Visit to Maryland Historical Society

This is the former home of Enoch Pratt and site of MdHS since 1919. In 1882, Enoch Pratt donated more than $1 million to found a Baltimore City public library system that would be open to everyone, regardless of class, race, or color.

Lion keeping watch outside of MdHS

On September 13, I joined the Legacy of Slavery team members for a meeting with staff at the Maryland Historical Society (MdHS) in Baltimore. MdHS is partnering with MSA on a U.S. Department of Education funded grant to document the Underground Railroad in five counties of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. 

After a productive meeting, we were given a tour of MdHS’ major exhibition, “Divided Voices: Maryland in the Civil War.” For me, a highlight of the exhibition was a newly acquired, beautiful flag of the U.S. Colored Troops, 4th Regiment. Donated by the “Colored Ladies of Baltimore,” it is extremely rare for a silk flag to survive for so long in such great condition. The flag was rescued by a member of the troop, Christian Fleetwood, after both members of the color guard were killed. His courageous actions won him the Congressional Medal of Honor, making him the first African American from Maryland to receive this award. The Library of Congress holds Christian Fleetwood’s papers including his diary, which describes his actions on that day. 

Maryland State Colonization Society: A Very Brief History

One of my main projects will be working with the recently digitized records of the Maryland State Colonization Society. I’ll be creating case studies and writing biographies in order to inform researchers and other members of public about the rich information within the records. Here’s a very general overview of the society’s purpose and history.

The Maryland State Colonization Society (MSCS) was founded in 1817 as an auxiliary of the national American Colonization Society (ACS) with the goal of raising money for the parent organization. After ACS founded Liberia in 1822, MSCS was also tasked with recruiting free African American colonists for settlement. After Nat Turner’s 1831 Rebellion, MSCS was reorganized and funded by the Maryland General Assembly. According to the Guide to the Microfilm Edition of Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society, Nat Turner’s actions led to increased restrictions on slaves and free blacks throughout the slave states. The Maryland General Assembly hoped that MSCS would help remove free blacks from the state and prevent the eruption of a rebellion similar to Nat Turner’s. The state also passed new laws prohibiting manumitted slaves from remaining in Maryland or for free blacks to settle in the state. In 1833, Maryland decided to found its own colony in Liberia at Cape Palmas. With funding from the Maryland General Assembly, MSCS agents canvassed the state to recruit colonists. Often, following in their footsteps were blacks and white abolitionists who dissuaded freedpeople from emigrating. Instead, they encouraged freed people to fight for equal rights in their native United States. In the end, only approximately 1,150 free blacks settled in the Maryland colony by the time that MSCS sent out its last expedition in 1861.¹

Liberia became an independent nation in 1847, and the Maryland in Liberia colony was annexed to the new nation as Maryland County in 1857. MSCS ceased operations in 1863, leaving the organization’s papers in the care of Dr. James Hall, the Society’s General Agent, business manager, and editor of the Maryland Colonization Journal. In 1877, Hall donated the records to the Maryland Historical Society. The papers were microfilmed in 1970 and digitized in 2011.

1. Hall, Richard. L. On Afric’s Shore: A History of Maryland in Liberia, 1834-1857. (Baltimore, Md.: Maryland Historical Society, 2003), 346.

First Week

Last week was my first week at the Maryland State Archives (MSA) in Annapolis. I was warmly welcomed by Emily Oland Squires, Director of Research and Student Outreach, Chris Haley, Director of Research for the Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland, Dr. Edward Papenfuse, the Maryland State Archivist, and the entire staff at the Maryland State Archives. 

I spent most of my first week familiarizing myself with the Legacy of Slavery and MSA websites. I also began training with different staff members throughout the Archives. First off were sessions on how to conduct research using Maryland vital records and the United States census. I have many opportunities to practice what I learn, including going into the stacks to look up 100 year-old birth and death records in huge bound registers. Finding information on a particular person often involves looking through an index on one floor and then going to another floor to find the actual birth record or death certificate. Many records may also be available on microfilm or electronically.

After about a month of training, I’ll start working on projects centered on the Legacy of Slavery, particularly on the records of the Maryland State Colonization Society. I'll discuss the Maryland State Colonization Society and the Legacy of Slavery Project in greater depth in future posts.