Frequently Asked Questions

On the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Maryland Humanities Council is undertaking a special initiative in late 2007 and 2008 to engage communities throughout the state in an examination of the legacy of Dr. King, the current state of race relations in their communities, and ways in which successful attempts have been made or could be made to bridge the racial divide and resolve racial differences.

By using the resources of the Humanities — history, literature, philosophy, art history, jurisprudence, ethics, and so on — the Council will stimulate informed dialogues that explore ourselves, our society, and a continuing critical issue in Maryland communities.

Q. What makes the history of race relations in Maryland unique?
A. In matters of race, as in many other areas, Maryland's experience is different from states to the north and south of it. In the North, African-American emigrants followed previous groups of newcomers into the slums and ghettos of northern industrial cities with their informal, but rigid, patterns of segregation and discrimination. In the South, long established black populations were quickly disenfranchised and endured almost a century of strict "Jim Crow" segregation laws after slavery ended. In the years before the Civil War, however, Baltimore had the largest antebellum population of free blacks of any city in the nation, and Maryland had the largest free black population of any state. Although it had been a slave state, Maryland abolished the institution in 1864, African-Americans celebrated the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment with a grand parade in Baltimore, and Marylanders narrowly rejected the 1906 Poe Amendment, which would have disenfranchised black citizens.

Q. What is Maryland's special role in the Civil Rights Movement?
A: Baltimore
Baltimore — with long-established, separate black institutions — is arguably the birthplace of the modern civil rights movement. In 1936, a young Thurgood Marshall successfully challenged legal segregation in Maryland's colleges and universities in the 1936 Murray v Pearson case. Marshall went on to fight for equality in teachers' salaries in a series of 1940s Maryland court cases, while the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP aggressively pushed for integration of theatres, department stores, and parks in that city. In 1954, the Baltimore City Public School System became the first integrated system south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Eastern Shore
In the 1960s, a desegregation campaign in the town of Cambridge led to a confrontation between activist H. Rap Brown and Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew that drew national attention. During a demonstration, Brown shouted "If America doesn't come around, we're going to burn it down." In response, Agnew denounced black power advocates, gaining him the attention of the Republican Party, which led to his selection as Nixon's Vice-President.

Q: How will MHC's special initiative explore issues of race relations in Maryland?
A: A wide variety of issues can intersect with race, so the "color-line" can manifest itself in very different ways in different communities. Divisions within a community might exist in areas such as political control or educational opportunities or living patterns, but perhaps not in others such as economic power or social interactions or public commemorations. The nature of these splits can also change over time as communities work to address them or as areas evolve and grow.

Through a wide range of public programs, this initiative will stimulate facilitated Community Conversations about issues of racial division and racial harmony in communities throughout Maryland.

Q: How will the Community Conversations work?
A: MHC has trained a special group of facilitators to lead these discussions. Prior to each session, participants will read a brief work by Dr. King, which will be the starting point for the conversation.

 Among the central questions for these conversations are:

	To what extent is the dream of Dr. King alive in your community today?
	What has changed and what has remained the same since 1968?
	What have we learned in the aftermath of Dr. King's assassination?
	What efforts have been made to reconcile racial differences in your community?

Q: What materials will participants use as a starting point in the Community Conversations?
A: The Community Conversations will follow a program design established by the Maryland Humanities Council. One of five works by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be used as a starting point for the discussion. MHC will provide the materials, arrange and pay for the facilitator, and oversee program evaluation.

Click here for the entire initiative overview.