---
title: "The 'Humanization' of a Painful Part of Maryland’s Past"
date: 2026-10-23T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/the-humanization-of-a-painful-part-of-marylands-past"
section: Articles
---
# The 'Humanization' of a Painful Part of Maryland’s Past

*October 23, 2026* — by [Sala Levin ’10](/author/sala-levin-10)


> A new University Libraries exhibition brings to light the personal stories of some of the state’s enslaved people.

*A nod to Langston Hughes’ poem, the “I, Too, Sing America” exhibition hosted by the University Libraries in Hornbake Library showcases the research findings of the 1856 Project on UMD’s historical intersections with enslaved people and the African American experience. Photographed for Maryland Today on October 21, 2026.

Photo by Dylan Singleton/University of Maryland — A mural by local artist Jamilla Okubo anchors "I, Too, Sing America," a new exhibition on the legacy of slavery in the state of Maryland in Hornbake Library. (Photos by Dylan Singleton)*

<span>Sarah Miranda Plummer was born into slavery in 1842 at Riversdale, the mansion and plantation that was the lifelong home of Charles Benedict Calvert, future congressman and founder of Maryland Agricultural College (now the University of Maryland). At age 9, Miranda, as she was called, was sold to nearby slaveholders, separating her from her parents and siblings for 15 years.</span>

<span>Miranda’s story is one of the little-known personal narratives of enslaved people in Maryland and across pre-emancipation America explored in “I, Too, Sing America: The University of Maryland and the Legacy of Slavery,” a new exhibition opening on Friday in Hornbake Library. </span>

<span>“We wanted to tell specific stories of enslaved folks because usually they are just seen as numbers,” said Manuel Duran Mendez, a doctoral student in the College of Information Studies and one of the curators of the exhibition. “We wanted people to engage with them as more than just numbers.”</span>

<span>The exhibition features scholarship from University Libraries’ </span>[<span>1856 Project</span>](https://1856project.umd.edu/)<span>, UMD’s chapter of Universities Studying Slavery (USS), which is an international consortium of institutions exploring how slavery played a role in each of their histories. The </span>[<span>2026 USS conference</span>](https://1856project.umd.edu/uss-conference-2026)<span> is hosted by UMD and began on Thursday evening. </span>


*A nod to Langston Hughes’ poem, the “I, Too, Sing America” exhibition hosted by the University Libraries in Hornbake Library showcases the research findings of the 1856 Project on UMD’s historical intersections with enslaved people and the African American experience. — Photographs, letters, newspaper articles and other material from University Archives make up the exhibition.*


<span>“I, Too, Sing America,” which was named for the Langston Hughes poem that expresses the longing of Black people to be recognized as part of the American story, examines not just how chattel slavery contributed to the founding of the University of Maryland, but how it shaped the communities nearby. The historically African American neighborhood of Lakeland is a major focus. </span>

<span>“We wanted to tell a larger story about how that history isn’t just here, but how it intersects with so many spaces outside of this institution,” said Lae’l Hughes-Watkins, acting director of Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives, who also worked on the exhibition. </span>

<span>The exhibition’s contents, drawn from University Archives, features dozens of letters, photographs, newspaper articles, personal correspondences and more. They reflect history up until nearly the present day, including Diamondback articles about Black student activism on campus. </span>

<span>A mural, created by local artist Jamilla Okubo, takes up a wall of the exhibition space. It depicts a Black girl sewing an American flag, paying homage to 13-year-old Baltimore native Grace Wisher, who helped stitch the Star-Spangled Banner during her indentured apprenticeship to seamstress Mary Pickersgill; a silhouette of UMD’s campus statue of Frederick Douglass; and black-eyed Susans, among other symbols of Maryland.</span>

<span>Mendez said one historical fact he was struck by was the connection between College Park and Erie, Pa. During the 19<sup>th</sup> century, Lake Erie became a key stopping point for those traveling the Underground Railroad en route to Canada. Many enslaved people abandoning the tobacco fields of Maryland found shelter with Black residents of the New Jerusalem neighborhood of Erie; among them was Harriet Toyer, who was enslaved by John Henry Sothoron, a trustee of the Maryland Agricultural College. </span>

<span>Hughes-Watkins hopes that visitors to the exhibition will come away with greater insight into the real people who make up history. “Sometimes we feel like we know everything about this part of history, but we don’t know the people, the families on both sides — the people who enslaved or the enslaved,” she said. “This gives you that texture. It’s the humanization of that history.” </span>


**Sidebar note:**

“I, Too, Sing America” is open through next summer on the first floor of Hornbake Library.





**Topics:** [Campus &amp; Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community)


**Tags:** [Multicultural Community](https://today.umd.edu/topic/multicultural-community)


**Units:** [University Libraries](https://today.umd.edu/topic/university-libraries), [College of Information](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-information-studies)