Rev. L. Jerome Fowler, a seventh-generation Prince George’s County resident, spoke about the connections between slavery and this university in honor of Black History Month Wednesday.
Reverend Jerome Fowler
Fowler’s great- great grandfather, Adam Francis Plummer, worked as a slave on the Calvert family’s Riverdale plantation, which stretched across where the university stands today.
Plummer was the personal assistant to Charles Benedict Calvert, a plantation owner. Calvert donated part of his Riversdale plantation to create the Maryland Agricultural College, which eventually evolved into the University of Maryland.
Because Plummer worked so closely with Calvert, Fowler believes his great-great grandfather had a lot to do with the creation of this university. Therefore, Fowler along with many others, wants his ancester to be considered a founder of this university.
The role slavery played in the building of this campus has come under debate in recent years. A class taught by history professor Ira Berlin investigated what role slaves played in building this campus, an effort Fowler supported from the beginning. The class found no conclusive evidence about slaves working to build the university, but still found connections between its origins and slavery.
“If slaves didn’t lay the brick, they made the bricks,” Berlin told The Diamondback in April. “If they didn’t make the bricks, they drove the wagon that brought the bricks. If they didn’t drive the wagon, they built the wagon wheels.”
This post was written by Diamondback staff writer Kelly Farrell