NPS On April 5-6, 2024, a symposium “Tracing Lives through Slavery, Engaging Hallowed Grounds Along the Road to Freedom: Preserving, Protecting and Redefining Community,” was held at Goucher College’s Athenaeum building. This successful symposium, attended by 130 individuals from the greater Baltimore community, all over Maryland, and out of state, was co-hosted by Hampton NHS, Goucher College, and the Northeast Towson Community Association. After welcomes by Goucher President Kent Devereaux, Nancy Goldring, President, Northeast Towson Improvement Association, Inc., and Hampton NHS Acting Superintendent Robert Stewart, the keynote speaker was Eola Dance, CEO & President of James Madison’s Montpelier in Virginia. Presentations emphasizing engaging the Descendants of the enslaved at historic sites, such as Arlington House, and seven colleges and universities followed, including a panel discussion featuring Descendants of three families who were enslaved at Hampton plantation. The final lecture of the first day, by Towson University Professor of Cultural Anthropology Samuel Collins, focused on modern suburban development and its impact on Descendant communities. Those attending the walking tour the following day could see this firsthand. After Acting Superintendent Stewart and Chief Curator Gregory Weidman hosted a tour of Hampton NHS, Nancy Goldring led “The Road to Freedom Trail” tour in Historic East Towson, sharing the stories of the Descendant communities created after 1829 and 1864 and the effects of urbanization in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The day concluded back at Hampton, where the Board of Historic Hampton, Inc. hosted a delicious lunch for attendees in the Orangery.
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Last updated: April 25, 2024