SILVER SPRING, MD — The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, the Montgomery County Historical Society and the Sandy Spring Slave Museum are inviting the public to participate in a series of five special Black History Month programs during February 2006. Four adult programs are held on each Friday evening during February from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at different locations. One children’s event features an interactive storyteller on Saturday, February 11, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Friday, February 3, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
“Uncle Tom”
An in-character performance of Josiah Henson, the model for Uncle Tom in the book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Henson grew up a slave in Montgomery County, Maryland and escaped to Canada from Kentucky in 1830.
Place: Ken-Gar (Josiah Henson) Community Center, Ken-Gar Palisades Local Park, 4140 Wexford Drive, Kensington
Performer: Bus Howard
Friday, February 10, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
“Movies, Race, and World War II”
This video-illustrated lecture demonstrates how Hollywood films such as Sundown, Sahara, Lifeboat and government propaganda movies like The Negro Soldier anticipated the politics of racial activism and offer a documentary record of that aspect of American history.
Place: Beall-Dawson House, 103 West Montgomery Ave., Rockville
Speaker: Thomas Cripps, University Distinguished Professor, Emeritus, at Morgan State
University.
Friday, February 17, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
“Message or Myth: Were Quilts Used For Communication on the Underground Railroad?”
This power-point presentation looks at the history of quilting, the history of the Underground Railroad and the debate about the book Hidden in Plain View.
Place: Sandy Spring Slave Museum, 18524 Brooke Road, Sandy Spring
Speaker: Susan Soderberg, M-NCPPC Historian
Friday, February 24, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
“Is Africa My Home? The Debate About the Colonization of Maryland Blacks in the Nineteenth Century”
The American Colonization Society was founded in 1816. A Maryland auxiliary of this organization helped about 1,200 African Americans settle in Africa. This lecture explores the
issues of race in antebellum society and examines the reactions of African Americans to colonization.
Place: Sandy Spring Slave Museum, 18524 Brooke Road, Sandy Spring
Speaker: Debra Newman Ham, Professor of History at Morgan State University
Children’s Program—Saturday, February 11, 2 p.m.-3 p.m.
Magnificent Folks, Animals and Other Such Tales
Grades PreK-8. Celebrates individual and collective magnificence through tales from the Americas and beyond. This interactive, multicultural storytelling program also includes a bilingual tale from South America.
Place: Woodlawn Manor, 16501 Norwood Road, Sandy Spring
Storyteller: Diane Macklin
For more information call M-NCPPC’s historic preservation section, 301-563-3400.
