Coming Home - The Photoville FENCE

7th Edition

In 1867, eighteen former slaves and members of the United States Colored Troops established a township in Talbot County, Maryland after they returned from fighting in the United States Civil War. The township is the only village in America founded by former slaves and veterans of the U.S. Colored Troops. The land on which the village was founded was offered to the returning soldiers for lease for one dollar per month by a Quaker plantation owner with the promise that they would erect a schoolhouse and church, which later became St. Stephen’s AME. The village was a model township within a hostile white supremacist society during the Jim Crow era and continues today to be a successful community centered around a significant spirituality connected to their ancestors. Unionville was named in honor of the Union army, which they believed was responsible for their liberation. 2018 marks the 150th anniversary of Unionville, as well as the 200th birthday of famed abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass, who came from the same land as the eighteen founders of Unionville. The project used intaglio etchings to render the photos, a printmaking technique used during the time of the Civil War to produce mass images.

Gabriella Demczuk is a Lebanese-American photographer, printmaker and journalist based between Washington D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland. Born in Sweden but raised in Luxembourg, Belgium and later the United States, she studied fine arts and journalism at The George Washington University and photography at the Parsons School of Art and Design in Paris. Gabriella has been recognized by The White House News Photographers Association, American Photography, The Society of Professional Journalists, Women Photograph, PH Museum and Pictures of the Year International (POYi). Gabriella was named Photoboite’s “30 Under 30 Women Photographers”, “Emerging Photographer” by the Magenta Foundation, Presidential Scholar in the Arts, finalist for the Inge Morath award from the Magnum Foundation and “Emerging Talent” at Getty Reportage.

www.gabriellademczuk.com
@gdemczuk

“ I believe that was in Virginia, that big battle of Bull Run. And I heard old man John Blackwell say he was in it, and Ike Johnson, that was one of the Colonel’s slaves. And this man was carryin the flag, well, he got shot. Ike Johnson saw the flag fallin and he run and grab it sayin, ‘I ain’t gonna let it hit the dirt.’ And he carried it the rest of the war. Didn’t get killed. Now they was brave, and they know’d if they won the war they’d get free; they had somethin to fight for.”-Joseph Sutton, whose parents were slaves of the Lloyds, in his biography “Praise the Bridge That Carries You Over” by Shepard Krech, III Talbot County Color Guard at the 150th Unionville Memorial celebration, Unionville, Maryland, Intaglio Photo Etching, 2017

“ I believe that was in Virginia, that big battle of Bull Run. And I heard old man John Blackwell say he was in it, and Ike Johnson, that was one of the Colonel’s slaves. And this man was carryin the flag, well, he got shot. Ike Johnson saw the flag fallin and he run and grab it sayin, ‘I ain’t gonna let it hit the dirt.’ And he carried it the rest of the war. Didn’t get killed. Now they was brave, and they know’d if they won the war they’d get free; they had somethin to fight for.”-Joseph Sutton, whose parents were slaves of the Lloyds, in his biography “Praise the Bridge That Carries You Over” by Shepard Krech, III Talbot County Color Guard at the 150th Unionville Memorial celebration, Unionville, Maryland, Intaglio Photo Etching, 2017
"Secluded and out-of-the-way places...seldom visited by a single ray of healthy public sentiment - where slavery, wrapt in its own congenial, midnight darkness, can and does develop all its malign and shocking characteristics; where it can be indecent without shame, cruel without shuddering, and murderous without apprehension of fear of exposure." Frederick Douglass describes the Miles River Neck plantations, which included the Lombardy Plantation, in his autobiography “My Bondage and My Freedom” The 305 acres of the Lombardy Plantation where Unionville is situated was established in 1679 and by 1800 the Lombardy Plantation housed approximately 100 slaves and free persons of color. Lombardy was first owned by the Lloyd family and was later sold in 1843 to Orson (Austin) Gore, who was accused of murdering William Demby, a relative of Benjamin and Charles Demby who were one of 18 founding members of Unionville, in Frederick Douglass’ “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave.” Ezeckial Cowgill, a Quaker farmer vehemently opposed to slavery, bought Lombardy in 1856 and was the first to hire paid laborers. The Lombardy Plantation, Unionville, Maryland, Intaglio Photo Etching, 2015

"Secluded and out-of-the-way places...seldom visited by a single ray of healthy public sentiment - where slavery, wrapt in its own congenial, midnight darkness, can and does develop all its malign and shocking characteristics; where it can be indecent without shame, cruel without shuddering, and murderous without apprehension of fear of exposure." Frederick Douglass describes the Miles River Neck plantations, which included the Lombardy Plantation, in his autobiography “My Bondage and My Freedom” The 305 acres of the Lombardy Plantation where Unionville is situated was established in 1679 and by 1800 the Lombardy Plantation housed approximately 100 slaves and free persons of color. Lombardy was first owned by the Lloyd family and was later sold in 1843 to Orson (Austin) Gore, who was accused of murdering William Demby, a relative of Benjamin and Charles Demby who were one of 18 founding members of Unionville, in Frederick Douglass’ “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave.” Ezeckial Cowgill, a Quaker farmer vehemently opposed to slavery, bought Lombardy in 1856 and was the first to hire paid laborers. The Lombardy Plantation, Unionville, Maryland, Intaglio Photo Etching, 2015
Ernestine Boulden, left, Shelly Boulden, right, and Sanai Boulden, 6, descendants of Benjamin Demby, one of 18 founding members of Unionville. Benjamin Demby was enlisted on Sept. 23, 1863 and served in the 7th Regiment, Company A, of the U.S. Colored Troops. He, along with seven other Unionville founders from the 7th and 19th Regiment, was at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865 when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant. The Dembys were traced back to the Philemon Lloyd Plantation in Talbot County. Philemon Lloyd was the heir to Edward Lloyd, founder of the Lloyd Dynasty in Talbot County. Benjamin Demby and his brother Charles worked in the stables at the Wye plantation, where Frederick Douglass was a slave. Douglass recounted the death of their relative William Demby, who was killed by the overseer Mr.Gore when he refused to come out of the water after healing his lash wounds. "Mr. Gore then, without consultation or deliberation with any one, not even giving Demby an additional call, raised his musket to his face, taking deadly aim at his standing victim, and in an instant poor Demby was no more. His mangled body sank out of sight, and blood and brains marked the water where he had stood.” Unionville, Maryland, Intaglio Photo Etching, 2017

Ernestine Boulden, left, Shelly Boulden, right, and Sanai Boulden, 6, descendants of Benjamin Demby, one of 18 founding members of Unionville. Benjamin Demby was enlisted on Sept. 23, 1863 and served in the 7th Regiment, Company A, of the U.S. Colored Troops. He, along with seven other Unionville founders from the 7th and 19th Regiment, was at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865 when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant. The Dembys were traced back to the Philemon Lloyd Plantation in Talbot County. Philemon Lloyd was the heir to Edward Lloyd, founder of the Lloyd Dynasty in Talbot County. Benjamin Demby and his brother Charles worked in the stables at the Wye plantation, where Frederick Douglass was a slave. Douglass recounted the death of their relative William Demby, who was killed by the overseer Mr.Gore when he refused to come out of the water after healing his lash wounds. "Mr. Gore then, without consultation or deliberation with any one, not even giving Demby an additional call, raised his musket to his face, taking deadly aim at his standing victim, and in an instant poor Demby was no more. His mangled body sank out of sight, and blood and brains marked the water where he had stood.” Unionville, Maryland, Intaglio Photo Etching, 2017
“Spiritual music and dance became at once a form of resistance to slavery as well as an act of liberation, solidarity and strength. The church itself, became a vehicle of organization and an incubator for dance and music and later for activities against black oppression.” – Bernard Demczuk, “Unionville: Race, Time, Place and Memory in Talbot County, Maryland 1634-1892" On December 28, 1870, the Cowgills sold a plot of land to nine black trustees for the purpose of building a church and a school, an audacious move for black advancement during a time when they were often burned to the ground by anti- emancipationists. Unionville, Maryland, Intaglio Photo Etching, 2015

“Spiritual music and dance became at once a form of resistance to slavery as well as an act of liberation, solidarity and strength. The church itself, became a vehicle of organization and an incubator for dance and music and later for activities against black oppression.” – Bernard Demczuk, “Unionville: Race, Time, Place and Memory in Talbot County, Maryland 1634-1892" On December 28, 1870, the Cowgills sold a plot of land to nine black trustees for the purpose of building a church and a school, an audacious move for black advancement during a time when they were often burned to the ground by anti- emancipationists. Unionville, Maryland, Intaglio Photo Etching, 2015
"The town's spirit is centered in the church. The town's problems and the people in the town turn to the church for problem solving. So far we have solved all the problems, right here, inside Unionville, inside this little church." U.S. World War II veteran and St. Stephens AME pastor for 11 years, Reverend William F. Holt, who was 96 years old when he died on April 5, 2016. His family at St. Stephens affectionately called him “Pop-Pop” and his favorite past time was dancing. Unionville, Maryland, Intaglio Photo Etching, 2017

"The town's spirit is centered in the church. The town's problems and the people in the town turn to the church for problem solving. So far we have solved all the problems, right here, inside Unionville, inside this little church." U.S. World War II veteran and St. Stephens AME pastor for 11 years, Reverend William F. Holt, who was 96 years old when he died on April 5, 2016. His family at St. Stephens affectionately called him “Pop-Pop” and his favorite past time was dancing. Unionville, Maryland, Intaglio Photo Etching, 2017

"The town's spirit is centered in the church. The town's problems and the people in the town turn to the church for problem solving. So far we have solved all the problems, right here, inside Unionville, inside this little church." U.S. World War II veteran and St. Stephens AME pastor for 11 years, Reverend William F. Holt, who was 96 years old when he died on April 5, 2016. His family at St. Stephens affectionately called him “Pop-Pop” and his favorite past time was dancing. Unionville, Maryland, Intaglio Photo Etching, 2017

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