The Naming of the Mount Rose (MD) Chapter

The Mount Rose (MD) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated’s name was the idea of charter chapter member Raquel Skinner. According to the book co-authored by charter chapter member Karen Williams Gooden titled, Like A Phoenix I’ll Rise: An Illustrated History of African Americans in Prince George’s County, Maryland 1696-1996, Mount Rose derives its name from the homestead of former enslaved African, Adam Francis Plummer, who once resided, during slavery, with many of his family members on the Riverdale Mansion Plantation. However, following emancipation, Adam was able to purchase ten acres of land. This was a seemingly insurmountable feat for a former enslaved person. Raquel Skinner analogized the experiences of the Plummer family with that of the Petals on the Potomac when she wrote:

Adam Francis Plummer was born into slavery on the Maryland plantation of George Calvert. Despite being enslaved, Adam was a skilled farmer, horticulturist and literate young man (it is believed that he was taught how to read by John Bowser, a free black preacher).  

Adam met a young enslaved woman named Emily, to whom he was later married and had several children. Adam and Emily were never permitted to live together, which forced Adam to travel several miles every Saturday night to visit his wife on the weekends for 10 years. Following this initial 10-year period, Emily and their children were sold to other families on various occasions and at some point Adam lost contact with his family. He later reconnected with his family and was allowed to visit them only twice a year: Easter and Christmas.    

After “slaves” in Maryland were emancipated (and God’s will), Adam and Emily were permitted to live together as husband and wife for the first time in 22 years of marriage. Adam and Emily wanted to keep their family united and entered into an agreement with a white landowner in Hyattsville; Adam and Emily could purchase a 10-acre hilltop property if they paid $1,000 within 24 months. It is understood that the landowner thought Adam and Emily could never fulfill this agreement; therefore, he did not mind entering into it with these newly-freed “slaves.” Not only did Adam and Emily pay the $1,000, but they did so six months ahead of time!

For many years, this hilltop land was used as the family compound and named “Mount Rose” because of the amazing roses that Adam cultivated on this land. In 1924, this land was incorporated and became a part of Edmonston (a town next to Hyattsville).

Adam accomplished many achievements during his lifetime, among which included secretly writing a diary of his life as a “slave.” In fact, Adam’s diary is the only known diary of a “slave written in real time” in the United States and as such is housed in the Smithsonian Museum.*   

This story resonated with charter chapter member Raquel Skinner on two levels. First, this story demonstrates how a heartfelt commitment to family (in this cases, our Petal sister friends) can stand the test of time. Second the word “Mount” means “to go up, climb or ascend.” During our matriculation into Linkdom, the Petals will have “climbed” together in friendship and service and, at the end of our journey, will have emerged as one white rose.

Hence, we have named ourselves the “Mount Rose (MD) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated.”

*Details regarding Adam Francis Plummer’s life were derived from the following sources: Karen Williams Gooden, Esq., and Alvin Thornton, Ph.D. “Like a Phoenix I’ll Rise: An Illustrated History of African Americans in Prince George’s County, Maryland 1696-1996,” (Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Company Publishers, 1997); Nellie Arnold Plummer, “Out of the Depths of The Triumph of the Cross,” (Hyattsville, MD: self-published, 1927); http://anacostia.si.edu/exhibits/Plummer/Plummer_Home.htm
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