Starr Center Appoints Darius Johnson ’15 as Project Director for Chesapeake Heartland
Announcement follows a $399k grant from National Archives awarded to further Heartland’s mission to preserve African American history in the Chesapeake region.
The Washington College Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, a nationally recognized center for research and education on American history and culture, recently announced the appointment, effective January 2, of Darius Johnson ’15 as project director for Chesapeake Heartland, a core program of the Starr Center.
The project is a digital humanities initiative that uses innovative technologies to explore the history of African American life on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Chesapeake Heartland collects, preserves, and shares primary sources, such as oral histories, photographs, and archival documents, to tell the stories of African American individuals, families, and communities in the Chesapeake region. As project director, Johnson will work closely with Starr Center colleagues and external partners to steer Chesapeake Heartland’s strategic planning, funding, and impact. In this new position, he is charged with engaging a diverse group of students and faculty in the project’s mission and supporting substantive learning opportunities that contribute to its success. Johnson has been involved with Chesapeake Heartland since its inception in 2019 and his work and knowledge have been lauded and recognized by many within the College.
“I want Chesapeake Heartland to be seen, and leveraged, as a key platform for experiential learning,” said Johnson. “With our strong community emphasis, we’re able to help students develop a stronger sense of place while developing their careers, allowing them to be impactful, civically engaged citizens in their college community as well as the communities they live in after they graduate.”
Johnson, who was recently interviewed for his work preserving the regional history of the region, is thrilled to continue telling the stories of African American heritage and hopes the work will allow people to understand the truths of their experience and contributions.
“This is especially important for our youth, whose sense of pride would benefit from knowing the roots they come from,” stressed Johnson. “I struggled with this when I was a young boy growing up here in Kent County and even as a student at Washington College. Now, thanks to Chesapeake Heartland, I have a deeper appreciation of who I am and where I come from.”
A Growing Project for a Rich History
As the Chesapeake Heartland steps into an exciting new future, its mission has been bolstered by the National Archives. The Starr Center recently received a prestigious $339,000 Major Collaborative Archival Initiatives grant, awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, which will support the ongoing development of the project, enabling it to expand its digital archive, develop new educational programs, and strengthen community engagement.
“The Chesapeake watershed is a heartland, if not the heartland, of African American history in this country,” Hodson Trust-Griswold Director for the Starr Center Adam Goodheart recently told Shore Magazine. “From the first Africans who arrived at the mouth of the Chesapeake through the Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter movements of today, Kent County is a microcosm of that history. This is the history that people carry in their hearts.”
Goodheart is excited for the future of Chesapeake Heartland as Johnson steps
into this new role. “I can’t think of a better leader for this project than Darius,”
Goodheart exclaimed, lauding Johnson as a “inspired nonprofit leader and historic
preservationist, a deeply rooted member of the Eastern Shore community, and a proud
alum of Washington College.”
In 2024, the project worked to preserve a piece of Chestertown’s heritage while creating a space that will benefit future generations in the College’s forthcoming Innovation Plant. Utilizing its resources and expertise, Chesapeake Heartland team members conducted significant heritage, oral history, and archival work to better tell the site’s history as well as preserve some artifacts for potential future installation. The public is invited to peruse the nearly 100 digitized archival photos and other featured collections in the Project’s Digital Archive.
As the Starr Center celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year, it invites the community to learn more about the Chesapeake Heartland and engage with its ongoing work.
- Dominique Ellis Falcon