This 24-panel brochure was a collaborative piece involving Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s Counties that highlights the African-American history of Southern Maryland. Available in print and online, the publication features a map with historically significant locations to educate visitors to the region about the heritage and unique experiences of the African-American community. With this project, we joined Maryland’s Office of Tourism Development initiative to make Maryland the most sought-after underground railroad storytelling destination in the world.

Through collaboration with the three counties, local historians and Destination Southern Maryland, this innovative piece honors and recognizes the rich heritage of the African-American community in Southern Maryland throughout history. The guide promotes points of interest, contributing history and African-American historical figures from Maryland’s founding through modern day.

The online version of the guide was launched as an interactive tool to learn about the region’s history with a comprehensive timeline layout. Divided into three sections, the guide includes locations, contributing history and notable figures relating to: Enslavement, Resistance & Resilience; War, Reconstruction & Community Building; and Civil Rights & Economic Prosperity.

Both the online and the print guides include a section with resources to learn more about African-American history in the area, highlighting local organizations. The guides also denote locations which are sites on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom in their description and on the map.

The publication was funded in part by the Calvert County Board of Commissioners, Explore Charles County and Visit St. Mary’s tourism entities. The tourism offices are able to track the online use of this guide to evaluate its effectiveness over the course of the distribution, thus allowing all parties to monitor their marketing and advertising return on investment. The African-American Heritage Guide was launched in September 2021 for International Underground Railroad Month.

The brochure was recently recognized by Governor Hogan’s office in his International Underground Railroad Month proclamation as one of the “wealth of visitor experiences…that helps us have a greater understanding of all those involved in the Underground Railroad.” The African American Heritage Guide was also displayed on FOX5DC to highlight Underground Railroad Month. The total audience reach for the teaser and two clips was 59,600.