In the summer of 1864, a year and a half after Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation declared slaves in the Confederate states to be free, a black woman named Annie Davis, who lived in Belair, in Harford County, wrote Lincoln a letter. " Dear Mr. President, it is my desire to be free to go see my people on the Eastern Shore. My mistress won't let me. Will you please let me know if we are free?" It would not be until several months later, November 1, 1864 -- one hundred fifty years ago tomorrow -- that enslaved people in Maryland were declared free. How did it happen? And what happened next? Two scholars of emancipation join us to talk about it.
Ira Berlin is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland-College Park, a noted expert on the history of slavery and emancipation. His books include Many Thousands Gone and Generations of Captivity. Also joining us by phone is Christopher Haley of the Maryland State Archives, where he directs 'The Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland.'
You can find a host of events going on this weekend in honor of the abolition of slavery in Maryland at "Visit Maryland".
Want more on Maryland emancipation? We spoke with Charles Mitchell, editor of Maryland Voices of the Civil War, in 2009.
