Sotterley Plantation II

2011, the second year of the Slave Dwelling Project found me traveling to more out of state historic sites to sleep in the spaces that the enslaved Ancestors once inhabited. People began to realize that I wasn’t going away that easily. The footprints of slavery were many and the state of South Carolina could not contain all of them, although their secession from the Union proved that they were willing to do all that was necessary to protect that institution. By 2011, I had given up on the idea that the Slave Dwelling Project was going to last only one year and be relegated only to the state of South Carolina. Historic sites had begun to provide the resources necessary to cover my travel. Additionally, these out of state historic sites began to understand my intent, reach out to me and provide the additional resources necessary to make the sleepovers happen.

There are places that you visit and when you leave that place, you know that you would come back if given the opportunity. Sotterley Plantation in Hollywood, Maryland is in that category of places for me.

I had my first sleepover in the state of Maryland in the slave cabin at Sotterley in 2011 when the Slave Dwelling Project was only in its second year. As one of the early believers in the Slave Dwelling Project’s desire to honor the enslaved Ancestors, Sotterley will always have a special place in my heart. There was a period in the history of the Slave Dwelling Project when I would put historic sites on the schedule, show up and figure things out when I got there. Those days are long gone. Those are the days when I was flying solo.

The Slave Dwelling Project is now in very high demand and has a whole lot more to offer historic sites. Thanks to board member Prinny Anderson and volunteer project manager, Jerome Bias, we have implemented a system of meticulous planning for each event. This system of written documents, emails, phone calls and social media allow us to plan each event with the host. We dedicate at least two hours per month to participate in a conference call to ensure that we are on target and/or if we need to adjust.

That said, when I got the call for a return trip, I did not hesitate to accept the invitation. The challenge was that we had to shoehorn the event in between two major events. I returned home to South Carolina on Sunday, October 28, a day after our successful 5th Annual Slave Dwelling Project Conference ended at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Our Underground Railroad conference was scheduled to begin in Charleston, SC on Friday, November 2.

One of my fears in sleeping in slave dwellings is that sometimes I come across extant slave dwellings with dirt floors. I fear them the most because they have the potential for creepy crawlies. Interesting, because if the dirt in these dwellings is authentic to that cabin, it is a strong possibility that some DNA or archaeological evidence of the presence of the enslaved people who lived there could still be there. Yes, the lone slave cabin at Sotterley had a dirt floor when I slept in it in 2011 and it has a dirt floor now. When I slept in the cabin in 2011, I got away with not sleeping directly on the dirt floor by finding a space in the loft, space I shared with an active wasp nest. The option of sleeping in the loft would not be available this time around. My fear of that dirt floor would not change on this trip, but this time, I had a way out. That way out was that I could sleep in the slave cabin or the big house. I’ve developed a rule that, if I sleep in a slave dwelling more than once, I can only count that dwelling once. This rule made sleeping in the big house highly likely for me.

Much had changed from 2011 to now. I did not have the knowledge to look for fingerprints in bricks back then. Now, I found plenty of fingerprints in the building that contained the exhibit that interprets all African Americans enslaved and free who were associated with Sotterley Plantation. The exhibit was impressive for many reasons but especially because it gave the enslaved names and made them human beings, as opposed to the chattel of which they were thought of by their enslavers. I am beginning to interact with more historic sites that are doing the research necessary to humanize the enslaved and include them in their daily narratives and exhibits.

I thought Sotterley’s staff was a little ambitious when I saw the number of chairs they set up for the Slave Dwelling Project lecture that I was scheduled to give. They assured me that 70 people signed up. To my pleasant surprise, they all showed up and more. About twenty-five of them would attend the robust conversation around the campfire about slavery and the legacy it left on this nation. Four people slept in the cabin with the dirt floor. I was not one of the four. Six of us slept in the big house.

So, how often do you get to hang out with descendants of slave owners? Some of you are them. While some of you are the descendants of those who were enslaved. The Slave Dwelling Project and Sotterley Plantation are doing our parts to promote dialogue on this sensitive subject. I color this visit a success in all that we managed to accomplish in a limited amount of time.  There will always be a place in my heart and calendar, when necessary, for Sotterley Plantation. If ever you are in the vicinity of Hollywood, Maryland, please visit Sotterley Plantation.

Yes, we got it in. My flight home was on time, which was necessary, because I had to immediately engage in implementing our Underground Railroad event at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston, SC.

Here are two links to some photographs that were taken during the Sotterley event.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0z5zXwoYhJNRs

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0zG6Mn98G00zDX

How Can We Take America Beyond the Legacy of Enslavement?
By Lynda Davis

Taking America Beyond the Legacy of Enslavement (TABLE). This is why I participate in the overnights with the Slave Dwelling Project. The Slave Dwelling Project and Coming to the Table (CTTT), another organization to which I belong, offer suggestions on how we can take America beyond the legacy of enslavement. The suggestions include practicing the four approaches of Coming to the Table:

1. Explore approaches to facing history that help identify ways to move forward.
2. Build relationships across historical divisions that can create partnerships capable of working towards effective change.
3. Create a space and methods that welcome and support healing wounds (mind, body, and spirit) from trauma both individually and collectively.
4. Take action to address beliefs, behaviors, and structures responsible for ongoing harms.

Each one of the overnights, including the one at Sotterley Plantation on November 1-2, 2018, illustrates how people and places are using the four approaches to take America beyond the legacy of enslavement.

Explore approaches to facing history that help identify ways to move forward.

In 1972, Agnes Kane Callum (1925-2015) whose paternal grandfather, Henry Kane (b. 1860) was born into slavery at Sotterley, started bringing people to Sotterley to see the Slave Cabin. She advocated for the preservation of the Slave Cabin and for sharing the full story of Sotterley. She worked with the descendants of the enslavers at Sotterley (including Judge John Hanson Briscoe, 1934-2014) to achieve these goals. Agnes Kane Callum, John Hanson Briscoe, and other descendants of those enslaved and the enslavers at Sotterley have been coming together since 1976 to discuss their shared history and identify ways to move forward. Some of the descendants and their guests continued this during the fireside conversation before the overnight on November 1, 2018. I believe that one of the ways to move forward is to continue these conversations even if they are full of conflict and discomfort because that is what creates growth and change. Continuing to face and talk about our shared history and humanity and the legacy of our shared history, in spite of our discomfort, will help us take America beyond the legacy of enslavement.

Build relationships across historical divisions that can create partnerships capable of working towards effective change.

Over the years, the descendants of those enslaved and the enslavers at Sotterley have been building relationships across historical divisions. On April 20-21, 2018, many Sotterley descendants and members of the public, including me, attended an event entitled “Our American Family” as part of Sotterley’s “Common Ground, Connected Heritage” series. This event and the overnight at Sotterley on November 1, 2018, showed me that the people connected to Sotterley are developing sustained and authentic cross-racial relationships. Robin DiAngelo, author of What Does it Mean to be White?Developing White Racial Literacy, says these kinds of relationships will assist us with dismantling racism. Developing sustained and authentic cross-racial relationships will help us take America beyond the legacy of enslavement.

Create a space and methods that welcome and support healing wounds (mind, body and spirit) from trauma both individually and collectively.

I believe that the trauma of enslavement impacted both the enslaved and the enslavers and still impacts us today. The methods that welcome and support healing wounds are having conversations like the ones had at Sotterley during the overnight on November 1, 2018 and doing our own individual work. For me, a descendant of enslavers, having courageous conversations and reading Robin DiAngelo,s books What Does it Mean to be White?Developing White Racial Literacy and White Fragility Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism have helped me begin to heal from and address the trauma. Having courageous conversations, discovering what it means to be white, and becoming aware of my white fragility have helped me move from the paralysis, powerlessness, denial, and silence fueled by shame and fear to the mobilization, powerfulness, awareness, and communication fueled by courage and bravery. Moving from paralysis to mobilization and from shame and fear to courage and bravery will help us take America beyond the legacy of enslavement.

Take action to address beliefs, behaviors and structures responsible for ongoing harms.

Reading such books as Robin DiAngelo’s What Does it Mean to be White?Developing White Racial Literacy and White Fragility Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism; participating in the overnights with the Slave Dwelling Project; and being a member of such groups as: Anne Arundel Connecting Together (ACT), an Industrial Areas Foundation affiliate; the Anne Arundel County branch of the NAACP; the Caucus of African American Leaders (Annapolis, MD); Coming to the Table, which has a local group in Annapolis, MD; Community Actively Seeking Transparency (CAST); the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival (Maryland Chapter); and Showing Up for Racial Justice Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chapter (SURJ 3A) have helped me take action to address the beliefs, behaviors, and structures responsible for ongoing harms. Educating ourselves; participating in the overnights with the Slave Dwelling Project; and working with such groups will help us take America beyond the legacy of enslavement.

Sources

Callum, Agnes Cane. Publications. http://www.angelfire.com/md/akcallum/pubs.html.

Kelly, Jacques. “Agnes K. Callum, genealogist who helped people trace their ancestors who had been held in slavery, died.” The Baltimore Sun. July 2015. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bs-md-ob-agnes-callum-20150727-story.html.

McDonough, Megan. “John Hanson Briscoe, former speaker of the Maryland House and circuit court judge, dies.” The Baltimore Sun. January 6, 2014. https://tinyurl.com/yan4qyed.

Pitts, Jonathan. “Sotterley Plantation in southern Maryland to open its slave quarters to the public.” The Baltimore Sun. April 21, 2017. https://tinyurl.com/yavk3k52.

Groups Working Toward Taking America
Beyond the Legacy of Enslavement

1. Anne Arundel Connecting Together (ACT), an Industrial Areas Foundation affiliate http://metro-iaf.org/content/anne-arundel-connecting-together-act-united-search-solutions-going-beyond-politics-division.
2. Anne Arundel County branch of the NAACP http://annearundelcountynaacp.org/index.html.
3. Caucus of African American Leaders (Annapolis, MD) https://www.aacaal.org/.
4. Coming to the Table has local groups in Annapolis, MD and throughout the country http://comingtothetable.org/events/.
5. Community Actively Seeking Transparency (CAST) https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/for_the_record/ac-cn-citizens-oversight-0815-story.html.
6. Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival (Maryland Chapter) https://www.facebook.com/marylandppc/.
7. Showing Up for Racial Justice Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chapter (SURJ 3A). Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SURJAnnapolis/ and Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1356447871113395/. Showing Up for Racial Justice national website http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/.

Walt Gardiner
Sotterley Volunteer

I was up all night listening to the wind pass through the open door ways, the critter sounds in the woods, and thoughts of what it must have been like confined to such a humble abode. This is a sacred place, though, where people were born, lived and died, shared with their loved ones their works, joys but more likely their sufferings on the plantation.

These special places should be preserved and the cabin dwellers stories told for future generations to gain some semblance of what life was like for the enslaved so the dreadful institution of slavery will never be repeated.

Lots to be thankful for but lots to do to bridge the divide in our society. The Slave Dwelling Project and Sotterley’s Common Ground-Connected Heritage Project are certainly wonderful paths to the goal of equality and justice for all that I hope and pray to see in my lifetime. Thank you Joseph McGill and Nancy Easterling and your respective teams for all you do for this noble cause. Last night’s event was truly inspirational. A special thanks to all those who made this event possible.

Blog for SDP Historic Sotterley Nov 1, 2018 Jeanne Pirtle, Education Director written 11/15/2018

Joseph McGill’s visit had been planned as part of Historic Sotterley’s Common Ground Connected Heritage project funded by Maryland Humanities. Taking place on the anniversary of official emancipation in Maryland in 1864, the purposes were education, remembrance, and the preservation of the material culture of Sotterley’s people. We touched fingerprints in 18th century brick, lingered in the places enslaved people lived and labored, and listened to their names, their stories, their struggles and their victories. We also listened as Mr. McGill told the stories of his struggle and work to help draw the nation’s attention to the importance of preserving structures where enslaved once lived, like Sotterley’ only surviving slave cabin c. 1830, and Sotterley’s manor house, c. 1703. These places are part of our country’s historical record. They tell us who we were and who we are as a community and nation. We are a people of dichotomies and contradictions, growing pains, scars, and some still open wounds; wounds that can only be healed through knowledge, truth telling, acknowledgement of slavery’s terrible legacy of systemic racism, white repentance, change and peace. As we continue the work in St. Mary’s County and the state of Maryland, we still have much to do. Racism and hate must be drowned out with the voices of equality, justice, love and peace for all of our citizens by all of our citizens. Thank you Joe for your help, see you soon, and keep telling the story.

Sam Baldwin, Hollywood, Maryland

This was my second opportunity to hear Joe’s presentation, so I already knew much of what he would discuss. But this was my first opportunity to stay after and discuss issues and perceptions, first around a campfire and then across a kitchen table. And it was the first time I’ve slept on the hard wooden floor of the plantation house, recreating in a very small and limited way the experience of the enslaved in that same house so many decades ago.

My wife’s family once owned Sotterley and over the decades of owning the plantation, they enslaved nearly 100 people. The owner very likely fathered children who he then kept in slavery. The Slave Dwelling Project at Sotterley brought together today’s descendants of the slave owners and the enslaved.

With the teaching opportunities Joe facilitates, blacks and whites in our community can more easily discuss the shared history of slavery at Sotterley. And, with the added recognition of what DNA tests have established, Joe’s discussions have made it easier for us to recognize that we share far more than history; that inside the person we sit next to, there very possibly is a relative….a member of the family. And once we reach that belief that we could very well be of the same blood, the possibilities open up.

Thank you, Joe, for your persistence in traveling around the country and facilitating these discussions.