Boyds Negro School

By: Corey Watkins
HS 129, Summer 1 2009

This time I chose to go and check out the Boyds Negro School. It is located in Boyds, Maryland. I chose this site because I have driven past it before and was curious to learn more about it since it is so close to where I live. I then searched it on the web and found a web site for the location. It is located off of White Ground Road, a back road located at the end of Clopper Road in Boyds. I visited this site on June 14th 2009.

The school is a one-room 22 x 30 foot wooden building, heated by a wood stove. This school served as the only public school for African Americans in the Boyds area from 1895-1936. The schoolhouse served students in grades 1-8, many of whom walked for miles to attend classes at the school. The school was purchased in 1980 by BHS (Boyds Historical Society), the school was then restored to its original condition in approximately 1900.
Boyds Historical Society was organized in 1975 (as the Boyds/Clarksburg Historical Society). Their membership consists of local residents who share an interest in preserving the community's history. The Boyds Historical Society has done many things for the Boyds Community today which makes it very important for future generations to know to keep the BHS going. They have established an archive and museum facility for the community. They have preserved the Boyds Negro School as a Maryland Historic Site and they promote and encourage activities that educate, entertain, and develop community fellowship. They also provide space for community functions, events and festivals. This is just an overall great place for the community and is a great place to remember.


This site depicts where African Americans would have gone to school in the early 1900’s. It shows that they didn’t have the best facilities as it is a one room building that is not very big. They had an old outdoor restroom that was basically a hole in the ground that was in the middle of the woods. They used hand me down books from the white schools and didn’t have the best supplies. This site is important to see because you can see for yourself how African Americans were segregated and how they didn’t receive the best schools, books and basically everything. Just another thing to show you how African Americans did not deserve what they got. This shows future historians why the world should never be segregated again and that everyone deserves equal opportunities.
Works Cited:
Boyds Historical Society: http://www.boydshistory.org/

Dee's Beauty Supply and Salon

By: Alex Williams
HS 129, Summer 1 2009

The pictures attached are of Dee’s Beauty Supply and Salon. I believe this black business is a great depiction of African American life today as we continue to grow in current America. This black business is located in Germantown, Maryland and was founded by Dee Harris in 1992.

I chose to write about this business because I have known the owner, Dee Harris, since my family and I moved to Germantown in 1999. Ever since 1999 my family and I have been customers of Dee’s Beauty Supply and Salon. In its early existence Dee’s shop was not solely a beauty supply shop. For the first 9 years of its existence it was a movie rental store that also sold a small selection of beauty supplies. This movie rental business was somewhat successful but over the years competition began to impose on her proceeds.

When a new Blockbuster Video opened across the street from the Dee’s Shop it forced her to shift her efforts to her beauty supplies. This move proved to be a smart business choice as there were few other beauty supply areas to compete with. Although there were many commercial hair products on the market, Dee’s Beauty Supply and Salon, allows African Americans to locate products specifically created for their hair. It was not until Dee opened a salon within the shop that her business truly began to flourish. This provided a convenient place for my sisters as well as other local women to get their hair washed and styled. In 2007 Dee was able to expand her business by opening another beauty supply and salon shop in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Dee’s Beauty Supply and Salon not only shows how African Americans were able to make their way in today’s business world, but how they were able to improvise as well as adapt in order to survive. In many ways, it resembles our days as a people trying to survive in this country’s founding years.

A Weekend Gathering

By: Min Park
HS 129, Summer 1 2009

The last weekend of May, 2009, I visited one of my best friend’s work. We were planning a party for her mother’s birthday. That’s how I happened to take pictures of her coworkers and boss. This hotel that she works for is located in Greenbelt, Maryland. When I was deciding what to write about for the second blog assignment, I came up with these pictures. Since the assignment is supposed to show daily life of African American in these days, it perfectly fits to bring out pictures from my experience.


As this course is mainly about the history of African American, I am able to see how it has changed over times from the period of slavery and now where everyone is considered equal. Learning how poor condition of their lives held before and how they worked hard to stand where they are now is just beautiful and emotional. Unlike early 1800s now African Americans are gaining higher education. It is even amazing to see that not only they are educated, but they are in the position to educate people and become leaders of others.


These pictures prove that people are living in such a blended society and we feel comfortable working around anybody from any racial background and fully ready to accept the diversity with no problems. Every worker in this hotel has become friends to each other even though I know most of these people working in the hotel are from Poland, Russia, or Moldavia. I can tell that this is a perfect example of place that explains how we coexist.


After that day I met them in the birthday party of my friend’s mother. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures from the party but we had a great time together. This second piece is now completing the blog assignment, but I know that it is going to be opening more opportunity for future historian to study and research life of African American in 21st century. I am glad to work on this assignment and hoping that the world gets better for the future as we get a better understanding for each other.

Thurgood Marshall

By: Kris Lasko
HS 129, Summer 1 2009

In the mid 20th century while Malcolm X preached of “bloody overthrow” of the injustices toward black people, and while Martin Luther King Junior was staging non-violent civil rights protests, Thurgood Marshall was fighting in court to break the bonds of the racist Jim Crow Laws. [1] Thurgood Marshall was born on July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated at the top of his class from a historically black college called Lincoln University. Immediately after graduation he attended Howard University Law School, where he met his long time mentor named Charles Hamilton Houston. It was with this mentor that Thurgood Marshall sought to overturn the 1898 court case of Plessy v. Ferguson.[2]

I chose to post about Thurgood Marshall because he is a native of Maryland, and he has a local school named after him that is called Thurgood Marshall Elementary School. This school is in Gaithersburg, MD, and it’s located at 12260 McDonald Chapel Drive. Although I did not attend this school I do have many friends whom went there. One friend named Neal said that he remembers in one of his classes that he learned a little history about Thurgood Marshall. The picture of the school is from http://marshall.gpisd.org/.

Thurgood Marshall has other honors than just schools that are named after him. There is a Thurgood Marshall memorial located in Annapolis, Maryland. At this memorial there is a bronze bust of Thurgood Marshall. The picture is from this website: http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/stagser/s1259/123/friends/marshall_airport/html/Thurgood_Marshall_Tribute.html.

Thurgood Marshall is most well-known for his perseverance and victory as a lawyer in the Supreme Court case named Brown V. Board of Education held in 1951. This case led to the legal integration of school systems and denied that “separate, but equal” from Plessy V. Ferguson was indeed, not equal. Thurgood Marshall argued that the 14th amendment provided equal protection under the law, and that this includes African-Americans. After winning this landmark case, Thurgood Marshall helped to spark the civil rights movement.[3] Winning this case seems to deem naming a school after him a perfectly fitting honor.

Thurgood Marshall has done more than just one win landmark case. In his lifetime he has: been Chief Counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people, helped draft a constitution for the emerging nations of Ghana and Tanzania, served as a judge on the U.S Court of Appeals, and served as Justice on the United States Supreme Court.2

Future generations should remember the perseverance of Thurgood Marshall and how he never lost track of his goal to gain equal rights for African-Americans in the United States. African-Americans have the strongest sense of actualization of goals and historians should document this accordingly. African-Americans have come from slavery to centuries of protests and standing up for their rights and accepting nothing but success in gaining equal rights as people in the United States of America.


[1] Williams, Juan. "Introduction to the Book." Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary. 4 June 2009.
http://www.thurgoodmarshall.com/home.htm.
[2] "Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court Justice." Thurgood Marshall Biography. Thurgood Marshall College. 5 June 2009
http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/hill/marshall.htm.
[3] "About the Case." Brown vs. Board of Education. 11 Apr. 2004. Brown Foundation for Educational Equity. 5 June 2009
http://brownvboard.org/summary/.
2 "Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court Justice." Thurgood Marshall Biography. Thurgood Marshall College. 5 June 2009
http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/hill/marshall.htm.

Beall-Dawson House (2)

By: Alex Williams
HS 129, Summer 1 2009

The historic site that I visited was the Beall-Dawson House. The picture attached is of the Beall-Dawson mansion which was built in 1815 in Rockville, Maryland. As I learned upon my visit, this was the first mansion built in Montgomery County, Maryland. I visited the Beall-Dawson House on June 6th 2009.
For many years I have driven past this house but I never thought that it had this type of history in its past. When I looked up historic sites to visit in Montgomery County and I saw that this location on the list, I became very interested in visiting it and uncovering its past. Knowing that so much history about this country happened so close to where I live really sparked my interest, thus, I went to visit this site. What I found the most fascinating about the Beall-Dawson House was that it allowed me to experience the different lifestyles that slaves, white servants, and slave owners gave me a great appreciation of the hierarchy of the time period.

The Beall-Dawson House depicts a transformation of Montgomery County, Maryland both time-wise and through the expansion of the area. Montgomery County historian and author Maureen Altobello, describes the change as “a time when the affluence of the colonial era met with the resolve of the new federal era; when the rural, agricultural society of Montgomery County began to see the growth of newer and larger settlements” (Altobello, M., 2000). As I toured the house, the tour-guides were very helpful in highlighting the differences between the quality of living amongst the Beall family, white servants and slaves.

Upon my visit to the Beall-Dawson House, I learned that white people who were seen as lower class lived in the same home as the slaves. There were different entrances and exits for both the working class whites as well as the slaves. This was shown when the museum curator informed me that slaves used a ladder to climb through a trap door that leads to their living quarters while the white servants used a small stairway to get to theirs. The Beall’s obviously used the master stairwell. Slaves also had a separate doorway to enter and exit the house. The slave quarters as well as the white servant’s quarters were very small, with little to no furniture, and overall the Bealls owned about 25 slaves.

For those who look to visit the Beall-Dawson House in the future, this building can be used to display the changing attitudes towards slavery as an institution during the Civil War era. The Beall family who once owned about 25 slaves during the early 1800’s until the Civil War, adapted to the Civil War time period by freeing their slaves and appropriating land plots at the northern edge of the Beall property. The acquisition of property allowed blacks in the area to form a small community within the Rockville area located on Martin’s Lane.

Beall-Dawson House

By: Angie Powell
HS 129, Summer 1 2009

The Beall Dawson house located in Rockville, Maryland is a “restored 1815 Federal style home furnished in period.” (Historical Marker Database). As seen in the picture, it is a two and a half story home that exhibits the life of Upton Beall, his wife, three daughters, and their slaves. In the museum today, “the daily life and culture of the Bealls and their slaves are presented along with displays related to the War of 1812, architecture, the early history of Montgomery County, tobacco farming and medicine.” (Planetware Travel Guide).

Upton Beall built the house in 1815 (Montgomery Historical Society). Today it is located at 103 West Montgomery Avenue in Rockville, Maryland, which is where these pictures were taken. Two of the pictures show the restored Beall Dawson house that was built in 1815 and the other picture talks about the slavery in Rockville before emancipation was issued in Maryland on November 1, 1864 (Historic Rockville African American Heritage Walking Tour). I took these pictures of May 28, 2009 for the purpose of learning more about slave life in Maryland and also for this project.

To find this historical site, I did a lot of searching on Google and found many web sites that listed multiple historical sites close to the Rockville area. I decided on the Beall Dawson house not only because of the convenience of location but also because it appealed to my interests. I was interested to see that slaves were passed down from generation to generation in the Beall family. Also, the Beall slave population did not increase because of buying and selling but because of birth from slaves which made them born into ownership by the Bealls (Historic Rockville African American Heritage Walking Tour).

What astonished me is the fact that it looked like a normal house that people might live in today. Knowing that the house was built in 1815 and even if it was restored, the condition it is in today is fantastic and is very interesting since the architecture is not so different to some houses today. What also attracted me to this historical site was the knowledge that slaves and people lived in this exact house less than 200 years ago which in and of itself is very impressive and almost unimaginable.

Knowing that I was standing on the same ground that slaves walked on and that I was at a place that added dimensions to slave life in Maryland was exhilarating and unbelievable. Today, I couldn’t imagine seeing slaves being put to work or being punished, but when I was at the Beall Dawson house I realized the enormous change the United States took after the Civil War and the emancipation of all slaves in the U.S. I am grateful that the U.S. has made life how it is today so all of us wouldn’t have to find out what being a slave or owning slaves would feel like.

The relationship of African American history to the Beall Dawson house is the presence of slaves. Upton Beall, a wealthy landowner and Clerk of Montgomery County Court in 1815, built the house in 1815. He owned 25 slaves which were split to work on one of his three estates: the Beall Dawson house, one of Beall’s mills in Watts Branch, or Beall’s rural property in Beallmont. After Upton Beall’s death in 1827, the ownership of slaves transferred to his wife and three daughters. Under the ownership of Mrs. Beall and her daughters the slaves “worked the land, cooked, cleaned, tended kitchen gardens, canned, washed, ironed, and cared for livestock” (Historic Rockville African American Heritage Walking Tour). After their mother’s death, the three daughters inherited the estates and slaves which by 1853 that had 40 and by 1860 they had 52.

The Beall sisters never sold or bought any slaves except for John Henson of whom they sold to Josiah Henson, assumed to be John Henson’s brother, for $250. Josiah Henson was a famed fugitive slave who is known as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s prototype in her book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. His family was sold and in 1830 he escaped his master with his wife and four children where he then helped over a hundred slaves escape, including his brother John Henson (Josiah Henson: Biography from Answers.com).

The growth of slaves happened because of births within the slave population that the Bealls already owned. The majority of their slaves lived in quarters on the three estates, while some slaves were hired out to families in D.C. In 1862, the Beall sisters freed the 17 slaves who worked in D.C. and received “$9400 for them under a federal compensation program.” (Historic Rockville African American Heritage Walking Tour). The Beall sisters freed the rest of the slaves on November 1, 1864 when emancipation was declared in Maryland. After the freeing of their slaves, the Beall’s sold some of their land to the free slaves and other African American families. Not much is known about what the Beall slaves did after they were free but we can generalize that some went to work in their skilled practices while others went on to raise families because many of the Beall slaves weren’t treated harshly and were able to become skilled workers.

The Beall Dawson house is an interesting historical site that future generations should take time to visit. They will be able to gain knowledge about what slaves did in and around the Beall Dawson house. In the house, slaves were under closer supervision by the Beall sisters and therefore probably worked harder and were more stressed. House duties included cooking, cleaning, washing, and ironing. The slaves who worked outside worked the land, tended kitchen gardens, canned, and cared for livestock (Historic Rockville African American Heritage Walking Tour).

The museum portrays the lives of these slaves as always working but not intensely working as in other places like southern plantations. From what I read, it seems as if we can generalize that the slaves were still treated as inferior by the sisters and had to live above the kitchen or in small slave quarters on the field, but conditions on the Beall Dawson house and fields was nowhere near as harsh or cruel as in other places in the Deep South. Future generations will enjoy the knowledge incorporated within and around this house and may bring to them an understanding of how slave life was in Maryland.

While visiting this historical site may be interesting and knowledgeable, future generations should keep in mind that it may be haunted. The Beall-Dawson house is a pre-Civil War house that survived through the presence of General Jeb Stuart’s Confederate troops and the invasion of General George McClellan’s Union Army (HAUNTED MARYLAND).

Not much is known about the haunting activity around and in the Beall Dawson house but a ghostly apparition has been seen in the house. It could have been Upton Beall, his wife Jane Beall, one of their three daughters Jane, Mathilda, and Margaret, or one of the six to eight household slaves that lived in the main house (Paranormal Everything). Since the house has been declared haunted, I warn all people to beware of visiting the site at night and encourage them to visit during the day because although it may be haunted, it is a great experience that introduces people to slave live in this area. However, if you wish to be daring, the Beall Dawson House offers ghost tours every Halloween (HAUNTED MARYLAND).

Works Cited:

"African American Historic Sites in Montgomery County, Maryland." Google Maps. 28 May 2009.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&t=p&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100339795778997243718.00046464a13be8bc4de17.

"Beall-Dawson House, Rockville." PlanetWare Travel Guide - Hotels, Attractions, Pictures, Maps & More. 28 May 2009.

http://www.planetware.com/rockville/beall-dawson-house-us-md-bdh.htm.

Fuchs, Tom. "Beall-Dawson House and Park Marker." The Historical Marker Database. Ed. J. J. Prats. 5 Apr. 2006. 28 May 2009.

http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=224.

"HAUNTED MARYLAND." Haunted Traveler Home Page. 28 May 2009. http://www.hauntedtraveler.com/haunted_maryland.htm.

"Historic Rockville African American Heritage Walking Tour." Rockville, Maryland - Official Web Site. 28 May 2009.

http://www.rockvillemd.gov/historic/AAHwalkingtour.html#site7.

"Josiah Henson: Biography from Answers.com." Answers.com - Online Dictionary, Encyclopedia and much more. 16 June 2009.

http://www.answers.com/topic/josiah-henson.

Paranormal Everything - paranormall.org. 16 June 2009

http://ozziefudd.paranormall.org/haunts/incityof/369.

"Rockville Campus, Beall-Dawson Historic Park." Montgomery Historical Society. 28 May 2009.

http://www.montgomeryhistory.org/museum_beall_dawson

Sandy Spring Slave Museum: Slaver Cross-section

By Cory Watkins
HS 129, Summer 1 2009

I chose to go and check out the Sandy Spring Slave Museum & African Art Gallery, It is located in Sandy Spring, Maryland. I found this location on the list of sources on the blog assignment sheet. I chose this site over anything else because it was close to home and I was really interested to physically see a slaver ship. It is located off of Brook Road, a back road in Sandy Spring.

I visited this site on June 5th, 2009. There they had a replica slaver ship and a log cabin which slaves would have lived in. I chose to talk about the slaver ship in particular because I thought it was very interesting. It caught my eye and put into perspective what African Americans had to go through during the Middle Passage. Just reading the chapters in our textbook, African American Odyssey, does not really show you all that they went through, but actually going and seeing it really opened my eyes. The boat was a lot like the reading, just I couldn’t actually see it while reading, so it was a great experience to actually see it

I liked that they had an actual boat that you could walk up to and look inside. This was not an actual boat from that time but was created using information from that time period. It was not a full boat but, rather, part of the boat that the slaves were kept in. This slaver ship depicts where slaves would have been kept during their transportation from Africa on the boat during the Middle Passage. It was about three feet high and there were many people in close quarters. There were shackles everywhere, people bleeding, and just overall nasty conditions. The individuals inside had very little clothing and inside they had a bucket to eat from. The people who created this exhibit were definitely trying to show viewers the experience that African Americans had during the Middle Passage.


The dates associated with this slaver ship would be any dates where slaver ships were used. This slaver ship does not represent a particular boat but just the conditions aboard these slaver ships in general. So dates could range from 1451 to 1870.

This exhibit tells me a lot about African American History. For one, it tells me that African Americans went through way too much undeserved pain and suffering. It tells me that they treated African Americans like animals and not people. It tells me that people can be really mean and will do anything for money. I’m just glad that this era is over with and no one goes through this pain any longer.


I think this museum is very important for people to see. People need to realize that racism is so wrong and that people are just people. No one deserves to be held unwillingly unless they have broken a law. These African Americans never did anything do deserve the maltreatment they received. Everyone needs to see this exhibit because they need to see for themselves what these African Americans had to go through. I would tell future generations that they should visit this museum and to not forget about the past history because we would never want anything like this to ever happen again.


Works Cited: Sandy Spring Slave Museum website: http://www.sandyspringslavemuseum.org/

The Homes of Many: Sandy Spring Slave Museum, Slave Cabin

By Ashley Hungerford
HS 129, Summer 1 2009

As many know by now slaves had a hard life. For starters, many people were taken from their family and everything that they knew by people who they had never met before in their lives. Both slaves and freed slaves had to deal with the hurt from being belittled, segregated, and wanted only for work purposes by almost every white person just because of a system that people created, which in turn shaped what I believe to be unjustified beliefs. This sounds like a very painful experience both mentally and physically. I say mentally because they lost everything, I mean even their freedom. They also had to deal with culture shock: a state of bewilderment and distress experienced by people who are suddenly exposed to a new, strange, and foreign environment.

I say “physically” because after Africans or Indians were taken from their homes they were put on ships that they called slavers. These ships transported slaves around the world, to many different locations. The slaves, who actually made it off the ship without dying from disease, ended up being owned by other people, the way we own our animals today. Unfortunately, I am not done yet; their experiences did not get any better for a long time. The slaves ended up working all day long and sometimes right through the night depending on what kind of work they were told to do by their masters. (Fieldwork, housework, watching kids, cleaning, cooking, etc...) The slaves had bad living situations, too. they lived in these little shacks some with dirt floors, of course not much furniture at all, and sometimes not even a bed to sleep on.

I have just visited the Sandy Spring Slave Museum and Art Gallery, in Maryland! I chose this museum because it was fairly close to where I live, and when I looked the museum up, they were showing pictures of the cabin and the model of the slaver! I thought that the house was more interesting when I got there because it was a real house, one that has not been rebuilt just for show. Another interesting fact about the log cabin is that it has been in Maryland since it has been built.

It was not open because it opens by appointment only. You must call a week in advance and it is five dollars a person. This pays for the guided tour! I did not know this until after I went, so I did the best I could with taking pictures of a log cabin. The address of this museum is 18524 Brooke Road, Sandy Spring MD, 20860.

The wood on the log cabin was dated back to about 1850. This log cabin is what the Africans Americans both enslaved and freed would live in. Sometimes, families of ten to twelve people would live in this cabin all at once. You could imagine the struggles the slaves had to deal with. For example, they had to live in something that is no bigger than a full size master bathroom, living with ten to twelve others.

Not only did they have to deal with the discomfort of being right on top of everyone else all the time, everyone would probably smell bad. They would smell bad because of working all day in the fields and then coming home to a house full of people and no bathroom to take a shower in.

Inside the house, there was probably a cooking stove, one mat to sleep on, and dirt floors. So everyone that lived in the house back then probably washed themselves and everything else that needed to be washed (clothes, dishes, etc..) in a nearby creek or river. In 1992, this exact cabin was relocated from nearby Olney, Maryland, which is just west of Sandy Spring!

I chose these pictures because they show and are real life evidence of the hardships that African Americans have encountered. The pictures show that compared to today African American life has changed significantly. The pictures also help us to see how things gradually got better, very little things changed first for example, the places the African Americans lived. They gradually got better when the slaves in the north started being able to live on their own and work to pay for their freedom.

It is amazing to see real living situations of people that existed way before our time. These people have suffered things that are unimaginable to me. My heart goes out to the people that had to live this life. These slaves freed or not, lived in a shack that they probably had to build, and worked for people that were not giving them anything in return. They had no freedom and depending on where they were and on the time that they became enslaved, they might not have ever gotten it back. The pictures that you see here are history and proof of Africans struggles as slaves just over a century ago!

Slaves were here, standing on the same ground that we are standing on today. Imagine standing in the same place and going back two three and four hundred years. This cabin housed people in what is now Olney, Maryland. The slaves that would have lived in this exact log cabin were probably tobacco farmers because remember the Chesapeake colonies (Virginia, Maryland before it expanded) were big on tobacco. That was their main form of profit in the late 1850’s and that is about the time that the cabin was built.

Works Cited: http://www.sandyspringslavemuseum.org/

Northampton Plantation

By: Juanita Fisher
HS 129, Summer 1 2009

The Northampton Plantation is a self-guided archaeological site that is located in Northlake residential in Lake Arbor, MD, which is in Prince George’s County at a community park. I was fortunate to find this location doing an internet search. I chose this site because it is approximately 15 miles from where I reside and I had no idea of the history that was so close to where I live. I recently visited the location on May 30th with my family, who really enjoyed the history of seeing a slave quarter.

Excavation took place in the 18th century with artifacts, oral histories, and historical documents. The excavation continued from dwelling, while the foundation and partial walls of the brick quarters have been constructed three centuries later which I have taken pictures of. Many of the slaves remained in the Prince George’s county surrounding area.

The Northampton Plantation was a tobacco plantation that also produced other crops from the 1600s. The land was granted by Charles Calvert, Esq. the third to Thomas Sprigg. Thomas Sprigg and his family lived and owned slaves for 200 centuries . If you would visit this location as of today you would find the remains of the main plantation house, out building, and two slave quarters. The site relates to African American history because of the plantation on which slaves reside on for 200 centuries, and this was a prominent plantation in Prince George’s County for growing tobacco.

Caulking Tools and Shackles

By: Jada Monet
HS 129, Summer 1, 2009

Last Saturday (May 30, 2009), I went to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture. I was really skeptical about going, because I really wanted to go to the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, located in Baltimore, Maryland. I’ve never been to either, but I’ve heard positive comments about the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum. In fact, when I asked my friends and family if they knew of an African American Museum that relates to African American history before 1865, almost all of them said, with authority, “The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, in Baltimore, Maryland.” So when my aunt picked me up and headed towards Baltimore, I was surprised that she did not arrive at The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum. Apparently, there was a misunderstanding as to which museum I wanted to go when I asked if she could take me to the African American museum in Baltimore. It never dawned on me that there were other African American Museums in Baltimore.

Regardless, I had to settle for the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture, which I’ve never heard of. To make matters even worst, upon entering, I was unhappy to hear that cameras were prohibited. I immediately panicked because I was unsure of how I would go about completing my project. As a result, I had to find images on the web that coincided with those at the museum.

While touring the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture, I stumbled upon a section located on the third floor that depicted life of the African American slaves during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The dimly lit room was comprised of several items associated with the daily work and conditions of African American slaves. Amongst all, the caulking tools and wrist shackles were most appealing; I was familiar with both but had never seen either. Amazed, I hurried over to examine them.

Much different than present day caulking tools, the caulking tools used by the slaves in the early seventeenth century had simplistic designs, were made of heavy iron, and required more strength to handle. The caulking tools contained a circle similar to the head of a nail, but much bigger. The caulking tools narrowed and flattened as it reached the bottom. Modern caulking tools are usually associated with bathtub fixes. However, in the early seventeenth century, caulking was a skilled trade, used to maintain a ship’s structure. The museum had an interactive display of caulking tools, which allowed visitors to manipulate the tools and experience the hard work and strength required for caulking. As I banged the caulking tools against the wooden surface, I imagined that I was a slave working on a ship on a hot and sunny day like Frederick Douglass. I couldn’t fathom how one could work tirelessly, around excessive loud noise, with minimal breaks completing such a task. The idea alone left me perturbed.

I then proceeded to walk towards the wrist shackles. I realized that I would not have the opportunity to have the hands-on experience of handling the museum’s only set because they were confined to a clear boxlike display. Nevertheless, I observed the shackles from several angles, noticing its thickness, structure, and overall condition. (See attached image of shackles). From its appearance, it was obvious that the shackles were tightly fitted and could cause skin irritation to those who wore them. I’ve always known that it wasn’t uncommon for African American slaves to be bound, but to see the actual shackles made my encounter all the more surreal. I realized then that my doubts of going to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture instead of another African American museum were ludicrous.

Wrist shackles were essential for slave owners to maintain control over African American slaves. Shackles symbolized the lack of authority African Americans had in their own lives and the oppression they endured as slaves. Without shackles, slaves could attempt to escape their owners or possibly form rebellions. The shackles were especially beneficial during the Atlantic Slave Trade, which began around the sixteenth century, in which slaves were captured and traded throughout several countries. On the slavers, which carried the slaves from one location to the next, slaves were separated in groups and bound together by shackles. The ships were “tightly packed” with many men being chained by shackles, leaving little room to move. The attached image shows how tight the shackles would fit. On land, shackles kept the slaves in order as they worked as human manufacturers or as potential buyers inspected them. The use of wrist shackles exemplifies the plight of African American slaves and demonstrates how freedom for African American slaves was far-flung.

Caulking tools provided African American slaves with jobs while on the slavers. The ships required daily maintenance to uphold its structure. Therefore, caulking was a necessity. The task, itself, was difficult, requiring patience, steadiness, and a substantial amount of force. The fact that white Americans, slave owners, or overall authoritative figures would have slaves work on slavers in such a skilled trade as caulking reveals the inevitable need of slaves in multiple areas.[1] However, those involved in caulking were considered skilled and consequently, had the opportunity to somewhat gain independence. These slaves often “hired their time” and was even able to leave to get their own tools.

The use of shackles to keep the slaves confined is of relevance today and will continue to be in the future. For example, currently, instead of shackles handcuffs are used in jails and prisons around the world. They, however, are not limited to only African Americans. Since shackles were used in the earlier centuries and handcuffs are used in the present, it is evident that history really does repeat itself. Those incarcerated are limited in what they can do; their food, clothing, and schedule are chosen for them. Most interestingly, like in the past, those individuals of the poor classes are most commonly incarcerated. Thus, it is important that current and future generations become familiar with artifacts that are exhibited in the museums or of locations of great significance.

It is amazing how items from the past can be linked to the future. If current and future generations take note of what is occurring during their time, they could almost always find a connection with the past. I will never know, firsthand, the ill-treatment African American slaves experienced. Yet since these items provided me with a glimpse of the lives of slaves, I am certain that I have a better comprehension of their struggles.

Works Cited
Hine, Darlene Clark, William C. Hine, and Stanley Harrold. The African-American Odyssey Volume One: To 1877. 3rd. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.

Jean Boudriot Hitchcok, “Hitchcock” 06 June 2009 http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/SlaveTrade%20/collection/medium/H001.JPG

“Live Auctioneers” 06 June 2009
http://photos.liveauctioneers.com/houses/early_american_auctions/9700/0466_1_md.jpg

“Maryland Historical Society” 07 June 2009
http://www.mdhs.org/education%20documents/caulkingirons.jpg

Williams, Walter E. “Are Americans Pro-Slavery.” “A Minority’s View.” 11 June 2008. 18 June 2009 http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles/08/AreAmericansPro-Slavery.htm

[1] See last citation regarding Frederick Douglass.