On Tuesday, May 18th at 6:30 p.m. Jean Wortman will present a lecture based on her 2015 Master of Liberal Arts Capstone Project from Johns Hopkins University which was titled “Contested Space: Race and Memory on the Talbot County Courthouse Lawn.”
Ms. Wortman will consider questions like these:
- How has the memory of the Civil War and Talbot County’s role in it been shaped by the Confederate statue that has stood on the courthouse lawn since 1916?
- What is the history of the Talbot Boys statue and the proposed monument to the Union soldiers?
- If monuments are a reflection of the social, economic, and cultural factors of the time in which they are erected, what was happening in Talbot County between 1912 and 1916?
Jean Wortman has an avid interest and many years’ experience in public history and museum education. She has worked or volunteered at many places in and around Talbot County and the Eastern Shore including the Starr Center at Washington College, Heart of the Chesapeake Heritage Area, Talbot Historical Society, Talbot County Free Library, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, and Maryland Humanities.
To register for this event, go here.
Kay Duehrssen says
Very interested
Kay Duehrssen says
This is an important discussion with a twittered history unknown to many
Keith Alan Watts, Esq. says
Verdigris
* * * *
Verdigris — Their complexion,
“Boys” ramrod straight,
Between You,
And Me. And the door to Justice.
Mute.
By The Courthouse Door.
The lifeless metal’s patina reveals nothing
On its face.
No feeling.
No emotion.
No regret or remorse.
For those thousands unwillingly thronged, in the searing sun, In bondage,
Sold in the Market of the Unfree there, on that spot.
Where “The Boys” now be.
Decaying.
By the Courthouse Door.
Not a neutral sentinel, like Blind Justice.
Just Blind.
Blind to heartache.
Blind to healing.
Blind to humanity.
Time to help Them.
Reach out and Help Them.
See . . . .
There was a time — there is a place.
Just not in Our Sacred, Hallowed Space,
By the Courthouse Door.
By the House of Justice, for All.
The Living born Free.
And Those who never were — or will now ever be . . . .
Something they could never be.
Free . . . .
So long as there are “Boys” in Verdigris,
By the Courthouse door . . . .
* * * *