The experience of Africian-Americans are a rich vein in the history of Baltimore and Maryland, from slavery to the struggle for freedom in the 19th century to the battle for economic and social equality in the 20th century. From Baltimore to the Eastern Shore, people and places remeind us of the variety of the roles blacks have played in the social, political and cultural life of our state.
Since Baltimore's founding in the early 1700s, the large black population has been making contributions to its growth and development both physically and spiritually. Although slavery was legal in Maryland, there were more free blacks in Baltimore than there were slaves. The free blacks established and organized churches and organizations to aid in the fight against persecution. One result is the abundance of historically black churches still standing in the city today.
UM examining a history intertwined with slavery
Here at the University of Maryland, we have a problem. It is a problem familiar to all Americans, and indeed to all people: our forebears are not everything we want them to be. To be sure, Charles Calvert, the founder of the Maryland Agricultural College, had extraordinary vision, and the energy and resources to lay the foundation for a great institution. But Charles Calvert was a slaveholder, and portions of the land he conveyed to the state for the agricultural college - which became the University of Maryland, College Park - was his plantation.
The uncertain relationship between the university and slavery became evident during the celebration of our 150th anniversary, and that uncertainty emerges periodically as a campus issue. For some it has become a source of indignation and bitterness, for others embarrassment and shame - not so much because of the relationship itself, but because of the perception (I would call it a misperception) by some that we have been unwilling to explore the issue or answer the questions.
For others, the question is: How much can we really know? Such concerns have been magnified by the contemporary debate over slavery in American society, as represented in our popular culture, in our politics (legislative apologies - including the Maryland General Assembly's "statement of profound regret" - and congressional hearings), and in the vexed question of reparations.
