The annual Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Conference is set for June 1-2, 2018 in Cambridge, Maryland — just a few miles from the lands where Harriet Tubman lived and toiled, as well as the site of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center.
The two-day symposium focuses on the research about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. This conference invites historians, students, educators, genealogists, researchers, artists, musicians and community members to share and compare research, history research methods, interpretation, curriculum ideas, and creative artistic expressions with a growing community of enthusiasts. This year’s theme is “Sharing the stories, history is ours to tell.”
One of this year’s keynote speakers is Kenneth Morris, Jr., great-great-great-great grandson of the renowned social reformer and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave born 200 years ago in Talbot County, Maryland — just miles away from Tubman’s birthplace.
Another keynote speaker will be Vincent Leggett, president and CEO of The Leggett Group. He is also founder of the Blacks of the Chesapeake Bay, an organization that has documented the contributions of black watermen and their impact and legacy in the seafood and maritime industries. A man who wears many hats, Leggett will share at the Conference his powerful and epic poem, “Harriet Have You Heard?”
More than a dozen workshops will be offered and networking opportunities will abound. Workshop presenters include Diane Miller, Director of the National Park Service Network to Freedom, who will discuss Maryland’s unique Underground Railroad history; Angela Crenshaw, Assistant Manager of the Harriet Tubman State Park, who will connect that to William Still; and Tony Cohen, who will speak on “Captive Audience: Experiences from Slavery’s Past.”
Most of the conference sessions will take place at Cambridge Center of Chesapeake College, 416-418 Race Street, Cambridge, Maryland. The conference is reasonably priced — only $125 for the full conference, which includes dinner. You can also choose to attend on either Friday or Saturday for $35.
Registration for the entire event is $125 or $35/day, excluding the dinner. To register, visit www.htugrr.com. Registration is also available at the Harriet Tubman Organization, 424 Race Street in Cambridge, MD. For more information, call 410-463-0694.