St. Mary’s City, MD – On June 15, 2017, 7:00 p.m., join Historic St. Mary’s City for their Juneteenth lecture titled, All of Us Would Walk Together: A Lecture on Slavery and Freedom in the 19th Century at St. Mary’s City. By the Civil War, the area that was once the first capital of Maryland was home to almost 60 enslaved African Americans. With names like Biscoe, Butler, Whalen, and Gough, these families worked the fields of John Mackall Brome, one of the largest producers of wheat and tobacco in Maryland’s First District, and lived on the property in a row of slave houses on the plantation. After Emancipation, a number of these buildings remained occupied, while other former slaves went elsewhere to investigate their newfound freedom. One of those buildings, a duplex quarter, was occupied by an African-American family until the 1960’s and is currently undergoing preservation and interpretive efforts to tell the story of its inhabitants.
This lecture by Terry P. Brock, now Senior Research Archaeologist at the Montpelier Foundation, will present some of the results of his dissertation work, completed at Michigan State University, and will examine the lives of those who lived and worked on the plantation before, during, and after Emancipation.
Those interested in learning more about the quarter may also visit the digital exhibit (http://stmaryscity.org/walktogether) and social media (@walktogethr on Twitter).
The evening lecture is free and open to the public, and will be held at the Visitor Center Auditorium, 18559 Hogaboom Drive, St. Mary’s City, MD 20686.
Historic St. Mary’s City is a museum of living history and archaeology on the site of Maryland’s first capital in beautiful, Tidewater Southern Maryland. For more information about the museum contact the Visitor Center at 240-895-4990, 800-SMC-1634, or info@hsmcdigshistory.org.