The African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard began as a dream. The guiding mission was to create a permanent record of the unknown history of people of color on this Island. The most ambitious idea was to have four sites with plaques that would tell the story. That was many years ago, and now there are 26 sites embracing every aspect of African American experience. There are sites dedicated to those who blaze a path for people of color on the Vineyard through their work as ministers, whaling captains, entrepreneurial inn keepers, politicians, musicians, boxers and those who fought for freedom. The existence of the trail is tangible evidence for every passerby that a remarkable history existed here and now it has been documented and publicly celebrated.

This summer, three educators were actively involved in providing tours of the trail to visitors who came from all over the U.S. seeking the story of people of color on Martha’s Vineyard. In many ways, the role was the same as it is during the school year — embracing diversity and seeking to extend information and give more dimension to historical narratives.

But there were some key fundamental differences. During the summer the classroom is the Island and the role of the educator is to swing on and off buses and vans, telling stories, showing artifacts and visiting the places where the history makers actually led their Island lives. Though it is different, in many ways teaching and learning is always the same. Present the information in the most engaging way possible, answer the questions and honor contributions from those who want to learn the story.

Summer teaching presents its own challenges, including how to get into Edgartown and down to Memorial Wharf without spending two hours doing so, or how to pack as many people as possible into a vehicle without undue discomfort.

My role, as cofounder of the trail and a passionate history teacher, was to support the program and help with the tours. It was a great pleasure to meet so many kind people who shared my passion for justice and history, perhaps in that order.

On occasion, there were frustrations facilitating the tours, such as when number of people traveling doubled overnight. But these minor challenges faded completely when compared with the joy of watching our visitors’ interest in the history that we shared. I feel that I made lots of new friends who took a little piece of this Island away with them in the stories that they learned. There were joyful times, but one particularly magic moment was when I arrived with a group of women at West Basin in Aquinnah where there is a site to mark the rescue of a fugitive by the Wampanoag tribe. Buddy Vanderhoop was fishing while we read the plaque telling the story. His four-year-old grandson, Hapa, engaged us all in conversation, introducing himself and explaining the meaning of his Hawaiian name. And Buddy presented one of the women with a carefully cleaned fish. In one of the most beautiful places on the Island we stood together bonding over the age-old art of fishing, pride in history and the joy a little child can bring. That was an unforgettable moment.

For Rachel Araujo, a librarian at the Oak Bluffs School, working on the heritage trail was both an educational and emotional experience. “The trail is so inspirational and it fills so many people with hope,” she said. “I had so many folk tear up with the beautiful stories that touched them. I am honored to be an oral historian and share this beautiful Trail.” Stacey Morris, a history teacher in Oak Bluffs was also involved with sharing the stories. “What most impressed me is that people may only have a few hours or days on the Island, but taking the trail is so important to them,” she said. “It was remarkable to see how emotionally connected people were to the tour. It was memorable to hear from people how they too went to Hampton, like Charles Shearer and how they too struggled to buy property. They really engage with the stories. As a history teacher, I have not seen people emotionally connect with history in this way. People are really wowed by the women represented on the trail. I had a whole van full of women cheering after I told them about the magnificent Emma Chambers Maitland. The tours often start quietly, but by the time they end we know each others stories and we are all laughing together.”

Throughout the summer, we taught the history whether from buses, vans or walking through the woods. This was public history, not tucked away in some remote classroom but alive and engaging. Even the shirts we wore emblazoned with a photograph of the plaque honoring Emma Chambers Maitland proclaimed the living history of people of color on this Island. A vital part of bringing history to life is to make it visible and interactive and to share stories. All this we did in our black and yellow heritage trail shirts and we were rewarded a million times by the commitment and excitement of our visitors.

History comes alive through animated discussion and the passion to hear an inclusive story. We brought it to life.

Elaine Cawley Weintraub is chairman of the history department at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.