Book Description

Catoctin SlaveSpeak is a collection of narrative poems in the voices of enslaved Africans, as well as their enslaved descendants, who were imported to work at the Catoctin Iron Furnace in Thurmont, Maryland. The poems are meant to be read aloud. They are based on available archeological and forensic anthropological evidence resulting from studies conducted on behalf of the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society. They also draw on general knowledge of the peculiar institution of slavery in the United States of America and throughout the African diaspora. They are the result of many hours of walking the earth, visiting the cemetery, studying the history, quiet listening, intuitive knowing, and creative writing by the author, Elayne Bond Hyman. They have been read on several different occasions to audiences in Maryland. The purpose of this publication is to broaden the reading and listening audience, thus giving voice to a heretofore voiceless and often ignored and uncredited segment of Maryland's historic population. Their availability in printed form will enrich the experience of visitors interested in learning the full story of the Catoctin Iron Furnace, beyond the archeological and historic interpretation available in the Museum of the Ironworker. This poetic, artistic, and emotional enrichment can foster a changed conversation about who the founding mothers and fathers of this nation really were.