Past Keynote Speakers
2014 Keynote Speaker Jeffrey Fortin, Ph.D., M.A.
Jeffrey
A. Fortin Ph.D., M.A., is Assistant Professor
of History at Emmanuel College, Boston. He has published several articles and
book chapters on forced migration, race and identity in the Atlantic world, and
in journals such as Atlantic Studies. The following is a listing of his work (from his website at Emmanuel College):
Journal Articles/Book Chapters:
- "Cuffe's Black Atlantic World, 1807-1817," in Atlantic Studies, Vol. 4, No. 2 (October 2007), 245-266.
- "Blackened beyond Our Native Hue:" Removal, Identity and the Trelawney Maroons on the Margins of the Atlantic World, 1796-1800" in Freedom on the Margins: A Special Issue of Citizenship Studies. Vol. 10, No. 1 (February 2006), 5-34.
- "'An Act of Deportation:' Jamaican Maroons' Journey from Freedom to Slavery and Back Again, 1796-1836," in Slaving Paths: Rebuilding and Rethinking the Atlantic World, ed Ana-Lucia Araujo, New York: Cambria Press, 2011.
- "Slave Resistance and Rebellion" in The Atlantic World, 1450-1850, ed. William O'Reilly, London: Routledge, June 2011 (Forthcoming December 2011)
Books
- Atlantic Biographies: Individuals and Peoples in the Atlantic World. eds Mark Meuwese & Jeffrey A. Fortin. Leiden: Brill Academic Press, (forthcoming 2013).
- Book Manuscript: "Paul Cuffe: Yeoman," in progress.
2014 Keynote Speaker Vincent Leggett
As
a young boy growing up in east Baltimore, Vince Leggett was introduced to the
Chesapeake Bay by weekend fishing trips with his father. “I caught the spirit of the Chesapeake,” he
recalls. “There was a freedom that came
with being on the water, away from the asphalt and concrete.” For more than thirty years, he has roamed the
expanses of the Chesapeake waterfront, tirelessly interviewing people, “hanging
out and mixing up” with waterside residents, and “suitin’ up and showin’ up at
Bay functions.
Since
his early childhood, Mr. Leggett has had a fascination with Harriet Tubman and
the Underground Railroad operating on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, particularly
the role the Chesapeake Bay, rivers and creeks played to help spirit fugitive slaves
to freedom. Leggett’s work has been
featured in the Annapolis Capital Gazette, Baltimore Sun, Washington Post, Star
Democrat and various other publications.
His article from his unpublished manuscript, “Chesapeake
Underground: Charting a Course to
Freedom” (2000) was featured in the Spring 2000 issue of the Maryland
Department of Natural Resources magazine and has been cited by numerous authors writing
about Tubman and the Underground Railroad.
Leggett has worked extensively with the EPA’s Chesapeake Gateways and
Water Trails Program identifying a number of key sites along Maryland’s
waterways as it relates to Underground Railroad activities.
In
2013, Leggett along with U.S. Senator Benjamin Cardin (Md.), Robert Stanton,
retired director of the National Park Service advocated for the passage of
legislation to establish the Harriet Tubman National Park in Dorchester County
Md. Leggett cited the connections with
the waterways in his interviews and testimony before the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee. U.S. Interior
Secretary Kenneth Salazar appointed Leggett to the Advisory Council for the
Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail in 2011 based upon his expertise
on African American history along the Chesapeake.
Mr.
Leggett is the founder of the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation and the
African American Land Trust, Inc. Both
organizations are dedicated to the preservation of history, heritage, and land
along the reaches of the bay. Mr.
Leggett is the author of The Chesapeake Bay Through Ebony Eyes(1999) and Blacks
of the Chesapeake: An Integral Part of
Maritime History (1997). He has also
developed a curriculum on Blacks of the Chesapeake, which is used by school
systems in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the District of
Columbia.
Currently,
Mr. Leggett is serving as a Maryland Humanities Council Scholar lecturing
extensively throughout the region on the role of African Americans in the War
of 1812. Mr. Leggett portrays Charles
Ball, a third-generation slave from Calvert County, Maryland who, after being
sold to a trader in the Deep South, escaped back to his home state. Upon his return to Maryland, he acted as a
free man and fought in the War of 1812 on behalf of the United States. In addition, Mr. Leggett was featured in a
nationally broadcasted documentary film shown on PBS again, chronicling the
many contributions of African Americans in the war of 1812 fighting for the
America and the British. He is
internationally known as an expert of African American history on the
Chesapeake Bay and frequently featured on NPR addressing various aspects of
their contributions.
For
over forty-five years, Leggett, an eloquent man with a contagious laughter, has
held public positions with Anne Arundel and Baltimore City Public Schools, Anne
Arundel Community College, the Anne Arundel County Housing Commission, and the
Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
He is currently employed as the Executive Director of the Housing
Authority of the City of Annapolis.
Mr.
Leggett is proud to say that Annapolis is his home. He earned a bachelor’s degree in urban
planning and community development from Morgan State University and a master’s
degree in public from Central Michigan University.
Mr.
Leggett is married to Aldena L. Pinkney and collectively they have four adult
sons and one daughter. The Leggett family attends Mt. Zion United Methodist
Church in Lothian, MD., where Vince serves as Lay Minister.
