Events: Alex Champion's Weeks 9-10

Despite Annapolis' small size, and the proximity of cultural and economic centers like Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, there are plenty of amusements and edifying activities if one seeks them out.

Four Rivers Run Deep

Authorized by an act of the Maryland legislature in 1996, the Maryland Heritage Areas Program fosters tourism and education through eleven certified heritage groups. The Four Rivers Heritage Area group refers to the brackish "rivers" of southern Anne Arundel County that feed into Chesapeake Bay. On October 25th the FRHA held a showcase of area heritage programs and institutions such as historical societies, museums, sailing clubs, and archives. 

It was appropriate that the showcase was held in the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, a repurposed school, since the program specifically targeted teachers.  The Legacy of Slavery in Maryland project and the Maryland State Archives' Office of Interpretation teamed up for a table and handled the day with two shifts. I arrived at 3:30 and was immediately struck by Maryland Hall's similarity to Little Theatre of Owatonna and the Owatonna Arts Center in my home town; like Maryland Hall, Little Theatre and the Arts Center reside in repurposed institutional facilities in a part of Owatonna known as West Hills. Maryland Hall has the happy distinction of simply being a former public school whereas West Hills was a former orphanage with dorms, farm fields, a school (the theatre) and a church (the arts center). Since my father was active in Little Theatre and West Hills is presently the administrative center of town, I visited the area quite often. 

At 4 o'clock  I took over for David Armenti, the stellar education coordinator for LOSIM. Maria Day, the deputy special collections archivist (who nicely drove me there) replaced Alex "Sasha" Lourie, curator of the Commission on Artistic Property. Sasha's preference for the traditional Russian nickname for "Alexander" delights me since I studied Russia extensively in school. But I digress...




 Barney, a Democratic Republican, received an officer's
commission in Federalist Maryland

There were only a handful of visitors to the booth during David and Sasha's time but this was compensated for during my shift. After 4 o'clock, school was already out and teachers completed...whatever it is teachers do when school ends but before they go home...and they descended upon our booth. Maria, who conducts tours in period dress and character on the weekends, succinctly spoke about the Maryland State Archives presence and services in the various historic and governmental sites in Anne Arundel County. The highlight of her spiel was a scaled down sample of an in-progress mural by Frederic painter Richard Schlecht. It depicts William Bedford Barney atop the Annapolis State House rotunda as he spied the distant British fleet with his "excellent glass" as they sailed north to Baltimore, thereby sparing Annapolis; their action initiated the battle that Francis Scott Key witnessed and inspired him to write The Star-Spangled Banner. I casually suggested that the Office of Interpretation should consider, if they had not already, selling the prints at the mural unveiling party to raise additional funds. Maria agreed and said she would share my idea with them just in case.

For my part I gave away much of the same material that I did for the Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival: The standard LOSIM book, pamphlet, and Friends of the Maryland State Archives reader. What was different this time was a CD containing samples of slave runaway ads and primary document analyses forms compiled by a collaboration between the Maryland State Archives and the Maryland Historical Society. It was exciting to engage with teachers even though my voice grew hoarse from repeating lines such as these: "This [CD] is just a sampling of some of the information we have on our website...", "the website address is located at the bottom back of this pamphlet...", "yes, you can have the CD", and "using our website in class or for resources in class will help you meet the CommonCore Standard for social studies."

 

“So I say, ‘What’s Juneteenth got to do with it?’”

 

 Matthew Cole - The Capital

November 1, 2012 marked the 148th anniversary of the MarylandConstitution of 1864's adoption. Five employees of the Maryland State Archives attended the commemoration of its adoption at the Banneker-Douglass Museum in the Historic Downtown Annapolis. The document was only in force for three years but the circumstances of its creation reflect the place of slavery in Maryland during the Civil War. In a contentious two decades in the middle 19th century, Maryland adopted new constitutions in 1851, 1864, and 1867. The 1864 Constitution, a heavily partisan document that disenfranchised Marylanders fleeing to the Confederacy, is primarily famous for creating the position of Lieutenant Governor. In those humorous twists of history that make their way into the public consciousness, this position was abolished in 1867 and reinstated via an amendment in 1971. 

Matthew Cole - The Capital

The secondary reason the Constitution of 1864 is remembered is the emancipation of slavery. Since Maryland did not secede, it was unaffected by the Emancipation Proclamation. Since Maryland was not above the sectional conflicts that built up to the Civil War, the Constitution of 1851 included new provisions barring the state from passing interfering between slaves and their owners. Until 1851, owners could not legally manumit slaves passed 45 years old because--their best years behind them--the slaves would be burdens on the community.

David Sommerville portraying a USCT
soldier writing to his family:
Matthew Cole - The Capital 

Juneteenth? Juneteenth!
Matthew Cole - The Capital

The Mayor of Annapolis, Joshua Cohen, a city councilman, a representative of Governor Martin O'Malley's office, Chris Haley, and Janice Hayes-Williams spoke at the commemoration. Chris Haley burrowed into the language of the Constitution, the history of its development, and its legacy. Hayes-Williams spoke passionately about the uniqueness of Maryland's emancipation in the traditional narrative that celebrates the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, or worse yet, Juneteenth. Hayes-Williams leads the city commission responsible for organizing the sesquicentennial celebration of emancipation in 2014  and is pushing the state government toofficially recognize the day; this partly explains why an anniversary that doesn't end in "0" or "5" is given so much attention.In her impassioned defense of November 1st she defied historical narrative with rhetoric: “So I say, ‘What’s Juneteenth got todo with it?’” Although June 19th, 1865 marks an important time in the history of Texas and for--it would not be a stretch--the rest of the old Confederacy, is has no foundation within Maryland; this state abolished slavery by law, not the point of a gun, nearly eight months earlier.