International Underground Railroad Month Events

Day of Unity and Healing this year will focus on Descendants, historic sites, and communities working together to preserve and interpret our history transparently. We will have a variety of organizations present to increase awareness that in order to have a shared success we must learn from each other and work together.

Each year, the vision of Day of Unity and Healing is different because the needs are constantly changing. In order to heal we must have a conversation and share. Join us to experience history through different eyes this year. One of the first steps to healing is understanding the truth about our history, and building bridges of understanding to move forward and create a better community and country.

Historic Sotterley is a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site.

Saturday, August 24, 2024
9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Historic Sotterley
44300 Sotterley Lane
Hollywood, MD  20636
301-373-2280

Join us for a guided tour of the historic house as we interpret the history of people who lived and worked at this former plantation from the house’s construction 1801 through Emancipation in 1864. Visitors engage in facilitated dialogue with Tour Guides while being led through rooms of the historic house and dependency buildings. See the new interpretive silhouettes throughout the house that depict actual enslaved workers in each room. The silhouettes were created using descendants of historical characters as models for the artwork.

Tours are offered every Friday and Sunday at noon and 2 p.m. Please arrive at the Visitor Center 5 - 10 minutes prior to the tour to get registered. Pre-registration or walk-ins are welcome.

Riversdale House is a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Site.

Adults: $5 per person
Seniors and Groups of 10 or more: $4/person
Ages 5 - 18 and Students with ID: $2/person
Ages 4 & under: Free

Friday, September 6, 2024       Noon - 1 p.m. and 2 - 3 p.m.
Sunday, September 8, 2024     Noon - 1 p.m. and 2 - 3 p.m.
Friday, September 13, 2024     Noon - 1 p.m. and 2 - 3 p.m.
Sunday, September 15, 2024   Noon - 1 p.m. and 2 - 3 p.m.
Friday, September 20, 2024     Noon - 1 p.m. and 2 - 3 p.m.
Sunday, September 22, 2024   Noon - 1 p.m. and 2 - 3 p.m.
Friday, September 27, 2024     Noon - 1 p.m. and 2 - 3 p.m.
Sunday, September 29, 2024   Noon - 1 p.m. and 2 - 3 p.m.  

Riversdale House Museum Historic Site
4811 Riverdale Road
Riverdale Park, MD 20737
301-864-0420

Each Saturday and Sunday in September, Historic London Town and Gardens will offer specialized tours focused on the African-American experience in London Town during the time of the Underground Railroad. All specialty tours start at the Visitor Center at 11:00am. 

Celebrate the lives and contributions of the African and African-American people of London Town. On this walking tour, you will learn how people who had been taken from their homes built lives here as the town grew and then declined, how they held onto what was most important to them, and how they resisted and escaped from slavery. Hear about their individual stories through the centuries and walk in their footsteps through historic buildings to discover their lasting legacy.

Guided tours are included with admission and no pre-registration required. Visitor information can be found at www.historiclondontown.org.

Saturday, September 7, 2024    11 a.m. - noon
Sunday, September 8, 2024      11 a.m. - noon
Saturday, September 14, 2024  11 a.m. - noon
Sunday, September 14, 2024    11 a.m. - noon
Saturday, September 21, 2024  11 a.m. - noon
Sunday, September 22, 2024    11 a.m. - noon
Saturday, September 28, 2024  11 a.m. - noon
Sunday, September 29, 2024    11 a.m. - noon

Historic London Town and Gardens
839 Londontown Road
Edgewater, MD 21037
410-222-1919 x.200

Take a guided walk around Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum. Explore the lives of Native Americans, African Americans, colonists, tenant farmers and more who have shaped and been shaped by our landscape for millennia.

Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum is a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site.

Registration is recommended. Walks begin at the visitor center. Free program.

Saturday, September 7, 2024
11 a.m. - noon

Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum
10515 Mackall Road
St. Leonard, MD 20685
410-586-8538

Meet at the Park Headquarters to caravan to tour historic sites throughout the park and hear stories about their Underground Railroad connections. The program is offered by the Friends of Point Lookout. There is an admission fee to the park.

Point Lookout is a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site.

Saturday, September 7, 2024
Three options:
11 a.m. - Noon
1 p.m. - 2 p.m.
3 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Point Lookout State Park
11175 Point Lookout Road
Scotland, MD 20687
301-872-5688

Last year, two local artists, Marilyn Gates-Davis and Lamont Wes Harvey, were commissioned to paint scenes and portraits to help interpret the history of the enslaved of Montpelier. After engaging with the spaces where the enslaved lived and worked, and reading some of their challenging, harrowing, and joyful experiences, Marilyn and Lamont have created imagery that brings the stories of the enslaved to the forefront to be uplifted and exalted. You are invited to be a guest at the artists’ talk and reception. Be part of the unveiling. RSVP.

Saturday, September 7
3 - 4 p.m.

9650 Muirkirk Road
Laurel, MD 20708
301-377-7817

Several lectures are planned for International Underground Railroad Month regarding the exhibit The Underground Railroad: Other Voices of Freedom. Talks will also include the findings from new research the museum has conducted on the Underground Railroad in the Upper Chesapeake and Havre de Grace area.

The Underground Railroad: Other Voices of Freedom exhibit is a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program.

The Story Behind the Underground Railroad Exhibit
Sunday, September 8, 2024
3 - 4 p.m.

Maryland's Black Watermen in the Lower Susquehanna and Upper Chesapeake Bay Region
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
6 - 7 p.m.

Sisters of the Tide: The Untold History of Black Women on the Chesapeake Bay
Saturday, September 14, 2024
3 - 4 p.m.

Through Their Eyes: Contemporary Artwork in the Underground Railroad Exhibit
Sunday, September 22, 2024
3 - 4 p.m.

Havre de Grace Maritime Museum
100 Lafayette Street
Havre de Grace, MD  21078
410-939-4800

Discover the birds and wildlife that Harriet Tubman would have encountered during her journeys to freedom on the Underground Railroad on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Join Harriet Tubman Tours and Delmarva Birding Weekends as we go birding along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway in Caroline County.

The tour begins at Linchester Mill in Preston. During the first two hours of the guided, self-driven tour, we’ll learn about the many daring escapes led by the famed freedom seeker and human rights activist known as “The Moses of Her People.” In Caroline County, Harriet Tubman found shelter and assistance as she traveled along the Underground Railroad to Delaware. The driving route courses through the farms, forests and Underground Railroad sites of Caroline County. We’ll also tour the Choptank River with River City Cruise Company in Denton.

From there, we will explore the upper reaches of the Choptank during a two-hour cruise aboard a pontoon boat. Downriver, landings and points along the Choptank served as sites for perilous escapes by boat. The shallow waters of the Upper Choptank provided crossings for freedom seekers heading north toward Sandtown, Delaware. During the cruise, we’ll also search for Bald Eagles, Osprey, Wood Ducks, and other species. For a list of the 19 species tallied during the September 2023 tour, click here.

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway is a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program.

Registration required.

Cost: $100/person

Thursday, September 12, 20224
2 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Delmarva Birding
Preston, MD

In honor of International Underground Railroad Month, Marietta House Museum will present a hybrid book talk with author and journalist Scott Shane. Shane will discuss his new book," Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery’s BorderLand". "Flee North" focuses on the Underground Railroad in Washington, D.C. and Prince George’s County. Shane discovered the amazing freedom collaboration between Underground Railroad conductors Thomas Smallwood, a Black shoemaker in D.C., and Charles Torrey, a white abolitionist from Massachusetts.

Recommended for ages 8 & up. Registration is recommended but not required, however, online participants must register to receive the TEAMS link.

Register at www.pgparks.com, or email [email protected] or call 301-464-5291 for more information. $5/person.

Marietta House is a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site.

Thursday, September 12, 2024
6:30 - 8 p.m.

Marietta House Museum
5626 Bell Station Road
Glenn Dale, MD 20769
301-464-5291

Marietta House Museum is offering a special house tour in honor of International Underground Railroad Month. Guided tours will highlight the avenues of resistance taken by the enslaved families and individuals who lived and labored at Marietta in the nineteenth century - including Benjamin Duckett, who was born into slavery at Marietta and used the Underground Railroad to escape to freedom.

Marietta House Museum is on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Recommended for ages 8 and up. Please register on www.pgparks.com.
Call 301-464-5291 or email [email protected] for more information.  $5 per person.

Marietta House is a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site.

Friday, September 13, 2024
Two Options:
11 a.m. - noon and
1 p.m. - 2 p.m.

Marietta House Museum
5626 Bell Station Road
Glenn Dale, MD 20769
301-464-5291

The National Park Service is commemorating “Maryland’s Year of Civil Rights,” marking the 60th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the annual Harriet Tubman Emancipation Day, and International Underground Railroad Month with celebrations held at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center in Church Creek, MD. The National Park Service, its partners and descendant communities, have a multi-day event planned for the afternoon of September 13 and all day on September 14, 2024.

Join us for a two-day event of reflection, education, and inspiration as we explore the pivotal moments and heroic figures that have shaped the struggle for freedom and equality. Register today to see a series of programs, performances, and activities centered around the pivotal moments and people who influenced the end of slavery and the advent of civil rights in America.

This event will provide a unique opportunity to delve into the history and legacy of the abolition of slavery, and the civil rights movements, celebrating the courage and resilience of those who paved the way for justice.

Join us as we honor the past, recognize the present, and inspire the future. Together, let's walk the Footsteps to Freedom and continue the journey towards equality and justice for all. We look forward to seeing you there!

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park is a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program.

Friday, September 13, 2024 
11:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Saturday, September 14, 2024
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park
4068 Golden Hill Road
Church Creek, MD  21622
410-221-2290

Celebrate perseverance, education, and the cultural heritage of Africans, African-Americans, and Caribbean people of African descent at the 34th Annual Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival! The Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival is a free, family-oriented cultural celebration for all to enjoy live music and dance performances, world foods and artisan vendors, as well as heritage and history of the African Diaspora.

Kunta Kinte was one of 98 enslaved people brought to Annapolis aboard the ship Lord Ligonier in 1767. Despite many years in bondage, he never lost his connection to his African heritage. His great, great, great, great-grandson Alex Haley recorded this history, and the documentary Roots, dedicated to the Haley’s family Griot, reveals this story.  

In Gambia, West Africa, where Kunta Kinte was born in 1750, an International Kunta Kinteh Day Celebration is also held, including Diaspora Return Home speeches.. 

Saturday, September 14, 2024
10 a.m.

Navy Marine Corps Stadium (Blue Lot)
511 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, MD 21401

Celebrate the remarkable life of Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) who emancipated herself on September 17, 1849. Tubman not only claimed her own freedom but secured the liberation of others, returning a dozen times to Maryland to lead some seventy friends and family members out of bondage.

Founded at Button Farm in 2017, Tubman Day reveals Harriet's achievements through hands-on activities for visitors of all ages. Presentations, exhibits and vendors are offered in the pavilion.

Reflections on Freedom

“Reflections on Freedom” is this year’s theme for our Tubman Day celebration. Our event will be hosted by facilitators Venetia Bailey and Sally Colella, of Coming to the Table-Montgomery County (CTTT-Moco), who will engage guests in a conversation about “Freedom” between presentations by authors Anthony Cohen and Therese Taylor-Stinson.

Cohen will kick off our event with Five Steps to Freedom: Understanding Freedom Seekers, his recent article published by the National Park Service. Discover the key factors used by self-liberators—including Harriet Tubman—to successfully claim freedom on the Underground Railroad. How many of these qualities do you possess?

Following this will be keynote presenter, and phenomenal author, Therese Taylor-Stinson with selective readings from her book “Walking the Way of Harriet Tubman: Public Mystic and Freedom Fighter.”  Hear how “Harriet's lived spirituality illuminates a profound path forward for those of us longing for internal freedom, as well as justice and equity in our communities.”

To mark this global celebration, The Button Farm Almanac Tour, a new Network to Freedom program will be offered. The hands-on tour includes an interactive exploration of this former plantation landscape. The tour provides a sensory experience of the elements used by freedom seekers for their own liberation and provides participants with a deeper understanding of both the local and international Underground Railroad movements. It uses 19th- century artifacts, architecture, agriculture, and historical accounts to illuminate stories of freedom seekers and the impact they had on the surrounding communities and abolitionism.  

The Button Farm Almanac Tour is a new National Park Service National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program.

This event is FREE!

Saturday, September 14, 2024
Noon - 3 p.m.

Button Farm Living History Center
16820 Black Rock Road
Germantown, MD  20874
202-903-4140

Join the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum for an inspiring and enlightening lecture featuring Dr. Michael Fischbach, renowned author and expert on the intersections of the Black Power and Palestinian self-determination movements. Drawing on his extensive research, he will examine the historical ties, ideological parallels and mutual support between the movements and examine the impact of these connections on social justice movements, globally. This program is through a valuable partnership with Maryland Humanities.

The Banneker-Douglass Tubman Museum is a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program.

RSVP: https://bit.ly/BDMBlackPowerandPalestine

Saturday, September 14, 2024
1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum
84 Franklin Street
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-216-6180

The Mid-Shore Constitution Alliance is hosting “Our Journey to Liberty and Freedom,” their annual celebration of Constitution Day and Citizenship Week. Renowned actors Darius Wallace as Frederick Douglas and Kurt Smith as Thomas Jefferson will be featured, performing a conversation between the two.

In addition to the reenactors, the event will include the Sons of the American Revolution in period costumes for the color guard, a town crier to announce the Signing of the Constitution and a welcome from State Senator Johnny Mautz. There will be educational exhibits, constitution giveaways and red, white & blue Rita’s Ice. The event “Proclamation” will include a “Welcome” to new U.S. Citizens in Talbot County who have achieved citizenship credentials.

Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Noon - 1:30 p.m.

Academy Art Museum
106 South Street
Easton, MD 21601
410 822-2787
 

Trace the journey of notable Marylanders and explore their impact both nationally and internationally. This two-hour walking tour, offered by Watermark Journey in partnership with the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation and named a “Heritage Award Winner” by the Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area, starts at Market House Park across from Annapolis City Dock, where slave ships entered 300 years ago. The Alex Haley statue that marks the significance of the author of Roots and the journey of his ancestor Kunta Kinte is featured.

Symbolically, the stroll continues uphill through local history to the State House and the statue of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice. Hear of famous Marylanders, such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. Your period-attired guide will highlight the importance of the Underground Railroad in the Chesapeake Bay region. During colonial times, the labor of both the enslaved and free blacks was the cornerstone upon which the tobacco economy was built. In the 19th century, Maryland was home to more free African Americans than any other state.

Presently, Maryland continues to grow because of the important contributions made by her African American residents. Offered by Watermark Journey. The Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation receives 20% of the proceeds.

Registration required.
$24 /Adult  $10/Child

Saturday, September 21, 2024
1 - 3 p.m.

Market House Park
25 Market Space
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-268-7601

Sailing to Freedom: The Maritime Dimensions of the Underground Railroad highlights little-known stories and describes the less-understood maritime side of the Underground Railroad, including the impact of African Americans’ paid and unpaid waterfront labor. Self-emancipation along the Underground Railroad was not entirely by overland routes. A great number of enslaved persons made their way to freedom using coastal water routes along the Atlantic seaboard, including the Chesapeake Bay. Enslaved African Americans often escaped by sea aboard merchant and passenger ships, or smaller watercraft. Based upon the book, “Sailing to Freedom,” the exhibition expands the understanding of how freedom was achieved by sea and what the journey looked like for many African Americans.

The exhibition is supplemented by artifacts curated from Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s collection and other sources. This includes a model of a log canoe model representing boats used by freedom seekers in the mid-1800s, tools used by enslaved people working in the shipbuilding trade, and a painting of the Baltimore Clipper Young Brutus showing Black mariners on deck.

Opening in September, the exhibition will run through 2025.

Friday, September 27, 2024
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
213 N. Talbot Street
St Michaels, MD 21633
(410) 745-2916

Join Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission’s Archaeology Program and Darnall’s Chance House Museum for a commemoration highlighting how archaeological discoveries can facilitate discussions on the lasting legacies of enslavement in Prince George’s County.

Experience a new museum exhibit on the lives of Black women enslaved at Darnall’s Chance and learn how archaeology works to interpret the lives of underrepresented people in history. Listen to an all-women panel discuss the dynamic relationships of an 18th-century household and the lasting impacts of enslavement on today’s society. Join a fireside chat for continuing conversations on experiences and perspectives of the day.

Darnall’s Chance House Museum is a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site.

Saturday, September 28, 2024
4 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Darnall’s Chance Historic Site
14800 Governor Oden Bowie Dr
Upper Marlboro, MD  20772
301-627-1286

A full day celebration including a parade, welcome ceremony, children’s village, marketplace, exhibits, book signings, geocaching, a keynote speaker and entertainment.

September 28, 2024

Easton, MD

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and to coincide with Governor Wes Moore's proclamation of 2024 as Maryland's Year of Civil Rights, the Center for the Study of Democracy, St. Mary's College of Maryland, Historic St. Mary's City and Historic Sotterley will host a panel discussion titled "The Civil Rights Act in Southern Maryland: Yesterday, Today, and for Tomorrow." This program will feature distinguished panelists from academia, law, activist and advocacy circles and the museum studies community from the region to explore the legacy of the Civil Rights Act in Southern Maryland. We hope to stimulate dialogue, enhance learning, forge partnerships and promote civic engagement within the Southern Maryland community.

A pre-event reception with light refreshments will take place at 6 p.m. in the lobby of the Dodge PAC.

Tuesday, Oct 1, 2024
7 - 8:30 p.m.

Nancy R. and Norton T. Dodge Performing Arts Center Concert Hall
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
47855 College Drive
St. Mary’s City, MD 20686

As the War of 1812 raged into the summer of 1814, British troops sailed up the Patuxent River in a bid to take Washington, D.C. On their way, they stopped at the port of Lower Marlboro in what is now Owings to commandeer supplies and offered freedom to local enslaved men and women in exchange for their service to the British war effort. Fourteen people won their freedom that day, on what we now commemorate as Lower Marlboro Freedom Day.

Festivities include walking tours, speakers, entertainment, food and exhibits at the historic Lower Marlboro United Methodist Church and Lower Marlboro Hall in Owings. 

Download the Walking Tour Brochure

Saturday, October 19, 2024
11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Lower Marlboro Hall
3911 Lower Marlboro Road
Owings, MD 20736

Lower Marlboro United Methodist Church
6519 Lower Marlboro Lane
Owings, MD 20736