PROFILE | Connie Robinson, Underground Railroad Re-enactor

While it takes some people an hour to decide what to wear, it takes Connie Robinson that long to simply put on her clothes.

Sometimes.

Robinson, a Germantown resident, is an Underground Railroad re-enactor. Part of Robinson's work requires her to dress in authentic costume — gloves, hat, the works. Depending on the weather and where she is traveling, Robinson might add or subtract from her outfit. Microphones are the only form of technology used, and even that is frowned upon, Robinson said. 

"The costumes have to be detailed. That is the attraction," Robinson said.

Robinson will perform at the Montgomery County Juneteenth Celebration, 7 p.m. Thursday, June 16, at the BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of slaves.

This year's celebration includes a performance by the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Choir, performances of coded slave songs, storytelling and a recitation of the Emancipation Proclamation. There will also be performances from student artists with NAACP's ACT-SO (Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics).

In Germantown, Robinson will portray Mary Peck Bond, the daughter of an Underground Railroad conductor and the founder of the Center for the Elderly in Pittsburgh. 

Robinson began her re-enactment career in Pittsburgh. After two years as a tour educator for the Heinz History Center, she was asked to become a re-enactment character. Thus began her portrayal of Bond. As part of the Pennsylvania Past Players, a traveling group of re-enactors, Robinson has attended classes in Harrisburg, Pa., to learn how to read scripts and pose for long periods of time. Her re-enactments usually last 45 minutes to an hour, though her appearance at the Germantown celebration will be 25 minutes long to accommodate other performances.

Once assigned the character, Robinson read more about slavery and the Underground Railroad and became fascinated by the stories. She said she realized that many people don't know much about African-American history. Those who worked on the Underground Railroad were in danger of being killed, sent to prison or fined thousands of dollars, Robinson said.

"We can honor Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King, but we should also honor the countless number of men, women and children who lost their very lives and a lot of blood, sweat and tears to help build this country," she said.

Four years later and in a different state, Robinson still loves her part-time job, but don't call it that in her presence.

"It's a past-time passion," she said.

Her performances have taken her to nursing homes, county jails and schools. Young people are her target audience, and she has reached out to children as young as 6.

"Young people need to learn the greatness of their heritage, not just the cotton fields ... . When slavery was mentioned in the past, they would lower their heads, but I would say, 'No, this is a proud heritage,'" she said. 

Local ties to the Underground Railroad

The Maryland town of Tuscarora, once known known as Licksville, is steeped in slavery history. Before the U.S. banned the international slave trade in 1809, interior slave trade was centered in Licksville, which is just north of the Montgomery County border, said Susan Soderberg, president of the Germantown Historical Society.

Soderberg, who is a Patch columnist, said Maryland was the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to free slaves within its borders. Soderberg said that any railroad activity in Germantown is undocumented and is likely local lore.

In the meantime, re-enactors like Robinson do their part to keep history alive.

"It's my passion to share the stories of people who were forgotten," Robinson said.

But there are a few Underground Railroad sites the Rockville area, said Camila Clark, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Office of Tourism.

It had been believed that a location in North Bethesda, Isaac Riley Farm, had ties to Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Josiah Henson, whose memoir inspired Stowe's novel, was an African-American lived at the farm, escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad and became an established abolitionist, speaker and writer. A 2010 article in The Washington Post has since cast doubt on whether Henson had lived in slave quarters, which are no longer there, or at the site at 11420 Old Georgetown Road., which is closed for renovations.