From Absence to Presence, The Commemorative to Enslaved Peoples of Southern Maryland (St. Mary's College of Maryland)]]> Subject (Topic)
Mid-Atlantic United States
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery--Maryland
St. Mary's College of Maryland--History

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Commemorative sculpture]]> RE:site Studio

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RE:site Studio

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]]> here.]]> History of site information plaque:
From Absence to Presence
Commemorative to Enslaved Peoples of Southern Maryland

History of the Site
Between 1750 and 1815, this field was home to three or four enslaved households. They labored for John Hicks and later John Mackall, both planters whose wealth was bulit on slave labor. Here along Mattapatty Road--then the main route into St. Mary's City--this housing compound, and another one across the road, would have been visible to all who passed by.

In 2016, St. Mary's College of Maryland archaeologists unearthed fragments of brick, ceramics, tobacco pipes and bottle glass suggesting where these families' cabins once stood. The archaeologists believe the houses were probably of rough log construction with wooden chimneys and brick hearths. The cabins probably had few or no windows and dirt floors.

Inside the cabins and out of sight of plantation surveillance, the families furnished their homes with both plain and decorated ceramics, possibly purchased with money made selling garden vegetables. Traces of garden features were found in this vicinity and documents show that enslaved families or nearby plantations sold their produce in the neighborhood. Although enlsaved, the families living here were probably able to travel to nearby farms, to church, and to the store in nearby St. Inigoes.

In 1814, during the War of 1812, the British Navy issued a call to enslaved people in Southern Maryland to join against Americans and thereby earn their freedom. Nineteen men, women, and children enslaved by John Mackall heeded the call and joined the British. Based on the absence of artifacts after 1814, archaeologists suspect that some of these individuals may have come from this compound.

A short three years later, on Easter Monday in 1817, the memory of those who had self-emancipated still fresh in everyone's minds, free and enslaved, a group of an estimated 150-200 enslaved men gathered at a dram shop, or tavern, near the store in St. Inigoes. When the local constable attempted to break up the gathering, the men resisted, a melee ensued, and some men were arrested for insurrection. No doubt men from the Mackall plantation were involved in the uprising, although their names were not among the arrested.

By uncovering this hidden Black landscape, both here in St. Mary's City and throughout Southern Maryland, we can understand not only the unfinished work of the American Revolution, but the African American role in the struggle for freedom for all.

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Object information plaque:
From Absence to Presence
Commemorative to Enslaved Peoples of Southern Maryland

Activist Angela Davis described the sacredness of slave quarters in the lives of enslaved people as "the only space where they could truly experience themselves as human beings."

This form is inspired by the 'ghost frame' architecture found on the site of Historic St. Mary's City.]]>
Erasure Poetry
" Erasure poetry is a form of found poetry that is created by erasing, or redacting, words from an existing piece of prose or verse. The redactions allow poets to create symbolism while also putting a focus on the social and political meanings of erasure. New questions, suggestions, and meanings in existing pieces of writing are revealed through erasure poetry. The erasure poetry that covers the structure is adapted from historical documents related to the Mackall-Brome plantation — one of three known plantations located on the land around St. Mary’s City. These documents include slave property and runaway slave advertisements, newspaper articles, and slave depositions of the Mackall-Brome family. These poems become the walls and roof of the structure revealing powerful stories hidden within the language of a dark past. " From About the Commemorative.]]>
Visual Arts-Sculpture]]> https://www.smcm.edu/honoring-enslaved/about-commemorative/.]]>
Frederick Douglass (Baltimore, MD)]]> Subject (Topic)
Abolitionists--United States
Anti-slavery movements--United States
Maryland--History
Middle Atlantic States
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery--Maryland

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Subject (Name)
Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

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Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/monumentcity/3335648921/]]> Informational placard adjacent to the work:
Frederick Douglass Sculpture
(logo) Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park A Living Classroom

Frederick Douglass is one of the best-known Americans of the 19th century. Schools, churches and other community buildings across the United States have been named after him. Known for bravery, vision, and insightfulness, Douglas fought for the rights of African Americans and women. He stressed equal rights and economic progress for all Americans.

This bronze sculpture by Marc Andre Robinson, a Maryland Institute College of Art graduate, stands 6 feet tall wide and weighs 1,100 lbs. Mr. Robinson declares, "My ideas for the Frederick Douglass sculpture are meant to reflect collaborative art production and to emphasize the actual process of understanding and making history. The permanence of the bronze will function for the Living Classroom Foundation (and the Douglass-Myers Museum) as a monument to the seriousness of the indelible commitment to Baltimore youth."

(Inscriptions below the images on the information plaque)
Go inside the museum building to see these and other bronze sculptures created by Living Classrooms Crossroads Middle School students, under the guidance of Marc Robinson, sculptor of the Frederick Douglass statue.

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"Frederick Douglass Sculpture." The Historical Marker Database, March 13, 2017. Accessed May 24, 2020, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=103409.

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White, Amy Brecount. "The Driving Forces Behind Maritime Park." Washington Post, October 27, 2006. Accessed May 24, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/26/AR2006102600448.html.

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Living Classrooms Foundation Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum. Projects, Ziger/Snead Architects, Baltimore. Accessed May 24, 2020, http://www.zigersnead.com/projects/details/living-classrooms-foundation-frederick-douglass-isaac-myers-maritime-park-and-museum/.

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Frederick Douglass (Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD)]]> Subject (Topic)
Abolitionists--United States
Anti-slavery movements--United States
Maryland--History
Middle Atlantic States
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery--Maryland

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Subject (Name)
Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

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Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frederick_Douglass_Statue,_Morgan_State_University,_1700_E._Coldspring_Lane,_Baltimore,_MD_21251_(33520859023).jpg]]> Inscription on granite base:
Frederick Douglass
1817-1895
Humanitarian
Statesman

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Bronze plaque on back of monument:
Erected By the Maryland Educational Association Through Contributions of Children in Colored Schools And Citizens of Maryland. In the Year 1956.

"I am an American
And As an American
I speak to America."

Frederick Douglass

James E. Lewis Sculptor

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. Outdoor Sculpture in Baltimore: A Historical Guide to Public Art in the Monumental City. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011.]]>
Frederick Douglass Memorial (Easton, MD)]]> Subject (Topic)
Antislavery movements--United States
Abolitionists--United States
Maryland--History
Middle Atlantic States
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery--Maryland


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Subject (Name)
Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

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Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture

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Inscription on granite base:
DOUGLASS

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Inscription on bronze plaque on back of monument:
"In a composite nation like ours, as before the law, there should be no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no white, no black, but common country, common citizenship, equal rights and common destiny."

Frederick Douglass
1818-1895

United States Marshall * Charge d'Affaires to the Dominican Republic * Minister to Haiti * Counselor to President Abraham Lincoln * Publisher * Author * Orator * Abolitionist * Slave

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Guy, Chris. "Douglass to Get Place by Easton Courthouse." The Baltimore Sun, March 17, 2004. Accessed October 31, 2019, https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2004-03-17-0403170268-story.html.

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Douglass Returns: The Dedication, June 16-19, 2011. Program, The Town of Easton. Accessed May 23, 2020, https://eastonmd.gov/TempMedia/Douglass_booklet.pdf.

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Frederick Douglass Monument (University of Maryland, College Park, MD)]]> Frederick Douglass Ireland Monument]]> Subject (Topic)
Abolitionists--United States
Antislavery movements--United States
Middle Atlantic States
Maryland--History
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery--Maryland

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Subject (Name)
Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

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Commemorative sculpture]]> Quotations on plaza bricks:
"I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot County, Maryland."

"I am a Marylander, and love Maryland and her people."

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."

"The blow we strike is not merely to free a country or continent--but the whole world from Slavery--for when Slavery falls here it will fall everywhere."

"Until it shall be safe to leave the lamb in the hold of the lion, the laborer in power of the capitalist, the poor in the hands of the rich, it will not be safe to leave a newly emancipated people completely in the power of their former masters, especially when such masters have not ceased to be such from enlightened moral convictions but by irresistible force."

"Education means . . . emancipation."

"This right of speech is very dear to the hearts of intelligent lovers of liberty."

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

"All that distinguishes man as an intelligent and accountable being, is equally true of woman . . . there can be no reason in the world for denying a woman the exercise of the elective franchise or a hand in the making and administering the laws of the land."

"In a composite nation like ours, as before the law, there should be no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no white, no black, but common country, common citizenship, equal rights, and a common destiny."

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Inscription on black marble base:
Frederick Douglass 1818-1895
Abolitionist, Suffragist, Labor Leader
Stateman, Diplomat, Founding Father of the Second American Republic
Orator, Scholar, Journalist

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Quotations on corten panels:
"The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but [it] must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will."

"No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck."

"He who does not love Justice and Liberty for all, does not love Justice and Liberty."

"Right is of no sex--Truth is of no color."

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Inscription on bronze plaque:
The University of Maryland is grateful to the many individuals and organizations, particularly the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture as well as the Maryland Historic Trust, part of the Maryland Department of Planning, who generously supported the creation of Frederick Douglass Square.

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Base: 36 in. (91.44 cm.)]]> Brown, Crystal. “University of Maryland Dedicates Frederick Douglass Square to Honor Maryland Native Son.” UMD Right NOW, November 18, 2015. Accessed November 23, 2018, https://www.umdrightnow.umd.edu/news/university-maryland-dedicates-frederick-douglass-square-honor-marylands-native-sonl.

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Arnett, Autumn A. “At UMD, New Frederick Douglass Square Illustrates State’s Racial Duality." Diverse Issues in Higher Education, November 24, 2015. Accessed November 23, 2018, https://diverseeducation.com/article/79147/.

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Frederick Douglass Remembered. Ireland's Great Hunger Institute, Quinnipiac University. Accessed November 26, 2018, https://www.qu.edu/on-campus/institutes-centers/irelands-great-hunger-institute/frederick-douglass-remembered.html.

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Harriet Tubman (Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD)]]> Harriet Tubman Statue]]> Subject (Topic)
Abolitionists--United States
Antislavery movements--United States
Maryland--History
Northeastern United States
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery--Maryland
Underground Railroad

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Subject (Name)
Tubman, Harriet, 1822-1913

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Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture

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Inscription on bronze plaque:
Harriet Tubman. C. 1821-1913. ‘The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witness of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism,’ wrote fellow abolitionist and Eastern Shore native Frederick Douglass of Harriet Tubman. A Civil War nurse, scout, spy, military strategist and early women’s suffragist, the ‘Moses of her people’ freed hundreds of slaves via the Underground Railroad. With the support of the Salisbury University community, sculptor James Hill and his students realized this work in 2009, with the hope that her story will continue to inspire courage and action in the pursuit of human rights.

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Monument and Myth: Commemorating Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad]]> Press Releases. “New SU Sculpture Honors Harriet Tubman.” News. Salisbury University. September 22, 2009. Assessed March 21, 2018, http://www.salisbury.edu/news/article.html?id=3995.

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