Maine commemorating United States’ 250th anniversary through a diversity of perspectives

MAINE MORNING STAR • July 3, 2026

“Longer than the United States has been a country, Penobscot people have been dislocated from their homelands,” historian Tilly Laskey said. That is the understanding that a research project funded by the Maine Semiquincentennial Commission intends to unearth more fully by comparing Wabanaki and colonial perspectives in the region and restoring Wabanaki access to their ancestral territories. Among the 14 grants awarded by the Maine Semiquincentennial Commission are projects to examine how natural resources have shaped life in Maine.