| Colonizing Generation (1690-1715) | Parish established; planter power entrenched. Slavery’s foundation laid. |
| Expanding Generation (1715-1740) | Tobacco boom; intensified demand for enslaved labor; shift to chattel slavery. |
| Entrenching Generation (1740-1765) | Slavery solidified economically/socially. Queen Anne Towne established. |
| Imperial Tensions Generation (1765-1790) | Revolution disrupted Atlantic trade; native-born Black population grew. |
| Early Republic Generation (1790-1815) | Manumissions & restrictions; economic challenges (Napoleonic Wars, Embargo). |
| Jacksonian Generation (1815-1840) | Internal slave trade; westward migration; economic crises. |
| Antebellum Generation (1840-1860) | Slavery persisted despite soil exhaustion; Panic of 1857 foreshadowed upheaval. |
| Emancipation Generation (1860-1880) | Civil War; MD abolition (1864); Reconstruction challenges for freed people. |
| Legacy Generation (1880-1900) | Maintained culture/institutions; resisted disenfranchisement; persistent racial inequalities. |
| Jim Crow Expansion (1900-1930) | Codified segregation & disenfranchisement. Black communities faced violence & limited opportunities, yet built resilience & institutions |
stories of Then 