Historic Sotterley and Descendants are Creating Connections

This fall our descendants continued to play an important role by sharing Sotterley and its stories with the community. In October, Board members Gwen Bankins and Jan Briscoe visited Asbury at the request of the senior living community, and their presentation “Beyond Color: the Power of Connection” was incredibly well received. They spoke about Sotterley’s work and mission, and how descendants are using their voices to connect the realities of our shared past to an understanding of our world today and to each other.

In November a group of 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade teachers from Charles County visited Sotterley to experience our education-based tours and activities for youth in a half-day program led by Katherine Humphries, our Education Coordinator. As part of the event, Jan and Gwen joined the group and again shared their perspectives on how Sotterley stories are told and understood. One of the visitors shared the following: “This was Vocabulary Matters! I enjoyed the way information was presented. It wasn’t a “this is what you should think” kind of a thing. It was factual, respectful of not just the people we were learning about but also of us as teachers and human beings, and stripped away the romanticized perspective into the nitty-gritty of the history. “

At the end of November, an organization was hosted at Sotterley for their monthly meeting: Inns of Court, a group founded and dedicated to promoting the highest level of professionalism in the practice of law. At the meeting, Gwen and Jan, accompanied by Nancy Easterling, spoke to the group, and the theme was “Historic Sotterley: Pursuing Social Justice and Equity by Finding Common Ground.”

Sotterley, with descendant leadership, continues to share the realities of its history to foster connections and promote understanding.

[This article is a repost of an article from the 2022 Winter Newsletter]