The Lakeland Spirit: Through Digital Footprints

Please join us for “The Lakeland Spirit: Through Digital Footprints,” a virtual program of community heritage and stories about Lakeland--the century-old African American community in College Park, MD—on Thursday, November 19th at 7 pm. In this free public event, researchers and scholars will share a fraction of the nearly 1,300 archival materials created by current and former Lakelanders from 1950 to 1980 and collected during a series of community digitization days last year. Presented in partnership with the Lakeland Community Heritage Project, the University of Maryland’s Department of American Studies and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH), the event is made possible with a Common Heritage grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information and to register, visit https://lakelandchp.com. For more information about the Lakeland Digital Archive, visit https://mith.umd.edu/research/lakeland/.

In Prince George’s County, Md., Historic Black Community
Unveils NEH-Funded Digital Archives

            A century-old African-American community in Prince George’s County, Maryland, will spotlight some of the more than 6,400 photos, letters, oral histories, personal documents and official records it has collected, archived and digitized over the past thirteen years in “The Lakeland Spirit: Through Digital Footprints,” a virtual program of community heritage and stories, Thursday, November 19 at 7 p.m.

            In this free public event, researchers and scholars will share a fraction of the nearly 1,300 archival materials created by current and former Lakelanders from 1950 to 1980, and collected during a series of community digitization days last year. Presented in partnership with the University of Maryland’s Department of American Studies and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH), the event is made possible with a Common Heritage grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information and to register, visit https://lakelandchp.com and https://mith.umd.edu/research/lakeland/.

            Located within the municipal boundaries of College Park, Lakeland was established around 1890. A small group of residents with multi-generational histories in the community founded the Lakeland Community Heritage Project twelve years ago to preserve and document the community’s story. Reaching out to current residents and to Lakelanders throughout the county, state, and nation, LCHP initiated the digital history archives in 2014, with the cooperation of the Lakeland Civic Association, as well as academic and hands-on advising from faculty and students at the University of Maryland College Park. “Our collaboration is unique, as it honors the community’s ownership of their story and resources while equally valuing the scholarly viewpoint, expertise and contribution of the university.” said Maxine Gross, a founding member of LCHP.

The panelists who will discuss the digital archives are:

• Joanne Braxton, Ph.D., Frances L. and Edwin L. Cummings Professor of the Humanities Emeritus, William & Mary; CEO of the Braxton Institute: A Ministry of Teaching and Healing
• Violetta Sharps Jones, Historian and Genealogist of African American History in Prince George’s County, Md.
• Avis D. Matthews, M.A., Historian, school desegregation and black racial-cultural identity
• Marya Annette McQuirter, Ph.D., Curator, dc1968 project

Historian Omar Eaton-Martinez, Assistant Division Chief, Historical Resources for Prince George's County Parks & Recreation, will facilitate the discussion. The virtual presentation will be produced by MITH.

CONTACT:    Maxine Gross, 240-643-7264; Mary Sies, sies@umd.edu