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On The Record

Maryland Day events honor pre-settler history, focus on Indigenous people and arts

By Melissa Gerr,
Maureen Harvie
Published March 22, 2024 at 10:41 AM EDT
Dancer and educator Louis Campbell (Lumbee, Blackfoot) will engage with audiences during Maryland Hall's Maryland Day celebration in Annapolis. Events run from 1pm to 4pm on Saturday, March 23. Photo: Nikki Bass
Dancer and educator Louis Campbell (Lumbee, Blackfoot) will engage with audiences during Maryland Hall's Maryland Day celebration in Annapolis. Events run from 1pm to 4pm on Saturday, March 23. Photo: Nikki Bass

Almost four hundred years ago European settlers landed in what is now St. Mary’s County and established the new state of Maryland. But they weren’t the first to inhabit the fertile ground along the Chesapeake Bay.

Events at Maryland Hall in Annapolis highlight the Indigenous people that inhabited the land long before English Catholic settlers arrived. We hear from program director Bilgesu Sisman, and dancer/educator Louis Campbell (Lumbee, Blackfoot) and tribal historian Rico Newman (Choptico Band of Piscataway-Conoy Confederacy and Elders Council member) and get the rest of the story.

Links: Maryland Hall Maryland Day events, Baltimore American Indian Center, Indigenous history of the Chesapeake Bay.

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On The Record On the RecordWYPR Programsindigenous peopleBaltimore American Indian CenterMaryland Day
Melissa Gerr
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'
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Maureen Harvie
Maureen Harvie is Senior Supervising Producer for On the Record. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and joined WYPR in 2014 as an intern for the newsroom. Whether coordinating live election night coverage, capturing the sounds of a roller derby scrimmage, interviewing veterans, or booking local authors, she is always on the lookout for the next story.
See stories by Maureen Harvie