You are standing in front of a graphic panel titled “Separated by Slavery.” Below is an accompanying reader rail, flip book, and audio component. To your left is a graphic panel titled “Civil War: The Union.” To your right is a reader rail titled “Window on the Past: Agricultural Boom.” Behind you is an artifact case.

The panel in front of you includes text and five images.

The main text reads:

Separated by Slavery

In the years before the Civil War, Maryland slaveholders sold thousands of slaves to cotton plantations in the Deep South, where labor was in high demand. Slave sales shattered families, separating husbands from wives and parents from children.

Some enslaved people were able to reach freedom in the North by way of the Underground Railroad, a network of safe places and “conductors” aiding their escape. But they risked recapture and punishment and faced difficult choices about whether to leave loved ones behind.

The secondary text reads:

The Long Road to Freedom
Some local landowners were persuaded to free their slaves. But enslaved people often had to wait decades for their freedom. In 1832, John Sellman, a relative of the family who lived in this house, agreed to free any future children born to his slaves once they reached the age of 30.

The images include:

Two newspaper clippings showing rewards for escaped slaves. The caption reads:

Escaping Slavery
Alfred Sellman and John Contee both posted ads for runaway slaves. In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act made assisting or hiding runaway slaves a federal offense. This further energized the anti-slavery movement and accelerated movement toward civil war.

A black-and-white print of a slave trader inspecting an African man being sold into slavery.

A black-and-white print of fugitive slaves escaping from Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

A black-and-white print of Ann Maria Jackson and her seven children, who escaped from slavery on the Underground Railroad.