Timeline

The Doctrine of Discovery asserted that Christian nations had a divine right to claim absolute authority over any newly discovered non-Christian lands.

The United States Colored Troops Memorial Statue honors the more than 700 African American soldiers and sailors from St. Mary’s County, Maryland who served in the Union forces during the American Civil War.

Juneteenth is a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, and is sometimes called Freedom Day.

The Piscataway hosted the annual American Indian Movement (AIM) conference and called it “In the Spirit of Tecumseh”.

Enola Pettie McMillan became the first woman to hold the position of National President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Turkey Tayac was buried on ancestral lands in Piscataway National Park in Accokeek, Maryland.

Pauli Murray was ordained at the National Cathedral as the 1st African American female Episcopal Priest.

Marriage between African Americans or Asians and whites was no longer considered a crime punishable by imprisonment.

Elizabeth Barber Walker enrolled in St. Mary’s Junior College as their first Black student.

In 1958 the three counties of Southern Maryland formed a regional library association.

The St. Mary’s County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was approved by the national organization in 1946.

Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons was the first naval amphibious training base in the United States.

Benjamin Banneker High School opened its doors in 1934 and was the first public high school for African Americans in St. Mary’s County.

The first Rosenwald School in Calvert County opened in 1921.

Matthew Henson, noted African American explorer, traveled with Robert Peary and four Inuit guides, and became the first to set foot on the North Pole.

Saint Inigoes Colored Parochial School, which met at St. Jerome’s Hall, was the first Catholic school for African Americans in St. Mary’s County.

Celebrations were held across Southern Maryland when the 15th Amendment was passed, giving Black men the right to vote in America.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of the Potomac, bringing an end to the Civil War.

A State Constitutional Convention was held on April 27, 1864, during which a new constitution was written, outlawing slavery in Maryland.

James Harris and William Barnes, members of the United States Colored Troops and native St. Mary’s Countians, were awarded the Medal of Honor for their heroism.

People held in bondage in the Confederate Staters were proclaimed free by the Emancipation Proclamation.

Fort Sumter, South Carolina, was fired on by Federal troops, which launched the American Civil War.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required that freedom seekers be returned to their owners without due process of law.

After the July incident, slaveholders were terrified so created a special militia.

A group of 272 people enslaved by Maryland’s Jesuit priests were sold in September 1838 to help save Georgetown University.

Milly Cooper was charged with harboring a freedom seeker and convicted on September 1, 1828.

During the British occupation of Southern Maryland many enslaved men joined the British forces in hope of gaining their freedom.

Piscataway and other tribes defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, Ohio.

The Royal African Company’s ship Generous Jenny was the first documented middle passage ship to deliver enslaved Africans directly to Sotterley.

In an act passed during the 1671 legislative session, the Assembly expressly stated that the baptism of an enslaved person would not lead to freedom.

The Governor and council agreed to allow the Mattawoman to continue to live on their old habitation grounds, where the English could keep command over them.