In partnership with the Maine Memory Network Maine Memory Network

Maine History Online

Maine History Online

A Maine Historical Society Website

Header Graphic

Twenty Nationalities, But All Americans

Americanization class, Boys Club, Portland, 1923

Americanization class, Boys Club, Portland, 1923

Item 122 info
Maine Historical Society/MaineToday Media

The first Junior Americanization class, shown here, was held in the library of the Portland Boys' Club.

Students came from Isabella Garvin, North, Staples, and Woolson schools, all located in the eastern or central parts of the Portland peninsula where many immigrants settled.

The 19 students in the first class spent one to two hours in the Americanization class learning English before returning to their regular classroom.