Maryland Underground Railroad Research | Crafting a Nomination to the NPS Network to Freedom Program
Channel: Preservation Maryland
Date: 2020-11-18

The National Park Service’s Network to Freedom is a national cohort of historic sites, research centers, and tourism programs that have proven their authenticity through scholarly research. Because of its clandestine and harrowing nature, verifying Underground Railroad sites is a difficult task. The Network to Freedom offers a framework to research African American heritage sites and opens up opportunities for collaboration, grants, and collective interpretation and marketing.

Maryland is a destination for heritage tourism related to the Civil War, slavery, and the Underground Railroad. The 200th Anniversary of Harriet Tubman’s birth into slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland is 2022. The project partners would like to see 100 NTF sites in Maryland by 2022 as a milestone in illuminating this difficult and important history.

This webinar is an effort to support researchers, organizations, historic sites, to critically research their history, including potential Underground Railroad history, and determine if NTF is a good fit. Sites on the NTF can range from historical societies with robust genealogical collections to waterways associated with acts of self-emancipation.

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
• Maya Davis, Research Archivist and Legislative Liaison, Maryland State Archives
• Christopher Haley, Supervising Research Archivist, Study of Legacy of Slavery in Maryland, Maryland State Archives
• Ka'mal McClarin, PhD, Region 1 Program Manager, National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, National Park Service
• Diane Miller, National Program Manager, National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, National Park Service
• Jessica Feldt, Preservation Initiatives Manager, Preservation Maryland

If you are new to Underground Railroad research, please watch our recorded webinar: Considering Authenticity in Research & Interpretation on the Underground Railroad: https://youtu.be/8BueRIJCJ8M.