Join us on April 6 to hear archaeologist Adam Fracchia discuss his new book, Below Baltimore: An Archaeology of Charm City. Join Dr. Fracchia to explore the layers of the city’s material record from the late seventeenth century to the recent past by focusing on major themes around Baltimore’s growth into a mercantile port city, the city’s diverse immigrant populations and the history of their foodways, and the ways industries—including railroads, glass factories, sugar refineries, and breweries—structured the city’s landscape. 

Join us on May 18 to hear Richard Messick discuss the growth of the domestic slave trade in Baltimore, the various methods and locations of sale, and some of the more notorious traders in the business of selling people. After its incorporation in the late 18th century, the population of Baltimore grew very quickly along with the expansion of the new country. The market for the sale of people that grew up in the Mid-Atlantic region was also extensive. Although many of the associated buildings no longer exist, Richard Messick's research and mapping project show the deeply interwoven relationship between the trade of human beings and our streets of Baltimore.

For almost two million people, Baltimore was the destination that promised a new life, hope and opportunity. Beginning in earnest in the 18th century, accelerating through the 19th, immigrants provided the labor force necessary for Baltimore to become an industrial powerhouse. Early arrivals endured often tortuous Atlantic crossings under sail. Later steam powered ships sped the trip, but steerage accommodation offered little improvement to time spent at sea.  Who were these people? Where were they from? Why did they abandon their homes? On March 1, join Baltimore historian Jack Burkert to explore immigration into Baltimore.

The American Revolution was not only the colonies' triumphant liberation from the rule of an overbearing England; it was also a cataclysm that pulled in participants from around the globe and threw the entire world order into chaos. The "War of Independence" manifests itself as a sprawling struggle that upended the lives of millions of people on every continent and fundamentally transformed the way the world works, disrupting trade, restructuring penal systems, stirring famine, and creating the first global refugee crisis. On April 12, join acclaimed University of Maryland history professor Dr. Richard Bell as he upends much of what we thought we knew about the American Revolution.