In 1790, the Ridgely family’s Hampton Mansion was the largest house in the United States. Who worked to keep this enormous estate running efficiently? Who labored in the surrounding gardens and, a little farther away, in the lucrative, but treacherous iron furnaces? Join us to hear Gregory Weidman, Curator, Hampton National Historic Site, talk about her recent research as a member of the Hampton Ethnographic Team that worked for three years to uncover and document the lives and families of those enslaved on the Hampton estate.

For more than two centuries and for almost two million people, Baltimore was the destination that promised hope and opportunity--a new life. For this talk, historian Jack Burkert will discuss the realities of immigrating to America. Beginning in the 18th century, and accelerating through the 19th century, immigrants provided the labor force necessary for Baltimore to become an industrial powerhouse. Throughout the 20th century, new arrivals from other parts of America continued to fuel Baltimore’s growth. Who were these people? Where were they from? Why did they leave home? We hope you’ll join us to explore these questions and more at this lecture!

Join Baltimore historian and educator Wayne R. Schaumburg as we look at Baltimore's role in the American Revolution. Discover our town's unique response to the Stamp Act crisis. Learn about a group of soldiers called the Maryland 400, many of whom were from Baltimore, that saved Washington's army at the Battle of Long Island. Did you know that Baltimore was the capital of the United States for three months? Finally we answer the burning question: did George Washington sleep here?

Nashville, August 1920: Thirty-five states have ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, twelve have rejected or refused to vote, and one last state is needed. It all comes down to Tennessee, the moment of truth for the suffragists, after a seven-decade crusade. Join us as author Elaine Weiss discusses her new book “The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote” where she tells the story of activists winning their own freedom in one of the last campaigns forged in the shadow of the Civil War, and the beginning of the great twentieth-century battles for civil rights.