BALTIMORE’S
AFRICAN AMERICAN
HERITAGE PASSPORT
STEPHANIE
RAWLINGS-BLAKE
MAYOR
This passport is made possible through the generosity of
The PNC Foundation
We recognize the value and impact that a diverse
workforce and inclusive culture can have on our success.
Therefore, we have made PNC a place where people with
diverse backgrounds, experiences and points of view are
welcomed.
PNC recognizes that Black History & Heritage Month is
more than just a month-long celebration; it’s an everyday
observance that reflects our investment and commitment
to the communities we serve. We celebrate in ways that
resonate locally with our employees, customers and
communities.
Through our partnerships with the Mayor’s Office and
local organizations, we are dedicated to helping the
neighborhoods that we call home be a better place to
live, work and play.
Promoting, preserving, and
enhancing Baltimore’s historic
and cultural legacy and natural
resources for current and future
generations
The Baltimore National Heritage Area’s
boundary encompasses the historic
neighborhoods around Baltimore’s Inner
Harbor, extends west to Gwynns Falls and
Leakin Park, and reaches north to Druid Hill Park
and the Cylburn Arboretum. Covering roughly
22 square miles within the city, the heritage
area is a collection of historic structures,
landscapes, cultural traditions, and other
resources (such as parks and museums) that
work together to tell Baltimore’s unique history.
The Baltimore National Heritage Area provides
guided walking tours, develops tourism
products, creates and maintains a network
of urban heritage trails, provides grant
opportunities, and promotes public awareness
in the city’s heritage and historic sites.
To learn more about Baltimore’s history, people, and places, visit
www.explorebaltimore.org
Welcome
From its founding in 1729, people of African
descent have shaped the City of Baltimore politically,
culturally and economically. African American
Baltimoreans stood at the forefront of the Civil
Rights Movement, built lasting civic and religious
institutions and made transformative contributions to
arts and culture.
Before the Civil War, Baltimore was home to more
free blacks than any other American city. While
the war brought freedom, it did not bring equality.
Life in segregated Baltimore mirrored the injustices
across the nation; the African American community
established civic organizations, built churches, owned
businesses and worked to bring about equality for all.
This passport is a guide to the people and places that
have contributed to Baltimore’s amazing African
American heritage. It is not an exhaustive listing but
serves as an inspiration for further exploration. I
welcome you to enjoy and discover the lasting legacy
of Baltimore’s African Americans.
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
Mayor, City of Baltimore
1
How to Use This Passport
The passport groups sites of African American
heritage by geography: sites in downtown Baltimore,
sites in West Baltimore, sites in Fell’s Point, and
a specific section on the historic Mount Auburn
Cemetery. All of the sites are within the boundaries
of the Baltimore National Heritage Area. Basic
site information is provided, including a physical
address and telephone number and website address
if available. For sites open to the public, please call
ahead or check online for hours of operation and
admission fees. Please note that the passport is not an
entrance ticket or free pass to any site.
Contents
Baltimore’s African American History.................... 3
Sites in Downtown Baltimore................................. 10
Sites in West Baltimore............................................ 28
Sites in Fell’s Point.................................................... 42
Mount Auburn Cemetery........................................ 46
2
It is without
question that the
City of Baltimore
was built by
generations of
African Americans.
From Baltimore’s earliest days as a
small port in Colonial Maryland, black
hands—free and enslaved—laid the
building foundations and built the
ship keels that would make the city a
center of commerce and culture on the
Chesapeake Bay. Subsequent generations
endured the horrors of war, celebrated
the establishment of churches and
esteemed civic organizations, created
wondrous works of art, and fought for
equality and freedom for all. Today these
contributions to the city and the nation
are commemorated by a constellation
of world-class museums, renowned
institutions, and thoughtful and moving
monuments, statues, and sculptures.
3
A Brief Overview of Baltimore’s
African American History
Baltimore dates back to 1729, when it was founded
on the banks of the Patapsco River. Through most of
the colonial period, Baltimore was little more than
a village. Annapolis, to the south, was the center of
politics and culture. Agriculture was dominant in
the region, primarily growing wheat and tobacco.
Tobacco requires a significant amount of labor
to grow, and enslaved Africans were brought to
Maryland to work in the fields.
After the Revolutionary War, Baltimore’s economy
and population grew, capitalizing on industries along
the mill valleys and the deep-water port at Fell’s
Point. The slave trade flourished in Baltimore’s port;
the 1790 census listed twice as many slaves as free
persons of color.
The shipbuilders of Fell’s Point depended on African
American labor—both enslaved and free men.
Black men worked in the maritime trades as joiners,
caulkers, painters, carvers, glaziers, plumbers,
sailmakers, and common laborers.
In 1812, the young United States declared war on
Great Britain. A private navy was instrumental in
the U.S. efforts to disrupt British trade ships and
naval vessels. Known as privateers, these privatelyowned ships were authorized by the government
to attack and capture enemy ships. Free men of
4
color accounted for approximately 25 percent of the
privateer crews.
Just 14 years after the successful defense of Baltimore
in September 1814, construction began on the
nation’s first railroad. Chartered by a group of
Baltimore business leaders, work on the structural
foundations of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
began in 1828. Enslaved and free men endured the
monumental task of leveling roads across mountains,
streams, and rivers.
Baltimore’s population during the 1830s, ’40s, and
’50s was quite diverse with an array of residents: free
blacks, slaves, native-born whites, and German and
Irish immigrants. As the nation moved toward Civil
War in the late 1850s and early 1860s, Baltimore—
where various groups lived in close proximity to
one another and mingled regularly—stood out as an
exception among large American cities.
While slavery was legal throughout Maryland until
1864, most African Americans in Baltimore were free
and often worked alongside white laborers. It was
the largest free black community of any American
city at that time. Free black residents organized more
than 20 churches, founded more than 30 benevolent
societies, and established schools. Free blacks were
also active in the Underground Railroad, helping
slaves from Maryland’s Eastern Shore gain safe
passage to the north.
5
Illustration depicting
the Pratt Street Riots in
April 1861
Despite this,
large numbers of
Baltimoreans were
pro-slavery and rioted
when Union troops
marched through the
city on April 19, 1861,
causing the Civil
War’s first bloodshed. President Abraham Lincoln
took no chances and ordered Federal troops to
occupy the city for the conflict’s duration.
The Civil War—and slavery—ended in 1865. While
the Union was restored, the struggle over race
relations continued to test and divide Baltimoreans
and the nation. Segregation, Jim Crow laws, and
social indignities were instituted and challenged.
New civic institutions were established to promote
Baltimore’s African Americans.
Shortly after the Civil War, Morgan
State University (originally a private
African American school named the
Centenary Biblical Institute) opened
its doors. Approximately 30 years later,
Coppin State began offering courses
on education for African American
schoolteachers.
Gamett Russell Waller
6
Baltimoreans have long been at the
forefront of the fight for equality and
civil rights. Prominent Baltimore church leaders,
including Reverend Dr. Gamett Russell Waller of
Trinity Baptist Church and Dr. Harvey Johnson of
Union Baptist Church, were active in the Niagara
Movement, an organization founded in 1905 to
promote racial equality. Members of this group
helped form the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The
NAACP’s Baltimore Branch was founded in 1912.
With a large African American population, it is not
surprising that the city has been at the center of black
culture. Pennsylvania Avenue was known for its jazz
and theater and was a stop along the famed “Chitlin’
Circuit.” Baltimore nurtured some of America’s
most important musicians, including pianist Eubie
Blake, drummer Chick Webb, opera singer Anne
Brown, bandleader Cab Calloway,
and the incomparable Billie Holiday.
Celebrated writer Zora Neale Hurston,
author of His Eyes Were Watching God,
graduated from Morgan State’s high
school in 1918.
Baltimore’s African American leaders
also played key roles in the Civil Rights
Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Baltimoreans redefined freedom
Zora Neale Thurston
to include access to economic and
educational opportunities; the city’s black residents—
with white supporters—overturned local Jim Crow
laws, dismantled the segregation system in city
schools and public facilities, and promoted civil
7
A Lasting Legacy
The Afro-American Newspapers
Since its founding in 1892, The Afro-American Newspapers
gave voice to the Civil Rights Movement. Founded by
John H. Murphy, Sr., a former slave, the paper evolved
from his church’s publication. By 1922, it was the most
widely circulated black newspaper along the East
Coast. Under the 24-year leadership of John’s son Carl
Murphy, The Afro-American Newspapers rose to national
prominence, reaching a peak weekly circulation of
235,000 in 1945.
The Afro-American
Newspapers advocated
for the hiring of
African Americans
by Baltimore’s police
and fire departments,
black representation
in the legislature, and
the establishment
of a state-supported African American university. The
paper also campaigned against the Southern Railroad’s
use of Jim Crow cars and fought to obtain equal pay for
Maryland’s black schoolteachers.
rights for African Americans throughout the nation.
Thurgood Marshall, born and educated in Baltimore,
achieved national recognition for his contributions.
Others, such as Lillie Carroll Jackson, president of
the Baltimore Branch of the NAACP from 1935 to
1969, worked diligently but without the same degree
of acclaim.
Romare Bearden, a classically trained artist and
writer, served as the weekly political cartoonist
for The Afro-American Newspapers from 1935 to
1937. His themes and illustrations aligned with the
pro-civil rights agenda that publisher Carl Murphy
envisioned for the paper. Bearden was an exceptional
storyteller and artist. His 14-by-46-foot Venetian
glass mosaic, Baltimore Uproar, is a highlight of the
Upton Station of Baltimore’s subway system. Unveiled
in 1983, the mosaic depicts Billie Holiday with a jazz
group and boldly reflects Bearden’s interests in music,
literature, and the performing arts.
Baltimore is proud of its contributions to the history
and heritage of the African American experience.
The city continues to foster and nurture new
generations of leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs,
adding to the foundation laid by black hands nearly
300 years ago.
Today The Afro-American Newspapers publishes Baltimore
and Washington, DC editions and remains the nation’s
second-longest-running African American, family-owned
newspaper.
8
9
Downtown Baltimore
Baltimore Civil War Museum
The city center, nestled around Baltimore’s famed
Inner Harbor, has been a place of commerce,
residence, and culture for much of the city’s history.
Today the city center is dense with museums and
attractions that share the story of Baltimore’s African
American community.
601 President Street
baltimorecivilwarmuseum.com | 443-220-0290
The Inner Harbor was once filled with wharves
and docks, where ships were loaded and unloaded.
During the 1700s and early 1800s, slaves were
brought to Baltimore through these wharves (and
those in nearby Fell’s Point). Businesses associated
with the slave trade were also near the Inner Harbor,
including slave jails and auction sites.
Physical connections to the ugly past of slavery are
long gone; today important institutions serve to
remember and commemorate the past. Most notable
is the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland
African American History and Culture at the corner
of E. Pratt and President streets in the Jonestown
neighborhood.
The city’s Civil War museum is located in President
Street Station, a historic railroad station and site
on the National Underground Railroad Network
to Freedom. The station and the Philadelphia,
Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad were key
components of the network of secret routes slaves
used to escape to free states up north and to Canada.
Exhibits explore these connections and how the Civil
War impacted Baltimore and its citizens.
President Street Station is one of 20 star attractions along
Heritage Walk, an urban heritage trail. From April through
early November, the Baltimore National Heritage Area
offers guided tours along the 3.2-mile walking trail.
Visit explorebaltimore.org for more information.
Most of the sites in this central Baltimore section
are steps away from the Inner Harbor’s hotels and
restaurants. A few, such as the National Great Blacks
in Wax Museum and the Rawlings Conservatory, are
farther away but well worth the trip.
10
11
Black Soldiers Monument
A Lasting Legacy
War Memorial Plaza at Baltimore City Hall
100 Holliday Street
Baltimore’s Black Mayors
Clarence “Du” Burns
In January 1987, Clarence “Du” Burns
became the first African American mayor
of Baltimore. He took over as mayor when
William Donald Schaefer resigned after
being elected as Maryland governor.
Burns held the position for ten months
before the November
1987 election.
In the 1987 election, Burns ran for mayor against
State’s Attorney Kurt L. Schmoke, losing in a close
race. Schmoke became the first elected African
American mayor. Schmoke was elected to three
terms and served until the end of 1999.
PHOTO/univ of baltimore
Standing at nine feet tall, this monument is dedicated
to all African American soldiers who fought and died
in battle. James E. Lewis—a prominent black artist,
Morgan State University art professor, and director
of the university’s art gallery—sculpted the bronze
statue, which an anonymous donor funded. The
statue was originally installed in Battle Monument
Plaza on Calvert Street in 1971. It was moved to its
current site outside City Hall in 2007. The soldier
wears a U.S. Army uniform and holds a wreath. From
the wreath is a scroll inscribed with the dates of wars
(from the Revolutionary War through the Vietnam
War) in which black soldiers
fought and died.
Kurt Schmoke
During his tenure, Schmoke initiated numerous programs to
improve public housing, encourage economic development, and
promote adult literacy. In 1989, he was awarded
the National Literacy Award by President
George H. W. Bush.
In 2007, Sheila Dixon became
the first African American
woman elected mayor. After
Dixon’s resignation in 2010, City
Sheila Dixon
Council President Stephanie
Rawlings-Blake became the city’s fourth African
American mayor. Rawlings-Blake was elected
mayor in 2011.
12
PHOTO/ Groupuscule (CREATIVE COMMONS)
Stephanie
Rawlings-Blake
13
Maryland Women’s Heritage Center
A Lasting Legacy
39 W. Lexington Street
mdwomensheritagecenter.org | 443-996-1788
Henrietta Lacks and Vivien Thomas
Lucille Clifton
Prominent African American
honorees of the hall of fame include
Harriet Tubman, Lillie Carroll
Jackson, State Senator Verda
Welcome, and poet and author
Lucille Clifton, the first African
American to serve as Maryland’s
poet laureate.
Verda Welcome (1907-1990)
In 1962, Verda Welcome was
elected to the Maryland Senate,
becoming the first black female
state senator­­—not only in
Maryland but in the entire nation.
She served in the Maryland Senate
until 1982. Prior to her service
in the senate, she was a state
representative serving the citizens
of Baltimore’s fourth district.
14
IMAGEs/maryland women’s heritage center
Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital is considered one of
the best research hospitals in the nation. Numerous African
Americans have been associated with the hospital and have
made significant contributions to the field of medicine.
Henrietta Lacks was 31 when she died in 1951 from cervical
cancer. Cells removed from her body, without her consent,
were used to form the HeLa cell line. This cell line has been
extensively used in medical research to better understand and
develop treatments for a wide range of diseases. Lacks has
been posthumously recognized
for her contributions to medicine
and science and was inducted
into the Maryland Women’s Hall
of Fame in 2014.
Vivien Thomas, an innovator
and respected teacher in the
field of surgery, supervised a
research laboratory at Johns
Hopkins Hospital from 1941
to 1979. Along with Dr. Alfred
Blalock and Dr. Helen Taussig,
Thomas developed a procedure
that alleviated a congenital heart
defect known as Blue
Baby Syndrome.
IMAGE/JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS
The first comprehensive center of its kind in the
nation, the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center
honors the state’s historical and contemporary
women inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall
of Fame and the unsung heroines who shaped their
families and communities.
Vivien Thomas
15
Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory
A Lasting Legacy
3100 Swann Drive (In Druid Hill Park)
rawlingsconservatory.org | 410-396-0008
Joshua Johnson
In 1888, city leaders opened the elegant
botanical conservatory on the grounds
of Druid Hill Park. The conservatory
has grown from the original Palm
House and Orchid Room to include
three greenhouses, display pavilions,
and outdoor gardens. Originally known Howard
Peters
as the Baltimore Conservatory, it was
Rawlings
renamed after a major restoration in
honor of Howard Peters Rawlings, a long-serving
state delegate who represented central Baltimore and
served as the chair of the Appropriations Committee.
In June 1819, a listing appeared in the Matchett City Directory:
“Johnson, Joshua, portrait painter, St. Paul’s Lane near Centre
St.” He was known for painting multi-figure group portraits,
uncommon at the time. His body of surviving work includes
more than 80 paintings. His mother was an unidentified
enslaved woman; his white father George Johnson purchased
Joshua at the age of 19 and freed him in 1782. The justice of
the peace who signed Johnson’s manumission document,
Colonel John Moale, offered him a commission to paint a
portrait of his wife and granddaughter, Mrs. John Moale and
Her Granddaughter, Ellin North Moale, ca. 1800.
John Jacob Anderson and Sons
by Joshua Johnson, ca. 1812-1815
quote and image/
Brooklyn Museum, NEW YORK
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
Mary Smith Dorward Fund
16
Joshua
Johnson...
had a talent for the
tender delineation
of family ties.
Here, the small
boys each extend
an arm to their
father and rest a
pale hand on his
sturdy form. Their
father’s hand,
open in his lap,
suggests a gentle
accessibility.”
17
McKim Free School
Read’s Drug Store
1120 E. Baltimore Street
mckimcenter.org | 410-276-5519
Intersection of N. Howard and W. Lexington Streets
The school was built in 1833 to educate all poor
children, regardless of gender or race. It was funded
through an annual bequest made by the estate of John
McKim, a wealthy Quaker merchant who died
in 1819.
The school was built in the Greek Revival style. It is
considered one of the most accurate buildings of this
type in the United States.
Although the free school closed in 1945, the building
still serves the community today with educational
and recreational programs as the McKim Community
Center.
One of Baltimore’s least wellknown but most important
stories involves the history of
the former Read’s Drug Store
and its role in Baltimore’s civil
rights movement. Built in
1934, this Art Deco structure
served as the flagship store for
the Read’s chain. Like many
downtown businesses in the
1950s, the store maintained
a strict policy of racial segregation at its lunch
counters. In 1955, a group of Morgan State College
students organized a successful sit-in protest at the
store’s lunch counter. The group’s success provided a
powerful model for the more famous lunch-counter
sit-in of Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960.
Although the famous lunch counter is now gone, the
building’s façades still retain the original Art Deco
styling.
This site summary is courtesy of Baltimore Heritage,
Inc., a non-profit organization that works to save
historic buildings and neighborhoods through outreach,
advocacy, and technical assistance.
Visit baltimoreheritage.org for more information
about Read’s Drug Store.
18
19
National Great Blacks in Wax Museum
Star-Spangled Banner Flag House
1601 E. North Avenue
greatblacksinwax.org | 410-563-3404
844 E. Pratt Street
flaghouse.org | 410-837-1793
The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum is the nation’s
only wax museum dedicated to African Americans.
Exhibits with life-size and life-like wax figures explore the
immense diversity of the African American experience,
from the horrors of captivity to those who fought for
liberty and human rights. Figures bring to life the stories
of famous individuals, such as Martin Luther King, Jr.,
and Harriet Tubman, as well as less well-known heroes,
including Arctic explorer Matthew Henson and educator
Mary McLeod Bethune.
The Flag House
was the home
of Mary Young
Pickersgill,
a seamstress
and flagmaker
commissioned
to sew the giant
American flag
that flew over Fort
McHenry and inspired Francis Scott Key to write
“The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The museum features a
wax figure of Sojourner
Truth, an abolitionist and
women’s rights activist.
Born a slave, she escaped
to freedom in 1826. Truth
was the first black woman
honored with a bust in
the U.S. Capitol.
20
PHOTO/DAVID GUINEY/INTERPRETIVE DIRECTION, LLC
The flag was extremely large,
and many people would have
been necessary to sew the flag.
Grace Wisher, a 13-year-old,
indentured African American
girl, was at the side of Mary
and her three nieces to help
craft the flag. Very little
is known about Grace,
but her contribution to
a great American icon
is now remembered
and celebrated at the
Flag House and its
museum.
21
Reginald F. Lewis Museum
of Maryland African American History and Culture
Eubie Blake National Jazz and
Cultural Center
830 E. Pratt Street
rflewismuseum.org | 443-263-1800
847 N. Howard Street
eubieblake.org | 410-225-3130
The museum, which opened in 2005, features
permanent and special exhibitions on the traditions,
culture, and experiences of African Americans in
Maryland and Baltimore. The museum collects,
preserves, and interprets the historic, artistic, and
cultural contributions of African Americans in
Maryland. Exhibits explore the bonds of family and
community, slavery’s hold on the state, and how
art and education were used to endure and even
overcome oppression.
The Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural
Center promotes the unique history and continuing
legacy of African American art and culture in
Baltimore. Named in honor of one of Baltimore’s
great jazz artists, the center offers a range of music
and dance classes, art exhibitions, and permanent
displays celebrating Blake and other prominent
Baltimore jazz artists, including Cab Calloway and
Billie Holiday.
Reginald Lewis
22
The center’s
collection includes
a baby grand piano
Blake played in the
1930s.
photo/REGINALD lewis foundation
The museum is named in honor of Reginald Lewis,
a native of Baltimore and successful corporate
attorney, entrepreneur, and
philanthropist. His company,
TLC Beatrice, was the first
black-owned company to
gross $1 billion in sales.
PHOTO/DAVID GUINEY/INTERPRETIVE DIRECTION, LLC
23
The Sharp-Leadenhall Neighborhood
Sharp-Leadenhall is located between M&T Bank Stadium and Federal Hill. It is bounded by I-395 to the
west, Hanover Street to the east, W. Ostend Street to the south, and W. Hamburg Street to the north.
Established by former slaves and German immigrants
in approximately 1790, the historic South Baltimore
neighborhood of Sharp-Leadenhall is rich with 225 years
of African American culture. Once anchored by large
churches and thriving businesses, the community was
home to the Baltimore Abolitionist Society. The society
was founded in 1789 and was the first of its kind in the
south and the third in the nation. Society members
created the African Academy of Baltimore in 1797, which
was the first school in the nation built for the purpose of
educating African American children.
Religious institutions connected to Sharp-Leadenhall
include: Ebenezer AME Church, the city’s oldest standing
church (erected in 1865 by African Americans); the
original location of Sharp Street Memorial United
Methodist Church, founded in 1787 as the first black
Methodist congregation in Baltimore; and Leadenhall
Baptist Church, established in 1872 and the second-oldest
church edifice in Baltimore continuously occupied by the
same African American congregation.
24
The background image is
a “bird’s eye view” of the
city in 1869. Ebenezer AME,
located at 20 W. Montgomery
Street, stands out among
the smaller residences in the
neighborhood.
As a result of eminent domain
and gentrification, portions
of Sharp-Leadenhall suffered
under the plight of urban
renewal. However, the area
still maintains its significance
as a neighborhood that served
as a hub of African American
culture for generations.
Leadenhall Baptist Church,
1201 Leadenhall Street
25
A Lasting Legacy
301 W. Camden Street
baberuthmuseum.org | 410-727-1539
Earl “Papa Bear” Banks
Housed in historic Camden Station, Maryland’s
sporting life is celebrated at the Sports Legends
Museum. Baltimore’s rich Negro League history
is extensively explored, celebrating championship
teams, cultural pride in the teams, and the breaking
down of Major League Baseball’s color barrier.
These stories are presented against a backdrop of
racial segregation in 20th century America and told
through photographs, oral histories, and unique
baseball memorabilia.
IMAGE/md state athletic hall of fame
Sports Legends Museum
From 1960 to 1973, Earl “Papa
Bear” Banks served as the head
football coach at historically
black Morgan State University.
Under his leadership, the
team won 96 games (31 were
consecutive victories), earned
five CIAA Championships,
captured two bowl titles, and
sent 40 players to the National
Football League.
With three undefeated regular
seasons and a 0.839 winning
percentage, Banks was ranked as one of the top football
coaches in the United States. Banks retired from Morgan in
1987. In 1992, he was inducted into the National Football
Foundation and Hall of Fame. He died in 1993.
26
PHOTO/SPORTS LEGENDS MUSEUM
27
West Baltimore
The Upton, Marble Hill, and Bolton Hill
neighborhoods together form a National Register
Historic District known as Old West Baltimore—the
city’s premier early African American neighborhood.
Beginning in the 1890s, African Americans began
living in homes in the neighborhoods. In this
community, African Americans gained political
power, established social and religious institutions,
and started businesses.
The churches served to not only guide spiritual
life but to spearhead social progress. Many were
deeply associated with civil rights movements
throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
By 1900, more than 12 African American churches
resided in Old West Baltimore.
They helped create almost every
important civic institution in the
community, including Morgan
State University, the YMCA
and YWCA, and the Baltimore
Branch of the NAACP.
Saint Peter Claver Roman Catholic
Church at 1546 N. Fremont Avenue
was the first church dedicated to
the newly canonized South American
saint known as the “apostle to the slaves.”
28
For a more in-depth look at the churches,
institutions, and talented individuals
who called West Baltimore home,
take advantage of a leisurely stroll
along the Pennsylvania Avenue
Heritage Trail.
The two-mile urban heritage
trail explores the community,
civil rights legacy, and famous
residents of Baltimore’s premier
historic African American neighborhood.
Major attractions along the trail include
historic churches (Union Baptist, Sharp Street
Memorial, Bethel AME, Douglas Memorial,
and Saint Peter Claver); the home (and future
museum) of civil rights leader Lillie Carroll
Jackson; and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood
Marshall’s elementary school.
Colorful storyboard panels
help guide visitors and
provide some background
on the amazing people that
lived and worked in the
neighborhood. Visit
explorebaltimore.org for
more information about
the trail.
Group photo of
teachers at Public School
No. 103
29
The Arena Players
Billie Holiday Plaza
801 McCulloh Street
arenaplayersinc.com | 410-728-6500
Corner of W. Lafayette and Pennsylvania Avenues
30
Sam Wilson and friend at
the piano
Billie Holiday revolutionized
jazz singing with her relaxed
approach, rhythm, and use
of blues techniques. Born
in Philadelphia in 1915 as
Eleanora Fagan, her mother,
Sadie Harris, returned to
Baltimore with her infant
daughter soon after her birth. Holiday’s singing career
began in earnest in Harlem nightclubs in 1933. From
1933 through 1958, Holiday recorded and performed
with many jazz greats, including Benny Goodman,
Count Basie, and saxophonist Lester Young. Holiday
gave Young the nickname “Prez”;
he in turn have her the nickname
“Lady Day.”
PHOTO/library of congress
The Arena Players is the oldest continuously running
African American community theatre in the United
States. Arena Players was founded in 1953 by Samuel
Wilson with the assistance of June Thorn, the first
black woman to host a local Baltimore television
show, and George Barrett, an arts educator. The Arena
Players’ first home
was Coppin State
College, later moving
to the Druid Heights
YMCA. Wilson
raised $500,000 to
renovate the building
into a true theatre
space with dressing
rooms, classrooms,
and performance
studios. Actors
Howard Rollins
(A Soldiers Story),
Charles Dutton
(Roc, The Corner) and
Damon Evans (The
Jeffersons) can trace
their early years to
Arena Players.
Baltimore sculptor James Earl
Reid created the tall bronze
statue that stands in her honor at
the corner of W. Lafayette and
Pennsylvania avenues. Panels at
the base have references to the
Jim Crow era and the horrors
of lynching. Holiday is often
remembered for her haunting
rendition of “Strange Fruit,” a
song written denouncing lynching in the
American south. In 1999, Time magazine proclaimed
“Strange Fruit” the song of the 20th century.
31
Royal Theater Marquee Monument
A Lasting Legacy
Corner of W. Lafayette and Pennsylvania Avenues
Baltimore’s Jazz Royalty
The Royal Theater once stood proudly on
Pennsylvania Avenue, a grand venue showcasing the
finest of African American entertainers. The biggest
stars in black entertainment performed at the Royal,
including Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Louis
Armstrong, Redd Foxx, Billie Holiday, and Pearl
Bailey.
The theater was built in 1921 as the Douglass Theater,
and it was renamed the Royal in 1936. With seating
for more than 1,000, it was Pennsylvania Avenue’s
most prestigious venue.
By the late 1960s, the theater fell into disrepair. It was
demolished in 1971. A monument celebrating the
Royal and the memories of the great performances on
its stage was erected in 2004.
[The Royal was]
a citadel for the
finest black entertainers,
who could not showcase
their exceptional talents
elsewhere in Jim Crow
America.”
Baltimore’s black neighborhoods have
nurtured some of the nation’s most
important jazz artists. Pianist and
Baltimore native Eubie Blake (18831983) composed more than 350 songs. In
1921, Blake and collaborator Noble Sissle saw their
ragtime musical Shuffle Along open on Broadway, the first
show written and directed by African Americans. Notable hits
include “Memories of You” and “I’m Just Wild About Harry.”
Chick Webb (1909-1939), also born in
Baltimore, was an innovative swing
drummer and the house bandleader
with accompanist Ella Fitzgerald at the
Savoy Ballroom. He was legendary facing
challengers in the Savoy’s popular “Battle
of the Band” contests.
A singer and bandleader raised in
Baltimore, Cab Calloway’s (19071994) big break was replacing the
Duke Ellington Orchestra at New
York’s famed Cotton Club. His
song “Minnie the Moocher” sold
over a million records.
The Afro-American Newspaper
PHOTO/THEATRE TALKS
32
33
A Lasting Legacy
Lillie Carroll Jackson House
1320 Eutaw Place
Morgan State University is working to transform
the house into a museum that will feature films
and interactive exhibits to share the story of this
remarkable woman.
34
The Mitchell-Jackson family is celebrated as civil rights leaders
that fought to dismantle Jim Crow laws by advocating against
racial segregation, disenfranchisement, and educational
inequities.
Family matriarch
Lillie Carroll Jackson
is considered the
“mother of the Civil
Rights Movement” and
introduced non-violent
resistance as a strategy
against segregation.
Clarence Mitchell, Jr. with
President Lyndon Johnson
Parren Mitchell was
elected as Maryland’s
first black U.S. representative in 1970. His brother, Clarence
Mitchell, Jr., helped secure passage of a series of civil rights
laws in the 1950s and ’60s.
Clarence’s wife Juanita Jackson
Mitchell (daughter of Lillie Carroll
Jackson) became Maryland’s first
African American female attorney
in 1950. Members of the family
continue to be involved in politics
and the advancement of civil rights.
PHOTO/MD state archives
Jackson was an organizer for the Baltimore Branch
of the NAACP and served as its president from 1935
to 1970. She helped increase membership to more
than 17,000 and raised money for both the local
branch and national organization. She led the cause
for black enrollment into the University of Maryland
Law School and helped desegregate Baltimore’s public
schools.
Jackson & Mitchell Families
PHOTO/LBJ PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY
Lillie Carroll Jackson lived
in this beautiful home in
Bolton Hill and welcomed
prominent civil rights
and political leaders,
including Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Regarded
as the “Mother of the Civil
Rights Movement,” Jackson
is credited with helping
implement the non-violent
tactics used during the Civil Rights Movement of the
1950s and ’60s.
Young Juanita Jackson
with mother Lillie Carroll
Jackson
35
A Lasting Legacy
Henry Highland Garnet School
PS103: Thurgood Marshall’s Elementary School
Thurgood Marshall
Built in 1877, the Henry
Highland Garnet School
(Public School No. 103)
was the elementary
school attended by U.S.
Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall from
1914 to 1920—his first
six years of segregated
public school education.
It was in the segregated
schools of Baltimore that
Marshall memorized the
U.S. Constitution and
first learned and understood the principles of equal
protection under the law.
The school was named in honor of
Henry Highland Garnet (1815-1882), a
famous abolitionist and orator. Garnet
was born a slave in Kent County,
Maryland; his family escaped to
freedom on the Underground Railroad.
He became a minister and well-known abolitionist
speaker. Today the Baltimore National Heritage Area
and the city are working to preserve the school and
use it to interpret the Civil Rights Movement and the
life and legacy of Thurgood Marshall. 36
PHOTO/NATIONAL ARCHIVES
1315 Division Street
Thurgood Marshall stands tall
among the most influential
Americans of the 20th century.
Marshall is best known as the
lead counsel for the landmark
school desegregation case,
Brown v. Board of Education
(1954) and as the first African
American U.S. Supreme Court
Justice.
After being denied admission
into the University of Maryland
Law School because of his
race, Marshall attended
historically black Howard University in Washington, DC.
This set the stage for Marshall to fight for the civil rights of
African Americans, handling cases that dismantled racial
discrimination in the areas of education, housing, and
voting rights.
Marshall’s life, and his life’s work, began in Baltimore—it
is the city where he was born in 1908, where he began his
public education, and where he won his first civil rights
cases as a young attorney. Marshall died at the age of 85
in 1993.
37
Historic Saint Mary’s Chapel
A Lasting Legacy
600 N. Paca Street
stmarysspiritualcenter.org | 410-728-6464
Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange
PHOTO/library of congress
In 1791, at the invitation of Bishop John Carroll—the
first American bishop—Sulpician priests came to
Baltimore from France to create the nation’s first
Catholic seminary. The crypt (basement) of the
seminary’s chapel served as a parish church for area
residents, including many Haitian refugees.
The seminary
site is closely
associated with
Saint Elizabeth
Ann Seton, the
first native-born
American saint,
who took her
vows in the chapel
in 1809. The
Oblate Sisters of
Providence, the first religious community of African
American women in the country, provided parochial
education to black children in the chapel’s basement.
Born Elizabeth Clarissa Lange in Santiago
de Cuba in or around 1794, Mother Lange
immigrated to Baltimore in the early 1800s.
Her mission of educating African American
children led to the establishment of Saint
Frances Academy in 1828; the academy is
the oldest continuously operating black
Catholic school in the country.
Mother Lange was also the founder of the
Oblate Sisters of Providence in 1829, the
first Catholic order composed of women of African descent.
Students in class at Saint Frances Academy
38
39
1500 Washington Boulevard (Inside Carroll Park)
mountclare.org | 410-837-3262
The Mount Clare Museum House is a grand mansion
built in the 1760s and was once the center of a
bustling 800-acre farm and industrial complex. The
mansion, built by Charles Carroll (the Barrister), is
the oldest example of grand Georgian architecture in
the city. Although well within the city limits today,
the mansion still shares the stories of the Carroll
family, its plantation, and the enslaved laborers who
tended its fields and worked in its iron works.
1869 “bird’s eye” illustration showing Mount Clare
Mansion and its proximity to the B&O Railroad
The mansion served as the country home for Charles
Carroll, a politically active lawyer (barrister), who
helped write the Maryland State Constitution. The
mansion was part of an active plantation known as
the Georgia Plantation. The Carroll family owned
slaves and was one of the few in Maryland with more
than 100 enslaved persons. The primary crops were
grain and labor-intensive tobacco. Enslaved workers
not only tended to domestic work and toiled the
fields but they also worked at Carroll’s Baltimore Iron
Works, which was located on the plantation grounds.
The house left the
Carroll family
hands in 1840.
During the Civil
War, Union troops
used the mansion
as quarters. In 1890,
the city purchased
the house and 70
surrounding acres
to create Carroll
Park. The mansion
was restored by the
National Society of
Colonial Dames in
Mount Clare’s entry hallway
Maryland, which
continues to oversee the operation of the mansion
as a house museum. The mansion was designated a
National Historic Landmark in 1970.
IMAGE/Courtesy mOUNT CLARE MUSEUM HOUSE
Mount Clare Museum House
image/library of congress/ “Bird's Eye View of Baltimore, ”Edward Sachse & Co., 1869
40
41
Fell’s Point
Fell’s Point was the point of entry and often the first
home for successive waves of immigrants throughout
the late 18th and 19th centuries. Both enslaved and
free African Americans were a prominent part of the
neighborhood’s population, working as household
servants and in many maritime industries. As a
result of this immigration and maritime heritage,
Fell’s Point became an ethnically diverse, workingclass neighborhood made up of artisans, sailors, and
craftsmen.
Frederick Douglass credited his time in Baltimore,
when he lived and worked in Fell’s Point, providing
him with the educational and moral strength to
progress from an illiterate slave to a teacher of
others. Douglass’ legacy in Fell’s Point can be seen
in the 500 block of South Dallas Street. In 1891, he
purchased the abandoned Strawberry Alley Church,
razed the building, and constructed five rowhouses
to provide affordable housing for African Americans.
Fell’s Point also has a connection to Billie “Lady
Day” Holiday. Her teenaged mother Sadie raised
her in East Baltimore, mostly in and around Fell’s
Point. Sometime in 1926, they moved into a twostory house at 217 South Durham Street. At age
ten, she began singing in theaters, whiskey houses,
and storefront churches throughout the “Point.”
The family also lived for a short time at 219 South
Durham before moving to New York in 1929.
42
History runs throughout the cobblestone streets
of Fell’s Point. Founded in 1726 by William Fell, a
shipbuilder from England, Fell’s Point served as the
city’s deep-water port for over a century.
Visitors to this area can start their journey at the Fell’s
Point Visitor Center, run by the Fell’s Point Preservation
Society. The center has exhibits on the neighborhood’s
diverse history and offers walking tours that explore
the African American experience in Fell’s Point.
Fell’s Point Visitor Center
1724-26 Thames St.
preservationsociety.com | 410-675-6751
For a closer look at Fell’s Point’s history, its people,
and its places, follow along the path of the Historic
Fell’s Point Trail. The urban heritage trail winds along
waterfront promenades and narrow streets, exploring
maritime history, the defense of Baltimore during
the War of 1812, and the
people who made the
deep-water shipbuilding
center their home. Visit
explorebaltimore.org for
more information about
the trail.
Engraving depicting the
interior of Strawberry Alley
Church. Frederick Douglass
attended this church when
enslaved in Baltimore.
43
Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers
Maritime Park
1417 Thames Street
douglassmyers.org | 410-685-0295
This museum and maritime park
is a heritage site that celebrates the
African Americans who worked
in Baltimore’s maritime trades in
the 1800s and 1900s. It tells the
stories of Frederick Douglass and
Isaac Myers, who both worked as
caulkers in the Fell’s Point shipyards
Isaac Myers
and gained fame later in life as
prominent leaders and reformers. In telling their
stories, the park also reveals an African American
community that came together and carved out
institutions and businesses.
The museum is at the site of Myers’ Chesapeake
Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company.
44
The museum, operated by the Living Classrooms
Foundation, houses a working re-creation of the first
black-owned marine railway and shipyard in the
United States. Isaac Myers and 14 black entrepreneurs
founded the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry
Dock Company in the 1860s. The company, located
just west of the museum, employed both blacks and
whites without discrimination.
In 1826 at age eight,
enslaved Frederick
Douglass arrived in
Baltimore. His owner
on Maryland’s Eastern
Shore sent the young
Douglass to care for
Hugh and Sophia Auld’s
young son, Tommy. After
initial reading lessons
Frederick Douglass
from Sophia, Frederick
continued to teach himself and later taught other
African Americans to read at the Strawberry
Alley Sunday School. In the Baltimore shipyards,
he worked as a caulker, where free and enslaved
African Americans dominated the caulking trade.
On September 3, 1838, Frederick jumped aboard a
train to New York, purchasing his ticket onboard and
managing to safely escape to freedom. Douglass later
became a renowned abolitionist and orator. In his
1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass: An American Slave, Douglass recounts his
life in slavery in Maryland.
45
Mount Auburn Cemetery
It is approximated that 55,000 people have been
interred in the cemetery. Notable burials at the
cemetery include Joseph Gans, the first African
American boxing champion; John H. Murphy, Sr.,
founder of The Afro-American Newspapers; and civil
rights pioneer Lillie Carroll Jackson. The cemetery
was designated a Baltimore City Landmark in 1986
and listed in the National Register of Historic Places
in 2001.
2630 Waterview Avenue
sharpstreet.org/mtauburn.html
Mount Auburn Cemetery is the oldest owned and
operated African American cemetery in Baltimore
City. Due to segregation, blacks were prohibited from
being buried in white cemeteries; Mount Auburn
represented the only location African Americans
could be laid to rest with dignity.
The
cemetery’s
state historic
marker
photo/BALTIMORE CITY COUNCIL
Founded in 1868 as a black burial ground, the deed
was signed in 1872 by Reverend James Peck and the
trustees of the first African American Methodist
church in Baltimore: Sharp Street Methodist
Episcopal Church. The cemetery was officially
dedicated as the “City of the Dead for Colored
People.” In 1884, the name was changed to Mount
Auburn Cemetery.
Baltimore City Council President Jack Young, Mayor Stephanie
Rawlings-Blake, and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley
joined city, state, and federal representatives to rededicate the
cemetery on May 14, 2012.
46
47
A Lasting Legacy: Baltimore’s African American Heritage
Passport is a publication of the Baltimore Heritage Area
Association, the management entity of the Baltimore
National Heritage Area. Reproduction of this passport
is prohibited without the permission of the Baltimore
Heritage Area Association.
Publication Management and Design
Jason Vaughan
Content
Toya Corbett, Stuart Hudgins, Jason Vaughan
48