{"id":84171,"date":"2025-10-17T11:13:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T11:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/84171\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T11:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T11:13:13","slug":"from-the-eastern-shore-to-st-marys-city-kin-rooted-in-hope-brings-marylands-past-to-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/84171\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Eastern Shore To St. Mary\u2019s City, Kin: Rooted In Hope Brings Maryland\u2019s Past To Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kin:Image: Left: Jeff Coleman, Carole Boston Weatherford, Jeffery Boston Weatherford at St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland<\/p>\n

ST. MARY\u2019S CITY, Md. \u2014 Kin: Rooted in Hope<\/a> was selected by Maryland Humanities<\/a> as 2025\u2019s One Maryland One Book. It was written by Carole Boston Weatherford and features art by her son, Jeffery Boston Weatherford. The book uses poetry and illustrations to follow Weatherford\u2019s ancestral bondage at the Wye House plantation in Talbot County, Maryland, tracing their lives from enslavement through the Civil War and Reconstruction.<\/p>\n

The One Maryland One Book<\/a> program held a season-closing author presentation event on Oct. 8 at St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland<\/a>. Maryland Humanities Program Officer Aditya Desai explained that the reading initiative aimed to create spaces for learning and connection. The program included more than 150 events each year, ranging from readings and lectures to film screenings, music and dance performances, and walking tours.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s theme was, \u201cWhat We Collect, What We Tell,\u201d and it asked communities in Maryland to consider how history is preserved and passed down. It invited reflection on how family heirlooms, letters and storytelling help communities understand who they are and where they come from.<\/p>\n

\"Kin:Image: Aditya Desai, Maryland Humanities Program Officer<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether your life is similar to Carole\u2019s or very different, the act of what she did \u2014 going into her family\u2019s past, seeing what research she could find, collecting the scraps, and then creating a work of art as a way of telling that story \u2014 is a very powerful thing,\u201d Desai said. \u201cIt preserves a story but also gives you a sense of control and agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

The One Maryland One Book Southern Maryland partners included St. Mary\u2019s County Library<\/a>, Calvert Library<\/a>, Charles County Public Library<\/a>, the College of Southern Maryland<\/a>, St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland and St. Mary\u2019s County Museums. Desai said the Southern Maryland Regional Library Association<\/a> and the Southern Maryland Heritage Area<\/a> also provided critical support.<\/p>\n

\"Kin:Image: Kin: Rooted in Hope<\/p>\n

Maryland History Preserved Beyond Words<\/p>\n

According to Carole Boston Weatherford, Kin: Rooted in Hope restored voice and dignity to people whose names appear only in ledgers and archives. Records, history and artifacts she found one by one pieced together her lineage on Maryland\u2019s Eastern Shore. She said that some of the people she identified may not have been directly related but were either living in bondage with her late ancestor Isaac Copper, living at Wye House or part of a neighboring plantation.<\/p>\n

\"Kin:Image: Carole Boston Weatherford<\/p>\n

\u201cI originally sought out to just tell stories about my family members at this plantation, but at Wye House alone, there was a community of about 300 enslaved people, and that community was called Long Green,\u201d Weatherford said. \u201cSo, I couldn\u2019t really do justice to the story by focusing just on my own family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weatherford learned that her ancestors co-founded the villages of Unionville and Copperville in Talbot County. Her research also tracked the activity of three major slave-owning families in Maryland along the Eastern Shore.<\/p>\n

Isaac Copper, Weatherford\u2019s earliest known ancestor, was documented in Kin: Rooted in Hope. According to Weatherford, he was a longtime slave living at Wye House who was like a foreman for the house labor. When he was older, he mainly worked as a doctor and a priest, and that inspired the poem \u201cThe Doctor\u2019s Cures.\u201d Uncovering Isaac Copper\u2019s history gave Weatherford a foundation for her research because his presence was documented for so many years \u2014 often his name was first on inventory lists, there were photographs, and prominent people wrote about him.<\/p>\n

\"YoungImage: Young Isaac, by Jeffery Boston Weatherford<\/p>\n

\u201cFrederick Douglass encountered him as an old man,\u201d Weatherford said. \u201cAt that point, Isaac Copper was no longer working as a house servant; he was a doctor or minister.\u201d<\/p>\n

By referencing Frederick Douglass\u2019s documented interactions with Isaac Copper, Weatherford situated her family history within the same historical landscape as a significant Maryland abolitionist. Reaching beyond one family, Kin: Rooted in Hope reflected the collective experience of African Americans who lived and labored on Maryland\u2019s Eastern Shore.<\/p>\n

\"Kin:Image: Frederick Douglass, Framed Scratchboard Art Display<\/p>\n

Award-winning illustrator Jeffery Boston Weatherford illustrated three books, including Kin: Rooted in Hope, using a technique called \u201cscratchboard.\u201d Weatherford said he was drawing with the light, as scratchboard involves using a dark overlay and scratching it to reveal the lighter color beneath. He said that he pulled people out of the darkness of history and preserved their story.<\/p>\n

\"Kin:Image: Jeffery Boston Weatherford<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m drawing and creating these images of our ancestors, of people who most likely never had any type of story written about them, bringing them out of the previous darkness of history,\u201d Weatherford said. \u201cLost to our memories, lost to everything, and then bringing them back into light \u2014 quite literally drawing with the light.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weatherford said he began his work on Kin: Rooted in Hope by reading his mother\u2019s poetry, meditating and letting images come naturally. Once he could see a poem in his mind, he found models who matched what he envisioned. He used himself, his wife, his mother and his niece as subjects in the artwork. For the illustration accompanying the poem \u201cThe Doctor\u2019s Cures,\u201d he posed himself with a mortar and pestle.<\/p>\n

Weatherford is a spoken word poet and MC, known internationally from the United States to the Middle East and West Africa for collaborations and educational initiatives. He has been recognized by the Association for Library Service to Children<\/a> and the National Council for the Social Studies<\/a> for his contributions to literacy and creativity.<\/p>\n

\"Image: Carole Boston Weatherford Engaging with Community, St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland<\/p>\n

Discussions Close One Maryland One Book Tour in St. Mary\u2019s City<\/p>\n

The final presentation for the One Maryland One Book brought the statewide conversation full circle. Readers who followed the program through local libraries and colleges gathered to hear the Weatherfords discuss how poetry and art reclaimed erased voices and honored the people who lived on Maryland\u2019s Eastern Shore long before their names appeared in history books.<\/p>\n

According to Jeff Coleman, chair of the English Department at St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland, through Kin: Rooted in Hope, the Weatherfords reminded readers that understanding history begins with listening to the stories that have been passed down \u2014 and that the communities of Southern Maryland remain part of that larger story.<\/p>\n

\"Image: Jeff Coleman, St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland, Chair of the English Department<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re honored that we were one of the sites for the One Maryland One Book this year,\u201d Coleman said. \u201cWhat we want people to take away from this opportunity is the rich cultural history that is in Maryland. That history is not only pertinent, exciting and relevant to Marylanders, but it spins throughout the whole country.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the discussion, community members asked about Kin: Rooted in Hope, the meaning of family history and how art and writing could preserve stories that risk being forgotten. Carole Boston Weatherford said that years of genealogical study and historical research informed the book. She emphasized that Kin grew out of both archival investigation and imagination.<\/p>\n

Jeffery Boston Weatherford discussed his artistic process and how illustrating the book deepened his connection to Maryland.<\/p>\n

\"Image: Kin: Rooted in Hope Audience Discussion, St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland<\/p>\n

Audience members also shared how the book encouraged them to explore their own family histories and connections with the past in Southern Maryland. Some expressed that hearing the Weatherfords speak made Maryland\u2019s early history feel more immediate and personal.<\/p>\n

The discussion reflected the goals of the One Maryland One Book program by creating dialogue that linked literature, history and community. The Weatherfords signed books, spoke candidly with people and thanked readers for engaging with their work and for welcoming their family\u2019s story into the wider narratives of Maryland.<\/p>\n

The presentation in St. Mary\u2019s City ended the statewide tour on a thoughtful note. Through poetry, art and discussion, Kin: Rooted in Hope reminded audiences that history is preserved not only in archives and museums but also in the voices of those willing to remember and tell it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole objective of the book is to reclaim some of those stories, to give voice to those whose voices had been marginalized, muted and sometimes even muzzled,\u201d Carole Boston Weatherford said.<\/p>\n

\"Image: Kin: Rooted in Hope Book Presentation<\/p>\n

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