By James Matheson
The 1856 Project hosted its inaugural symposium on Feb. 1 as part of a movement for the University of Maryland to recognize its past and courageously move forward.
The symposium was hosted in the Adele H. Stamp Student Union and attracted around 360 students, faculty, researchers and community members, according to Program Administrative Specialist and UMD alum Mouhanad Al Rifay.
The 1856 Project uncovered the origins of the land that this university was built upon. The researchers and historians involved revealed the identities of the enslavers and those they enslaved.
“Just knowing what was once on the land that you’re standing on — who is this building named after? I think it’s important to know the histories of the spaces you’re in,” said Mia Moore, a senior at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Moor contributed to the project through the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences Summer Research Initiative.
UMD, formerly the Maryland Agricultural College, was established in 1856. UMD’s history has been polluted by the land donated from Charles Benedict Calvert’s Riversdale Plantation since its inception.
During the BSOS Summer Research Initiative, Caylee Song Larios, a senior majoring in history and criminology and criminal justice, was tasked with further investigating the origins of Calvert’s land. In doing so, she discovered a connection between Calvert, slave owner John Eversfield, and an enslaved man named Gassaway Greenleaf. Eversfield donated the land which now exists as the University of Maryland Golf Course.
“This is the historical context in which the university was founded. Therefore, we know that slave owners founded this university. The wealth that contributed to the founding of the university was because of enslaved peoples,” Larios said.
William Goldsborough was on the Board of Trustees at this university in 1859. He enslaved at least 55 individuals. His father in law, Edward Lloyd V was a former governor of Maryland and enslaver of Fredrick Douglass, according to The 1856 Project.
These are the institutional connections to slavery that The 1856 Project’s inaugural symposium disclosed, creating a conversation of accountability and progress.
“I think it would be really hard to interact with a space every day and not know the story of that space. I think that’s part of the experience. And I think it’s a great initiative, learning the history of the campus,” Moore said.
The 1856 Project staff also reflected on visible changes around campus. Al Rifay, an immigrant and political asylee from Syria, has noticed a particular change since his time here as an undergraduate student.
Al Rifay works in Hornbake Library, where in front of the huge Georgian columns, proudly stands a nearly half-ton symbol of change.
The statue of Fredrick Douglass did not exist in 2014 when Al Rifay graduated from the University of Maryland.
This, and the work of The 1856 project are keys to the growth and acceptance occurring around College Park and this campus.
“So for a person like [Douglass] and person like me who is an immigrant … seeing the full circle of a man who was enslaved in the state, who was not allowed to get his [formal] education in this state, who fled the state to freedom…is now standing [in a central location] on campus,” said Al Rifay.
Featured Image: Mia Moore and Caylee Song Larios present their research at The 1856 Project inaugural symposium on Feb. 1, 2023 in College Park, Maryland. Photo from Stephanie Cordle of the University of Maryland Office of Marketing and Communication.