Guest Column: A semester's conclusion

We were pleased to see the findings of our class, HIST429: Knowing Our History: African American Slavery and the University of Maryland, receive attention in both an article April 7 and a staff editorial the following day. While both articles accurately reported many of our findings, the headline on the first story seemed to suggest our findings were in some way inconclusive.

We would like to make clear our research has uncovered information that casts new light on the realities of life for enslaved people in and around the area where this campus is now situated, as well as on the relationship between slavery and the founding of the university.

The Maryland Agricultural College, the university's predecessor, was founded in 1856 at a time when agriculture in the state was undergoing major transformations in the nature of production and in the labor force, as farmers shifted from tobacco to grain production. Grain production depended less on year-round labor. The need for slave labor in agriculture declined, and the use of wage labor increased. The founders of the agricultural college chartered the school for the purpose of training young gentlemen farmers in the new agricultural methods and practices that were emerging.

The university was founded by established slaveholders, who considered slavery a top priority in both political and economic terms. The money these trustees contributed to the founding of the agricultural college was derived from slave labor. There are visual reminders on our own campus of the school's ties to the institution of slavery, such as the plaques on the main gatehouse that honor the men who were the fathers of the university. The trustees' involvement in the institution of slavery reveals the college's deep roots in the exploitation of hundreds of men and women throughout the state.

Rossborough Inn, the oldest building on the campus, is yet another daily reminder of slavery's influence on this land. During our research, we looked through many runaway ads and found one in particular that documents the escape of Levi, a slave who once worked at the Rossborough Inn prior to the founding of the agricultural college.

With regard to slave life in the area, we found that the university's founder, Charles B. Calvert, had an unusually close relationship with one of his slaves, Adam Francis Plummer. Adam left behind a diary that offers us a rare glimpse not only into the life of our founder's own slaves but also into the life of Prince George's County slaves in general.

Additionally, in response to the staff editorial on April 8, we would like to stress that our research team has not yet made any recommendations concerning the issue of an official apology or other matters. Our research and recommendations for what to do with this information will be presented to the campus in a report by the end of the semester. We think that university President Dan Mote will be in a better position to interpret and address the issues of slavery's ties to the university once he has received this final report.

We would like to take this opportunity to invite the campus community to join us at another presentation of our research on Maryland Day, April 25. If you have any questions or comments concerning our project, we strongly encourage you to visit our website and share your views with us at www.history.umd.edu/slavery.

Natalia V. Cuadra-Saez is a sophomore history and classics major writing on behalf of the HIST429 class. She can be reached at ncuadra@umd.edu.