Preserving history

Louis S. Diggs has made it his mission to save the stories of Baltimore County's early African-American communities

By Arnesa A. Howell | Special to the Sun

February 3, 2008

Some journeys are a long road to nowhere, or so the saying goes.

But for Louis S. Diggs, the roadways throughout Baltimore County lead to an often-untold history of African- American communities that he has dedicated more than a decade of his life to documenting through books.

"Some of these communities have been here since the 1700s, and here I am writing about these communities that during a couple hundred years, someone should have captured that history along the way," says Diggs, 75, whose books have profiled the county's 40 historic African-American settlements.

This month, Diggs will lead a tour -- as he often does throughout the year -- of historic Winters Lane, the place of his first book, one of nine he's penned since 1995. His other books include examining the history of Piney Grove, Turners Station, Catonsville, and Belltown in Owings Mills.

Diggs is reluctant to call himself a historian, a title bestowed on him by local residents and media alike. The Korean War veteran is more accepting of his designation as writer.

"As a child, I always liked to write," says Diggs with a quiet laugh. "I remember I used to sneak my older sister's typewriter and taught myself how to type. I always liked to express myself, and that has been a tremendous help to me putting these books together."

He credits his mother, Agrada Diggs, a teacher-turned-washerwoman and single mom of five children, for motivating him to become a writer.

"I know I got my writing from my mother. My mother would write [letters] and I would just watch her, and I always admired her writing," says Diggs, becoming misty-eyed at the thought. But despite his early literary dabblings, Diggs would first follow a different life's path. After dropping out of Douglass High School in 1950, Diggs joined the all-black Maryland National Guard unit.

He was in the Army for 20 years, during which time he would write to the woman who would become his wife, Shirley Diggs, 74. "That's how I got my wife," he says. "When I first met her, they sent me to Germany right away in 1953, and I wrote to this woman twice a day, three times on Sunday, with these flowery letters.

That's why we've been together for almost 54 years."

Diggs eventually earned his high school diploma, a bachelor's in liberal arts and a master's in public administration from the University of Baltimore in 1982. After retiring from the Army, he taught military training at Ballou High School in Washington and he worked as supervisor in personnel for D.C. public schools, retiring in 1989.

Not one to sit still for long, he found himself back in the classroom by the early 1990s -- this time as a substitute teacher at Catonsville High School, from where his four sons had graduated.

Little did he know at the time, the opportunity would leave a lasting imprint on his life and countless others.

At the urging of his students, eager to learn about their family ancestry, Diggs initiated a semester of teaching community history.

The resulting class assignment would enlighten both teacher and students.

"When it came to the black children that lived in the Winters Lane community of Catonsville, they were unable to turn a paper in because they couldn't find anything on the history of the com-munity," he explains. "These children were disappointed, and they asked me to help them find the history of their community. I couldn't say no to them."

For Diggs, the research resulted in his first book in 1995: It All Started On Winters Lane, chronicling the life and times of the founding families of Catonsville.

"It takes the reader back to the days of slavery, how Winters Lane began, where its population came from, and what made the community strong and stable," says Diggs, who worked closely with the Catonsville Public Library. Diggs, who invests his own money and has received several local cultural grants to publish his books, is heralded as someone who knows how to draw out the history from those who have lived it.

He does his research carefully and politely, often interviewing residents in their homes to help put them at ease. He also video and audio tapes many of his interviews at the dining room or kitchen table, a homey setting of familiarity.

"He connects with the people he interviews and they give him stories no one else has collected. So he brings this history to life," says Judy Dobbs, program officer with the Maryland Humanities Council, which helped to underwrite his first book. "Because of his excitement, other people get swept into it as well."

During this journey, Diggs was inspired to trace his own roots after he saw how his work affected others.

His research took him to Piney Grove in Boring, Md. He went on to write Holding On to Their Heritage (self-published in 1997), documenting black life in the communities of Piney Grove and Bond Avenue, near Reisterstown in northwest Baltimore County.

Lifelong Bond Avenue resident Annie Dett Milligan, 91, helped Diggs put the pieces of his research together.

"I had a lot of history handed down from my parents, so I was happy to have it revealed and printed," says Milligan, who is quoted in Diggs' second book. "By him writing the history of Bond Avenue, I learned some other stories that I didn't know. ... And the only way we learn history is from the elders."

Over the past 13 years, Diggs has churned out an additional seven books, including one on the contributions of a black battalion of a National Guard unit.

While all his books hold significant meanings, Diggs says From The Meadows to the Point (his sixth book) is his favorite for the diversity and cultural richness of the Turners Station community documented on the book's pages.

"Turner[s] Station, and Sparrows Point when it was active, is a community made up of mostly African- Americans from Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina," he says. "They brought their religion along with their culture. "The people are quite industrious and very strong on businesses.

The very first thing introduced to the workers of Bethlehem Steel Mill was an African- American Savings and Loan Association where the African-Americans could secure funds to purchase their land, then secure funds to build their homes. "The community has always fascinated me, and still does," Diggs says.

With the completion of Our Struggles -- the story of Belltown in Owings Mills -- in October, Diggs has chronicled the last of the county's 40 historic African- American communities.

In the process of his work, Diggs has collected about 10,000 historic photographs, some of which are being privately displayed this month throughout the county. He's now moved on to new projects, including writing about African- Americans who have died in Baltimore County. Diggs expects to compile between 15,000 and 20,000 names in the book that will be yet another way for people to research their roots.

He will also continue his various historical tours of the 40 communities around the county, including one he hosts twice a year with the support of Del. Adrienne A. Jones, speaker pro tem of the Maryland House of Delegates.

Jones says this is the second year her office has sponsored the tours.

"[I]t says something to go [to the communities] and imagine how life was back then. Some of the descendents are still there. It's important not to forget," says Jones, who's known Diggs for 15 years and has worked with him since the start of the Baltimore County African-American Cultural Festival In Towson in 1996.

For the festival's tour, Jones says, Diggs has displayed photos of the historic communities and brought in World War II veterans who were Tuskegee airmen to share their history, alongside reenactments of uniformed Buffalo soldiers who show memorabilia.

"I think I have set the stage for future generations who are really concerned about the history of African-American life in Baltimore County. I have set a stage for them to come in and pick up where I have left off," he says.

But "I ain't done yet," he says. "The best is yet to come!"

>>>If You Go: Louis S. Diggs has become an authority on African-American history in Baltimore County. He'll be leading a free bus tour of the area at 10 a.m. Feb. 26, which begins at Liberty Senior Center, 3525 Resource Drive, Randallstown. It includes a free lunch, served at Morning Star Baptist Church, 154 Winters Lane, Catonsville. Stops on the tour include St. John's Chapel in Ruxton, Mount Gilboa African Methodist Episcopal Church in Oella, the Emmart-Pierpont Safe House near Randallstown, and an 1840s one-room, African-American schoolhouse in Piney Grove in Boring. Information: the office of Del. Adrienne A. Jones at 410-887-5557.

Arnesa Howell, a full-time freelance writer based in Washington, graduated from Howard University. Her work has appeared in such magazines as People, Heart & Soul, USA Weekend, Real Health and The Crisis. She also regularly contributes to Money magazine.

unisun@baltsun.com