EASTON, Md. - Archaeology students have been sifting a little patch of ground on Maryland’s Eastern Shore this summer, seeking evidence that it was home to the nation’s first free black community.
Historians say hundreds of free blacks once lived in the area, while plantations flourished with hundreds of black slaves not far away.
The students from the University of Maryland, College Park, and Morgan State University have been digging behind what is now the Women’s Club of Talbot County. The building, part of which dates to at least 1793, was home to three free nonwhite residents, according to the 1800 Census.
“We also know that by around 1790 there were a few free African-Americans who were actually purchasing property in this neighborhood,” said Stefan Woehlke, a doctoral student at the University of Maryland who has been working at the site. “And so we’re excavating here, one, to figure out what their lives were like and also to better understand the community more broadly in order to help support the claim that this is the oldest free African-American community in the United States.”
Harriette Lowery, who lives about 3 miles from Easton, appreciates the effort to unearth a portal into history. She traces her ancestry to a man named William Demby, a slave whose murder was recounted in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by the Maryland native and famed abolitionist. Lowery said establishingthat free blacks and whites were able to live together at a time when slavery existed nearby would be invaluable.
“It shows the strength of the African-American people that were here, because they were smart enough and courageous enough that if they were enslaved they were able to emancipate themselves either through their owners or through the will of their own, and to stay in the community,” Lowery said.
Maryland’s Eastern Shore is rich in black history. Douglass was born into slavery in 1818 in Talbot County, and fellow abolitionist Harriet Tubman was born in in Dorchester County.
Currently, the Treme neighborhood in New Orleans is recognized as the nation’s earliest free black community, dating to 1812. Archaeologists at the University of Maryland and researchers at Morgan State believe the Easton neighborhood known as The Hill may predate Treme by two decades or more.
Mark Leone, a University of Maryland archaeologist who is leading the excavation, said it could take years to determine whether The Hill predates Treme. To make the determination, a network of scholars who specialize in black history would be consulted once enough evidence is gathered, he said.
Woehlke said the community likely began to develop after Methodists and Quakers who lived in the area freed slaves in the 18th century.
Dale Green, a professor of architectural history and preservation who has studied Talbot County records and Census data, estimates that 410 free black residents lived in the neighborhood by 1790.
“A measure of unity existed among some religious and racial groups,” Green said. “Perhaps the objects they left behind can give a voice to these unsung social pioneers.”
Priscilla Morris is an officer with the local preservation group Historic Easton and has been studying the neighborhood history for more than 10 years. She is hopeful that archaeology will call attention to its historic value and help protect it from development thatcould obliterate a priceless heritage. Concern about efforts to redevelop the area led to the founding of Historic Easton, and the group is funding the research and the excavation.
“There is potential to save the built environment by digging up the cultural significance,” Morris said. “I expect renewed and expanded pride of place to follow. Kids are chasing professor Green during his walking tours this summer and asking him: ‘Are we really the oldest?’”
History and archaeology student Brittany Hutchinson said it has been rewarding to see people drop by the site and take an interest in Easton’s history.
“It’s an amazing experience to have because we’re really working to discover and sort of give the heritage back to the area of Easton,” Hutchinson said.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 07/29/2013