ACM professor's book leads to documentary

Feb. 12—CUMBERLAND — A local professor was interviewed for a documentary about her research that was spurred by an effort to preserve a Western Maryland cabin slated for demolition.

Lynn Bowman, who is retired and teaches part time at Allegany College of Maryland, in 2019 wrote, "Ten Weeks on Jonathan Street: The Legacy of 19th Century African American Hagerstown, Maryland."

According to the book's prologue, Reggie Turner, appointed by then-Gov. Larry Hogan in 2017 to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, sensed the Jonathan Street community "had a bigger story than the story being told" and asked Bowman to investigate.

What she found was "a rich heritage that rivals the heritage of those better known African American communities of Maryland, a community that began largely enslaved and grew anyway, a community that, once removed from the cloak of unconscious bias, is not only worth investigating, but also saving and celebrating," the book states.

"An examination of the pre-Civil War period and enslavement in Maryland is necessary to understanding of the post- Civil War 'starting line' in Washington County," Bowman wrote. "The relationships developed under the pressures of enslavement laid the foundation for the post-war community."

3 Roads Communications, Inc. produced the documentary, airing this month on public television, about the project in the greater context of redlining.

Bowman appears in a trailer about the documentary.

Russ Hodge, 3 Roads Communications executive producer and president, said the cabin at 417 Jonathan St. symbolizes the strength and resiliency of its town and neighborhood.

"It has seen hard times and faced destruction, but it has survived and prospered with grace and with dignity, much like the community where it is located," he said via email Friday.

"The House on Jonathan Street" is a one-hour documentary that uses the accidental discovery of the cabin's history on a traditionally African American street to trace the roots of middle America's racial, economic and social interactions.

In addition to the television broadcasts, a screening will be held at 3 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown. Admission is free.

For more, visit thehouseonjonathanstreet.com.

Teresa McMinn is a reporter for the Cumberland Times-News. She can be reached at 304-639-2371 or tmcminn@times-news.com.