Maryland destinations evoke state’s African-American heritage

Commemorative events honor Tubman legacy
along Underground Railroad Byway

BALTIMORE (March 7, 2013) – Maryland's African-American heritage – dating back to colonial days – resonates with the names of notable Marylanders who achieved distinction in a wide range of endeavors.

The names include: Henry Blair (1807-1860, inventor), Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806, scientist), Frederick Douglass (1818-1895, orator), Matthew Henson (1866-1955, explorer) and Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993, Supreme Court justice). Add in these 20th-century baseball players and musical performers: Leon Day and Judy Johnson, and Eubie Blake, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday and Chick Webb.

At the top of any list of notable African-American Marylanders, says the Maryland Office of Tourism, is Harriet Tubman (c.1820-1913), an enslaved Eastern Shore native who became the legendary conductor of the Underground Railroad – a clandestine route to freedom for those enslaved in the area – during the mid-19th-century years leading up to the Civil War.

March 10 marks the centennial anniversary of Tubman's passing. To commemorate that milestone and the Tubman legacy, March 8-10 is the first of several Tubman tribute weekends during the year along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. The Maryland segment of the byway – a 125-mile corridor that goes through Caroline and Dorchester counties – traces the area where Tubman lived and worked, and the secret locations along the Underground Railroad.

The March weekend features the opening of an art exhibition, a banquet and a tribute concert – all tied to the celebration of Tubman's life. Subsequent weekends include the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Conference, May 31-June 1, and the Tubman Centennial Fall Weekend, Oct. 5-6.

“The Tubman Byway offers a collection of destinations across the Eastern Shore region where travelers can experience Maryland's rich heritage of African-American culture and history,” says Margot Amelia, executive director of the state tourism office. “The byway also has attractions with special appeal for travelers who enjoy the outdoors – Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, for instance.”

Sometimes called “the Everglades of Maryland,” Blackwater is just south of Cambridge. The refuge – a haven for migratory waterfowl along the Atlantic Flyway – has more than 25,000 acres of tidal wetlands. A nearly two-mile Tubman Road Trail is one of four hiking trails on the property. And, on Saturday afternoon, March 9, Underground Railroad historian Tony Cohen leads a one-mile walk during Blackwater's annual Eagle Festival. “Blackwater is an integral landscape in the Tubman story,” Amelia says.

Nearby is Bucktown Village Store, where Tubman – in her first-known act of public defiance – refused to help capture a runaway slave. Tours of Tubman-related locations can start from here. The store is also headquarters for Blackwater Paddle and Pedal Adventures , a local family-owned tour operator that rents canoes, kayaks and bicycles.

Here is a sampling of other places listed by region where visitors can experience Maryland's African-American heritage while exploring the state.

Western Maryland

• Antietam National Battlefield, located in Sharpsburg (Washington County), is the site of the 1862 Civil War conflict that became the single bloodiest one-day battle on American soil. Following 12 hours of intense fighting, 23,000 Union and Confederate troops were killed, wounded or missing. The epic battle prompted President Lincoln to issue a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, five days after the fighting.

• The Kennedy Farmhouse in Sharpsburg was the staging location where abolitionist John Brown and his small army prepared for their raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in 1859 – an event often considered to have been the start of the Civil War. This restored National Historic Landmark is open for tours.

• Shawnee Indians, living in the forested hills around Oldtown along the Potomac River, offered refuge to runaway slaves from Maryland and Virginia during the early 1700s. Today, Shawnee Oldfield Village, near Cumberland (Allegany County), is a stop on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. It's located in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, a 184.5-mile linear park that stretches from Georgetown in Washington, D.C., into Western Maryland. 

Capital Region

• Dorsey Chapel (Glenn Dale) and Northampton Plantation Slave Quarters Archeological Site (Mitchellville) are both run by Prince George's County. Dorsey – the religious and social center of a rural African-American community for more than 70 years – was built in 1900 and restored in 1996. Visitors to Northampton can see the rebuilt foundations of two 19th-century slave quarters from the remains of a tobacco plantation.

• Josiah Henson Site, formerly called the “Riley Farm/Uncle Tom's Cabin,” is in Bethesda. Reverend Josiah Henson's 1849 autobiography was the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin . Henson lived and worked as a slave at Isaac Riley's farm from 1795 to 1830. He then managed to escape to Canada. 

• Sandy Spring Slave Museum & African Art Gallery in Sandy Spring is open for tours by appointment. Exhibits include a cross-section of a ship that transported slaves across the ocean, slave-era log cabin, arts pavilion and resource library.

Central Maryland

• Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum in Oella (Western Baltimore County) is the site of the Banneker family's farmstead dating back to the 17th century. Benjamin Banneker became prominent as a self-taught mathematician and astronomer. The 142-acre park, which has a permanent Banneker exhibition, is also a showcase for colonial history and environmental conservation. A number of trails are on the site, including the historic No. 9 Trolley Line Trail.

• Banneker-Douglass Museum, located in Annapolis, maintains the state's official collection of African-American history and culture. Named for Benjamin Banneker and Frederick Douglass, the museum hosts lectures, workshops and performances. On March 16, James Terrell and Josslyn Luckett discuss Music and the Spirit during a Third Saturday program. Terrell currently has an exhibition of more than 30 of his paintings at the museum, Race-Rhythm-Reflections: The Art of James Terrell.

• Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park, located on the water in Baltimore's Fells Point section, offers exhibitions, gallery talks, tours and hands-on learning programs. The park depicts the history of the African-American community during the 1800s, along with the maritime traditions of the region. Douglass, who had lived and worked on the local docks, was an abolitionist, orator and statesman. Myers was a founder of Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company – the first African-American owned and operated shipyard – and a national labor leader.

• Hampton National Historic Site, a National Park Service property in Baltimore County, was the location of the largest house in the country in 1790. The site incorporated an area half the size of present-day Baltimore. Indentured servants and slaves were a major part of the history of the estate, where the Ridgely family assembled a fortune through agriculture, manufacturing and commerce.

• National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, in Baltimore, is the nation's first African-American history wax muse
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