MAKING HISTORY GREATER PRESENTATION

Thursday, April 28, 2016, 5 p.m.,the Historical Society of Montgomery County will feature historian Milt Diggins who will present Stealing Freedom along the Mason-Dixon Line: Thomas McCreary, the Notorious Slave Catcher from Maryland.

Thomas McCreary was a slave catcher and kidnapper unconcerned for the difference between the two activities. He lived in Cecil County, Maryland, the mid-point between Philadelphia, a refuge for freedom seekers, and Baltimore, a major slave market. McCreary and his community provide a close up view of the toxic effects the debate over slavery had on the country in the years leading up to the Civil War. Slave holders, slave dealers, slave catchers, kidnappers, kidnap victims, free blacks, freedom seekers, furtive Underground Railroad agents, outspoken abolitionists, and ordinary citizens caught up in the violence lived in close proximity in the Baltimore - Wilmington - Philadelphia corridor. This volatile mix made the region a hotspot in slavery-related controversies.

Milt Diggins, M. Ed., is an independent scholar, author, public historian, and lecturer. His book, Stealing Freedom along the Mason-Dixon Line: Thomas McCreary, the Notorious Slave Catcher from Maryland was published in 2015 by The Maryland Historical Society.

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