Introducing, the Black History Seekers of Baltimore County Maryland

Betty Stewart, Aureilia Whelchal  William Holliefield, Angela Walton-Raji on in the field exploring sites.

"We are not makers of history, we are made by history"

Dr. Martin Luther King

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It is time for an introduction. We are a small group of history enthusiasts have decided to roll up our sleeves and explore the African ancestored history of Baltimore County.

The goal is to see what kinds of stories can be found, and to also walk the grounds and document the history of the people, and places that are part of the African American community. The group is focusing upon, but not limited to, the western part of the county. This includes Granite, Woodstock, Randallstown, Windsor Mill, Woodlawn, Catonsville, Reisterstown, and more.

Goals

The  goal is to go into the field, to explore find lost places, hear lost stories and document lost burial sites that are part of that story.
The goal is to identify some of those old landmarks, and photograph them as they appear today.
The goal is also to meet those people who contain the stories about many of those places.
The goal is to also support others who share the same interest in history, so that it will be preserved.

We shall go into the field, visiting old sites, including churches, cemeteries, schools and work sites. We shall also explore the records both federal and county, and we shall examine papers of both pre-and post Civil War era. In addition, we are interested in documenting 19th and 20th century records as well, and hope to tell the missing stories, and to put them back upon the historical landscape from which they came.

We also appreciate and acknowledge the work already shown in previous articles, and books about the region. Included among the works we admire are the efforts shown by Mr. Louis Diggs who assembled several books about Baltimore County over the years.

So, Our Projects Begin
One of the first projects of the Black History Seekers, has been to look at the African American history in the Woodstock, Granite Maryland area. In 2003 a survey of the African American districts in western Baltimore county focusing on Granite Maryland was conducted. The result of that survey is available online. From that survey there is much that can be gleaned about the community. In addition, there are images of properties owned by African Americans are included in the report as well as the names of some of the early Black residents of the community.

Readers are welcome to join us, share your old images, stories and artifacts that reflect the history of African American communities in Western Baltimore County Maryland.

~The Black History Seekers of Baltimore County~
Noreen Goodson
William Hollifield
Betty Stewart
Angela Walton-Raji
Aurelia Whelchal