Committees & Projects
Steering Committee
Meets regularly to plan the overall direction of MoCoLMP, set priorities for the coming year, and raise funds as needed. As the leadership team, the Steering Committee represents MoCoLMP to the public and to the other organizations. The Committee collaborates with the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project and the Montgomery County Commission on Remembrance and Reconciliation and is the liaison with the Equal Justice Initiative.
Members: Beth Baker, Tony Cohen, Alexa Fraser, Holly Syrrakos, Derrick Tabor, Neile Whitney
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History and Exhibits Committee
Conducts original research by collecting oral histories and documentation, in collaboration with other individuals, organizations, and communities. The committee planned and led the Remembrance Walk in Rockville that highlighted the history of local Black communities, including the paths of two lynching victims. The Remembrance Walk was also the subject of a photo exhibit which has been displayed in public libraries and schools in the County. The committee will also be working on a Remembrance Journey for Poolesville.
Facilitator: Paul Holmes
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Education Committee
Leads outreach efforts to teachers and students in public and private schools in the County. It implemented a successful Racial Justice Essay Contest for high school students, with the support of the Equal Justice Initiative. The committee conducts workshops on how to teach difficult history and how to incorporate this history into literature and poetry instruction. It also recruit students to volunteer at MoCoLMP events.
Facilitators: Caitlin Atkins and Lesley Younge
Communications Committee
Creates the member newsletter, updates the website, and posts to social media. It also conducts media outreach and publicity efforts for major events.
Facilitator: Beth Baker
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To join a committee to forward the work of MoCoLMP, send a message.
Mapping Plantations and the Enslaved Project
Work to identify and research plantations and farms that enslaved people in the 1860s.
Identify those who enslaved people around the time of the Civil War.
Identify those who were enslaved from this time period. To include those who escaped bondage, those who were eventually emancipated, and those who did not live to see emancipation.
Short-Term Goal:
Add to our Excel spreadsheet capturing resources and information.
Long-Term Goals:
Create and publish an interactive map identifying major plantations in Montgomery County, as well as the families that owned them.
Publish the names of the enslaved persons from each of these plantations.
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Mapping Historic Black Communities (HBCs) Project
Plan to add to the current body of research on Montgomery County HBCs, focusing on those established by the early 1880s. Document any links between HBCs and local plantations.
Update maps of historic Black communities in MoCo.
Research these communities—particularly the ones with less current or more scattered documentation—and tell their story.
Document any connections between people who were enslaved and our historic Black communities in the county.
Collect and publish the names of HBCs’ founding and significant families. As we find them, we will ask members of the descendant community to confirm these names.
Short-Term Goals:
Add information and links to MoCoLMP's Excel spreadsheet noting information on the 80+ HBCs.
Add to the growing list of founding and significant HBC families.
Be a resource for the Oral History group as they prepare for interviews.
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Oral History Project
Interview descendants of historic Black communities in Montgomery County about their memories of these communities and their history, from their founding into the Jim Crow era.
Short-Term Goal:
Add to the MoCoLMP spreadsheet capturing resources for this group.
Long-term Goal:
Produce videos from a variety of descendants on MoCoLMP’s YouTube page, website and social media that help fill out the history of our county’s HBCs, and to create audio and photographic portraits of those we interview.
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Racial Covenants Project
Many residences in Montgomery County have deeds with [now illegal] covenants banning Black people, Jewish people, or other groups from living there. This project will teach homeowners how to delete this language.
Short-term Goal:
Hold a webinar on racial covenants, followed by an in-person tutorial on how to identify and remove these covenants from deeds, while preserving their history.
Long-term Goal:
Educate the public on how redlining and covenants undermined wealth accumulation for Black families.
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Researching Racial Violence Project
Goals:
Continue research on lynchings in the county and identify descendants of victims and perpetrators.
Identify examples of racial terror (e.g., KKK), with a special focus on events since the 1890s.
Short-Term Goal:
Add to the MoCoLMP spreadsheet capturing resources for this group.
Long-term Goal:
Write one or more articles about racial violence in the county for our newsletter and other sources.
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To join a MoCoLMP project, send a message.