Historian
Christiana Kerfoot, known as “Annie” to her family, was born around 1846. Her father was the Reverend John Barrett Kerfoot, Episcopal priest and rector (headmaster) of the College of St. James, in Washington County, Maryland. …
Continue Reading about Annie Kerfoot at Smoketown Hospital: A Civil War New Year’s Eve
On this day in 1862, five days after the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Below is a short piece about it, excerpted from my forthcoming book, Black Antietam: African American …
Continue Reading about Hearing the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
As Memorial Day 2021 approaches, for the first time in many decades—perhaps for the first time ever—flags will mark the gravestones of African American veterans who were buried at Halfway, Maryland. This historic cemetery …
Continue Reading about The Veterans Buried at Halfway African American Cemetery
Black history is American history, yet black history is still distressingly absent from many of America's K-12 history classrooms. Even during Black History Month, some parents have to struggle to get their children’s schools …
Continue Reading about Teaching about Slavery: Some Resources for Teachers
Some powerful myths have long dominated thinking about the history of slavery in western Maryland (and especially Washington County). When I start to talk about slavery with people who live here, or when I read what’s been …
Continue Reading about Seven Myths about Slavery in Western Maryland
Over the past decade, many colleges and universities in the U.S. have faced, with varying degrees of openness, the truth about their slave history. Like every institution with roots very far back in American history, higher …
Continue Reading about Slavery and the Roots of Hood College
