Montgomery County Celebrates Black History Month (VIDEOS)

Josiah Henson was born a slave in Charles County, Maryland and lived in Montgomery County before escaping to freedom in Canada. Author Harriet Beecher Stowe modeled the fictional character Uncle Tom after Josiah Henson. Unlike Stowe’s Uncle Tom, Henson became a conductor on the underground railroad, international speaker, author and the founder of a city for runaway slaves.

Isaiah Leggett is a man of many firsts. He was first in his class at Howard University Law School. He was the first African American to be elected as a member of the Montgomery County Council, and he became the first black elected as Montgomery County Executive.

Montgomery County resident Michael Twitty discovered that he’d made African American History when he visited the African American Museum of History and Culture on opening day. That’s when he discovered that his name and quote were painted onto a wall in the museum’s Sweet Home Café.

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