Jacqueline Simmons Hedberg has familial ties to the southern part of Dorchester County. Since her retirement from teaching history, she has devoted her time to researching Hoopers Island and family connections. “Plantations, Slavery & Freedom on Maryland’s Eastern Shore” is the culmination of a major part of her study.
African Americans, both enslaved and free, were vital to the economy of the Eastern Shore of Maryland before the Civil War. Maryland became a slave society in colonial days when tobacco ruled. Some enslaved people, like Anthony Johnson, earned their freedom and became successful farmers. After the Revolutionary War, others were freed by masters disturbed by the contradiction between liberty and slavery. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman ran from masters on the Eastern Shore and devoted their lives to helping other enslaved people with their words and deeds. Jacqueline Simmons Hedberg uses local records, including those of her ancestors, to tell a tale of slave traders and abolitionists, kidnappers and freedmen, cruelty and courage.
Mrs. Hedberg will speak on her research at the Heritage Museums and Gardens of Dorchester on Tuesday, February 12th from 12 noon – 1:30 pm. This event is open to the public with a $3 charge for those not holding membership with the Dorchester County Historical Society. She will autograph and sell books that day. The Heritage Museums is located at 1003 Greenway Drive in Cambridge, Maryland. For information, call 410.228.7953 or email dchs@verizon.net.
