This Black History Month, we are celebrating the significant achievements and contributions of African Americans in our local and national history. Students in our programs are learning this history and its impact to create the foundation for emerging as current and future leaders. We are pleased to share the program highlights below and invite you to read, listen, and experience these stories in February and throughout the year.
Living Classrooms Expands Black Maritime History Curriculum
African Americans have historically played a large role in our region's maritime trades. In the mid-1800s, the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company was formed as the first Black-owned shipyard in the U.S. This site is now home to the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum, a national heritage site and Living Classrooms campus that is dedicated to celebrating the contributions of African Americans to the maritime industry. The Maritime Park also explores and honors the lives of renowned orator Frederick Douglass during his years living in Fells Point, and Isaac Myers, a free-born African American who helped create the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company. During WWII, African Americans worked in Baltimore's shipyards constructing Liberty Ships, Victory Ships, and other naval vessels to help with the war. Despite this rich history, many are unaware of these significant events and/or the potential for maritime careers in military and civilian workplaces.

Living Classrooms will be bringing the experience of visiting the Douglass-Myers Maritime Park to students and families living in the Baltimore Target Investment Zone with a virtual program focusing on the history of Blacks of the Chesapeake and also African American roles in WWII on Baltimore's Harbor. During this challenging time when in-person instruction is restricted, Living Classrooms is developing virtual programming that inspires students to learn and explore in an interactive way that transcends classroom instruction.

Virtual lessons will examine the history of African Americans in the maritime trades from ship caulkers to shipyard workers to U.S. Navy Admirals, and will chart the career paths of individuals such as Frederick Douglass, Isaac Myers, VADM Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr., and ADM Michelle J. Howard. Virtual tours will include living history portrayals of life onboard a 19th-century military sailing ship (USS Constellation), examples of work aboard a Chesapeake Bay Pungy Schooner (Lady Maryland), shipbuilding and repair demonstrations, and interviews with accomplished African American Naval and Coast Guard officers.

Thanks to support from JP Morgan Chase, we will share the extensive and vital role that African Americans have played in Baltimore's maritime history and will both inform and inspire students with this little-known local history. 
James C. Dent and the History of The Dent House Neighborhood
Living Classrooms’ James C. Dent House Community Center in Southwest Washington is an important Black history site in DC. The home for our College and Career Readiness and other programs of service to Southwest residents is linked to James Dent, a man born into slavery who became a free man and successful businessman and preacher, and also to extraordinary Black women civil rights fighters like Mary Church Terrell and Anna Julia Cooper.

Two notable Black history narratives merge in the Dent House, which was designated a DC Landmark by the city’s Historic Preservation Review Board in 2010. The first is the story of James C. Dent, who more than a century ago commissioned and built the two-story brick house where our community center is now located. Equally important is the story of the Colored Social Settlement, which was founded four years earlier in the same neighborhood and evolved into the Southwest Community House Organization with its headquarters in the Dent House. 
Harriet Tubman Exhibition Coming to Bearman Gallery and Homes Everywhere
The oppressive nature of violence in current times allows for an examination of similarities to the oppression of chattel slavery that America was built upon. Enter, Harriet Tubman, one of the original freedom fighters and the subject of the latest art exhibition coming to the Bearman Gallery on the third floor of Living Classrooms' Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum this spring. For the first time, the collection will also be fully accessible through a virtual portal that will transport visitors directly to the gallery through your computer as if you were standing in front of the pieces.
The Freedom Train exhibition, by artist Ed Towles, is about the spirit of overcoming inequities through the power of artistry. The exhibition coincides with and stands in juxtaposition to behaviors that confront humanity. Much has changed, yet much remains the same. The memory of Harriet Tubman lives as an African American iconic figure. As a conductor on the Underground Railroad that paved the way to freedom for so many, her legacy stands tall among freedom fighters in the accounts of social justice.  

"Across a myriad of current efforts, we are searching for ways to express how intentionally obscured history and legacy can be experienced authentically through African American contemporary artistry," Kibibi Ajanku, MFA, Curator-in-Residence, Bearman Gallery. 

While Living Classrooms looks forward to safely opening the gallery to visitors, this ambitious new format will make this exhibit accessible to all who wish to experience it, even if they can't visit the Douglass-Myers Museum in person. Please stay tuned for more information about this exhibit in future Newsletters, on our website, and on social media.
Podcast Explores USS Constellation's History During the 19th Century Slave Trade

The USS Constellation that resides in Baltimore's Inner Harbor was the flagship of the U.S. Navy's African Squadron from 1859-1861, during which time USS Constellation liberated hundreds and saved thousands of African hostages from being sold into slavery. During a recent Tall Ships America podcast, Nicolas Hardisty recounts the African Squadron's storied history aboard the USS Constellation during the 19th-century slave trade.

Our Ascend through Music Students Create a "Powerful" Anthem
For the first time, students in our Ascend through Music Program's Queen Beez group in Washington, DC and Baltimore's AMPlified group, came together to collaborate on this powerhouse remix. These young ladies took a creative spin on a popular song and redefined it as "We Are Powerful" to encourage, enlighten, and empower other young ladies in their cities and beyond.
Pendry Sunday Supper Series to Benefit Living Classrooms
The beautiful Pendry Hotel in Fells Point, Baltimore introduces a Sunday Supper Series in celebration of our partnership. The Supper Series intends to evoke Sunday meals around the dinner table with friends and family with delicious comforting food and meaningful conversation. Each week the Pendry will present a new multi-course menu from one of their esteemed chefs, all available for take-away and easy at-home enjoyment for parties of four. The sweetest part? $25 from each meal sold will directly benefit Living Classrooms Foundation.

February 21 | Chicken Box
February 28 | Elegance at Ease
March 7 | Pasta Pasta!
March 14 | Winter Grill
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