. 



“It needed some kind of tie from the white community to the black community and other minority communities,” Cummings explained. “Our intent was to provide information to all people, but it was more sensitive to our needs, the needs of black people.”



Cummings wrote columns on books, health and cooking. News stories came from the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, and a New Jersey freelancer contributed articles.



In the 1970s, Cummings was also involved in a newsletter that the Maine Association for Black Progress published every other month for a few years.