In honor of Black History Month, the
JHU Museums
will present "Tales of Enslavement: New
Research from Cliveden and the Chew Family Papers," an
illustrated lecture by Philip R. Seitz, curator
of history at Cliveden of the National Trust, the Benjamin
Chew family home in Philadelphia.
The lecture will begin at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19
in the Bakst Theatre at Evergreen
Museum & Library.
The Chews were among the largest slaveholders in
Philadelphia, and perhaps Pennsylvania. Their
papers, currently being preserved and catalogued at the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, are
providing new details about the history of slavery in the
mid-Atlantic region.
In his lecture, Seitz will recount several slave
stories as conveyed in the papers, including that
of a Baltimore slave named Charity. Owned by Charles
Carroll of Carrollton, Charity had been sent to
Homewood, Charles Carroll Jr.'s summer house, to serve as a
maidservant to Carroll's daughter-in-law,
Harriet Chew.
In 1814, Harriet separated from Charles Jr. and
brought Charity home with her to Cliveden.
The Chew and Carroll papers contain a string of 18 letters
debating who had custody of Charity. They
also document attempts to return her to Maryland in order
to avoid Pennsylvania's abolition laws.
Admission to the lecture is free for students and JHU
Museums members and volunteers; $6
general public; $3 volunteers of Greater Baltimore History
Association member sites. Seating is
limited; reservations are requested at 410-516-5589.