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Baltimore children challenged to make their own

mark on history
By Deirdre Byrne (November 2016)
With the National Museum of African American History and Culture opening in Washington, D.C.,
people are focusing on the history in their own backyard.

Since the Sandy Spring Slave Museum and African Art Gallery opened in1988, its founder, Dr.
Winston Anderson, has enlightened the Olney/Sandy Spring community about its Quaker history and
its ties to the Underground Railroad.

For the past four summers, the Sandy Spring Slave Museum and African Art Gallery has expanded
its outreach program to children of all ages from Baltimore City.

Craig Offord, a board member of the museum, and Sandi Williams, an assistant principal at
Wheaton High School, together developed this outreach program. While she was an assistant
principal at Sherwood High School, Williams collaborated with Montgomery County Public Schools
and Sherwoods English department to showcase the museum to students.

For Williams, the museum is special to share with students because her own family tree is
displayed on one of the walls and links back to her great-great-great-grandfather, a slave from
Laytonville who was the oldest of eight children.

According to Williams, her grandfather was given land to farm and was allowed money to go to
Baltimore to sell what he grew. Though many children in Baltimore view Sandy Spring as the
country and far away, Williams and Offord wanted more of Baltimores youth to realize their
connection to Sandy Spring.

The history between Sandy Spring and Baltimore is so intertwined on a level that people have no
idea, Williams said. We had to bring these kids [from Baltimore] down so that they can see how this
is all connected.

Offord sees the museum as a powerful place to take groups from Baltimore City because it
exposes children to historical artifacts like the bow of a slave ship, a cabin that housed slaves, four
figurines of slaves in shackles, Ku Klux Klan uniforms, manumission papers and more.

However, the museum is not focused exclusively on slavery; it also includes African artwork made
out of wood, beads, cells, textiles, and more.

We want to give an idealiterally and figurativelyabout how those of African descent are a part
of this larger conversation about America in general, said Laura Anderson Wright, the executive
director of the museum and daughter of Winston Anderson.

Because of Offords cousin, Roger Dickens, the museum has played host to three to four groups
from Baltimore City each summer ranging in size from 75 to 150 people: middle school children,
elementary school children, juvenile justice programs, church groups, and other groups. Having
worked at Baltimore City Community College coaching basketball for many years, Dickens developed
a network of connections with recreation centers in Baltimore City. Before taking groups down to
Sandy Spring, Dickens excites the groups for their day of fun and learning in the country by showing
them pictures of the museum.

Being out there in Sandy Spring is so authentic because of the surroundingsthe grass, hills, and
farmland, Dickens said. [Its a more authentic experience] than being in the city, walking on the
cement, and going to a museum.

The museum and art gallery gives groups a firsthand view of the experience of slavery and African
American history. It allows groups to learn about individuals who made positive and dramatic
contributions to what seemed like an impossible time for people of color to achieve progress.

They feel like they are really in a different place than wherever home is. Home is the city, home is
relatively tight, so we are the country to them, said Wright. And now we have this backdrop of all the
transition and change thats going to be happening in Baltimore, so we can give these kids the idea
that there is something more out there.

During their day in Sandy Spring, the children play outside, have a picnic, and tour the grounds and
facility.

They get to go inside and see the shackles and the ball and chain. They get to touch it and see
how heavy it was and that some guy had to carry it around, said Dickens. And you know thats
[emotionally] heavy, when they get to touch these shackles. They get a chance to feel cotton at that
stage that its at.

During their visit, the groups from Baltimore are engaged in the learning process. According to
Williams, each group already knows so much about African American history. Yet, their experience
at the Sandy Spring Slave Museum and African Art Gallery allows them to deepen their
understanding history.

With the Quakers in the area, Maryland plays somewhat of a mixed role because you would have
slave owners living next to abolitionists, said Wright.

The Quakers used to provide for families of color, which has uniquely enabled some African
American families in Maryland to still have connections to their ancestry. During the tour, Williams
herself, speaks directly to this experience when she shows groups her family tree.

When you hear about slavery, youre usually only hearing one side of it: the story of the south,
said Williams. But the slavery here was even more complicated, and had different layers and
levels.

When some groups return to the museum for a second year, many children remember these
stories about Sandy Springs history, and are eager to share their knowledge with newer children in
the groups. Williams encourages these children to begin the introductory part of the tour.

The kids see that they are a part of something so much bigger, and the world is so much smaller
than we think, said Williams. They are starting to become the teachers, and its really exciting to see
that develop and very rewarding for me.

Craig Offord is also moved when he sees how the returning children have grown over the
years.
 Some of these groups have been here three and four years in a row. One particular
recreation center had the kids recite a poem, said Offord. Its a nice treat to see all the kids together
again.

One of the most moving parts of the day is when the groups tour the Achievement Room,
which is decorated with the words From the slave ship, to the space ship, and onto the White
House. The room celebrates the contributions that many African Americans achieved over time.

Wright also points out to the groups the contributions that the museums staff and volunteers
have made in the Sandy Spring community and she thereby encourages the children to realize that
they too can make a difference.

I tell the kids to look at us random people [(the museums staff and volunteers)], and then look
at these faces you see at the museum who have accomplished something, said Williams. I tell the
kids that its their job to figure out what theyre going to do so that their picture is someday on our
wall.

In addition to its summer program, the Sandy Spring Slave Museum and African Art Gallery
also holds annual events for the community to celebrate Heritage Day and Emancipation Day. This
February, the museum will be featured on a national Tribune television special called North Star to
Freedom.