Talking and Walking Common Ground: the Next Generation, will take place on Wednesday, November 1st at 7:00pm, and this event will be held in partnership with St. Mary’s College of Maryland. It will be an amazing way to end our Sotterley Presents: People and Perspectives series for 2024, and we have chosen the date of November 1st since it is also commemorated as Emancipation Day in the State of Maryland.

Our final installment of the “Talking and Walking Common Ground” series will bring a diverse panel together to talk about how the work of talking and walking common ground can be carried out by the next generation. Some topics covered will include: how do we create stakeholders within the younger generations? What new issues or challenges will the next generation face? How must the work and mission shift in the future to ensure success? Our panelists will include Jerry Gabriel, Associate Professor of English at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Caitlyn Hunter, Associate Professor of English at College of Southern Maryland, Jaelon Moaney, Co-Founder of The Needle’s Eye Academy and commissioner of the Maryland Commission of African American History and Culture, Ashlyn Conley, St. Mary’s College of Maryland Student, and Phoebe Tate, St. Mary’s College of Maryland Student.

This event is not only part of Sotterley Presents, it is also part of our Common Ground Initiative. The theme of “Talking and Walking Common Ground” was chosen for 2024 after the video of the same title was created last year and shown on our Day of Unity in 2022. The video can still be viewed on our Common Ground Initiative page: https://sotterley.org/common-ground

As part of our speaker series events this year, we held two other “Talking and Walking Common Ground” events. The first was a virtual film screening hosted by St. Mary’s County Library followed by a panel of descendants who gave their perspectives on Sotterley’s work and their connections with the site. The second was “Talking and Walking Common Ground: A Shared Vision in Action” where a panel of museum leadership discussed their journeys toward providing a more honest and inclusive history. This included their challenges, successes, and their site’s inclusion of descendants in this important work.

The event will take place in a recital hall at the Nancy R. and Norton T. Dodge Performing Arts Center at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. This is a free event for the public, but advance registration is requested as seating is limited. Walk-ins will be accepted if seating allows, but please check back to see if the event has been filled.

Register Here!