The Life and Legacy of Mother Lange

A note to my students:

I made this site to serve as a model for your projects. ESRI StoryMaps is a digital storytelling platform. It is a useful tool for contextualizing biographies in time/space and presenting historical narratives in an accessible format. As you build your digital narrative, consider the user's experience as well as the historical thinking skills we've been honing in this course so far. Refer back to the assignment instructions for specific requirements.

Happy storytelling!

-Prof. M.

Mary Elizabeth Clarisse Lange (born in the 1780s or '90s, died February 3, 1882), founded the first Catholic religious congregation for African Americans in the United States. As the leader of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, she became the first Black mother-superior in America. Lange played a pivotal role in expanding Baltimore's educational infrastructure during a period when opportunities for children of color were limited. She is recognized in the Catholic Church as a holy woman and a servant of God, with an ongoing campaign for her canonization as a saint.

Baltimore in the 1790s and early 19th century was a haven for refugees from multiple revolutions. A member of the refugee community from the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), Lange's childhood migration from Cuba to Baltimore was shaped entirely by events in the Revolutionary Atlantic, from the Caribbean to Europe. Likewise, the group of French priests among whom Lange and her community found spiritual support in Baltimore, had themselves arrived as refugees from the French Revolution. These circumstances drew Lange and her clerical allies into the same Catholic community, leading to the founding of the first community of nuns of African descent. Paradoxically, Lange left one region, colonial Haiti, as it was entering a new period of racial equality and entered another, Maryland, as it was transitioning into a society increasingly defined by prejudice and legal restrictions against men and women of color. Lange would battle racism her entire career.

Note to students: I set the scene with a quick intro paragraph here and follow with a big-picture argument about the role of revolution in shaping Lange's life. I added the image at the top (header) by clicking the button "Add cover image or video." I added the text above by clicking the "plus" and selecting "text." The image below was created by clicking "plus" and selecting "image." The map tour that follows was built by clicking the "plus" sign and selecting "Map Tour"> "From Scratch." Just select "Add Location" and choose either a modern-day place name, address, or lat/long coordinates.

Note to students: The sequence below is a combination of scrolling images and text. It is called a "sidecar" feature. You may choose to present your information however you wish, provided all the required elements are included.