Baltimore, MD Train Station

Robbins House Humanities Director Elon Cook visited Baltimore’s President Street train station in costume, where Ellen Garrison defended her right to sit in the ladies’ waiting room on May 7, 1866. The Civil Rights Bill of 1866, enacted on April 9th, was the first US federal law to define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected – it was mainly intended to protect the civil rights of African Americans in the wake of the Civil War.

The Concord Education Fund (CEF) granted $16,000 this past spring to a team of teachers led by Robbins House board member Johanna Glazer for curriculum development work on African American history and updating the material in the 1976 book, Concord: Its Black History. The Concord and Concord-Carlisle school systems have committed to funding the website development pieces of this project. This grant also serves as a match for educational resources for our Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS) grant.

Our children’s table and chairs are filled with activities for children of all ages:

Board members visited the Maryland State Archives in May and found… that Ellen Garrison Jackson’s case challenging the 1866 Civil…