Banneker Douglass Museum

Several hundred supporters of Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis are planning a prayer vigil Monday night to thwart what they see as an attempt to close one of the state's major repositories of black culture.The vigil at Lawyers Mall in front of the State House comes on the heels of last week's firing of Ronald L. Sharps, the museum's executive director. Sharps' supporters called the termination a "slap in the face" and a step toward closing the museum.Officials at the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, which oversees the museum, said Sharps was terminated because of "a record of disagreement over issues of management of the museum."

When the country's largest museum devoted to African-American history and culture opens in Washington, Maryland people and places will get a healthy share of the limelight. A two-story log house built by freed slaves from Montgomery County, dubbed the Freedom House, is one of the largest single objects planned for display inside the $500 million museum, for which ground was broken Wednesday. Other Maryland-related objects include a silk shawl given to abolitionist Harriet Tubman by Britain's Queen Victoria, a hymn book used by Tubman and a first edition of abolitionist Frederick Douglass' autobiography.

Last September things were looking up at the Banneker-Douglass Museum, home of one of the country's most extensive collections of African-American artifacts. After a year of bitter controversy, a new director was in place, new ventures were being planned.Nine months later, Rosalind D. Savage is gone -- fired 10 days ago by the state-appointed commission that runs the museum -- and her supporters are talking again about the demise of a museum named for two eminent black Marylanders: scientist Benjamin Banneker and writer-abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Sunday, Jan. 29 Forum Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis will host a community forum on the impact of income inequality on the economy and on democracy from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 333 Dubois Road. The event features a talk by Gar Alperovitz, professor of political economy at the University of Maryland and the author of "America Beyond Capitalism. " Doors open at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door, $2 for students. Information: uusj.net/wp/?p=4340. Wednesday, Feb. 1 Shutterbugs meet The Arundel Camera Club will meet at 7:30 p.m. in Room D114 of Severna Park High School, 60 Robinson Road.

The Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis is now closer to Church Circle, with its front door moved 10 paces to the left - bringing a visitor into a stark space where the old and new architecture of the museum meet. Inside the Franklin Street entrance, gleaming black floor tiles and a modern light oak staircase make a seamless match with the tall right wall from the exterior of the 1890s brick building. All this sets the stage for a maritime mural of the City Dock circa 1870, the post-emancipation period, right in the middle of the story the museum is there to tell.

Downstairs in the new space at the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, Janice Hayes Williams, a 48-year-old local historian, said an exhibit on cultural artifacts made her feel oddly at home. "William Henry Hebron, that's my great-grandfather," Williams said, pointing to a name listed in the Annapolis Underground exhibit, which features artifacts of African-American family life dug up from the very block where the museum stands at 84 Franklin St. "He was a fish merchant, half-black and half-Jewish."

Emerging from months of bitter controversy about its future and its staff, the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis' historic district is once again designing exhibits and moving ahead with an expansion planned for the year 2000."

With its stained-glass windows and gabled roof, the Mount Moriah African Methodist Episcopal Church has long been a distinctive presence in historic Annapolis. Since it was transformed in 1984 to an African-American museum, however, it hasn't always had sufficient room for programs and exhibits. Within the next two years, the Banneker-Douglass Museum at 84 Franklin St. will more than double in size and finally gain space for permanent exhibits under a $3.8 million expansion plan funded by the state of Maryland.

Supporters of the Banneker-Douglass Museum met with officials from the Department of Housing and Community Development yesterday but rejected the state's claim that the firing of Executive Director Ronald L. Sharps was not part of a bigger scheme to close the museum.Department Secretary Patricia J. Payne did not attend the meeting, but she sent museum supporters a letter promising to work out problems and adding that she "was distressed to learn this weekend of the controversy in Annapolis over the Banneker-Douglass Museum."

Posters, pins and place mats are all on sale Saturday at the Banneker Douglass Museum Market Place at the museum, 84 Franklin St., Annapolis.About 10 vendors from the region will sell jewelry, books, accessories, clothing, and cards for the museum's Black History Month market. The event is a repeat of the Kwanzaa market that drew throngs of visitors last year, organizers say.The market will be open from noon to 3 p.m. Information: 410-974-2893.Fabulous Hubcaps to play at Maryland Hall sock hopThe Fabulous Hubcaps are on their way to Annapolis this weekend to rock the socks off 1950s boppers.

With a few shards of glass, tile and other discarded bits, Loring Cornish can re-create his world into a shimmering mosaic wonderland.  After growing up in Reservoir Hill and studying at Morgan State University, he has established himself as an artist, though not one who's conventionally trained. His distinct style and passion for mosaics is always visible - his own two rowhouses in Reservoir Hill are covered with multi-colored tiles and glass shards.  Cornish's work has appeared in shows and museums across the country, including the American Visionary Art Museum and the Jewish Museum of Maryland.

Environmental education programs offered Annapolis Recreation & Parks is offering environmental educational programs at the newly renovated, city-owned Back Creek Nature Park at 1314 Edgewood Road. The urban ecology park offers recreation, education and a living classroom. Public programs will be offered that are geared for children ages 3 to 10 for $5 per class. Scheduled courses, 90 minutes long, include: * "Extreme Shoreline Strategies" at 3 p.m. today: Learn how to protect the shoreline.

It's as if old North County moved into the Banneker-Douglass Museum. This week, people unpacked boxes of old books, furniture, glassware, steam irons and stevedore tools at the Annapolis museum in preparation for Saturday's opening of an exhibit that reveals the history of northern Anne Arundel's black enclaves. Through the objects pulled from closets and attics, along with hundreds of photographs and 25 hand-stitched quilts, Train, Tracks, Tarmac illuminates what previously was passed down as oral history.

Black History Month may be over, but visitors to Annapolis can now learn about the region's rich African-American heritage year-round with the opening this week of the expanded Banneker-Douglass Museum. About 200 people gathered Monday as Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. cut the ribbon to mark the end of a $5.5 million renovation and expansion funded by the state. Inside the historic church sanctuary on Franklin Street, which houses the original museum, classical musician Cheryl Nkeba played a Bach partita bassoon solo and led the audience in singing a slave spiritual.

Downstairs in the new space at the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, Janice Hayes Williams, a 48-year-old local historian, said an exhibit on cultural artifacts made her feel oddly at home. "William Henry Hebron, that's my great-grandfather," Williams said, pointing to a name listed in the Annapolis Underground exhibit, which features artifacts of African-American family life dug up from the very block where the museum stands at 84 Franklin St. "He was a fish merchant, half-black and half-Jewish."

The Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis is now closer to Church Circle, with its front door moved 10 paces to the left - bringing a visitor into a stark space where the old and new architecture of the museum meet. Inside the Franklin Street entrance, gleaming black floor tiles and a modern light oak staircase make a seamless match with the tall right wall from the exterior of the 1890s brick building. All this sets the stage for a maritime mural of the City Dock circa 1870, the post-emancipation period, right in the middle of the story the museum is there to tell.

Two weeks after the state awarded a contract to begin designing and planning a 10,000-square-foot expansion of the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, controversy continues to swirl over operation of the 16-year-old repository. Errol E. Brown Sr., president of the Banneker-Douglass Museum Foundation, a volunteer fund-raising group for the museum, said he is not convinced that the museum's future is solid and fears that the state may close it. Brown is asking to meet with Gov. Parris N. Glendening to talk about problems foundation members have had with the state Commission on African-American History and Culture, which runs the museum, and the Department of Housing and Community Development, which oversees the commission.

A long-awaited $5.5 million renovation and expansion of the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis suffered a setback last night when fire and an explosion, possibly caused by a propane tank, damaged the work site in the city's historic district. Alerted by an alarm company, firefighters responded to the building on Franklin Street near Church Circle about 9:30 p.m. and immediately noticed smoke coming from the work site adjacent to the museum, said Battalion Chief Michael Lonergan of the Annapolis Fire Department.