The Louis S. Diggs Research Center for African American History, Inc., will be hosting an information session this Wednesday, 27 July 2011, at 6pm, to discuss its fundraising cruise next January. This information session will be held at the Randallstown Community Center, at 3505 Resource Drive, Randallstown, Maryland.
According to an email from Mr. Diggs, the author of several books on African American history in Baltimore,
The [Baltimore County] Historical Society provided me this building [to house the Research Center] after my working with the group to put together the 350th Anniversary Book of Baltimore County. They were pleased with the African American history I provided. The building is called "The Pest House," and though it has been vacant for many, many years, it does indeed have a significant African American history attached to it. It was built in 1872 from stones that were quarried in the Texas, MD quarry where many African Americans worked, and for sometime the building housed incurable African Americans. It is located on the campus of the Society in Cockeysville. The Society is housed in what was the "Alms House" where the poor in the County would come for help. The Pest House was used to house the incurables. Since providing me with the building, the Society had it cleared by CDC to be sure it is safe for use. The interior of the Pest House is completely destroyed by vandals over the many years it has been vacant, and will need many thousands of dollars to restore it. The exterior, because it is built of stone is in great shape. My organization is applying for a large grant to help in restoring the interior of the building, but we must show that we can earn funds to assist....
The first fundraising event planned will be a 9-day cruise to the Bahamas, scheduled for 7 through 16 January 2012. This Wednesday's session will discuss the details of this cruise. For more information, contact Louis Diggs at louisdiggs@verizon.net or Deborah Mullen at dpmtravel@aol.com.
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