Enduring Connections

Historical records can provide powerful and robust stories about African Americans' resilience and grit throughout the history of this country. By diving into the family history of a local sports hero like John B. Sample Jr., Summer 2022 Smithsonian Institute intern Asia Bender hopes that people will be empowered and inspired to research their own family history—just like she did during my summer on Delmarva.

In the years after Emancipation, many Black families in the Delmarva region had their children taken away from them and bound into apprenticeships. The story of Martha Brown, a Caroline County woman, personifies what it took to recover your children with help from the Freedmen's Bureau.

The Republic of Liberia in Africa was a colony formed by the United States to relocate freeborn and emancipated Black people as an end to slavery. Former Enduring Connections fellow, Rihana Stevenson, writes about this piece of Delmarva history and the records that support it in this story.

In the summer of 1855, Samuel Miles fled from slavery in Somerset County, Maryland. Using sources in the Enduring Connections database, we can discover more about Miles and other Delmarva families who traveled the Underground Railroad.

Created by Salisbury University graduate history student, Allison Stancil, in her fall 2021 digital humanities internship, this tour has made it easier than ever to trace the footsteps of the past with a walking tour highlighting Salisbury’s Black history.