About 300 years ago, Dr. George Hume Steuart arrived in the United States from Scotland. He made a name for himself as a physician, mayor of Annapolis and wealthy planter who built his fortune on the backs of enslaved people.

Saturday, one of his descendants — Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman — will stand before a crowd and issue a formal apology for the 375-year-old county’s historic role in enforcing and supporting slavery.

It’s personal for Pittman, a Democrat who is nearing his final year as county executive because of term limits.

“I am somebody whose ancestors enslaved people at a place where I live,” Pittman said.

The county executive lives on the same family farm where his ancestors once held Black people in bondage and previously said he couldn’t let his time in office end without addressing it.

“When descendants of enslaved people say, ‘Hey, you know, this country never did what other countries did, and apologize for, acknowledge, you know, make reparations for the sins of the past,’” said Pittman, adding an emphatic nod, “I’m like, ‘Yeah.’”

One moment that sticks with Pittman, he said, is when he read a fugitive slave advertisement that his wife discovered. It was placed by one of his ancestors in 1782, offering 10 pounds for anyone who returned an enslaved man named Jack, who would pass “very well for a white man.”

According to the Bank of England, 10 pounds in 1782 would be more than 1,400 pounds today — about $1,928 at the current exchange rate.

Pittman grew up in Washington but often visited Dodon, the family farm in Davidsonville. His father worked in John F. Kennedy’s administration and helped instill a sense of social justice in the family.

When they visited Dodon as children, Pittman said, he and his siblings played with the kids of the Black family who lived on the farm.

“And their family grew tobacco. I was aware that we had more money and resources than them, but we hung out together as kids,” Pittman said. “We used to ride bikes up to the Davidsonville store, get candy bars and come back and eat them in our little fort in the woods.

“We grew up together, on those weekends and summers.”

County apology

Pittman’s decision to apologize followed a request from the county’s human rights commission and other groups. In a letter sent last year, commission Chair Eugene Peterson asked the county to apologize “for the negative impact slavery had on those enslaved and their descendants.”

Peterson, who did not respond to messages seeking comment, also asked county leaders to develop legislation concerning reparations.

Carl Snowden, a longtime civil rights activist, former Annapolis alderman and the convener of the Caucus of African American Leaders, was involved in getting the request to the county executive.

“It’s historic,” Snowden said. “It’s unprecedented and necessary.”

An apology is not a “panacea,” he added, but it’s an important start. There’s been a “great effort” to erase the history of slavery, Snowden said, and he praised Pittman for being willing to speak out.

“Most politicians run away from that history or don’t want to talk about it at all, and he’s willing to speak on the record, talk about why it was wrong and what he can do as county executive to help to begin to heal,” Snowden said.

Due to high interest, the Day of Acknowledgement event was rescheduled from Nov. 1 to Saturday. It’s scheduled for 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Maryland Hall.

It comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has rolled back diversity and equity efforts at government agencies and played down the focus on slavery and racial injustice at federal parks and museums.

This past summer, Trump said the Smithsonian Institution was too focused on “how bad slavery was” and directed the museum system to review its exhibits “to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

Pittman has maintained that he won’t be silenced by Trump.

“It’s not about the president. We would be doing this regardless,” he said previously. “But we’re not going to not do it because of the president, either."

In addition to Pittman’s remarks, the event will include a panel conversation about reparations and a discussion about resources and opportunities that can “directly improve the lives of individuals and families, including those that address disparities in health, wealth, and education.”

Not everyone in Anne Arundel is satisfied with the idea of an apology, or with the Day of Acknowledgement. A group called the Capitol Accountability Project sent a letter this week saying an apology without reparative action doesn’t do enough.

“Symbolic gestures are not effective when it comes to the harm that the community has experienced, and that we continue to experience,” said Ahsun Powell, the group’s co-founder.

The group is calling for equity clauses in county contracts, a community reinvestment and repair fund, and a 40% Black hiring benchmark in county government, among other demands.

Powell said she was supportive of Gov. Wes Moore’s decision this year to veto a bill that would have set up a committee to study reparations.

“There have been enough studies,” Powell said.

She said she was glad to see Moore’s announcement on Juneteenth this year pardoning people with cannabis convictions and prioritizing funding for communities harmed by racist policies in the past.

The county’s NAACP branch signed on to the Capitol Accountability Project letter this week, and so did other organizations, faith leaders and residents.

Steven Waddy, the branch president, said the civil rights organization was not consulted about this weekend’s event and was declining to participate. In a statement issued after the NAACP’s objections became public, a spokesperson for Pittman’s office said the county respected the group’s decision.

Looking ahead

Pittman said he and his siblings — the trustees who are responsible for Dodon Farm — have discussed the idea of family reparations.

“We have seven siblings, and we’ve talked about that a lot, and what that would look like,” Pittman said.

The family has not reached a consensus, he said. His position for family action has been that “anything that we do, I would rather wait until I’m not a public figure anymore.”

As for what happens after this weekend?

“I think the best I can hope for is a moment of connection from which then more positive things happen,” said Pittman, an early Moore supporter who chairs the state Democratic Party.

Snowden said Saturday’s apology and education event lay a foundation for the county government to do more. But because of term limits, he said, it will be up to future county officials to take things further.

Broadly, Snowden said, he’s optimistic for the future.

“Race relations will be improved if we as a country move to improve it. It will not be improved if we don’t,” he said. “It’s real simple. It’s all about who gets elected to public office.”

Powell, meanwhile, said she believes the support behind the Capitol Accountability Project will prompt local government officials to have a meaningful conversation.

“They now see, the community as a whole, we are now requiring that you have a real conversation about what tangible repair looks like,” Powell said. “That is my belief, not my hope.”