Each session in the Virginia Poe Bicentennial Discussion Series will include history, presentations, reading and discussion. **This event is a hybrid event: it will be recorded live at Westminster Hall & Burying Ground in Baltimore MD, also presented via Zoom webconference. Attendees register to attend in-person or participate online. Edited portions will stream later on Facebook and YouTube. In May: MOTHER, The hidden her-stories of the women in the Poe family, including a Revolutionary War patriot, and how a mother's love changed literary history. (hybrid event) Act I The Life of Elizabeth Cairnes Poe, Matron & Patriot J. Scott Watkins appears as David Poe Sr., Revolutionary War hero and patriot at the battle of North Point in the War of 1812, to talk about the family's contribution to the founding of the United States, and the forgotten war service of his wife, Elizabeth. Act II Baltimore Mothers: Real and True Women Antebellum women were expected to be pious, pure, submissive, and domestic. This ideal was not one that all women were able to achieve. Join Dr. Amy Rosenkrans for a talk on motherhood in Baltimore across race, religious, and social classes. Act III Scrupulous Sextons Cemetery walk & grave-side chat at Westminster Hall with J. Scott Watkins, living history performer and descendant of the sexton at burials of both Edgar and Virginia! This is the fifth in a series of monthly programs for the Virginia Poe Bicentennial; follow us on social media to be alerted when events are happening! The Virginia Poe Bicentennial is presented by Poe Baltimore, Westminster Hall & Burying Ground, Maryland Women's Heritage Center, the Poe Cottage at Fordham (Bronx, NYC,) with generous help and participation from Poe Studies Association, The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore and The Poe Museum (Richmond.)