MONTGOMERY COUNTY AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY

Josiah Henson & Uncle Tom's Cabin
Speaker: Judith Christensen

Archaeology of the Josiah Henson Site
Speaker: Don Housley
Josiah Henson, whose autobiography inspired the novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, lived in Bethesda as a slave in the first part of the 19th century.  This PowerPoint presentation explains how archaeological and historical investigation work together to enrich the interpretation of this famous site.  Research at the site is on-going and this presentation will be updated regularly as new information is unearthed. For more information about the Josiah Henson archaeology project visit www.josiahhensonsite.org.  

The Man in the Knit Cap: Yarrow Mamout
Speaker: James Johnston
Yarrow Mamout was a well-known ex-slave who lived in Georgetown. Jim Johnston was captivated by the 1822 painting of Yarrow at the Georgetown library and describes the three years he spent uncovering the history of the man and why two artists, Charles Willson Peale and James Alexander Simpson, did portraits of him. The Peale painting has been called "the most sensitive" early portrait of an African American.

Stories from Rockville’s Underground Railroad
Speaker: Maude McGovern
Find out about the young Ann Maria Weems who escaped slavery in Rockville dressed as a coachman and whose story vividly illustrates the twists and turns of ongoing research on the Underground Railroad.  Learn about two sisters from a prominent Rockville family who exemplify the differences between slaveholders. Hear about Josiah Henson (the model for the title character of Uncle Tom’s Cabin) who risked all for freedom. 

Message or Myth: Quilts and the Underground Railroad
Speaker: Susan Soderberg
Recently a theory that quilts were used as signals on the Underground Railroad has spread like wildfire to become widely held as historical fact. Kate Clifford Larson, author of the acclaimed autobiography of Harriet Tubman, Bound for the Promised Land says about this theory that "The difficult stories of slavery and resistance somehow are softened by the images of pretty quilts, but by focusing on those pretty quilt designs we are once again obscuring the truth." This presentation will go into the history of quilting in America and the history of the Underground Railroad and has a surprise ending with an entirely new theory.

The Underground Railroad: Local History
Speaker: Susan Soderberg