WATCH

 

History Conversations
Enjoy our History Conversations, a program featuring virtual lectures from covering a wide variety of local history topics. Each lecture is live-streamed via Zoom and then posted here for a week on the Monday following.

 
 
 
 
 

 

This Week:

 
 
 
 
Rewind — Odyssey of a Civil War Soldier
with Robert Plumb
 

As we reflect on the sacrifices of those who have served our county on Memorial Day, we are highlighting this rewind from December 2020 with Robert Plumb and his book Your Brother in Arms. This book shares the letters and excerpts from George P. McClelland, a soldier who served with the 155th Pennsylvania Infantry in the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War. Montgomery History remembers and thanks all those who have given their lives in service to the United States.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Next Week: 
 
Rewind — The White House and Montgomery County
with Bill Allman

If you aren’t able to join us for the National Park Seminary tour next week, we will be sharing this rewind from the 2022 History Conference. From the porticoes to the presidents, Montgomery County has many fascinating connections to our nation’s “First House.” Perhaps most famous is Brookeville for serving as “White House for a day” during James Madison’s term, but our County’s ties to the White House continue to this day. Former White House Curator Bill Allman will recollect on the many ways in which Montgomery County has interacted with the President’s House and its occupants.
 
Available next week right here on our website.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
RESCHEDULED DUE TO PERSONAL EMERGENCY
This presentation will now be held on Thursday, June 15 at 7 P.M. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
 
“Not in My Neighborhood”: Legal Housing Discrimination against the Jewish Community in Montgomery County
With Rebeccah Ballo
Thursday, June 15 at 7 P.M.
 
 
In recognition of Jewish American Heritage Month, Montgomery History is teaming up with the American Jewish Committee to host a Zoom Conversation with Montgomery County Historian Rebeccah Ballo on May 23rd at 2PM to examine legal housing discrimination–known as racial restrictive covenants–that prohibited Jews, Blacks, Asians, and others to own or rent homes in some Montgomery County neighborhoods in the first three quarters of the 20th Century.

Montgomery Planning’s Segregation Mapping Project has researched how the private and public sectors channeled racial population growth. While Montgomery County’s new suburbs were booming and the real estate industry was busy building new subdivisions, Jewish homeowners were often purposefully excluded from these new developments by design. In the Downcounty region (inside the Beltway), nearly a quarter of the racially restrictive covenants specifically targeted the Jewish community, barring them from purchasing real estate. This lecture will explore how antisemitism was enshrined in Montgomery County and highlight the work of the advocates who made change.
 
Register Here.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Paths to the Present

Paths to the Present: Montgomery County Stories, a cable television show created by County Cable Montgomery and Montgomery History from 2000-2014, explores the often overlooked history found right in our own backyards. Produced by Emmy-winner Barbara Grunbaum and hosted by Gail Street, Paths to the Present covers a wide variety of topics highlighting this county’s past. You can watch all 86 of the episodes here.