Category: Consulting Historian

Eastern Shore Church Added to National Underground Railroad Network

In recent months, I have worked with national, state, and local stakeholders to meticulously research and write nomination reports for sites to be included in the National Park Service (NPS) National Network to Freedom. This network highlights the courageous acts of resistance against enslavement through escape and flight on the Underground Railroad.

Union Bethel AME Chuirch Underground Railroad
Union Bethel AME Church in the summer of 2023

These comprehensive applications undergo a rigorous review by a panel to ensure they meet evidentiary standards before being added to the national registry. I am thrilled to share that the Park Service announced on April 22 that Union Bethel A.M.E. Church was added to the network. The application was submitted for the January round of the semi-annual process.

This significant recognition underscores the church’s pivotal role in the fight for freedom and equality. During the antebellum era, the church stood as a beacon of hope and refuge for countless individuals seeking liberty and justice. This achievement celebrates the church’s enduring legacy as a symbol of resilience, courage, and determination.

The Eastern Shore Church’s inclusion among the 19 sites spanning ten states granted this prestigious designation, which is a powerful testament to its significance in American history and the Underground Railroad.

This nomination received support through a partnership between the Maryland Office of Tourism and Cecil County Tourism in cooperation with the church.

Professor Michael Dixon – History With Purpose

From WilmU, the magazine of Wilmington University

Wilmington University Adjunct History Professor Michael Dixon is deeply committed to studying local and regional history. His passion, he says, is ignited when he shares his knowledge with students and the community.

Fortified by graduate degrees in History and Behavioral Sciences, Dixon brings his extensive research and love of history to the classroom. He’s also a visiting scholar for several humanities councils and other organizations.

As my students engage in active learning activities in these practical lessons, it helps them understand how the past connects with the present,”

Professor Michael Dixon

His research focuses mainly on Mid-Atlantic regional and local history. He has worked extensively over three decades to encourage public interest and participation in preserving the area’s past and creating an understanding between earlier eras and the present. His work also focused on African American history, with topics such as the role of African American physicians before the Civil Rights Movement, the struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s, and a current examination of health care before the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s. He also has offered a discussion about the Jim Crow era and the Spanish Influenza of 1918, which swept the country and devastated America’s Black communities.

The article continues on WilmU, the official magazine of Wilmington University.

history professor michael dixon
Michael Dixon, in WilmU, the magazine of Wilmington University (Spring 2023, WilmU Magazine)

Researching Indigenous Land Ownership

Recently, I completed a study of land ownership, stewardship, and land culture for an academic institution. The core purpose of this study was to trace the ownership of the campus back to the European contact period so that an evidence-based ownership statement could be issued. These statements provide opportunities for conversations about indigenous heritage and culture associated with the ancestral ground while also reminding people they are on native soil.

Discussing the Impact of Disasters on a Community With Fox News

Various things make up the shared historical memory of a community. These narratives take assorted forms, but the most jarring materialize when an unthinkable tragedy strikes. Whether a storm or accident, the catastrophes are seared deeply into the collective memory of residents. They shatter many lives and became part of history in the aftermath — the shared experience remembered and passed down through the generations.

Disasters impact communities. pan american disaster impact on Elkton
Remembering the impact of the Pan American plane crash in 1963 on Dec. 8, 2022.

These large-scale disasters, which often change a community forever, are part of understanding the story of a place, so people want the disruptive occurrence documented. Thus in my community studies and social history practice, I sometimes do fieldwork centered on researching, documenting, and memorializing them. Often, the process involves oral history interviews, as people reflect and discuss recollections; for others, it happened so long ago that firsthand recall has faded, so the process involves archival research as stakeholders establish a remembrance archive.    

One project I worked on in 2013 was the Flight 214 Remembrance Archive, which marked fifty years since the accident.  On December 8, 1963, at 8:59 p.m. A Pan American jet on final approach to Philadelphia exploded in flight. That night, all 81 people on the jet perished instantly while hundreds of first responders rushed to a cornfield at the edge of the Delaware State Line.  One firefighter answering the alarm was Stewart W. Godwin. While searching the debris field, he suddenly collapsed and died. He was the first North East Fire Company member to die in the line of duty. 

Those connected with this tragedy don’t forget it; this year, as we marked fifty-nine years since the accident, was no exception. Too, major broadcast networks often mark the disaster. And this year, on December 8, 2022, the Fox Network asked me to discuss the disaster’s impact and how a northeastern Maryland town recalls it.    

More on Researching Disasters

Historical Research into a Railroad Disaster: Greenwood, Delaware

Young Railroader Edwin Road Killed in Greenwood Explosion

Interview With WBAL About Hurricane Agnes

Delmarva Pandemic of 1918 Archive

Remembering Three Mile Island in Maryland