Prince George's County panel
Similar in composition to the Civil Rights panel, with horizontal photos, vertical stream,
and white columns with rows of smaller elements. The columns contain cowry shells,
colored glass beads, and terra cotta pipes, all artifacts found by archaeologists
at slave sites in Maryland, Virginia, and other areas.
The cowry shells were used by West African slaves for money, jewelry and clothing.
Men and women used tobacco pipes, often with elaborate decoration.
These pipes have been described as early African American folk art.
Glass beads were an important part of everyday adornment.
This panel also includes an early map of part of Prince George's County,
one that shows two Indian villages at Pamunkey and Piscataway. There is an image
of a tobacco plant since tobacco looms large in the history of the county, from its
introduction to the white settlers by the Native Americans, through slavery,
and up to the present.
The photos are of the Hubbell telescope, a reference to NASA in Prince George's
County, African American pilot, John Greene, and Fort Washington.
Fort Washington photo courtesy of National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior
Detail from Herrman map courtesy of Maryland State Archives
Photo of Hubbell telescope courtesy of NASA
Photo of John Greene courtesy of Oxon Hill Library and Prince George's County Parks and Recreation.
Tobacco plant from William Curtis' Botanical Magazine, courtesy of Atlanta History Center.
