Eighty-seven years to the day James Weldon Johnson died in a car-train crash at the Main Street, Wiscasset railroad crossing, gatherants June 26 unveiled signs naming the crossing for the civil rights advocate, U.S. diplomat and "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" writer.

Helping unveil the signs on north and southbound Route One on the Wiscasset side of Donald E. Davey Bridge, State Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D — Cumberland, noted another way this was a full circle moment. In the 1970s, her father, then-legislator Gerald Talbot, and, years later, Native American leaders, each got Maine to bar offensive place names, she recalled. And Ross, who submitted the bill to name the crossing for Johnson, said, "Now, today (with this) beautiful testimony to the life and legacy of James Weldon Johnson ... we are adding to the place names that Mainers will be able to look to with pride."

Speaking feet from traffic and the tracks, Ross added: "This is a tragic place of James Weldon Johnson's death. But we're honoring his life with these signs," and honoring his widow Grace, who survived the 1938 crash, and his brother Rosamond, who put to music Johnson's words in "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing."

Attending via Zoom on a phone held by Wiscasset Appearance of the Town Committee Chair and former selectman Terry Heller, retired Florida lawmaker Tony Hill recounted his first trip to Maine years ago to see about having something in Wiscasset to memorialize Johnson just as Jacksonville was going to honor Johnson's birthplace. (A park has since opened in Jacksonville.)

He said he told his wife he was going to Maine, and she asked who the heck he knew in Maine. "I said 'I don't know. But I'm going to there.'"

March 5, selectmen agreed 4-1 to send a letter informing the Maine legislature's transportation committee the board supported the crossing's proposed naming. Residents' comments ranged from support to opposition based on safety concerns with the signs' location or the fact a James Weldon Johnson memorial bench is already in town, on Wiscasset Common.

The bill became law and, June 17, Maine Department of Transportation informed Town Manager Dennis Simmons the signs were installed and covered to allow for an unveiling. In a night email June 25, Heller told Wiscasset Newspaper, Simmons, Ross, Hill, Jones and Edwards the commemoration the next day would be informal. "It was only last week when we chose tomorrow for this occasion—necessitating a more informal gathering. It seemed the most appropriate date because June 26 was the day of the accident. Someone may want to plan a more formal ceremony at a later date. We might want to consider a tradition for having a small wreath or a few flowers at the sign on this date annually."

Heller made Thursday's wreath with dogwood and roses she grew at home in Wiscasset village and a mustang grapevine grown at her great aunt's Cedar Park, Texas property. Heller, born and raised in Texas, brought the vine with her when she moved to Wiscasset a decade and a half ago.

Hill told Thursday's attendees, "Words are inadequate ... to say what the community of Wiscasset is doing on behalf of Mr. Johnson." He said Johnson's family has early ties to the Bahamas, and he is working to get leaders there to come to Maine "and see the sign."

"You met the right people in Terry, and in Heather (Jones, then-selectman)," Ross told him. Then laughing she said, "'Cause they would not let go! Oh, no, no."

Johnson's great niece Melanie Edwards, via Zoom, told the gathering she was very pleased Maine has chosen to acknowledge Johnson and his work. "He wasn't fighting just for black people. He was fighting for everybody — people who were poor, people who couldn't read or write very well (and) people who were graduates from Yale. He wanted America to be better, and that's where he put his energy."

Plans call for the memorial bench to be moved downtown somewhere near the signage. Jones built the bench, which for now is still on the common. Simmons told Wiscasset Newspaper June 26, he will get together with Red's Eats' Debbie Gagnon "and find a place that's not going to interfere too much with what they're doing, and (when) public works actually has time to move it down there."

At the signs' unveiling, Ross told Jones they all are indebted to her for creating that bench. Jones said she just felt fortunate to be part of the efforts honoring Johnson. In a pre-ceremony interview, Jones said people driving past the signs will want to find out about Johnson, so that, too, continues Johnson's legacy.

Sonya Donaldson, assistant professor of African-American studies at Colby College, came from the Waterville campus for the signs' unveiling. Next spring at Colby, she will teach a course called "Black Maine." James Weldon Johnson will be a central part, and students will come to Wiscasset, so she really appreciated being a part of "this celebration and reclamation of African-American history in Maine," she said.  "As much as possible, if we can honor and re-center those histories and those stories, it's a beautiful way, I think, to see a way to a different future."