EXPLORE
July 2, 2012
Stories of one of the country's most contentious debates over slavery and westward expansion and the Underground Railroad filled the Bel Air library June 23. With more than 50 in attendance, Fergus Bordewich, author of "America's Great Debate," spoke about the about the epic story of the Compromise of 1850, bringing to life during his animated discussion the colorful characters like Daniel Webster and John Colhoon and their stances. Stories included those not found in history books about the longest debate in Congressional history - like the fights that broke out on the Senate floor; the extraordinary political strategies that were at work during this turbulent time in our history; and the untold heroes of the Underground Railroad.
NEWS
August 18, 2011
Harriet Tubman was one tough lady. She escaped slavery, fleeing an Eastern Shore plantation. She was a leader in the Underground Railroad, traveling at night under the North Star — probably along the Choptank River — hiding at safe houses along the path to freedom. During the Civil War, she saw duty as a spy, assisting Union forces that raided plantations and freed slaves along the Combahee River in South Carolina. Tubman played an outsized role in American history, a contribution that is recently (and belatedly)
NEWS
By Nicole Fuller, The Baltimore Sun | August 16, 2011
Harriet Tubman has long inspired a deep sense of pride among Marylanders, especially in the rural communities of the Eastern Shore, where the former slave was born and led dozens to freedom on the Underground Railroad. While her story is taught to schoolchildren across the country and a small storefront museum here pays homage to Tubman, descendants and historians have been waiting to see her memorialized in a grander fashion. The state announced Tuesday that it had secured enough money for a state park and visitor center bearing Tubman's name, cheering advocates for the long-planned project.
NEWS
By Chris Kaltenbach, The Baltimore Sun | April 2, 2011
Maia Woods had long wondered about the strange-looking house on Rolling Road in Rockdale, the one that sits off Liberty Road, boarded up and neglected. On Saturday, she found out about its years as a station on the Underground Railroad, how it's been moved twice in its 200-plus-year history by family members well aware of its historical importance, and how it was bought by a couple 30 years ago determined to see it preserved — even though it's been so contaminated by pesticides that no one will ever be able to live in it again.
NEWS
By Julie Bykowicz, The Baltimore Sun | March 28, 2011
John Hanson's spot in the U.S. Capitol is secure, but Harriet Tubman's chances of securing one are spotty. The General Assembly has been weighing whether to swap in Tubman, who helped slaves travel to freedom on the Underground Railroad, for Hanson, a Southern Maryland merchant and former president of the Continental Congress, in the National Statuary Hall Collection. Each state is allowed only two statues in the collection. Maryland has been represented since 1903 by Hanson and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence.
ENTERTAINMENT
By Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun | May 22, 2010
The history of a people, with all the grief, faith and determination that entails, can be heard in the simple strains of spirituals, one of the most enduring and endearing genres of American music. This week, stellar soprano Kathleen Battle will join the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Morgan State University Choir in the premiere of a spiritual-filled program she developed celebrating the Underground Railroad. No voice in recent times is more associated with this music than Battle's.