Our History

“Education…the 21st Century Underground Railroad”

Incorporated in January 2018, the mission of the Foundation is to educate citizens about the social, historical, cultural, spiritual, and civil rights needs of the people of our nation beginning in the State of Maryland. Guided by the principles of education, economic development, history, and environmental justice and sustainability, the The Rev. Samuel Green, Sr. Foundation, Inc. seeks to heighten awareness about the exclusion of the rich historical legacy of blacks on the Chesapeake. Collectively, these principles seek to bridge the disparity gaps while making the industry of natural resources more diverse and inclusive. Our mission is accomplished by developing strategic partnerships with public, private, faith-based, and community-based organizations.  
The mission of the The Rev. Samuel Green, Sr. Foundation, Inc. is to reach out to educate the social, historical, cultural, spiritual & civil right needs of the people of our nation beginning in the State of Maryland.
Per our ancestral legacy, mission and founding, we minister to communities regarding education, research, heritage tourism and preservation. Education is the 21st Century Underground Railroad. Similarly to our great ancestors Rev. Samuel Green, Sr. and Harriet Tubman, we are called upon and are active in this 21st Century Underground Railroad experience. We, in essence, are leveraging the role of Education (as our ancestors used the Role of the Church and the Network to Freedom) in order to foster mentoring stations in various communities, where we deliver lectures, conduct heritage related activities (i.e. tours) and perform heritage preservation services.

Mission Areas

  • Biography
  • Books
  • Burial Monument
  • Endowed Scholarship at Morgan State University
  • Film Documentary
  • Historical Marker
  • Interpretive Signage
  • Lecture Series
  • Memorial Garden
  • Mural 
  • Museum Exhibit
  • Plaque
  • Portrait Context
  • Reenactment
  • Sculpture 
  • Stamp
  • Statue
  • Tourism Materials
  • Traveling Exhibit

Historical Synopsis

  • Rev. Samuel Green, Sr. (1802 – 1877)
  • A Marylander
  • A 1st Cousin to Harriet Tubman
  • Freedman
  • Methodist Preacher
  • Underground Railroad Conductor
  • Visionary Founder of Morgan State University
  • Born in Dorchester County, Maryland in 1802, enslaved
  • Became an early and highly respected Methodist preacher
  • Purchased his freedom in 1832
  • Purchased the freedom of his wife Catherine in 1842
  • In 1844, he established the Colored Peoples Methodist Episcopal Church now Faith Community United Methodist Church in East New Market, Maryland,
  • In 1852, he served as a delegate to the convention of Free Colored People in Baltimore and Philadelphia,
  • But in 1854, Rev Samuel Green, Sr. turned to his first cousin, Harriet Tubman, to lead his enslaved son, Samuel Green Jr, to Canada,
  • The letter Sam Jr. wrote back to his Rev. Samuel Green, Sr. upon his arrival to Canada is in the Library of Congress,
  • In Canada Sam Green, Jr. got married to Louisa Gray from NY and had five children (after Maryland signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1864),
  • The flight of the Dover Eight, made national headlines in 1857 when eight slaves in Dorchester County, Maryland escaped from Dorchester County,
  • The group sought help from Rev. Samuel Green, Sr.,
  • Then they found assistance from Harriet Tubman’s father Ben Ross,
  • Harriet Tubman provided Underground Railroad instructions to the Dover Eight,
  • Local slaveholders sought swift and stern justice for anyone who assisted the flight of the Dover Eight,
  • Rev. Samuel Green Sr. was captured, arrested and imprisoned in 1857 for being in possession of The Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Anti-slavery publication, 
  • He had helped Harriet Tubman and many others to freedom, including the group of men called the Dover Eight,
  • Shortly after he was pardoned from jail in Baltimore City, he started the conversation on education and religious instruction,
  • He framed the mission of “moral and intellectual elevation”, which led to the formation of the Centenary Biblical Institute of 1867,
  • Now Morgan State University, the State of Maryland flagship HBCU, Maryland’s Premier Public Urban Research University and a National Treasure.