Our Struggles: Historic African American Communities in Southeast Baltimore County, MD

by Louis S. Diggs

Chase, Benjies, Overlea, Back River Neck Road, Goodwood/Hyde Park, Hopewell Avenue, Norris Lane, and Edgemere. Also Bare Hills, Belltown and Campfield

From the Foreward by Lenwood Johnson: "Our Struggles" is local Baltimore historian Louis Diggs' eight and final book chronicling life in the Baltimore County's forty historic African American communities.

201 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book shares the history of multiple African American communities in Baltimore County. I was unaware of this history before reading the book. For each community, the focus is on when it started, what families lived there, African-American churches and African-American owned businesses, if any. The author, Mr. Diggs, conducted oral history interviews with elders in each community. He wrote down their stories and included their photographs. Some told of parents or grandparents who had been enslaved, most of the early homes and churches did not have indoor plumbing, and there was segregation and discrimination in schooling opportunities.

The communities in this book are: Chase, Benjis, Overlea, Back River Neck Road, Goodwood/Hyde Park, Hopewell Avenue, Norris Lane, and Edgemere. Also: Bare Hills, Belltown and Campfield.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading the others written by Mr. Diggs