By Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III
Dear Ridgely Family of Baltimore County,
The land remembers what people sometimes try to forget.
I was reminded of that 10 years ago while on a field trip to the Ridgely family estate at the Hampton National Historic Site. At the time, I was accompanied by youth from Orita’s Cross Freedom School, an African-centered educational program I started in Baltimore to examine Black history, culture, foodways, freedom and spiritual practices. Our Freedom School program often used Spring Break as an opportunity to teach Black children aspects of their history that we knew they would not be taught in the public school system.
On this particular trip during Spring Break 2016, we learned lessons about harsh chapters of slavery in Baltimore County on the once 25,000 acre Hampton Plantation owned by your ancestor Charles Ridgely and seven generations of his descendants.
On this plantation’s sprawling landscape, my students saw how chattel slavery unfolded right here in Maryland, and took note of the stark contrast between power and oppression.
While walking on the property, my students and I spotted the elaborate cemetery for members of your family. We even saw a cemetery for your ancestors’ pets. However, we did not see any marked cemetery for the Black people that your family enslaved. I was struck by the fact that your family’s pets were afforded something even in death that the enslaved Black people on your plantation were not.
Your family is one of many whose wealth was passed down for generations while the formerly enslaved on their land left the property or died with no investment, no retirement fund, no compensation for their labor and nothing to pass down to their descendants.
As Maryland residents confront its history and champion a growing reparations movement, the silence of families whose legacy is directly bound to slavery is striking and deeply ironic.
I am not asking you to carry the shame of your ancestors. I do believe, however, that those who inherited the benefits of such legacies should not remain hidden behind the veil of anonymity. There is a moral obligation to help join in this effort for repair in our state, to financially compensate the descendants of enslaved people on your family’s plantation and invest in the Black community in a way commensurate with your family’s wealth.
This open letter is an invitation to transform your family’s legacy into one that leads to reconciliation and healing through reparative action.
Your family’s public story need not end with slavery. You have a chance now to write new chapters that center healing and repair while aligning with the best of this state’s abolitionist legacy.
Your ancestors’ hands are not clean, but your conscience can be.
Will you join the effort to resolve this unfinished business?
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the AFRO.