Maryland’s elected officials, along with residents and historians, gathered in Windsor Mill on a commemorative walk to honor Black History Month, retracing the path enslaved people once took toward freedom.
The march started at what is now an auto parts store and culminated at Emmarts United Methodist Church, a historic landmark that served as a safehouse for those escaping slavery in the 1700’s.
Today, the site at the intersection of Rolling and Dogwood Roads looks like any other suburban corner, with strip malls, single-family homes and a white church with a red door. However, hidden beneath the church’s steeple is a reminder of its past: a belfry with a secret trap door, once used to conceal formerly enslaved people.
Before it became Emmarts United Methodist Church in 1872, the land was home to Nicholas Smith, a cooper and abolitionist who played a vital role in aiding enslaved people on their journey to freedom.
“Because he was a cooper or a barrel maker and a freight operator, he had the ability to carry all kinds of equipment,” said Linda Dorsey Walker, a local activist, and great-granddaughter of Howard Wilson Dorsey, who was formerly enslaved.
Dorsey Walker went on to say that Smith made 36-gallon and 52-gallon barrels which were used to transport the ‘runaway slaves.’
“He would literally roll empty barrels down Rolling Road, “ she said, speculating this could be how the street got its name.
“Instead of rolling empty barrels, he decided, ‘Let's put some slaves in.’ Keep in mind people were much smaller than we are today,” Dorsey Walker joked.
The journey, though short — only two-tenths of a mile — was perilous.
If caught, the escapees could face severe punishment, including whipping, imprisonment, or being sent back into slavery. Abolitionists like Smith were not immune from danger, either. They risked physical violence, social ostracization or the loss of property.
Escaping slaves used coded signals to navigate their way to freedom. Ringing church bells indicated when to move, or hide. Moss on trees helped guide them north toward liberty, in cities like Philadelphia, or back toward bondage in the South.
On a sunny Saturday, Black and white participants walked the same path freely, supported by a police detail and emergency responders who blocked traffic with a fire truck.
For local poet Maya Write, the contrast between the past and the present was striking.
“Back then, the police presence wasn’t for protection, but for patrol,” Write said, reciting a poem that drew parallels between the safety of today’s march and the dangers faced by those who walked before:
“On our path through the woods, there was no one rooting for us — just deep-rooted hatred.
A road of rotten bodies, and no rest stops.
Lord forbid you get tired.
You’d have a dirt nap, before reaching the Mason-Dixon destination.
It’s like they know sport the way we know survival.
And I swear it’s because we were never in the same race.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen acknowledged the attacks on civil rights in the current political climate, encouraging the group to march on, just as Harriet Tubman and other historical figures did.
”We now have a lot of people in Washington, in very high places, who want to erase our history,” Van Hollen said. “[But], all of the progress we've made in this country is because of people like the Emmarts — who walked one step after another, in the face of police batons, in the face of dogs, and they never gave up. So no, Mr. President, we are not going back.”
President Donald Trump has proclaimed February as Black History Month. In his proclamation, Trump honored figures like Thomas Sowell and Justice Clarence Thomas.
Van Hollen said he is working with Congressman Kweisi Mfume to preserve Black history landmarks in the Baltimore area, including PS 103, the school that Justice Thurgood Marshall attended.
He is also advocating for the National Park Service to include several Maryland sites in the Underground Railroad Network.
After the march, Mfume gave the keynote speech, emphasizing the importance of preserving legacy and taking collective action to address lingering social ills.
"Today we have a great opportunity to have victories in our society, to push back against the things that we see now are evolving,” Mfume said.
“150 years ago, we couldn't read, or speak the King's English. But they made it out of plantations so that we could get to the university, educate ourselves, get a job and raise families. Those spirits are with us. Trust me, trust me."
Church member LaTonya Lawson Jones trusts God. She finds comfort in spirituals that carried her ancestors from the hardships of slavery, through the Underground Railroad. She believes those same songs will carry her today.
“Sometimes I feel discouraged, and deep I feel the pain,” Lawson Jones sang, her voice rising above the crowd.
“But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again. There is a balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole,” belting in a soprano that filled the air.
