About Gerald E. Talbot

The Gerald E. Talbot Community School is named after one Portland's most cherished and respected community leaders. Mr. Talbot is an educator, author, historian, military veteran, civil and human rights activist, founding president of the Portland branch of the NAACP and is the first Black American to be elected to Maine’s Legislature and to chair the Maine State Board of Education. 

Among his accomplishments were the successful passage of the Maine Fair Housing Bill and the Maine Human Rights Act and the establishment of the Maine Human Rights Commission. Mr. Talbot used his position to fight for equal rights and social justice issues. Naming our school in honor of Mr. Talbot encourages generations of students to not only pursue education throughout their lives, but to get involved in their communities and make a positive difference in the lives of others.