A Mother's Inheritance: Women, Interracial Identity, and Emancipation in Maryland, 1664-1820

Inspired by my work at a local historic house museum in Maryland, I began this project with the intention of rejuvenating the interpretation of slavery at the particular site through the use of a scripted monologue that will be accompanied by a lecture. This public history thesis project is divided into three parts: an overview of museum theatre and public interpretation of slavery; a historical essay that will serve as a companion to the scripted monologue; and then the monologue itself. The monologue is designed to challenge audiences to reevaluate their preconceptions about the history of race and slavery, as well as the relationships that enslaved people had with the justice system. The historical essay is designed to provide the performer with the historical context for the production. From the late seventeenth- to early nineteenth-centuries, a series of laws were passed in Maryland that strengthened the institution of slavery as the prominent labor system. These laws held an equal influence over the concept of race, as it evolved from a fluid to a fixed model. Despite these changes, enslaved people often demonstrated cunning as they learned to use the legal system for their own purposes. Utilizing the story of one enslaved family of women, freedom petitions demonstrate not only how, over six generations, the law came to define race, but also the local impact of such changes through the examination of witness, plaintiffs, defendants, judges, and lawyers