Prince George's African American Museum and Cultural Center

12/28/2021

We are thankful for the brilliant minds in our county showing the brilliance of Kwanzaa primciples. Day 3 of Kwanzaa is an excellent time to show how collective work transforms communities :)

On the third day of Kwanzaa, we celebrate Ujima ("collective work and responsibility").

Caleb Smith, a 16 year old high school sophomore in Prince George's County Public Schools recently made headlines for currently being the youngest licensed glider pilot in the United States.

But launching a glider is an effort that takes an entire crew. A tow pilot (or a winch operator) and wing runners are also necessary to get a glider into the air. They must all be on one accord and learn the Soaring Society of America 's standardized hand signals in order to communicate on the ground with background noise. Furthermore, flight instructors at Skyline Soaring Club, supportive family members, excellent STEM teachers, and positive friends were necessary to get Caleb to realize this accomplishment.

11/19/2021

In partnership with the Prince George's Lynching Memorial Project today we are hosting a free virtual webinar!

Join Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84314315014

This webinar is the final program in a series done for PGCPS, this webinar explores African American food traditions in Prince George's County and throughout the nation were means of resistance to racial terrorism. The presentation focuses on the agriculture of the enslaved—what they grew and raised to eat and how they prepared food and used plants for medicinal purposes.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84314315014

11/18/2021

Friday, November 19, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
In partnership with the Prince George's Lynching Memorial Project, This webinar is the final program in a series done for PGCPS, this webinar explores African American food traditions in Prince George's County and throughout the nation were means of resistance to racial terrorism. The presentation focuses on the agriculture of the enslaved—what they grew and raised to eat and how they prepared food and used plants for medicinal purposes.

11/12/2021

Our virtual webinar is starting now!

Join here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89301960332

11/12/2021

We are honored by veterans from Prince George's County who served with distinction and helped African Americans gain freedoms. One example we remember is Thomas Boyne, a Buffalo Soldier who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1882.

Boyne was born in Prince George’s County, Maryland and he later served as a sergeant in Company C of the 9th Calvary Regiment in New Mexico during the Indian Wars.

11/03/2021

It is important to understand the ways in which African American elders fought to ensure that the freedoms they gained were not removed. We are glad for the work done in Maryland to keep these stories in focus and the work done at UMD is beyond timely. Please consider investigating the Freedmen and Southern Society Project in order to hear the words of freedom fighters in African American history!

The Freedmen and Southern Society Project is producing a documentary history of emancipation during the American Civil War and Presidential Reconstruction, 1861-1867

11/03/2021

We are grateful for the work of African Americans who ensured emancipation happened on November 1, 1864, in Maryland. Maryland Emancipation Day will always be important because it shows the strength of African Americans who pushed for their freedoms despite delays by slaveholders/government leaders. African Americans witnessed President Abraham Lincoln declare the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. They also grieved at how the Emancipation Proclamation did not free slaves in Maryland since it applied only to Confederate states instead of Union border states (similar to Kentucky, Missouri, and Delaware).

Maryland adopted a new constitution that abolished slavery on November 1, 1864. However, African Americans still had to strategize on finding ways to ensure emancipation was not sabotaged in the following days afterward. We must know the strategies that African Americans used to keep freedoms from being subverted. We are excited to offer resources that deal with this.

One of the best resources on the strategies for sustaining freedoms after emancipation is "Freedom: A Documentary Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867" ( https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Documentary-History-Emancipation-1861-1867/dp/0807831476/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Freedom%3A+A+Documentary+History+of+Emancipation%2C+1861-1867&qid=1635895355&s=books&sr=1-1 ). This work deals specifically with the transition from slavery to free labor during the turbulent first months after the Civil War. The reader will discover letters, testimony by African Americans, and the sentiments of former slaveholders alongside Freedmen's Bureau agents.



Maryland

10/30/2021

is near and it is always a good time to learn Black history. Many are not aware that African Americans faced numerous accusations of witchcraft, both in Maryland and the other New England colonies, because their knowledge of herbalism and African traditions challenged European stereotypes.

Did you know the first woman accused in the Salem Witch Trials was a Black Indian Slave woman from the Caribbean named Tituba? As a child of the Arawak tribe in South America who was later captured by slavers and sold to Samuel Parris in Barbados before being taken to Boston in 1680, She ended up having to use the accusations against her to save her life by appearing powerful.

Mary Black was another enslaved African American who was accused of witchcraft. She belonged to the household of Nathaniel Putnam of the Putnam family and she was accused of witchcraft after trying to do sabotage her enslavers.

Judge Samuel Sewall later admitted the Salem Witch Trials were a sham. Sewall (known for his involvement in the Salem witch trials) admitted this when he published “The Selling of Joseph" as the first anti-slavery pamphlet published in New England. Many others like him in New England noted directly that it was resisting slavery that resulted in accusations of being 'pagan' and African Americans were not silent on the experiences.

We encourage others to examine the following resources for further historical reference:

-"An Exploration of Accused Slaves during the Salem Witchcraft" (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c864/779e9df41a972c0c8c51fa0d974355c43073.pdf )

-"Slaves, Witches and Colonists" ( https://www.slideshare.net/pderienzo/slaves-witches-and-colonists )

-"Witchcraft Beliefs as a Cultural Legacy of the Atlantic Slave (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5309/95ee897d1cf87e0ea39f6493d9a79664b1e4.pdf )

-"African American Persecution and Salem witch trials Comparis" ( https://prezi.com/__w_x9x60t0w/african-american-persecution-and-salem-witch-trials-comparis/ )

-Salem Trials - Face2Africa ( https://face2faceafrica.com/article/known-as-the-black-witches-of-salem-these-women-caused-massive-hysteria-in-a-u-s-town-in-the-1690s ).

-"Tituba of Salem: The Racial, Gendered, and Encultured Dimensions of a Confessed Witch" ( https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/69451/curleyspring2014.pdf?sequence=2 )

-"Purloined Identity: The Racial Metamorphosis of
Tituba of Salem Village - Grand Valley State University" ( https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=aaa_articles )

-"Between the Devil and the Inquisition:
African Slaves and the Witchcraft Trials in Cartagena de Indies" (https://www.princeton.edu/~jweisenf/northstar/volume8/white.pdf )

10/26/2021

Register here today! https://rootedinjusticeracialjustice.eventbrite.com

On October 28th, The Prince George's African American Museum and Cultural Center will moderate a free webinar on September 23rd that is available to PGCPS High School teachers and students.
This webinar will be the second in a series of free webinars that will extend from September to November. In honor of National Family History Month. The Prince George’s County Lynching Memorial Project will partner with the Prince George’s African American Museum and Cultural Center to host a webinar with Sheri Mehta of Freedom Fighters, Freedom Writers.

Register here today! https://rootedinjusticeracialjustice.eventbrite.com

This webinar will be a 1-hour interactive workshop where participants have a chance to work in small groups to read, analyze, and discuss the lives and letters of Black soldiers who fought during the Civil War while learning more about the formation of the United States Colored Troops and how Black men were able to participate in the war as soldiers and lead the Union to an ultimate victory.
Her research focus is on letters from African American soldiers who served in the Civil War. This research delves into the nascent black nationalist identity that catalyzed black enlistment in the USCT. She most recently transcribed twenty-one letters written by Pvt. Alonzo Reed, a soldier in the 102nd USCT. Her transcription work is housed alongside Pvt. Reed’s handwritten letters at Duke University’s David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
As the third great-granddaughter of Pvt. Jefferson Michie, who escaped enslavement from a Louisa, Virginia plantation in 1863 to join the 29th Illinois Colored Infantry. Interested in the merging of genealogical and archival information to more deeply understand the lives of black Civil War servicemen before and after the war.

Register here today! https://rootedinjusticeracialjustice.eventbrite.com

10/22/2021

Happy Friday!

We are going live with out vitual webinar today!

Join our discussion! https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89639698619

The Prince George's African American Museum and Cultural Center will discuss with Rhoda Green of Barbados and the Carolinas Foundation. Rhoda Green is the President of Barbados and the Carolinas Legacy Foundation. The Barbados and Carolinas Legacy Foundation was incorporated on June 18th, 2012 to facilitate business, education, a historical and cultural collaboration between Barbados and the Carolinas. This webinar program will discuss the history of Barbados and its connection to Maryland and the ways that the Bajan influence can be felt throughout the U.S. Maryland received multiple enslaved Africans from Barbados and was influenced significantly by the laws set up by European settlers in Barbados. Cultivators of to***co in Barbados were regarded highly by the prospective settlers, and the expanding Barbadian population during the early 1630s in Maryland has influenced Prince George’s County for centuries.

Join our discussion! https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89639698619