“A Hard Road To Freedom: African Americans, Maryland, the Civil War & Emancipation”

Our guest speaker, historian CR Gibbs will examine the key factors in this prolonged political struggle involving crippling divisions within the state’s Unionist Party, the plight of African Americans in Maryland, free and enslaved, prior to emancipation and immediately after, and the heroic role that the Maryland regiments in the U.S. Colored Troops played in paying the price for freedom and the vote.

CR Gibbs is the author/co-author of six books and a frequent national and international lecturer on an array of historical topics. He has appeared several times on the History Channel, French and Belgian television, and he wrote, researched, and narrated “Sketches in Color,” a 13-part companion series to the acclaimed PBS series, “The Civil War” for WHUT-TV, the Howard University television station.  The Smithsonian Institution’s Anacostia Musuem features Mr. Gibbs among its scholars at the museum’s Online Academy website.  He is also a D.C. Humanities Council scholar.  In 1989, he founded the African History & Culture Lecture Series whose scholars continue to provide free presentations at libraries, churches, and other locations in the Washington-Baltimore area.  In 1997, he led 26 people across the African continent.  He won the 2008 Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation in Public Education, given annually by the Mayor of the District of Columbia.  In 2009, the Congressional Black Caucus Veterans Braintrust honored Mr. Gibbs for his more than three decades of articles, exhibits, and presentations on the military heritage of African and African Americans.  In 2011, he provided historical commentary for WUSA-TV, Channel 9’s coverage of the dedication of the King Memorial.  In February 2013, he also appeared in the PBS documentary, “Meet Me At Equality” on the 1963 March on Washington.  That same year, Mr. Gibbs also spoke at the annual observance of International Emancipation Day in Toronto, Canada.  In 2014, Mr. Gibbs was a featured speaker at the National Civil War Project, a joint event sponored by Arena Stage & George Washington University.  In 2015, Mr. Gibbs was chosen as one of the 50 most influential people in the city by the Washington Informer newspaper.