New SU project aims to create database of African American history on Delmarva

SALISBURY, Md. – Salisbury University faculty and students are bringing life to local African American history with a new project.

What started as an idea back in 2019 has now transformed into the Enduring Connections: Exploring Delmarva’s Black History project in the Edward H. Nabb Center. The project’s goal is to gather historical records documenting the lives of black residents on the Lower Eastern Shore. The university community and volunteers have been identifying records, transcribing them, and uploading them to the project database.

Researchers tell 47 ABC, that the database currently holds more than 100,000 records from over 60 sources. They also say it’s the hope that initiatives like this make tracking African American historical records easier and more accessible.

“Especially lately since a lot of people have been putting emphasis on exploring black history, it’s helping kind of lead the way and helping people find methods to do that,” Student Fellow Rihana Stevenson said.

“The Chesapeake region was the first region where enslaved people were brought to America. So there’s long black history here that these records will hopefully illuminate,” Enduring Connections Archivist Ian Post said.

Findings will also be incorporated into coursework for students. If you’d like to volunteer with the project, you can email the Nabb Center at  impost@salisbury.edu or cslong@salisbury.edu