Event
Commemorating 400 Years of African American History
Fee:
Free.Location:
Monocacy National Battlefield Visitor CenterDates & Times
Date:
Time:
Duration:
Type of Event
The reading of the names will begin at 3:00 pm and continue until all of the names are read.
Description
Join the National Park Service and community partners in honoring the first Africans to land in English-occupied America and in remembering 400 years of African American history. The public may join park rangers at the Visitor Center to participate in ringing a bell and reading the names of the enslaved people who lived and worked on the six historic properties of Monocacy National Battlefield, as well as the U.S. Colored Troops who enlisted at Monocacy Junction.
The events are part of a nationwide commemoration of the landing of the first enslaved Africans at Virginia’s Point Comfort, now part of Fort Monroe National Monument, in August 1619. Monocacy National Battlefield will join Fort Monroe National Monument and other organizations across the country in simultaneously ringing bells on August 25 at 3 p.m. for four minutes—one minute to honor each century of African Amercian history. Visitors to Monocacy may also join in reading the names of African Americans who lived and worked on historic farms that form the battlefield.
Slavery was legal in Maryland until November 1864, when voters passed a new Maryland Constitution. During the Battle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864, both the Thomas and the Worthington families took refuge in their cellars with some of their enslaved workforce. Researchers have documented the presence of enslaved laborers at all five of the historic farms of the battlefield. The average slaveowner in Frederick held 5-7 people. In 1863 a U.S. Colored Troops recruiting station was opened at Monocacy Junction.