Museum Supporters

It started as a step toward reconciliation, but a meeting yesterday of Banneker-Douglass Museum supporters and members of the commission who oversee the state-supported institution ended in a shouting match.When Daphne Harrison, co-chairwoman of the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, tried to assure museum supporters that the state had no plans to close it, but refused to discuss the firing of museum director Ronald L. Sharps, the crowd erupted."You cannot separate the two," several museum supporters shouted.

It was a fund-raising event with a typically Annapolis flavor. Under a crystal-blue sky in view of the Bay Bridge, passengers aboard the 74-foot schooner Liberte crowded the rail to watch the Pride of Baltimore and a fleet of more than 30 other schooners set sail Thursday for the 14th Great Chesapeake Schooner Race, from Annapolis to Norfolk, Va. All entry fees for the race are donated to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to promote awareness of maritime heritage...

THOUGH SUPPORTERS of the new Benjamin Banneker Museum in Oella were outbid at a recent auction of Banneker artifacts, hope of enriching the museum with items belonging to the extraordinary colonial-era black scientist is not lost.The table, candlesticks and documents sought by a local consortium were bought by a Washington banker, who intends to give most of them to a monument and visitors center devoted mainly to honoring black Civil War veterans. That these items better belong in Oella and at the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis than at a visitors center focusing on events long after Banneker's death is now beside the point.

Outside the soon-to-be home of the Chesapeake Children's Museum on the banks of Spa Creek in Annapolis, Deborah Wood sees what's not there - budding naturalists watching a blue heron take flight, a floating dock in the water and a flower-filled meadow. No idle daydreams, Wood's clear visions are the first step in bringing the shuttered museum back to life, and moving it beyond four walls to woods and water. "Once I decide it's so, I see it," said Wood, the museum's executive director.

Supporters of the Banneker-Douglass Museum urged the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus yesterday to investigate the recent firing of museum Executive Director Ronald L. Sharps.Appearing before the caucus' executive committee, supporters reaffirmed their belief that the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development fired Sharps as part of a bigger effort to close the Annapolis museum.Members of the Banneker-Douglass Museum Foundation and Friends of the Banneker-Douglass Museum asked the caucus to help Sharps get his job back.

Supporters of the Banneker-Douglass Museum urged the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus yesterday to investigate the recent firing of museum executive director Ronald L. Sharps.Appearing before the caucus' executive committee, supporters reaffirmed their belief that the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development fired Sharps as part of a bigger effort to close down the Annapolis museum.Members of the Banneker-Douglass Museum Foundation and Friends of the Banneker-Douglass Museum asked the caucus to help Sharps get his job back.

For the second time in two years, the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis is without permanent leadership, reigniting worries among museum supporters about the future of its collection documenting African-American history in Maryland.Last week, state officials fired Rosalind D. Savage, the museum's executive director for the past nine months."It's the destruction of the museum," said Errol E. Brown Sr., president of the Banneker-Douglass Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the museum.

At the urging of several supporters of the Banneker-Douglass Museum, the Annapolis city council unanimously approved a resolution last night urging Maryland's top officials to save the museum as a state-supported institution.Last night's action came two weeks after the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development fired museum director Ronald L. Sharps because of differences over management. The firing was seen by museum supporters as part of an effort to close one of the state's major repositories of black culture.

For the second time in two years, the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis is without permanent leadership, reigniting worries among museum supporters about the future of its collection documenting African-American history in Maryland.Last week, state officials fired Rosalind D. Savage, the museum's executive director for the past nine months."It's the destruction of the museum," said Errol E. Brown Sr., president of the Banneker-Douglass Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the museum.

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."

Outside the soon-to-be home of the Chesapeake Children's Museum on the banks of Spa Creek in Annapolis, Deborah Wood sees what's not there -- budding naturalists watching a blue heron take flight, a floating dock in the water and a flower-filled meadow. No idle daydreams, Wood's clear visions are the first step in bringing the shuttered museum back to life, and moving it beyond four walls to woods and water. "Once I decide it's so, I see it," said Wood, the museum's executive director.

The Maryland Commission on African-American History and Culture named an "emergency" interim director of the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis yesterday amid continued protests over the firing of the former director.In another major personnel change, Joseph Johnson, the museum's deputy director for the past four years, was reassigned to a position in the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which shares oversight of the museum with the commission.Tonya Hardy, who has no experience in museum administration, was appointed the museum's temporary director.

For the second time in two years, the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis is without permanent leadership, reigniting worries among museum supporters about the future of its collection documenting African-American history in Maryland.Last week, state officials fired Rosalind D. Savage, the museum's executive director for the past nine months."It's the destruction of the museum," said Errol E. Brown Sr., president of the Banneker-Douglass Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the museum.

For the second time in two years, the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis is without permanent leadership, reigniting worries among museum supporters about the future of its collection documenting African-American history in Maryland. Last week, state officials fired Rosalind D. Savage, the museum's executive director for the past nine months. "It's the destruction of the museum," said Errol E. Brown Sr., president of the Banneker-Douglass Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the museum.

Supporters of the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, fearful that the state is trying to shut down the facility, were furious yesterday about a written reprimand from a state official to museum program officer Kenneth L. Webster.The written warning from Wayne E. Clark, executive director of the Office of Museum Services, to Webster accused him of "bordering on insubordination" and "poor judgment" for refusing to meet with his direct supervisors about his concerns for the museum.But museum supporters say the warning was retaliation for Webster's support of the recently fired director, Ronald Sharps.

It started as a step toward reconciliation, but a meeting yesterday of Banneker-Douglass Museum supporters and members of the commission who oversee the state-supported institution ended in a shouting match.When Daphne Harrison, co-chairwoman of the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, tried to assure museum supporters that the state had no plans to close it, but refused to discuss the firing of museum director Ronald L. Sharps, the crowd erupted."You cannot separate the two," several museum supporters shouted.

Supporters of the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, fearful that the state is trying to shut down the facility, were furious yesterday about a written reprimand from a state official to museum program officer Kenneth L. Webster.The written warning from Wayne E. Clark, executive director of the Office of Museum Services, to Webster accused him of "bordering on insubordination" and "poor judgment" for refusing to meet with his direct supervisors about his concerns for the museum.But museum supporters say the warning was retaliation for Webster's support of the recently fired director, Ronald Sharps.

Supporters of the Banneker-Douglass Museum urged the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus yesterday to investigate the recent firing of museum executive director Ronald L. Sharps.Appearing before the caucus' executive committee, supporters reaffirmed their belief that the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development fired Sharps as part of a bigger effort to close down the Annapolis museum.Members of the Banneker-Douglass Museum Foundation and Friends of the Banneker-Douglass Museum asked the caucus to help Sharps get his job back.