Interest in the land picked up again when Professor Tina Hirsch Sheller \u201974<\/span><\/strong>, who was part of the Historical Preservation Program and who now co-directs the Visual and Material Culture Program, recruited two students in 2011 to do an independent study of Epsom. The project grew to include one of Sheller\u2019s historic archaeology courses, and an exhibit to show their findings opened in the library the next year.<\/p>\n Then President Jos\u00e9 Bowen tapped Assistant Professor James Dator in 2018 to lead a new initiative centered on the people\u2014the Goucher History Project, now called the Hallowed Ground Project. \u201cAt the heart of the project,\u201d says Dator, \u201cis trying to tell the story of the enslaved people who labored on the land.\u201d Dator\u2019s academic work focuses on slavery in the Caribbean, so he knew how difficult this research can be.<\/p>\n Dator formed the steering committee, with 10 elected student representatives. One of the first items they wanted to address\u2014the language in the deed: \u201cNo part of said land or premises shall ever be leased, sold, transferred to or occupied by any person of the African Race,\u201d read the deed of sale. The language remained in the deed for nearly a century.<\/p>\n Other aspects of the project don\u2019t lend themselves to easy successes. At Epsom, Dator says, the stories of the enslaved people \u201chave been largely silenced in the historical record. And it\u2019s a very challenging task.\u201d It\u2019s a task that Dator insists must be led by the students and their interests. Hannah Lane \u201918<\/span><\/strong> agrees. Lane got involved through one of Sheller\u2019s classes, and eventually joined the steering committee. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a top-down thing,\u201d she says. \u201cThis isn\u2019t something the faculty want to dictate to students, or to shape per their own interests.\u201d<\/p>\n Sophia Lipman \u201918<\/span><\/strong> was also one of Sheller\u2019s students who became a student representative on the steering committee, and she says its first goal was to identify its goals\u2014that is, what the students most wanted to see happen. Over the year, the group of alumnae\/i, faculty, staff, and students created a number of proposals, and are now focused on how to implement them.<\/p>\n One of the first projects is to digitize the papers of Henry Banning Chew, who was married to one of the Ridgleys and who took control of Epsom in 1829. The papers are stored at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the society\u2019s archivist is currently going through the collection to quote Goucher a price. The research is important for reasons greater than a complete record. \u201cWe want to tell those people\u2019s stories,\u201d Dator says, \u201cand use that history to educate the Goucher community about the history of slavery and race, not only on the land but in Maryland and in its role in the broader American story of slavery and race in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n Lane, Lipman, and Dator agree on the need to make this project integral to the Goucher experience. Lane says they want to change the culture and the historical memory at the college, which Lipman says includes making it part of the academic structure. They envision integrating the results into the curriculum, perhaps as part of the first-year experience. Eventually, summer field schools could conduct archeological work. Everyone wants to see a physical memorial on campus.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do we reclaim a history that has in large part been forgotten or ignored?\u201d says Dator. \u201cTo me, the name \u2018hallowed,\u2019 and making it hallowed, is about restoring a memory. I was so moved by the students\u2019 connection and dedication to doing this project right and in a professional way. It struck me that we\u2019re not just doing a research project. We\u2019re doing a project to instill memories in future generations. It\u2019s about making it hallowed for our community and the broader community, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Historical research can take years, and the next several years of the Hallowed Ground Project will be devoted to it. Some students like Lane and Lipman have already graduated without seeing many results, and that\u2019s part of why both women are staying involved with the committee as alumnae. Lipman now volunteers as the campus education advisor, helping to bring students on to the committee. \u201cMy role is to work with students, listen to them, and be an advocate for what they need and what concerns they have regarding the project,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Lane, who now works at the Maryland Historical Society, says, \u201cA very big concern for me is what the students are feeling and what they want\u2014what they need\u2014for this project, especially Black students,\u201d she says. \u201cI was a Black student working on this project, and there were so many times I was working on my research where I was alone and really overwhelmed or frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n She went on, \u201cWhat\u2019s really important about this project, what to me is so urgent about this, is finding a way to memorialize the formerly enslaved Black people who were held in bondage here. People were abused; people died. They were torn away from their families. And they also built\u2014from what I can glean from the record\u2014really strong and resilient relationships. And many of them survived slavery and built lives in Towson and in Baltimore. This project is one way we can speak to, as best we can, the loss and the harm and the survival, and also the legacy of slavery in Maryland and in our personal spaces. And I think Goucher is a personal space for current students and for alums\u2014for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written in to Goucher\u2019s land are the overlooked stories of the enslaved people who lived there. The student-led Hallowed Ground Project is trying to change that. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":352,"featured_media":3320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7935],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[87484],"class_list":["post-3258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-goucher-today"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/files\/2020\/01\/web-HallowedGround_logo_highres.png\"){kind=logo}
In October 2018, by coincidence, Maryland passed a state law allowing for the removal of racist language from such documents. By September 2019, the Goucher College Board of Trustees had voted to strike the language, and the deed was filed with the Baltimore County Circuit Court in October. It was a concrete action with a satisfying result.<\/p>\n