Presenters Announced for the 2012 Speaker Series!

Sotterley Plantation is pleased to announce the presenters for the 2012 Speaker Series at Sotterley. An important community outreach, this series is yet another way that this National Historic Landmark fulfills its mission of serving as an educational resource and cultural venue while it seeks to preserve, research, and interpret the plantation’s diverse cultures and environments throughout history.

Because of the ongoing generosity of The Boeing Company, dedicated to promoting education and the arts within the Southern Maryland community, the Speaker Series at Sotterley is free to the public. Due to limited seating, advanced reservations are required. Call 301-373-2280 for reservations.


Elizabeth Dowling Taylor, Ph.D.
“A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisons”
Friday, May 4 7:00 p.m. in the Barn
In her new book, A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisons, Dr. Elizabeth Dowling Taylor presents Jennings’s own story for the first time. She draws provocative portraits of African American life at the Madison plantation and in early Washington and also offers bold new perspectives on the characters of James and Dolley Madison, focusing on their private relationships with a courageous man of color who was “enamoured with freedom” and determined to rise.

Elizabeth Chew, Ph.D. and Rex Ellis, Ph.D.
“Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: An Insider’s View”
Wednesday, May 30 7:00 p.m. in the Barn
Curators Chew and Ellis will present their journey of conceptualizing and producing the exhibition, Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty. Dr. Elizabeth Chew, Curator at Monticello, is involved with research, interpretation, collections, and the history of the Jefferson family and the enslaved community. Dr. Rex Ellis, Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, is responsible for planning, developing, directing, and managing all curatorial collections and educational programs.

Grace Guggenheim & Flo Stone
“A Place in the Land”
Friday, July 27 7:00 p.m. in the Barn
Academy Award Nomination - Documentary Short Subject 1998
CINE - Golden Eagle Award 1999
Earthwatch Institute Film Award - 1999
Worldfest Flagstaff International Film Festival - Gold Award 1998
Grace Guggenheim is President of Guggenheim Productions and Executive Producer of A Place in the Land. This is the story of George Perkins Marsh, Frederick Billings and Laurance S. Rockefeller, three seminal figures in the history of the conservation movement in America. Though they were born generations apart and lived very different lives, the three were connected by a common vision and a common place. Ms. Guggenheim has produced over fifteen documentaries for both television and theatrical release.

Edward Papenfuse, Ph.D.
“The War of 1812 at Sotterley and Southern Maryland”
Sunday, September 9 3:00 p.m. in the Barn
Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse has held the positions of Maryland State Archivist and Commissioner of Land Patents since 1975. As director of the extensive activities of the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis, Dr. Papenfuse is responsible for the Archives’ vast collection of government and private materials and dealing with the materials that the Archives has made available online to the public, especially regarding research on Maryland slaves who fled to the British forces during the War of 1812.

Frank Smith, Ph.D.
“African American Civil War Memorial & Museum”
Sunday, September 30 3:00 p.m. in the Barn
“Without the military help of the black freedmen, the war against the South could not have been won,” declared Abraham Lincoln. African Americans fought in every major campaign and battle during the last two years of the war. Frank Smith, Ph.D. is the founder and director of the African American Civil War Memorial & Museum. Fulfilling a lifelong dream to honor African Americans who fought for freedom as United States Colored Troops, he oversaw the dedication of the African American Civil War Memorial in July 1998.

Michael W. Kauffman
“American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies”
Friday, November 2 7:00 p.m. in the Barn
Michael W. Kauffman is widely known as the guide for the Booth Escape Route bus tours, and a frequent contributor to television and radio documentaries on the subject. The presentation of this lifelong student of history will focus on what really happened in 1865 and why. His award-winning book, American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies was named one of the best books of 2004 by the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Slate.com. It was the basis of “The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth,” a two-hour documentary on the History Channel. His latest book, In the Footsteps of an Assassin, takes readers over the 100-mile route of Booth’s escape from Ford’s Theatre to the Garrett Farm.