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Baltimore, Maryland

Believe
When I think about Baltimore, I think of the
profound resiliency of its people and its
infrastructure. Many of my relatives are from
Baltimore and I have visited the city before too. I
have seen its neighborhoods and its Downtown
before. Today, in this generation, it is the perfect
opportunity to further reflect on Baltimore’s
contributions to the human family and be renewed
in our conviction that justice for all is a precept that
we will fight for as Brothers and Sisters. The struggle
continues, but we have hope. Hope sustains our
minds and refreshes our souls. Baltimore has row
houses and John Hopkins University. It has people
among many backgrounds and it has the beauty of
Blackness in its areas too (as most people in
Baltimore are black Americans). The great city of
Baltimore motivates us and makes us honor the
Thurgood Marshall, Angel McCoughtry, and Freddie
beauty and the human value of its glorious
Gray are from Baltimore. Yes, we haven’t forgotten
composition.
about Freddie Gray either.

This is the view of the Inner Harbor. For over 2 centuries, Baltimore has
certainly inspired our imagination.
The revolutionary spirit of social change is always found in Baltimore. It is an independent city which is the
most populous city in the great state of Maryland. Many of my relatives live in Baltimore, so this is very
personal with me. Recently, back in 2016, I visited Baltimore. I have seen its streets, its buildings, and its
gorgeous architecture. So, I decided to research Baltimore in a more intimate, powerful level. I love to
research and I love to learn information. For centuries, Baltimore has existed as a city. Now, it’s an
independent city and it’s the largest independent city in America in terms of population. It has over
610,000 people. The Constitution of Maryland established Baltimore. Its metropolitan area has near 2.8
million human beings. Southwest of Baltimore is Washington, D.C. Northeast of Baltimore is Philadelphia.
Southeast of Baltimore is the Eastern Shore region (found in both Maryland and Virginia). Baltimore is also
found on the Piedmont region geographically, which means that it has many hills. From 1729 to the
present, Baltimore has tons of historical and cultural significance. It is a city home to a lot of civil rights
events and its past included its powerful industrial base. It is a city where thousands of people work at
Johns Hopkins Hospital (which was created in 1889). Edgar Allan Poe, Edith Hamilton, Frederick Douglass,
Billie Holiday, actor and filmmaker John Waters, Babe Ruth, and others have lived in Baltimore before. Also,
this great city is home to more public statues and monuments per capita than any other city in the United
States of America.

As a large seaport in the Mid Atlantic, Baltimore has a powerful culture involving harbors and seafood
(especially crabs). There are very numerous neighborhoods in Baltimore, so it is a city that divided up into
different regions. These regions include the following locations: North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South,
Southwest, West, Northwest, and Central. Tourism flourishes in Baltimore. In the Inner Harbor alone, you
can visit: Harborplace, the Baltimore Convention Center, the National Aquarium, Maryland Science Center,
Pier Six Pavilion, and Power Plant Live. Northeast Baltimore is where Morgan State University is found. It's a
HBCU (or Historical Black Colleges and Universities) and HBCUs is a huge part of American culture and black
culture too. This is the perfect occasion for the long history and culture of Baltimore to be shown to the
world.
Native Americans
In the beginning, Native Americans were the original inhabitants of Baltimore. Native Americans lived in the
Baltimore since at least the 10th millennium B.C. This was when Paleo-Native Americans first settled in the
region. One Paleo-Native American site plus several Archaic period and Woodland period archaeological
sites have been identified in Baltimore. There have been four found from the late Woodland period too. By
the time of the Late Woodland period, there was an archaeological culture called “Potomac Creek
complex.” It resided in an area from Baltimore to the Rappahannock River in Virginia (this is the river where
Fredericksburg, Virginia is found), primarily along the Potomac River downstream from the Fall Line. East of
the Fall line is where the Coastal Plain region is found geographically. During the early 1600’s, the
immediate Baltimore vicinity was populated by Native Americans. The Baltimore County area northward
was used by the Susquehannocks. They used the area as hunting grounds. The Susquehannocks lived in the
lower Susquehanna River valley. They controlled all of the upper tributaries of the Chesapeake and
refrained from much contact with the Powhatan in the Potomac region. The Powhatan was a powerful
Native American tribe who also lived in Virginia. The Piscataway tribe of the Algonquians (who are found in
Eastern Virginia too) were pressured by the Susquehannokcs to live well south of the Baltimore area. They
lived mostly on the north bank of the Potomac River in what is now Charles and southern Prince George’s
south of the Fall line. John Smith has his 1608 map that shown many settlements and it showed the
Baltimore area.
There were settlements of Native Americans on the Patuxent River. In 1608, John Smith traveled 210 miles
from Jamestown to the uppermost Chesapeake Bay. He led the first European expedition to the Patapsco
River, which is found in Baltimore. Patapsco was a word used by the Algonquin language natives who fished
shellfish and hunted. The name "Patapsco" is derived from pota-psk-ut, which translates to "backwater" or
"tide covered with froth" in Algonquian dialect. A quarter century after John Smith's voyage, English
colonists began to settle in Maryland. The English were initially frightened by the Piscataway in southern
Maryland because of their body paint and war regalia, even though they were a peaceful tribe. The chief of
the Piscataway tribe was quick to grant the English permission to settle within Piscataway territory and
cordial relations were established between the English and the Piscataway.

Early European Settlement


European settlement continued. The County of Baltimore was created around 1659 according to the
records of the General Assembly of Maryland. This event was the earliest divisions of the Maryland Colony
into counties. There was a warrant that was issued to be served by the “Sheriff of Baltimore County.” The
area made up of the modern city of Baltimore and its metropolitan area was settled by David Jones in 1661.
His claim was found in the areas today known as Harbor East on the east bank of the Jones Falls River. This
river flows south into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. During the next year, the shipwright Charles Gorsuch
settled Whetstone Point. That was in the present location of Fort McHenry. In 1665, the west side of the
Jones Falls on the Inner Harbor was settled when 550 acres of land, thereafter named Cole’s Harbor, was
granted to Thomas Cole. It was later sold to David Jones in 1679. Old Saint Paul’s Parish of Baltimore
County was one of the “Original Theirty” parishes designated for the Colony. It included the county of
Baltimore and future Baltimore Town was part of the “established” or “state” Church of England.

That church was also called the Anglican Church. It was the first church built in the metro area. It was
erected in 1692 on the Patapsco Neck peninsula in southeastern Baltimore County. It is along Colgate Creek
which flowed into Patapsco River (or the present site of today’s Dundalk Marine Terminal of the Port of
Baltimore). Jones’s stepson James Todd resurveyed Cole’s Harbor in 1696. The tract was renamed Todd’s
Range, which was then sold off in progressively smaller parcels, thereby forming the land that would
become the Town of Baltimore thirty years later. There was another “Baltimore” on the Bush River as early
as 1674. The first county seat of Baltimore County is called “Old Baltimore.” It was located on the Bush
River on land that in 1773 became part of Harford County. In 1674, the General Assembly passed "An Act
for erecting a Court-house and Prison in each County within this Province." The site of the court house and
jail for Baltimore County was evidently "Old Baltimore" near the Bush River.

In 1683, the General Assembly passed "An Act for Advancement of Trade" to "establish towns, ports, and
places of trade, within the province." One of the towns established by the act in Baltimore County was "on
Bush River, on Town Land, near the Court-House." The court house on the Bush River referenced in the
1683 Act was in all likelihood the one created by the 1674 Act. "Old Baltimore" was in existence as early as
1674, but we don't know with certainty what if anything happened on the site prior to that year. The exact
location of Old Baltimore was lost for years. Some believe that it’s found on the site of modern day
Aberdeen Proving Ground or APG (which is an U.S. Army testing facility). Back during the 1990’s, the APG’s
Cultural resource Management Program wanted to find Old Baltimore. The firm of R. Christopher Goodwin
& Associates was contracted for the project. After Goodwin first performed historical and archival work,
they coordinated their work with existing landscape features to locate the site of Old Baltimore. APG's
Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel went in with Goodwin to defuse any unexploded ordnance.
Working in 1997 and 1998, the field team uncovered building foundations, trash pits, fauna remains, and
17,000 artifacts, largely from the 17th century. The Bush River proved to be an unfortunate location
because the port became silted and impassable to ships, forcing the port facilities to relocate. By the time
Baltimore on the Patapsco River was established in 1729, Old Baltimore Town had faded away.

Baltimore Town (and the Revolutionary War)


Maryland’s colonial General Assembly created and authorized the Port of Baltimore in 1706. It is found at
the Head of the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River in what is known as “the Basin” or today’s Inner
Harbor. It expanded east later and southeast down river to the settlement (now known as Fells Point) to
the east. That is found near the mouth of Jones Falls and further in the nineteenth century, it is known as
Canton. Baltimore is named after Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore (1605-1675) of the Irish House of
The American Revolution War Lords. He was the founding proprietor of the
Province of Maryland. Cecilius Calvert was the
oldest son of Sir George Calvert (1579-1632),
who became the First Lord Baltimore of County
Longford, Ireland in 1625. Previously, he was a
loyal agent of King Charles I of England (1600–
1649) as his Secretary of State until declaring
himself a follower of Roman Catholicism.
Regardless, the King still gave his heir Cecil the
1632 grant for the Maryland colony, named
after Charles's wife, Queen Henrietta Marie. The
colony was a follow-up to his earlier settlement
in Newfoundland, known as "Acadia" or
"Avalon", (future Canada), which he found too
cold and difficult for habitation.
This painting shows the Battle of Trenton, which was
an American Victory
Date April 19, 1775-September 3, 1783 At the Basin to the southeast along the southern
Location Eastern North America, Caribbean Sea, peninsula, which ended at Whetstone Point or
Indian subcontinent, Central America,
Europe, Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, and the
today’s South Baltimore, Federal Hill, and Locust
Indian Ocean. Point, there were the funding of new wharves
Result (and slips came about form individual wealthy
• An American victory
ship owners plus brokers. Funding came from
• Peace of Paris Treaty
• British recognition of American public authorities via the town commissioners
independence by means of lotteries). In the Maryland region,
• British retention of Canada and Gibraltar there was tobacco trade and shipping of other
Commanders and Leaders raw materials overseas to England, for receiving
George Washington George III manufactured goods from England and for trade
Thomas Chittenden Lord North with other ports being formed up and down the
Louis XVI Lord George Germain Chesapeake Bay (and in other burgeoning
Charles III General William Howe colonies along the Atlantic coast).

In 1729, the Maryland General Assembly


established the Town of Baltimore. Baltimore
has grown. German immigrants began to settle
along the Chesapeake Bay by 1723 and they
lived in the Baltimore area. The General
Assembly enlarged Baltimore Town in 1745 and it incorporated David Jones’ original settlement known as
Jones Town. Baltimore sent representatives to the Assembly. Over the next two decades, it acquired nine
parcels of land. It annexed neighboring villages including Fells Point to become an important community on
the head of the Patapsco River. As Baltimore grew, more German Lutheran immigrants formed Zion Church
in 1755. Later, a German Reformed congregation was organized as the first among Protestants to be
represented. This caused more “Pennsylvania Dutch” settlers to come into the region. Early German
settlers also formed the German Society of Maryland in 1783 in order for them to foster the German
language and German culture in Baltimore. Slavery was in Baltimore and throughout early America too.
Throughout the 1700’s, Baltimore drained its marshes and filled them in. These places include Thomas
Harrison’s Marsh along the Jones Falls west bank. Canals were built in Baltimore around the falls and
through the center of town. Bridges existed across the Falls. Baltimore annexed neighboring Jones’s Town
to the northeast in 1745 and expanded southeastward towards the neighboring, bustling, shipbuilding port
at Fells Point. Baltimore back then was the largest city in the Middle Atlantic colonies between Philadelphia
and Charleston, South Carolina. The population grew rapidly. Powerful financial interests in the growing
town increased its power. The courthouse for all Baltimore County was moved from Old Joppa over its
citizens enraged protests. Baltimoreans paid some 300 pounds sterling the next year to erect a fine brick
courthouse with a bell tower and steeple on a Courthouse Square (at future Calvert Street, between East
Lexington and Fayette Streets) along with the "whipping post", stocks (for confining heads and arms),
podium for making public announcements and news, and a nearby jail (on the northern hills overlooking
the harbor basin and with its back sitting over a rugged cliff and bluffs to the northeast with "Steiger's
Meadow." The jail bordered the twisting loop of the Jones Falls which bended southwestward before
running north again).

The person on the left is Maryland inhabitant Charles Carroll. He signed the
Declaration of Independence. The person to the right is Thomas Johnson. He
was the first elected governor of Maryland under its 1776 Constitution.
During the American Revolution, the Second Continental Congress temporarily fled from Philadelphia and
held sessions in Baltimore between December 1776 and February 1777. When the Continental Congress
authorized the privateering of British vessels, eager Baltimore merchants accepted the challenge. As the
Revolutionary War progressed, the shipbuilding industry expanded and boomed. There was no major
military action near Baltimore, except for the passing nearby and a feint towards the town by the British
Royal Navy fleet as they headed north up the Chesapeake Bay to land an army at Head of Elk. This was
located in the northeast corner to march on the American capital Philadelphia. There were battles at
Brandywine and Germantown. The American Revolution ironically grew the domestic market for wheat and
iron ore. In Baltimore, flour milling increased along with the Jones and Gwynns Falls. Iron ore transport
greatly boosted the local economy. The British naval blockade hurt Baltimore’s shipping, but also freed
merchants and traders from British debts. This along with the capture of British merchant vessels furthered
Baltimore’s economic growth. By 1800, Baltimore had become one of the major cities of the new American
country. The economic foundation in Baltimore from 1763 to 1776 along with the Revolutionary War
caused Baltimore to see more economic expansion.
Baltimore’s merchants and entrepreneurs produced an expanding commercial community with family
businesses and partnerships. These businesses involved shipping, the flour milling, the grain business, the
indentured servant situation, the evil slave trade, etc. International trade focused on four areas: Britain,
Southern Europe, the West Indies, and the North American coastal towns. Credit was the essence of the
system and a virtual chain of indebtedness meant that bills remained long unpaid and little cash was used
among overseas correspondents, merchant wholesalers, and retail customers. Bills of exchange were used
extensively, often circulating as currency. Frequent crises of credit, and the wars with France kept prices
and markets in constant flux, but men such as William Lux and the Christie brothers produced a maturing
economy and a thriving metropolis by the 1770’s. Philadelphia had a more powerful economy than
Baltimore back then. The population of Baltimore reached 14,000 in 1790, but the decade was a rough one
for the city. The Bank of England's suspension of specie payments caused the network of Atlantic credit to
unravel, leading to a mild recession. The Quasi-War with France in 1798-1800 caused major disruptions to
Baltimore's trade in the Caribbean. Finally, a yellow fever epidemic diverted ships from the port, while
much of the urban population fled into the countryside. The downturn widened to include every social class
and area of economic activity. In response the business community diversified away from an economy
based heavily on foreign trade.

The Antebellum Period


From 1797 to 1861, Baltimore was in the antebellum era. By 1797, Baltimore Town merged with Fells Point
and incorporated as the City of Baltimore. The city of Baltimore grew quickly. It was the largest city south of
the Mason-Dixon Line back then. Baltimore dominated the American flour trade after 1800. The reason was
that there was the milling technology of Oliver Evans. The steam power in processing was introduced.
There was also the merchant-millers’s development of drying processes which greatly reduced spoilage. By
1830, New York City’s competition was strong. Baltimoreans were hard pressed to match the
merchantability standards despite more rigorous inspection controls than earlier nor could they match the
greater financial resources of their northern rivals like NYC. Baltimore was the site of the Battle of
Baltimore during the War of 1812. Washington, D.C. was burned down by the British. The British also
attacked Baltimore outside of the eastern outskirts of town on the “Patapsco Neck” on September 12 (at
the Battle of North Point). They attacked Baltimore again on the night of September 13-14, 1814. The
United States forces from Fort McHenry successfully defended the city’s harbor from the British. Francis
Scott Key (1779-1843) was a Maryland lawyer from Georgetown and Frederick. He was a racist and a slave
owner too. He was abroad a British ship where he wanted to negotiate the release of an American prisoner
(as the War of 1812 started in part by the British kidnapping Americans and bringing them on their ships).
The American prisoner was named Dr. William Beanes. Key witnessed the bombardment from this ship and
after seeing the huge American flag on the morning of September 14, 1814, he wrote, “The Star-Spangled
Banner.” His poem recounted the attack. Key’s poem was set to a 1780 drinking song by British composer
John Stafford Smith, and "The Star-Spangled Banner" became the official national anthem of the United
States in 1931. The original song had lyrics that condoned slavery, which is disgraceful.

A distinctive local culture started to take shape, and a unique skyline peppered with churches and
monuments developed in Baltimore. Baltimore acquired its moniker "The Monumental City" after an 1827
visit to Baltimore by President John Quincy Adams. At an evening function Adams gave the following toast:
"Baltimore: the Monumental City—May the days of her safety be as prosperous and happy, as the days of
her dangers have been trying and triumphant.” Alexander Brown lived from 1764 to 1831. He was a
Protestant immigrant from Ireland. He came into the city in 1800. He formed a linen business with his sons.
Later, the firm Alex Brown and Sons moved into cotton. They worked in shipping in a lesser extent. Brown’s
sons opened branches in Liverpool, Philadelphia, and New York. The firm was an enthusiastic supporter of
the B&O Railroad. By 1850, it was the leading foreign exchange house in America. Brown was a business
innovator who observed social conditions carefully. He was a transition figure to the era after 1819 when
cash and short credits became the norms of business relations. He concentrated his capital in small risk
ventures.

He acquired ships. He also got Bank of the United States stock during the panic of 1819 and he came to
monopolize Baltimore’s shipping trade with Liverpool by 1822. Brown next expanded into packet ships,
extended his lines to Philadelphia, and began financing Baltimore importers, specializing in merchant
banking from the late 1820's to his death in 1834. The emergence of a money economy and the growth of
the Anglo-American cotton trade allowed him to escape Baltimore's declining position in trans-Atlantic
trade. His most important innovation was the drawing up of his own bills of exchange. By 1830, his
company rivaled the Bank of the United States in the American foreign exchange markets, and the
transition from the 'traditional' to the 'modern' merchant was nearly complete. It became the nation's first
investment bank. It was sold in 1997, but the name lives on as Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, a division of the
Germany's Deutsche Bank.
Soon, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was created. Back during the early 1800’s, Baltimore faced economic
stagnation unless when it opened routes to the western states, as New York had done with the Erie Canal in
1820. By 1827, 25 merchants and bankers studied the best means of resorting the part of the Western
trade that has been recently diverted from it by using stream navigation. They wanted to build a railroad. It
would be one of the first commercial lines in the world. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) was the
first chartered railroad in America. 20,000 investors purchased $5 million in stock to import the rolling stock
and build the line. It was a commercial and financial success. It invented many new managerial methods
that became the standard practice in railroading and modern business. The B&O became the first company
to operate a locomotive built in America with the Tom Thumb in 1829. It built the first passenger and
freight status (Mount Clare in 1829) and was the first railroad that earned passenger revenues (December
1829), and published a timetable (May 23, 1830).

On December 24, 1852, it became the first rail line to reach the Ohio River from the eastern seaboard. The
railroad was merged into its former rival (the Chesapeake and Ohio or the C&O) to form “The Chessie
System Railroad.” The Chessie System merged with the Seaboard System Railroad to create CSX in 1987.
The letters CSX refers to “Chessie,” Seaboard,” and “much more to come.” After B&O’s start of regular
operations in 1830, other railroads were built in the city. In the early 1830’s, the Baltimore and Port Deposit
Rail Road started running trains in the Canton area. Later in the decade, it reached Havre de Grace. Also in
the 1830’s, the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad operated trains initially to Ownings Mills, and later
into Pennsylvania. Both lines were later controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad. In the mid-1850’s, the
Western Maryland Railway started constructing a line to Westminster and points west, reaching
Hagerstown in 1872. The Baltimore-Washington telegraph line was established along a B&O route in 1843-
1844.

From the 18th century into the 1820’s, Baltimore was a city of transients. It was a fast growing boom town
that attracted thousands of ex-slaves from the surrounding countryside. Slavery in Maryland steadily
declined after the 1810’s as the state’s economy shifted away from plantation agriculture, as
evangelicalism and a liberal manumission law encouraged slaveholders practiced “term slavery,” registering
deeds of manumission. Yet, there was a postponing of the actual date of freedom for a decade or more.
Baltimore’s shrinking population of enslaved people often lived and worked alongside the city’s growing
free black population as “quasi-freedmen.” There was unskilled and semiskilled employment readily
available in the shipyards and related industries. Back then, some had little friction with white workers.
There was poverty among the city’s free black population. Compared with the condition of those black
human beings living in Philadelphia, Charleston, and New Orleans, Baltimore was a city of refuge. Many
enslaved and free African Americans had an much more “freedom" as compared to black Americans living
in other cities. Churches, schools, and fraternal plus benevolent associations were created as a way to go
against the hardening white attitudes toward free people of color after Nat Turner’s revolt in Virginia in
1831.

There was a flood of German and Irish immigrants going into Baltimore’s labor market after 1840. This
drove more free black Americans into more poverty. The Maryland Chemical Works of Baltimore used a mix
of free labor, hired slave labor, and enslaved people held by the corporation to work in the factory. Since
chemicals needed constant attention, the rapid turnover of free white labor encouraged the owner to use
enslaved workers. While slave labor was about 20 percent cheaper, the company started to reduce its
dependence on enslaved labor in 1829 when 2 slaves ran away and one died. The location of Baltimore is in
a border state. It created opportunities for enslaved people in the city to run away and find freedom in the
North. Frederick Douglass did this. That is why slaveholders in Baltimore frequently turned to gradual
manumission as a means to secure labor from slaves. In promising freedom after a fixed period of years,
slaveholders intended to reduce the costs associated with lifetime servitude while desiring the slaves'
cooperation.

Enslaved people tried to negotiate terms of manumission that were more advantageous, and the implicit
threat of flight weighed significantly in slaveholders' calculations. The dramatic decrease in the enslaved
population during 1850-60 indicates that slavery was no longer profitable in the city. Slaves were still used
as expensive house servants: it was cheaper to hire a free worker by the day, with the option of dropping
him or replacing him with a better worker, rather than run the expense of maintaining a slave month in and
month out with little flexibility. By the eve of the Civil War, Baltimore had the largest free black community
in the nation. There were about 15 schools for black people operating including the Sabbath schools (which
were operated by Methodists, Presbyterians, and Quakers) along with many private academies. All black
schools were self-sustaining, receiving no state or local government funds, and whites in Baltimore were
generally opposed to the education of the black population. Many people taxed black property holders to
maintain schools from which black children were excluded by law. Baltimore's black community,
nevertheless, was one of the largest and most divided in America due to this experience.

Baltimore in the Third Party System had two party competitive elections. There were powerful bosses.
There was political violence and an emerging working class consciousness at the polls. The fierce politics of
the 1850’s caused many white workers, most of them Germans, to oppose slavery. The American Party
started in the mid-1850’s to represent Protestants and to counter the Democratic Party, which was
increasingly controlled by the Catholic Irish. When Baltimore erupted in violence at the time of President
Lincoln’s 1861 inauguration, for example, the pro-Union “Blood Tubs” that took to the streets were
veterans of political rioting. The nativist American (Know-Nothing) Party captured the Baltimore
government in 1854. The party promoted modernization, including professionalizing police and fire
departments, expanding the courts, and upgrading the water supply. The party used patronage and,
especially, coercion and election-day violence; its armed gangs scared off Democratic voters, but the Irish
and Germans fought back. Voters elected a congressman and governor nominated by the party during its
short life. In 1860, the Democrat-controlled legislature took back the city police, the militia, patronage, and
the electoral machinery, and prosecuted some Know-Nothings for electoral fraud. By 1861, the Know-
Nothings had split over secession.

The Civil War


The Civil War divided Baltimore and Maryland’s residents. Much of the social and political elite favored the
Confederacy and they owned slaves. In the 1860 election, the city’s large German population voted not for
Lincoln but for the Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge. They were less concerned with the abolition of
slavery (which was an issue talked about by Republicans). They were concerned more with nativism,
temperance, and religious beliefs, associated with the Know-Nothing Party and strongly opposed by the
Democrats. However, many of the Germans hated slavery and supported the Union. When Union soldiers
from the 6th Massachusetts Militia and some unarmed Pennsylvania state militia (called the “Washington
Brigade”) from Philadelphia with their band marched throughout the city during the state of the war,
Confederate sympathizers attacked the troops. This led to the first bloodshed in the Civil War during the
Baltimore riot of 1861. Four soldiers and 12 civilians were killed during the riot. This caused Union troops to
later occupy Baltimore in May under General Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts. Maryland came under
direct federal administration (in part to prevent the state from seceding) until the end of the war on April
1865. When Massachusetts troops marched through the city on April 19, 1861, en route to Washington,
D.C., a rebel mob attacked; 4 soldiers and 12 rioters were dead and 36 soldiers and uncounted rioters had
been injured. Governor Thomas Hicks realized action needed to be taken. He convened a special session of
the General Assembly but moved its location to a site in Frederick, a distance from the secessionist groups.
In doing this and by other actions, Hicks managed to neutralize the General Assembly to avoid Maryland's
secession from the Union, becoming a hero in the eyes of the Unionists in the state. Meanwhile, pro-
Confederate gangs burned the bridges connecting Baltimore and Washington to the North, and cut the
telegraph lines. Lincoln sent in federal troops under Gen. Ben Butler; they seized the city, imposed martial
law, and arrested leading Confederate spokesmen. The prisoners were later released and the rail lines
reopened, making Baltimore a major Union base during the war.
Maryland Civil War Events

The Baltimore riot of 1861 was about pro-


Confederate traitors trying to advance tyranny. They
were suppression by the Union forces.

The Battle of Antietam was one of the bloodiest


battles of the American Civil War. It took place in
September 17, 1862 near Sharpsburg, Maryland

Union General Benjamin Butler was involved in


Maryland Civil War history.
Reconstruction
After the Civil War, Maryland was not subject to Reconstruction, but the end of slavery was a new era.
Heightened racial tensions came as free black Americans came into the city. Many armed confrontations
erupted between black people and whites. Rural African Americans came into Baltimore. There was
competition for skilled jobs. There was black migration from other places too. Many black people were
relegated to unskilled work or not work at all. Violent strikes erupted. Denied entry into the regular state
militia, armed blacks formed militias of their own. In the midst of this change, many white Baltimoreans
falsely interpreted black people’s legitimate opposition to injustice as disrespect for law and order. So,
many of them wanted more police repression. By the 1860’s, Baltimore had a larger population of African
Americans than any northern city. The new Maryland state constitution of 1864 ended slavery and
provided for the education of all children, including black people.

The Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People formed
schools for black people that were taken over by the public school system. Later, black people were
restricted in education from 1867 when Democrats regained control of the city. The education system was
unequal. Black people were subjugated in a system of oppression. Baltimore's postwar school system
exposed the contradictions of race, education, and republicanism in an age when African Americans
struggled to realize the ostensible freedoms gained by emancipation. There was Jim Crow. So, black people
wanted black schools to be staffed by black teachers. From 1867 to 1900, black schools grew from 10 to 27
and enrollment from 901 to 9,383. The Mechanical and Industrial Association achieved success only in 1892
with the opening of the Colored Manual Training School. Black leaders were convinced by the Rev. William
Alexander and his newspaper, the Afro American, that economic advancement and first-class citizenship
depended on equal access to schools. That ideal is true.
In 1880, manufacturing replaced trade and made Baltimore a nationally
important industrial center. The port continued to ship increasing amounts of
grain, flour, tobacco, and raw cotton to Europe. The new industries of men’s
clothing, canning, tin, and sheet-iron ware products, foundry, and machine
shop products, cars, and tobacco manufacture had the largest labor force and
largest product value. There was new housing being constructed. Baltimore’s
economy grew. There were major builders from 1869 to 1896 gaining more
building land and capital. The major builders were craftsmen who were
entrepreneurs compared with others in the building trades. They were still
small businessmen who built a small number of houses and experienced long
careers. They worked with landowners. Some manipulated the city’s leasehold
system to their own advantage. Builders received credit from sellers of land, Hiram Rhodes Revels was
a U.S. Senator in
building societies, and land companies. Their most important source of capital
Mississippi during the era
was individual lenders, who lent money in small amounts to either on their of Reconstruction. He was
own account or through lawyers and trustees overseeing the funds they held a Republican. His
in trust. In spite of their important role in shaping the city, the contractors daughter, Susan Revels,
were small businessmen who rarely achieved citywide visibility. Until the edited a newspaper in
Seattle. His grandson,
1890’s, Baltimore remained a patchwork of nationalities with white natives, Horace R. Cayton Jr., was
German and Irish immigrants, and black Baltimoreans scattered throughout a co-author of Black
the area in heterogeneous neighborhoods. Baltimore was the origin of a major Metropolis and his other
railroad workers’ strike in 1877. That was when the B&O Company attempted grandson, Revels Cayton,
to get lower wages. was a labor leader.

On July 20, 1877, Maryland Governor John Lee Carroll called up the 5th and 6th Regiments of the National
Guard to end the strikes, which had disrupted train service at Cumberland in western Maryland. Citizens
sympathetic to the railroad workers attacked the National Guard troops as they marched from their
armories in Baltimore to Camden Station. Soldiers from the 6th Regiment fired on the crowd, killing 10 and
wounding 25. Rioters then damaged B&O trains and burned portions of the rail station. Order was restored
in the city on July 21–22 when federal troops arrived to protect railroad property and end the strike.
Expanded economic activity brought many immigrants from the countryside and from Europe after the Civil
War. Concerns for young, single Protestant women alone in cities led to the growth of the Young Women's
Christian Association (YWCA) movement. When the Baltimore YWCA was founded in 1883, they only
offered their services to white women and so the Colored Women's YWCA was founded in 1896. They
merged in 1920.
The Progressive Era
The Progressive Era of Baltimore lasted from 1895 to 1928. There was political reform during the mid-
1890’s. There was the defeat of the Arthur-Gorman-Isaac Freeman Democratic machine. The Maryland
Suffrage Association was founded in 1894. It was one of the first state suffrage associations for women in
America. They worked with the Equal Suffrage league of Baltimore and they lobbied for the women’s right
to vote at every Session of the General Assembly until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in Maryland
in 1941. Before ratification, early suffragists in Maryland worked to advance women’s rights in other ways.
One example is how Elizabeth King Ellicott, Martha Carey Thomas, Mary Garrett, Mary Gwinn, and Julia
Rogers formed the Women’s Fund Committee of the Johns Hopkins University and successfully negotiated
that they would help raise money to build the new medical school on the condition that the school will
allow women to attend when it opened. In 1893, when the Johns Hopkins Medical School opened, there
were three women and 15 men in the first class. The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 destroyed 70 blocks and
1,526 buildings in downtown. This caused more systematic urban renewal programs. Back in 1890,
Baltimore was a poorly managed city despite its economic vitality. Boston, Chicago, and New York City were
moving to modernize its public works infrastructure and supporting the construction of capital intensive
technologically sophisticated sewer and water supply systems. Baltimore lagged behind the other American
metropolises because of its culture of privatism and the politicization of its municipal administration.
However, during the 1890-1920 period the city responded to the same concerns as Chicago, New York, and
Boston. The increase in urban crises, particularly the 1904 fire and the deterioration of sanitary conditions,
prompted demands for reform.

Moreover, the municipal administration underwent a process of moralization and professionalization in the
20th century. Afterwards, Baltimore modeled itself on the other American metropolises and chose to
modernize its institutions and address the industrial and urban challenges of the era. Park development
grew too. There is the Patapsco Forest Reserve. It was later renamed the Patapsco Valley State Park. This
location was near Baltimore. It showed notable connections between the Progressive era movements for
forest conservation and urban park planning. In 1903, the Patapsco Valley site was identified by the
Olmstead Brothers landscape architecture firm as an ideal site to acquire property for future park
development. During this time, the Maryland State Board of Forestry sought to have scientific forestry
research. It received donated land for the purpose in the Patapsco Valley. Over many subsequent decades,
there was a powerful alliance of urban elites, state managers, and city officers. They assembled thousands
of acres along the Patapsco River. The site evolved into a unique hybrid of forest preserve and Public Park.
It reflects both its location on the urban fringe and its dual heritage in the conservation and parks
movements.

In 1918, the United State government reversed its draft exempted for married workers. That means that all
men must be required to work in essential occupations or serve in the military. This meant the professional
baseball players either enlisted or joined industrial baseball leagues. There were company leagues like
those of Bethlehem Steel (which provided recreational leagues on both coasts). By 1918, it represented a
major league level of competition. Sparrows Point, Maryland, a Bethlehem Steel company town, had a
Steel League team, whose results Baltimore baseball fans followed closely. At the same time, fans also
followed the draft status and 1918 season of Baltimore native Babe Ruth, then playing with the Boston Red
Sox and considering his own options, including joining an industrial league team. In September Bethlehem
Steel, fearing competition with other leagues over professional talent, disbanded the Steel League. When
the war ended in November, players such as Ruth were free to re-sign with their major league teams.

This picture shows hardworking black women working for Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad Company in the year of 1943.

The Great Depression and WWII


During the Depression years and World War II, Baltimore changed greatly. Back the time of the Great
Depression, there was the loss of power by traditional Democratic leaders and organizations in Baltimore
under the New Deal. The old line Democrats operated in the spirit of traditional political bosses who
dispensed the patronage. Black people, other ethnic groups, labor, and other former supporters turned
from their patrons to other leadership. Baltimore Mayor Howard W. Jackson’s supported gradually eroded
until he was defeated in a gubernatorial primary election to choose an opponent for a Republican who
earlier defeated Governor Albert C. Richie, a conservative Democrat. Baltimore was a major war production
center during World War II. The biggest operations were in Bethlehem Steel’s Fairfield Yard on the
southeastern edge of the harbor. It was built by Liberty ships. Its work force peaked at 46,700 in late 1943.
Even larger was Glenn Martin, an aircraft plant located 10 miles northeast of downtown. By late 1943 about
150,000 to 200,000 migrant war workers had arrived. They were predominantly poor white southerners;
most came from the hills of Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, South Carolina,
and Tennessee. War mobilization brought federal pressure to unionize the work force, and by 1941 the
leftist CIO had organized most of Baltimore's large industries, while the more conservative AFL also gained
many new members.

By 1945, labor unions and many ethnic groups had taken over local politics and liberal mayors enjoyed
black support as well as white support. The machine was led by Italian Catholic politicians such as Nancy
Pelosi's father, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., who was mayor in 1947-59; her brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III,
was mayor from 1967 to 1971. The Catholic priest John F. Cronin’s early confrontations with Communists in
the World War II-era labor movement turned him into a leading anti-Communist in the Catholic Church and
the US government during the Cold War. Father Cronin, then a prominent Catholic parish priest, saw a
united labor movement as central to his moderate, reformist vision for Baltimore's social ills, and worked
closely with anti-Communist labor leaders.
The Civil Rights Movement in Baltimore
Baltimore’s civil rights movement has lasted for centuries in America. Black people in Baltimore have fought
for freedom and justice since its inception. There were free and enslaved African Americans in Baltimore
back during the 18th and 19th centuries. They worked and fought for freedom. Many of them were
artisans, worked in shipbuilding, and they were readily discriminated against by the white capitalist
establishment. Many black people had low paying jobs and experienced dangerous work conditions. Black
people in the early 1800’s in Baltimore couldn’t vote, couldn’t testify in any criminal trial, or file a suit. Black
Baltimore children couldn’t go into public schools back in 1826. Frederick Douglas visited Baltimore. Many
slaves in Baltimore earned wages. Some brought their freedom. Baltimore’s black population back during
the 1800’s continued to grow. Many African Americans lived in the Western Precincts. Bethel Church was
an old black church in the city. It was formed in 1787. It was used to help educate black people, inspire
change, and promote political activism. Abolitionists like William Watkins, George Alexander Hackett, and
others fought against the city’s racist policies. Many black workers were assaulted by racists like in May
1858 when a group of white workers assaulted black workers at a brickyard near Federal Hill.
Isaac Myers, George Hackett, William F. Taylor, John W. Locks, and Causemen Gaines formed their owwn
operative Chesapeake and Marine Railway and Drydock Company in February 1866. They were laymen
from Bethel AME Church. This black owned business employed 300 skilled black workers. Myers formed the
Colored Caulkers Trade Union Society in 1868 and in 1869 formed the new National Labor Colored National
Labor Union. The Chesapeake and Marine Railway and Drydock Company lasted until 1884. It is
remembered by the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park. After the Civil War, black men got the
right to vote by 1870. Many rural black Marylanders moved into Baltimore and Washington D.C. to escape
racist attacks and fight for access for better education and social opportunities. the black population grew
rapidly.

Segregated schools still existed. Black teachers trained at Baltimore Normal School. Social activists (from
black churches to fraternal organizations) worked in Baltimore and nationwide to promote equality during
the Reconstruction era and beyond. There was the State Colored Convention of Maryland from 1862 and
other events to promote black activism. Dozens of schools were formed in Baltimore and on the Maryland
Eastern Shore by the late 1800’s. Jim Crow existed. Maryland was dominated by Democratic state control,
so black human rights were readily suppressed. Even some Republicans promoted racist policies. This
caused black people in Baltimore (from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s) to create their own organizations
for political power and survival basically. Dr. Harvey Johnson and Amelia E. Hall worked in the church.
Everett J. Waring and Harry S. Cumming were great black lawyers. Roberta Sheridan and Joseph H.
Lockerman were great black educators. John M. Murphy Sr. founded the Afro-American newspaper.
Martha Murphy helped to found the Colored YMCA in 1896. Civil rights organizations back then include the
Equal Rights League, the Mutual United Brotherhood of Liberty (formed in 1885) and the Maryland
Teachers’ Association (formed in 1886). Groups like the Brotherhood of Liberty prevented a lot of the most
vicious violence that black people suffered in the South and the Midwest. Dr. Harvey Johnson of Union
Baptist Church along with other men and women fought inequality constantly in Baltimore. The Maryland
General Assembly promoted regressive laws that advanced Jim Crow, etc. Dr. Johnson supported the
NAACP too.

John W. Fields sued and won the right to go in a Baltimore streetcar from 1871. This led to the integration
of municipal transit in Baltimore. The Supreme Court allowed black jurors to judge cases on 1880. Jim Crow
was used as a means to strop black progress. Black people were killed like Eliza Traylor a black woman on
September of 1867. Ida B. Wells wrote about Baltimore having a problem with racism. Black voters
increased and fought for political rights. Rev. Johnson promoted this plan. He, Myers, and others abhorred
how black people in Baltimore can’t be taught in public schools by black teachers, about how they can’t go
into hotels of their own choosing, and how they can’t be lawyers. By the 1920’s, black Baltimoreans
continued to fight for their human rights. More factories and production existed, but many black people
were denied basic human rights. Discrimination and unequal school conditions were serious problems.
School segregation and housing segregation existed. By the 1920’s, black people continued to fight. WEB
DuBois worked in Baltimore too. From 1929 to 1954, African Americans and other used a continued fight
for equality and justice. The black population grew and more black people brought homes in west
Baltimore after WWII. By 1931, Juanita Jackson formed the City Wide Young Peoples Forum. They discussed
issues relevant to black people. People from Mary McLeod Bethune to E. Franklin Frazier spoke in the
forums. Young people were there too. Juanita Jackson worked on Buy Where You Can Work which
boycotted racist businesses. Thurgood Marshall and Lilli Mae Carol Jackson (or Juanita’s mother) supported
these efforts. Marshall was born and raised in Baltimore and became a NAACP lawyer and Supreme Court
Justice.
Juanita Jackson and Clarence Mitchell worked together to fight discrimination. They moved into 1234 Druid
Hill Avenue in 1942 as a couple. Paul Robeson, Duke Ellington, and Marian Anderson visited the home. This
comes when the Fair Employment Practices Commission was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in
order to fight workplace discrimination during WWII. Violet Hill Whyte was the first black non uniformed
police officer in 1937, Vivien Thomas was one of the first black professional employees at Johns Hopkins
School of Medicine in 1941, and George Taliaferro was one of the first 3 black players in the Baltimore Colts
football team in 1953. Margaret Williams, Donald Gaines Murray, and Louise Kerr Hines fought for freedom
too. The NAACP continued to endorse integration. Black people struggled to have housing. From 1954 to
1968, Baltimore went through many changes. Segregation started to end in Baltimore between 1950 and
1953. There were integration of trains and boats by the state legislature. Ford’s Theater was integrated. A
few downtown lunch counters were integrated. Segregated state parks ended in 1953.

Unsung Baltimore Heroes

Enolia McMillian (1904-2006) Victorine Q. Adams (1912- Verda Freeman Welcome (1907-
was an educator, a civil rights 2006) was a famous social 1990) fought discrimination for
activist, and a community leader. activist. She was the first decades. She was a teacher, a civil
She was the first woman African American woman to rights leader, and a Maryland state
national President of the serve on the Baltimore City senator. She helped to pass
NAACP. She criticized the Council. She went to both legislation that enforced stricter
Reagan administration for its Coppin State University and employment regulations and banned
austerity policies (or massive Morgan State University. She racial discrimination. She helped to
cuts) on social programs. She was in the Maryland House of end Maryland’s racial segregation
fought for housing, education, Delegates by 1966. In 1979, laws. By 1988, she was inducted into
employment, and businesses. she helped local Baltimore the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame.
She worked to help black families with heating bills with
businesses to get federal the Baltimore Fuel Fund in
contracts. She also led a 1985 working with the Baltimore
protest against apartheid in Gas and Electric Company.
Washington, D.C.
Also, the Brown decision caused integration of all public schools legally. The Baltimore City Equal
Employment Ordinance existed in 1956. Beginning in 1953 and continuing in 1954 and 1955, white and
black activists with the Baltimore chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) began to hold sit-in
protests at “five-and-dime” lunch counters on Lexington Street. In 1960, activists pushed for desegregation
at larger downtown department stores and restaurants on Howard Street including Hutzler’s, Stewart’s,
and Hoschild-Kohn’s. Students from Morgan State College and other area schools (organized as the Civic
Interest Group) played an essential part in 1955 and in 1960. The Colored Women’s Democratic Club
organized by Victorine Q. Adams in 1946 and regular voter registration campaigns by the NAACP in the
1940’s led to the election of Harry A. Cole to the Maryland State Senate in 1954 and Verda Welcome in
1962. Cole was first African American ever elected to the Maryland Senate and Welcome was the first black
woman to be elected to any state senate in the country—key victories for African Americans seeking
change through representation in local and state government.

The Sister on the left is a pioneer of the Baltimore Civil Rights Movement. Her
name is Lillie Carrol Jackson. The human beings from the right are Morgan
State University students who were involved in sit-ins.
By this time, white flight grew, which was about white people moving into the suburbs (during the 1950's
and the 1960's). Many whites opposed integration of public schools in Baltimore. Also, many white
Baltimoreans who came into the suburbs relied on federally subsided home mortgages which African
Americans were readily denied and new highways for cars (that a low amount of black Americans could
afford to purchase). Baltimore had a large role in the March on Washington and other movements. CORE
held their first meeting in Baltimore by July 1 to July 4, 1964. Walter Lively, a CORE organizer, continued to
work as an advocate for community development and Civil Rights organizing in Baltimore through U-JOIN
and other organizations through the 1980's. The anti-war and Black Power movements grew in power in
Baltimore. The Black Panther Party was prominent. After Dr. King’s assassination in 1968, the rebellion in
Baltimore happened. The unrest from April 6-11, 1968 was caused by the contradiction of many people
benefiting from the Civil Rights Movement while poor and working black Americans still experiencing
economic oppression, police brutality, and massive discrimination still.
Black people legitimately wanted urgent action on civil rights issues. One of the most disgraceful acts of
then Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew was that he blamed 100 black Baltimore leaders for the unrest (or
the 1968 rebellion in Baltimore after Dr. King's evil assassination) at the State Center Officer Building. Many
leaders left in protest. Police arrested 5,512 people (nearly all of them black; totaling about one in every
seventy-five black residents). Spiro Agnew was a total hypocrite by lecturing others on morality when he
would be caught in doing financial corruption back during the 1970's. That is why he resigned from Nixon's
office and Nixon would resign because of his lies and corruption too. At the height of the response, 12,000
troops occupied the city (one for every seventy-five city residents). Six hundred people were injured (fifty
police officers among them). The city saw 1,208 major fires and 1,049 businesses damaged. Six people were
killed—all African American. The unrest or rebellion was a class revolt against exploitation as explained by
historian Rhonda Williams.

Decades of activism caused real overturning of racial segregation and discriminatory practices. Yet,
problems persisted. The reactionary backlash grew under Nixon and other elected officials who care more
about states’ rights than human rights. Nixon allowed cuts to urban areas and cuts on War on Poverty
programs. This caused more harm to poorer Baltimore neighborhoods. Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro III
supported civil rights, but the new Mayor William Donald Scheafer (from 1971) was indifferent). Black
elected officials grew rapidly since the late 1960’s and Baltimore had its first black mayor in 1987 with Kurt
Schmoke. Paul Coates was a famous member of the Black Panther Party in Baltimore. Other groups like
women rights’ movement, disability rights movement, LGBTQ rights movement, Hispanic rights groups, and
Native Americans rights groups were prominent in Baltimore back then and today. Community and
economic development continued to advance from the 1970’s and today. Many of these organizations
focused on grassroots organizing. George Jude was an African American who didn’t want the demolition of
African American neighborhoods via highway projects.

Since the 1970’s, we see a mixture of dedicated, great activists doing the right thing and the problems of
violence, police brutality, poverty, economic inequality, etc. still persisting. The Black Lives Matter
movement, Towanda Jones, Kondwani Fidel, Baltimore BLOC, and other movements today are making sure
that people remember the names of Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, and Freddie Grey (who was
from Baltimore). These problems ranging from police brutality to poverty exist nationwide and worldwide.
Therefore, the young activists today are working and organizing constantly in order for Baltimore to witness
the justice that Baltimoreans rightfully deserve.
The Cold War Era
The Cold War era in Baltimore was filled with massive changes. In 1950, Baltimore reached its peak
population of 950,000 people. 24 percent of the population was black people. Later, the white population
increasingly went into the suburbs. The population in Baltimore declined and proportionately more black
people lived in Baltimore. The integration of Baltimore’s public schools were smooth at first. The city’s
leaders suppressed working class white complaints as white families went more into suburban schools. By
the 1970’s, new issues came about. Formerly, white schools had become mostly black schools though
whites made up most of the faculty and administration. The school system was more dependent on federal
funding. This caused a teachers’ strike in 1974, because the city was unwilling to raise the teachers’ salaries.
There was a hike in property taxes that would cause more controversies. There was a second situation
where there was a federally mandated desegregation plan that caused many white residents to oppose it.
There was racism and federal policy debates. During the 1960’s, heroin supply and use in Baltimore
exploded. There was the trend of more drug use across America. During the late 1940’s, there were only a
few dozen African-American heroin addicts in the Pennsylvania Avenue area of the city. Heroin use began
largely for reasons of prestige within a group that most middle-class blacks looked down on. When the
Baltimore police formed the three-man narcotics squad in 1951 there was only moderate profit in drug
dealing and shoplifting was the addict's crime of choice. By the late 1950’s young whites were using the
drug, and by 1960 there were over one thousand heroin addicts in the police files; this figure doubled in the
1960's. A generation of profiteering young, violent black dealers took over in the 1960's as violence
increased and the price of heroin skyrocketed. There was increased drug usage. The drug trade caused
burglaries to increase tenfold and robberies rising thirtyfold from 1950 to 1970. Many homes were broken.

Baltimore declined its economic status which probably exacerbated the drug problems. Adolescents in
suburban areas were using drugs in the late 1960’s. During the 1930’s and the 1940’s, the local chapter of
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the black churches, and the Afro-
American weekly newspaper took charge of organizing and publicizing demonstrations. Read’s Drug Store
in Baltimore was the location of one of the nation’s earliest sit-ins in January 1955. This was when a handful
of black students sat at the store’s lunch counter for less than half an hour. It was a wave of desegregation.
In the late 1950's Martin Luther King, Jr. and his national movement inspired black ministers in Baltimore to
mobilize their communities in opposition to local discrimination. The churches were instrumental in
keeping lines of communication open between the geographically and politically divided middle-class and
poor black people, a chasm that had widened since the end of World War II. Ministers formed a network
across churches and denominations and did much of the face-to-face work of motivating people to organize
and protest. In many cases, they also adopted King's theology of justice and freedom and altered their
preaching styles. After the 1968 rebellion in Baltimore, Agnew scapegoated the poor black community and
more white ethnic urban votes voted for Republican Richard Nixon.

In the 1950's and 1960's, racial politics intensified in Baltimore, as in other cities. White Southerners came
to Baltimore for factory jobs during World War II, permanently altering the city's political landscape. The
new arrivals approved of the segregated system that had been in effect since the early 20th century.
Working class whites mobilized to prevent school integration after the Brown v. Board of Education
decision of the Supreme Court in 1954. They believed that their interests were being sacrificed to those of
black Americans. Many working class whites supported the 1964 Presidential primary campaign of George
Wallace, who swept the working class vote. That was disgraceful. Durr (2003) explains the defection of
white working-class voters in Baltimore to the Republican Party as being caused by their fears that the
Democratic Party's desegregation policies posed a threat to their families, workplaces, and neighborhoods.
That perception is a bunch of nonsense, but many folks voted against their economic interests than
advocate for legitimate black liberation. Between 1950 and 1990, Baltimore's population declined by more
than 200,000. The center of gravity has since shifted away from manufacturing and trade to service and
knowledge industries, such as medicine and finance. Gentrification by well-educated newcomers has
transformed the Harbor area into an upscale tourist destination.
Baltimore in the 21st Century
The 21st century in Baltimore consisted of a diversity of developments. By January of 2004, the historic
Hippodrome Theater was reopened. This came after a large renovation took place as part of the France-
Merrick Performing Arts Center. In 2006, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American
History & Culture opened on the northeast corner of President Street and East Pratt Street. The National
Slavic Museum in Fell’s Point was established in 2012. On April 12, 2012, Johns Hopkins held a dedication
ceremony to mark the completion of the United States’ largest medical complexes called the Sheikh Zayed
Cardiovascular and Critical Care Tower and the Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center (in Johns Hopkins
Hospital). The event held at the entrance to the $1.1 billion and 1.6 million square foot facility. It honored
many donors including Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, first president of the United Arab Emirates, and
Michael Bloomberg. Maryland formed its Star Spangled 200 celebration. It had a festival and a 3 year
commemoration of the 200th year anniversary of the War of 1812 and the penning of the Star Spangled
Banner. The Star-Spangled Sailabration festival brought a total of 45 tall ships, naval vessels and others
from the US, United Kingdom, Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Mexico to Baltimore's Harbor. The
event held June 13–19, 2012, was the week encompassing Flag Day and the 200th anniversary of the
Declaration of War.

The Star Spangled Spectular was a 10 day free festival that celebrated the 200th anniversary of the United
States National Anthem from September 6-16, 2014. More than 30 naval vessels and tall ships from the
United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Norway, Germany, Spain, and Turkey berthed at the Inner Harbor,
Fell’s Point and North Locust Point. An air show from the Navy’s Flight Demonstration Team, the Blue
Angels performed during both festivals. The special guests were President Barack Obama, Vice President
Joe Biden, and Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. They were in attendance at Fort McHenry National
Monument and Historic Shine. During the course of the Star Spangled 200 celebration, the city was
showcased on 3 separate live television broadcasts. Visit Baltimore CEO, Tom Noonan, was quoted in the
Baltimore Sun as calling the Spectacular, "the largest tourism event in our city's history." Over a million
people visited Baltimore during both festivals. It is important to note that Francis Scott Key was a racist and
slave owner. The national anthem was originally having lyrics that glamorized the evil of slavery. Therefore,
I have no respect for that anthem as I do keep it real. On April 19, 2015, West Baltimore resident Freddie
Gray died.

He was in a coma for a week. Gray was in custody after he was caught by the police (he was arrested on
April 12, 2015). Gray suffered spinal injuries while in police custody and he fell into a coma. His injuries
existed while he was in custody. Some feel that they were accidental and others believe that his injured
came as a result of police brutality (which is very common in Baltimore and nationwide). Protests existed
and peaceful protests were common. Peaceful protesters filled the City Hall square. By April 18, protesters
were in City Hall to oppose police brutality. On April 19, 2015, citizens and groups such as the Justice
League of NYC walk along Wilkens Ave. and other streets in West Baltimore in protest against the police
following the death of Freddie Gray who died while in the hospital. At a news conference Monday
afternoon (on April 20), police said that Gray repeatedly asked for medical care and did not receive it during
the arrest that preceded his death. On April 25, 2015, protests continued. There was a fight between sports
fans (some of whom shouted racial slurs) and some protesters. Young men broke the windows of a police
car. People were dispersed.

After Gray’s funeral on April 27, 2015 (at New Shiloh Baptist Church), something happened. Many young
people had trouble to go home by transportation issues. At 3:30 pm, dozens of police were gathered on the
streets of Baltimore. Then, some threw bottles at police officers and journalists by 3:41 pm. Some wrecked
a police care. Some people in the Mondawmin Mall threw bottles and bricks at the police. The CVS
Pharmacy and the agates at Camden Yards (or home of the MLB Baltimore Orioles) were closed. The CVS
was burned and comes up in smoke by 6:26 pm. One person used an object to stab a hose that firefighters
were trying to use. By 7:01 pm. Governor Larry Hogan’s office said that he declared a state of emergency
and will active the National Guard to handle the rebellion in Baltimore. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie
Rawlings-Blake announces that a citywide, nightly curfew will be imposed starting Tuesday from 10 p.m. to
5 a.m. It will be in effect for one week, Rawlings-Blake said at a press conference (at 7:58 pm.).
Col. William Pallozzi of the Maryland State Police announced that up to 5,000 law enforcement officials will
be requested from the mid-Atlantic region to help quell the violence in Baltimore (on 8:51 pm). Public
schools closed tomorrow on Tuesday in Baltimore. On April 28, protesters experienced tear gas when they
refused to submit to the curfew. One protester Joseph Kent was swept up by a van. On April 28, 2015,
people begin to clean up their communities after the rebellion. The violations of the civil liberties of many
protesters were so overt and so illegal that 100 protesters were released without charges on April 29, 2015.
Many protesters would be charged. Also students protest in Baltimore on April 29 too. By April 30, 2017,
nationwide rallies continued, with notable protests in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. On May 1,
Marilyn Mosby (the state’s attorney for Baltimore city) brought charges against six officers involved in the
arrest and transport of Gray. People celebrated in the streets and the curfew remained. On July 8, 2015,
Mayor Catherine E. Pugh Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake fired police commissioner
Anthony Batts after a spike in homicides and complaints that
police did not feel supported and were afraid to do their
jobs because they feared that charges could be brought
against them. The police should be more concerned about
justice and ending police brutality than popularity. 6 police
officers were charged with crimes relating to Gray’s
death. The trial of William Porter (one of the officers
charged) started in November 30, 2015. On April 12, 2016,
50Th Mayor of Baltimore the Maryland general assembly passed a police reform bill
Incumbent that includes incentives for officers who live where they
work and funds community policing. The police union
opposed many of the changes and activists were
disappointed that the bill did not give the civilian review
board investigative power. One cop was acquitted, one trial
ended in a hung jury, and four cases are ongoing as of June
Assumed Office 12, 2016.
December 6, 2016
Won 57% of the popular vote On September 19, 2016, the Baltimore City Council
Majority Leader of the Maryland Senate approved a $660 million bond deal for the $5.5 billion Port
Covington redevelopment project. It has been promoted by
Information on Her Life Under Armour founder Kevin Plank and his real estate
Born March 10, 1950 (age 67) company Sagamore Development. Port Covington surpassed
Norristown, the Harbor Point development is the largest tax increment
Pennsylvania, USA financing deal in Baltimore’s history. It was among the
Political Party Democratic largest urban redevelopment projects in America. The
Education Morgan State University waterfront development includes the new headquarters for
(BS, MBA) Under Armour, shops, housing, offices, and manufacturing
spaces is projected to create 26,500 permanent jobs with a
$4.3 billion annual economic impact. In an open letter Plank
refers to the turbulent history in Baltimore’s economic development and civic life as “forks in the road.” He
concluded by saying that, "we saw one of those great forks in the road, and chose the best course" with
Port Covington. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake led the signing of three bills that commit the city to the
sale of bonds over the next 15 to 20 years to fund the infrastructure for the Port Covington development on
September 28, 2016. The current mayor of Baltimore is Catherine Pugh. To her credit, she or Mayor Pugh
has allowed the elimination of Confederate statues on public lands in Baltimore. Today, Baltimore is in a
crossroads. It has seen many problems (then and now with economic inequality, police brutality, violence,
poverty, school issues, etc.) and many good people are continuously fighting every day for real
improvements. Many activists are still in Baltimore fighting for justice and we salute them all.
The Culture of Baltimore
The culture of Baltimore is diverse and very excellent. Baltimore is a mostly working class community and it
is found in a Mid-Atlantic state of Maryland. Also, the city of Baltimore has Northern and Southern cultural
influences. One of the greatest cultural aspects of Baltimore is its association with the cuisine of blue crabs.
The Chesapeake Bay for a long time houses blue crabs. Baltimore is an important part of the crab industry.
There are many restaurants that serve shell crabs, soft shell crabs, and lump back fin crab cakes. Baltimore
crab cakes are very popular too. Pit beef is eaten in Baltimore. It is an open pit barbecued meat which is
usually served rare on a Kaiser roll. Other meats used include harm, turkey, corned beef, and sausages.
Also, many vegan restaurants are common in the city as well. Baltimore is mostly African American
demographically and black culture is very powerful in the great city of Baltimore. Black is always Beautiful.
The Sharp Street United Methodist Church is Baltimore’s first African American congregation and it was
formed in 1787. The NAACP met there. The Peale Museum shows early African American history. The
Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park celebrates the life of the hero Frederick Douglass. A market
in Fell’s Point Square and a statue of Frederick Douglas is found there. Holmes Hall at Morgan State
University honors Douglass’ life and achievements. Morgan State University is the famous HBCU in
Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest HBCU in the state of Maryland. It has schools of business and
management, liberal arts, architecture, education, urban studies, etc. The Earl S. Richardson Library's
holdings constitute more than 660,000 volumes, including works in special collections. One such collection
includes books on Africa, with an emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa.

The African-American collection is a body of historically significant and current books by and about African
Americans and includes papers and memorabilia of such persons as the late Emmett P. Scott, secretary to
Booker T. Washington, and Arthur J. Smith, who was associated with the Far East Consular Division of the
State Department. Its alumni include Willie Lanie, Earl Graves, William C. Rhoden, Adah Jenkins, and other
people. Coppin State College also has great services to people. The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland
African American History and Culture opened recently in 2005. It is Maryland's largest museum focused on
the state's African-American history and culture, as well as nationally, and on the African diaspora. A
Smithsonian affiliate, the museum offers a permanent collection, rotating special exhibitions, a resource
center, as well as programs such as a film series, a recurring open mic night, live music series, and family
programming. The 82,000 square-foot facility also houses a museum cafe' serving soul food, a classroom,
meeting spaces, and a theater.

The Inner Harbor is a great tourist center in Baltimore. It is the place where there is the M&T Bank Stadium,
the Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and those places are home to the Baltimore Ravens including the
Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore is known for its row houses architecture. I have been to Baltimore before and
have seen row houses throughout the city. Since the 1790’s, row houses have existed as an architecture
feature of Baltimore. Federal Hill, Locust Point, and Fells Point neighborhoods have such row houses.
Baltimore has their own accents as shown in East, South, and other places of Baltimore. Music as diverse as
jazz, rock, hip hop, breakbeat, and other alternative bands have a home in Baltimore. Chick Webb, Eubie
Blake, and Billie Holiday were originally from Baltimore. In recent years, the Wire and the Corner (which are
drama shows from HBO) are based in Baltimore. The Justice for All film was filmed in Baltimore too. John
Hopkins University is a great cultural staple in Baltimore too as a place where medical experts utilize their
skills in enriching the lives of human being in a manifold of ways. Baltimore has a religious influence as 12
percent of the population is Catholic, 7 percent is Baptist, followers of Judaism are 4.3 percent, and 11.4
percent identify with other Christian denominations. The Baltimore Convention Center has celebrations as
well. There is Little Italy with a large Italian American community which was where former U.S. House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi grew up. Baltimore has three state-designated arts and entertainment (A & E)
districts. The Station North Arts and Entertainment District, Highland town Arts District, and the Bromo Arts
& Entertainment District are all part of Baltimore's culture.
Prominent Locations in Baltimore

The M&T Bank Stadium hosts football games The Baltimore Visitor Center is found in the Inner
from the NFL to the Army vs. Navy games on Harbor area of Baltimore.
occasion.

The National Aquarium in Baltimore is one of the Oriole Park at Camden Yards hosts of the
world’s largest aquariums. greatest in baseball. The Baltimore Orioles play
there throughout the year.
It is important to mention information
on this great black woman. She worked
in Baltimore for years and her name is
Dr. Carla Diane Hayden. She is an
American librarian and the 14th
Librarian of Congress, which is of one
of the greatest honors in America. She
is also the first woman and the first
African American to have that
Her alma mater was the Roosevelt University including illustrious title. She was the President
the University of Chicago. She heroically kept of the American Library Association or
Baltimore’s libraries open during the 2015 protests of
the death of Freddie Gray. She wanted to give people a the ALA and she was the CEO of
place of refuge, relief, and opportunity.
Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore,
Maryland.

One of the great artists, who was born


in Baltimore (and raised in D.C.), of our
generation is Sister Maimouna Youssef.
She is not only a great singer, but she is
a conscious social activist. Maimouna
has participated in philanthropy for
years. Songwriter, emcee, mentor, and
Tons of artists are known for their activism. Sister
Maimouna Youssef has worked hard to help the youth
iconic performer define her life as well.
and many in the communities of America. Helping the To this very day, she has worked hard
youth, creating poignant, inspiring music, and enriching in her community in motivating real
our world outline the repertoire of Maimouna Youssef.
change for our people. I wish her more
blessings.
LEGEND, HERO, SCHOLAR, WRITER, HEROIC BLACK WOMAN, BORN
IN BALTIMORE, AND ABOLITIONIST

Powerful
Words from
Sister Frances
Ellen Watkins
Harper.

Mrs. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper


Legend, poet, abolitionist, suffragist, and She refused to give up her seat in the
author are accurate descriptions to describe the “colored” section of a segregated trolley car in
hero Mrs. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. She Philadelphia (which was over 100 years before
lived from September 24, 1825 to February 22, Rosa Parks) back in 1858. Harper, in 1866,
1911. Her 85 years on this Earth was filled with gave a moving speech before the National
courage, service in the cause of justice, and Women’s Rights Convention to demand equal
forthright progressive activism. She was born rights for all people, including black women.
free and by the time that she was 20, she wrote During Reconstruction, she reported on the
her first book of poetry. Her novel entitled, living conditions of the freedmen. She was a
Iola Leroy, was widely praised and it was friend and mentor to many African American
created when she was the age of 67 years old. writers and journalists like Mary Shadd Cary,
She helped escaped slaves along the Ida B. Wells, Victoria Earle Matthews, and
Underground Railroad on their way to Canada Kate D. Chapman. Harper fought lynching
(alongside William Still, who was the chairman and defended the rights of black people plus
of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society). In 1850, she wanted to end the convict lease system.
she lived in Ohio and she was the first woman She worked with Mary Church Terrell to
teacher at Union Seminary. She spoke out on create the Association of Colored Women in
ending slavery as a member of the American 1897. She was elected vice president in 1897.
Anti-Slavery Society in 1853 too. Mrs. Harper Justice was her aim and we honor her awe-
worked for our freedom. Mrs. Harper inspiring contributions to the struggle for
continued on her work. freedom and justice.
The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, a non-profit organization, produces events and arts
programs as well as manages several facilities. It is the official Baltimore City Arts Council. BOPA
coordinates Baltimore's major events including New Year's Eve and July 4 celebrations at the Inner Harbor,
Artscape which is America's largest free arts festival, Baltimore Book Festival, Baltimore Farmers' Market &
Bazaar, School 33 Art Center's Open Studio Tour, and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade. There is the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra which was founded in 1916. The current Music director is Marin Alsop, who
is the protégé of Leonard Bernstein. Centerstage is the premier theater company in the city and a regionally
well-respected group. Therefore, Baltimore is vibrant with culture and great beauty.

By Timothy
More on the City of Baltimore
Country United States
State Maryland
City Baltimore
Founded 1729
Independent 1851
city
Area 92.1 sq. miles
Population 617,734 (from 2017)

Morgan State University has existed for over 150 years.


The Chairman is Kweisi Mfume, the President is David
Wilson, and the Provost is Gloria J. Gibson. It has almost
8,000 students.

Like always, Be Blessed Y’all


Our Eyes are Still on the Prize

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