ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Wes Moore announced that the Maryland Historical Trust, a division of the Maryland Department of Planning, received a $50,000 federal grant to support a project to document places related to the Civil Rights Movement in Baltimore City. The funding was made possible through the African American Civil Rights grant program under the Historic Preservation Fund, which is administered by the Department of Interior National Park Service.
“Baltimoreans have advocated, organized, and marched for civil rights since the city’s founding – in rowhouses, churches, parks, universities, factories, corner stores, and more,” said Gov. Moore. “Our history is our power, and the Moore-Miller Administration is committed to telling the stories of Baltimore City's long tradition of civil rights leadership.”
The African American Civil Rights grant program funds preservation projects and sites tied to the struggle of African Americans to gain equal rights. As a contribution to Maryland’s Year of Civil Rights, the project will document approximately twelve places important to the Civil Rights Movement in Baltimore City for inclusion in the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties.
"Studying and documenting this history, then making the results available for all in the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties, will help us to better understand how the Civil Rights Movement pushed back against segregated spaces and sought to dismantle discrimination in Baltimore," said Maryland Department of Planning Secretary Rebecca Flora, AICP.
The project, which will be highlighted on the Maryland Historical Trust website, is expected to begin this fall and will additionally involve community outreach and oral histories. Information obtained through the project will be available on the Maryland Historical Trust’s online cultural resource information system, Medusa.
The Maryland Historical Trust has received previous grants from the National Park Service to document underrepresented histories, including the women’s suffrage movement, Asian American heritage, and American Indian heritage.
Questions or comments about the project may be directed to Maryland Historic Trust Architectural Survey Administrator Allison Luthern at allison.luthern@maryland.gov.
