Topics of PowerPoint Presentations by Susan Cooke Soderberg

susancs709@comcast.net

A $50 donation to the Germantown Historical Society, a non-profit organization, is requested.

“‘My Name is Not Tom:’ The Life of Reverend Josiah Henson”

Josiah Henson, born enslaved in Charles County, Maryland and raised in Montgomery County, Maryland, dictated an autobiography in 1849 after escaping to Canada, which was read by Harriet Beecher Stowe. After she revealed that he was one of the models for Uncle Tom in her famous book, four additional “autobiographies” were published. All of the previous biographies of the man rely entirely on these self-told stories that were, after the first, highly embellished by his ghost writers. The presenter spent 12 years researching the life of Rev. Henson beyond these books and reveals a much more complex character.

The presenter’s biography of Josiah Henson will be published by Georgetown University Press in 2024.

 “From Corn to Commuters: How the Coming of the Railroad Changed the Way of Life and the Future of Montgomery County”

This is the story of how the coming of the railroad changed the face of Montgomery County forever. Featured are the railroad stations designed by Francis Baldwin, extraordinary feats of engineering such as the curving trestle over Little Seneca Creek and the Bollman Truss viaduct over the Monocacy River; and how the railroad sparked new suburban development, changed farming from grains to milk and fruit trees, and catapulted the County into the Industrial Age. The talk explores how this branch line became the mainstay of the B & O Railroad and evolved into the current commuter and freight line.

This presentation is based on Susan’s book The Met: A History of the Metropolitan Branch of the B&O Railroad, republished in by the Germantown Historical Society in 2016.

“Treason!: How local leaders helped launch the Revolution on June 11, 1774”

This presentation will describe the Repudiation Act of November 23, 1765 and the Hungerford Resolves of June 11, 1774 and what led the citizens of what is now Montgomery County into an armed revolt against Great Britain. It will show who the leaders were, where they lived, and how they contributed to the Revolution and the newly forming independent government of the state of Maryland. I also talk about the Maryland militia in the Revolution, the brave “Maryland 400” and how our state got the motto, “The Old Line State.”

“The Underground Railroad and Montgomery County”

The Underground Railroad, a clandestine and well-organized relay system to help people escape from enslavement, operated from the 1830s through the Civil War. Maryland, being both a slave state and bordering free states, was both a necessary path and very dangerous for both the fugitives and the helpers. Montgomery County was particularly dangerous as it lay just to the north of Virginia and Washington, D.C. This talk will explore ways in which people in Montgomery County were able to help fugitive slaves, and how cooperation with abolitionists to both the north in Pennsylvania, and to the south in Washington, D.C. was necessary. Actual cases, both successful and unsuccessful, will be discussed.

“George Atzerodt – The Other Conspirator”

After the ringleader, John Wilkes Booth, was killed, other conspirators in the plot to assassinate President Lincoln and other top leaders of the government were tried before a Courts Martial. Four of them were executed by hanging. Most people know of Mary Surratt, the first woman executed by the United States; Davy Herald, the young man who led Booth on his escape; and Lewis Powell, the man who almost succeeded in killing Secretary of State Seward — but what of George Atzerodt, the Prussian immigrant who did not carry out his assignment of murdering Vice President Johnson and was later arrested in Germantown, Maryland. Who was he? How did he get involved in this plot? Why didn’t he assassinate the vice president? How did he escape? And why was he hanged?

“The Civil War in Montgomery County”

Even though there were no major battles fought in Montgomery County, the citizens were greatly affected by the war, especially by being close to the border with the enemy. There were raids by small groups of Confederates, marches through the County by thousands of Union troops on their way to major battles, encampments of large numbers of Union troops in training or on outposts, not to mention the hardships of war such as privation and loss of the lives of local young men. Since this was a divided County, there were many disputes between friends and family.

The presenter was one of the advisors for the award-winning documentary, “Life in a War Zone: Montgomery County in the Civil War.”