Ernest Brown and Samuel Hollomand, 1964

Please join us this Friday, March 12, 2010 for the Lakeland Community Heritage Project Dinner Dance, honoring The Counts, Dutchess, Lakeland Tavern, Lakeland Hall, Elks Club and The Nine Wonders Club and the rich history of “good times” in Lakeland. To purchase your tickets or learn more about the event, please contact Diane Ligon at 301-441-1697, Vie Sharps Jones at 301-464-0074 or email lakelandhistory@yahoo.com

Location: Holiday Inn College Park, 10000 Baltimore Avenue, College Park, MD
Cost: $40.00 per person $70.00 per couple
Time: 8 PM – 12 PM
Music and dinner will be provided

In 2010 Lakeland Celebrates 120 Years

Come celebrate with an evening

of  good music, good food and good friends

February 12, 2010 Friday, March 12, 2010

Location: Holiday Inn College Park

10000 Baltimore Avenue College Park, Maryland

Cost:         $40.00 per person $70.00 per couple

Time:         8 PM – 12 PM

DJ, dinner

Executive Committee

Maxine Gross –  Chairperson

• Ms. Gross is a 5^th generation Lakelander. This will be her second term as the Chairperson of LCHP

Violetta Sharps Jones- Vice Chairperson

• Ms. Sharps Jones has Lakeland ties going back many generations. She is one of the authors of Lakeland: African Americans in College Park.

Maggie Johnson –Treasurer

• Ms. Johnson is a member of an old Lakeland family. She will be serving her second term as treasurer.

Diane Weems Ligon – Corresponding Secretary and Planning Committee Chairperson

• A member of one of Lakeland’s founding families, Ms. Ligon is a former Vice Chairperson of LCHP.

Monroe Dennis – Recording Secretary

• Mr. Dennis is a long time Lakeland resident and President of the Lakeland Civic Association.

Board Members

• Portia Barker | Ms. Barker has been a LCHP volunteer for more than a year. She is currently a PhD student in the American Studies department of the University of Maryland.
• Pearl Lee Campbell Edwards | An author of Lakeland: African Americans in College Park Ms. Campbell Edwards grew up and attended school in Lakeland. Her family played a major role in the community’s history.
• Robert Catlin | City of College Park Councilman and Berwyn resident, this will be his second term on the LCHP board.
• Delphine Gross, Collections and Archives Committee Chairperson | A Masters degreed Historian, Ms. Gross grew up in and continues to live in Lakeland.
• Dr. Mary Corbin Sies | Dr. Sies is Associate Professor and co-director of the Material Culture/Visual Culture Working Group. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the departments of Women’s Studies and African American Studies Department, the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, and the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education.
• Eli Pousson, Publicity Committee Chairperson | Mr. Pousson began work with LCHP as a graduate student more than 3 years ago. He has consistently lent his technology expertise to completion of projects. Currently he is the LCHP  webmaster.
• Forrest Tyler | Dr. Tyler is a professor emeritus in the University of Maryland’s department of Psychology.
• Sandra Tyler |  Berwyn resident and founding LCHP member Ms. Tyler recently served as LCHP recording secretary. 

LCHP will be taking part in two Black History Month book signing events. On Saturday, February 20, 2010 at 1:30 PM LCHP volunteers will be selling and signing copies of our book, Lakeland: African Americans in College Park at the ASALH 84^th Annual Black History Month Luncheon.  For tickets  and information contact ASALH at 202 865 0053 or see their website.  LCHP will participate in another book signing on Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 7:00 at Barnes and Noble, 4801 Bethesda Avenue, Bethesda, MD 2814. See the Barnes and Noble store website for more information. We look forward to seeing you.

Lakeland School circa 1970

Many events are planned for the coming month.  The  fun starts on Saturday, January 16^th with an exhibit by LCHP during the City of College Park’s Martin Luther King Tribute. On Tuesday, January 19th LCHP will be presenting a lecture sponsored by the Greenbelt Museum.  Next will be  LCHP’s Annual Meeting on Saturday, January 23^rd at the College Park Community Center starting at 2 PM. This important meeting is open to the public although only LCHP members may vote or hold offices. That afternoon new LCHP officers will be elected and decisions on the organization’s policies and programs will be made.

The month will be topped off on Sunday, January 31^st with LCHP’s  Celebration of Black History at the Historic Lakeland School, 8208 54th Avenue in College Park. This building served as an educational facility for nearly 50 years serving generations of young people from Lakeland and other communities. The school was built with help from the Julius Rosenwald Fund and opened in 1928. Through the years the site was used as a high school, a junior high school, an elementary school and special education center. The building was then sold by the board of education. Since 1981 the facility has served as a church.

Sojourner Truth wax figure on display in the Truth Room at the Oxon Hill Branch. Image courtesy the Prince George's County Memorial Library System.

Please join us the Lakeland Community Heritage Project at the Oxon Hill Branch Library this Saturday November 21 at 2:30 PM for “Preserving Lakeland’s Heritage: A History Book For Everyone” a presentation by the authors of Lakeland: African-Americans in College Park. This event is graciously sponsored by the Prince George’s County Truth Branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and the Sojourner Truth African American Research Collection. The presentation on Lakeland will include photos from the book and excerpts from oral histories.

The Oxon Hill Branch Library was built in 1966-67 on the site of the Sojourner Truth Elementary School, a black school that educated educated African-American children from several communities in southern Prince George’s County from the 1940s its close in the mid-1960’s. In addition to the incredible Sojourner Truth African American Research Collection–itself named for the school–the Oxon Hill library features six painted glass panels, entitled  “However far the stream flows, it never forgets its source” [Yoruba Proverb] by Nancy Gutkin O’Neil. Installed in 2006, this artwork is designed to “whet the appetite” of library visitors to explore the shelves, resources, and programming at Oxon Hill Branch Library. If you would like to make a day trip out of the event, you could even include a visit to  the historic 1928 Oxon Hill Manor.

For sale at Border's Books, Silver Spring, Maryland

On Saturday, November 14th from 1 to 5 PM LCHP will  help celebrate the Grand Re-Opening of the Howard County Center of African American Culture’s Research Library and Archive Center located at Howard Community College’s Clark Building.  That afternoon the center will be hosting an open house at their new location with LCHP as honored guests. Their address is 10091 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, Maryland. At this event we will be signing and selling  and selling books.

Lakeland: African Americans in College Park

If you have not yet had an opportunity to look at the book in person please take the time to check it out on Google Books. You can also drop by your local book store to find a copy or pick it up at one of our upcoming events.