Bienvenido, bienvenue, hello and welcome to the website, www.elementarymydearmd.com, and blog of the Elementary My Dear Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience.

My name is Dr. Michelle K. Watson, my pronouns are she/her/hers/ela/ella/elle, and as your bold, unabashedly intrepid host, I am pleased to have you accompany me on this sublime audio journey where the belief is that equity in medicine can be both evolutionary and revolutionary.

Our mission in healthcare is to include and stay divine, every single time. 

I am thrilled to have you accompany me on this journey to educate, investigate, evaluate, and create an open think tank for solutions necessary for achieving healthcare equity for BIPOC populations around the world.

When the student is ready, the master appears.

This popular adage is referenced from Episode 2: It’s All About the Benjamins of the Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience.

The Benjamin Banneker Historical Park & Museum is a Baltimore County Park that honors the land and legacy of a Free African American man who lived during the 1700s. Located on 142 acres in the Patapsco River Valley, the Park & Museum offers public and private programs focused on Banneker’s life and his relationship to the land he inhabited. The mission is to provide well-researched educational, historical, and cultural programs and exhibits regarding the life of Benjamin Banneker.

If you are interested in learning more about Benjamin Banneker, this museum is a great place to start!  

It offers permanent and temporary exhibits, a children’s discovery zone, a SkyView computer zone, and a DVD viewing area. In addition, live animals and a natural history display are on premises.

Additionally, The Friends of Benjamin Banneker organization endeavor to contribute to the public’s understanding of the factual aspects of Benjamin Banneker’s life and times, and to preserve his African American historic legacy through archaeology, interpretive trails, events, and museum exhibits.

Special features include artifacts uncovered during the 1980s archaeological excavations at the park, a telescope owned by Major Andrew Ellicott, and items loaned to Banneker by the Ellicott family. Including the desk where Banneker worked and studied. 

Visitors can learn about slavery and freedom, tobacco farming, archaeology, astronomy, almanacs, and land surveying.

Past exhibits included telling ancestral stories through textiles and paper, basket weaving history, archaeology, African American history, women’s history, slavery, Ellicott family letters, quilts, and much more.

The Banneker Discovery Zone invites children to interact with Banneker-related hands-on materials. There are a variety of children’s books and colonial toys awaiting exploration as well as learning bins that contain interactives focused on topics like Banneker the Colonial Farmer, Banneker the Astronomer, Banneker the Clock Maker, and Banneker the Mathematician. 

The Discovery Zone also features live animals including a terrapin, a tree frog, and Madagascar cockroaches. Seasonally, we also feature tadpoles and a variety of caterpillars, their chrysalises, and the butterflies that emerges. There is a sample of animals you could find right in the park. Among the animals displayed are a fox, a faun, a Baltimore oriole, and mud daubers.

A computer linked to SkyViewCafe allows older children and adults to explore many aspects of the night sky, even traveling back in time to see the night sky as Banneker saw it during his survey of Washington, D.C.

ViewSpace is an internet-fed, self-updating, permanent exhibit from the Space Telescope Science Institute, home of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope.

As for the museum’s Vision: 

By the year 2025, the museum will:

• Become a widely recognized resource for Banneker’s living history and its significance to our community.
• Create a unified and enriching experience for Park and Museum visitors for recreation, education, and enjoyment.
• Become a hub for developing future scientists, historians, and stewards of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
• Successfully partner with other groups to attract resources to fulfill our mission.

During this two-hour program experience, students will become history detectives as they investigate artifacts, the Banneker gallery, a colonial cabin, and the statements of a re-enactor to uncover Maryland’s colonial past. After exploring these primary and secondary sources centered on the life of Benjamin Banneker, students will be asked to synthesize their findings and to reflect on their learning experience. Students will record their findings in a take-home History Detective Booklet, which will allow for further classroom discussions and serve as guide for citing various historical data.

History:

Exploring Childhood Adventures in Colonial America (Grade 3)

Life in Colonial Maryland (Grades 4-8)

Defining Democracy in the New Republic: Banneker and His Contemporaries (Grades 5-9)

Following a documentary and a tour of the Banneker Gallery and farmstead, students will be engaged in a captivating workshop. Using early American primary sources, they will explore protest literature including Benjamin Banneker’s letter to Thomas Jefferson as well as other African American writings in the 1700s. These writings will be studied in view of the founding principles of American government and responsible citizenship.

Benjamin Banneker Gallery (Grades 3-12)

After viewing a brief orientation DVD or a documentary about Benjamin Banneker, students will explore the gallery to learn more about this incredible man. Several original artifacts and documents belonging to the Bannekers are displayed in this room. Afterward, students will tour a furnished colonial cabin. An optional addition of a storyteller (for an additional fee) is often included in this experience.

Discovery Tour (Grades 4-8)

Under the direction of a gallery assistant, students will independently explore the Banneker Gallery with an activity sheet. This guide will acquaint them with Banneker’s 1791 prediction of a solar eclipse, his farm, and other fascinating facets of his life.

At the Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum, you will find all sorts of history including the Colonial, Revolutionary, and Victorian eras. In addition to cultural history, the park is rich in natural history with streams, ponds, forests, and geological features.

Nature Quest is a Baltimore County program that provides a great opportunity to experience the outdoors and be active with friends and family while discovering some of the best parks and trails in Baltimore County. You can bike, hike, or canoe on designated trails to complete the Nature Quest and earn fun prizes. The Nature Quest is year-round but questers that complete at least 5 trails each year receive free admission to that year’s Nature Quest Fest and are entered into raffles for great prizes.

Programs for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts:

Banneker Park and Museum offers programs for scouts of all ages. Program themes include history, forestry, nature, astronomy, and more. Programs can also be designed upon request. Scout program fees vary depending on the program, but typically start at $3 per scout.

At Banneker Summer Camp, attendees learn about History, Nature, Astronomy and More!

Fees and Accommodations

$3.00 per student, no charge for teachers and chaperones at a ratio of one teacher/chaperone per 15 students. 

To book or for detailed information please contact the museum at:

300 Oella Avenue, Catonsville, MD 21228

410-887-1081 or via email at:

BannekerMuseum@BaltimoreCountyMD.gov.

All Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience blog articles and podcast episodes illustrate the significance and virtues of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) concepts of cultural competence and cultural humility with an extensive healthcare literature review, and touches of world culture, humor and musicality.

All ages, gender identities, races, nationalities, creeds, religions, and ethnicities worldwide are welcome to enjoy an audio escapist edutainment moment with me, Dr. Watson, the podcast creator, producer, and host.

Join me, Dr. Watson, your Chief Diversity Guru, producer, and host, on this groundbreaking audio revolution for a new episode every month on all major podcast hosting platforms.

To learn more about diversity, equity, and inclusion done the EMD Executive way, head on over to the links listed in the description area. Be certain to visit my website and landing page and sign up for exclusive content, DEI healthcare news, and a most wicked plethora of edutainment delectables to titillate your fancy.

To learn more about my experiences in diversity, equity, and inclusion as a physician, purchase my book, The Women of Purpose Anthology, a collection of inspiring stories from empowered women from all walks of life from the EMD Executive Equity online store on this website.

Informed, culturally relevant content.

Custom-created and curated for an informed listener base.

For a more informed future.

Elementary my dear listeners.

I am Dr. Michelle K. Watson, innovator, producer, host, and creator of the Elementary My Dear Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience. Join me on this audio revolution for a new episode every month on all major podcast hosting platforms. 

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I thank you for allowing me to be of service to you.

This is Dr. Michelle K. Watson, signing off, wishing all of you a safe and equitable life journey.

Until we meet again, for the next episode in this revolution.

Evolve safely. 

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Namaste.