Rowhouses on the 1300 block of Druid Hill Avenue, September, 26, 2018.

Introduction

Since Baltimore first began, the city’s African American residents have fought to secure, protect, and expand their individual and collective rights and opportunities in America. Learn more about the history of the local civil rights movement and associated historic places from a series of essays covering over 140 years of regional history.

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Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters, c. 1863-1865

1831-1884: Abolition and Emancipation

From Nat Turner’s Rebellion to the U.S. Civil War and Emancipation.

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Carnegie Hall at Morgan College (now Morgan State University) by Jackson Davis, 1921 November 3

1885-1929: Segregation and the Fourteenth Amendment

Organizing against Jim Crow segregation and disenfranchisement.

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Manpower: Negro bomber plant workers, 1942. U.S. Office of War Information.

1930-1965: The Great Depression and World War II

Fighting through the Great Depression, WWWII, and the reaction to Brown v. Board.

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Charles Plaza during the first Afro-American (AFRAM) Exposition, August 7-8, 1976

1966-1976: After the Unrest

New militancy in the movement, community development, and white reaction in politics.

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Mayor Schmoke tours Lakeview Avenue at Whitelock Street, May 4, 1991

Conclusion

A brief overview of the recent history of the movement from the 1980s through the Baltimore Uprising and the aftermath of the massive 2015 protests illustrate the clear continuity between the civil rights movement of the past and the continued struggle of activists in Baltimore today.

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Featured Essays

This study included research on a number of featured historic places including an individual National Register nomination for the Arch Social Club and a detailed investigation into the history of Confederate memory and monuments.

Front facade of the Arch Social Club on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Arch Social Club

Home to Baltimore’s oldest black social club and a reminder of Pennsylvania Avenue cultural history.

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Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the median of Mount Royal Avenue.

Confederate Memory & Monuments

Historic context prepared for the Special Commission to Review Baltimore’s Public Confederate Monuments.

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