Maryland prepares to repeal a bad law from the civil rights era

For much of Cambridge's history, whites lived on one side of Race Street, which ran through the center of town, and blacks lived on the other. Demonstrations began in 1962, and by June 1963, rioting broke out. Gov. J. Millard Tawes imposed martial law on the city after sending in the Maryland National Guard. Eventually, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy summoned the parties to Washington to mediate a desegregation agreement.

The General Assembly passed a law in 1963 barring discrimination on the basis of race, creed or national origin in hotels, restaurants and other public accommodations but exempted 11 counties, including all those on the Eastern Shore, according to the opinion. The next year, the legislature amended that law to apply statewide, and opponents succeeded in adding the provision barring payment for participating in demonstrations. Expenses of freedom ride participants were sometimes financed by donations.

Of course, more change has come since then, though some only recently. In Cambridge, voters elected their first black mayor, Victoria Jackson-Stanley, in July.

Henry B. Ford, executive director of the state Human Relations Commission, which handles bias complaints, said he was aware of the provision targeted for repeal because he has read every word of the code that relates to his agency "ad nauseum" over the years. But, he said, he never gave it much thought because he considered it a "throwback to the '60s."

"It's a part of history," he said. "But other than that, it's meaningless."