Currents of Freedom: Frederick Douglass, New Maritime Narratives, and the Underground Railroad Friday, March 20 | 5:30pm From Talbot County’s waterways to New Bedford’s wharves, Frederick Douglass is one of the most famous examples of an enslaved person who leveraged their maritime access and knowledge to claim freedom. Historian Timothy Walker weaves Douglass’s escape with emerging research on the Maritime Underground Railroad, including the recently rediscovered narrative of Thomas White from Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Walker will explore how evolving scholarship is reframing the Underground Railroad as a story deeply rooted in the sea. This program is presented in conjunction with CBMM’s exhibitions Bear Me Into Freedom: The Talbot County of Frederick Douglass and Sailing to Freedom: Maritime Dimensions of the Underground Railroad. This event is generously sponsored by the Upper Shore Regional Folklife Center. ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Dr. Timothy Walker (Hiram College, 1986; MA/Ph.D. Boston University 2001), Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, is a scholar of maritime history, colonial overseas expansion, and trans-oceanic slave trading. Walker is a guest investigator of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a contributing faculty member of the Munson Institute of Maritime Studies, affiliated faculty of the “Slavery North” initiative, and Director of the National Endowment for the Humanities “Landmarks in American History” workshops series for middle- and high school teachers, titled “Sailing to Freedom: New Bedford and the Underground Railroad” (2011–2022). Currents of Freedom: Frederick Douglass, New Maritime Narratives, and the Underground Railroad Date/Time: Friday, March 20, 5:30pm Location: Van Lennep Auditorium & available virtually Cost: Suggested ticket price of $8 per participant CBMM MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NON-MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO REGISTER Photo: Frederick Douglass, 1848.
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