The “Jew Bill” is passed by the Maryland General Assembly, shepherded through the legislative process by a Christian, Thomas Kennedy of Hagerstown. Kennedy promotes this bill for several years before its passage as the first recognition of Jewish rights in the U.S.
It gives Jewish men all the rights of citizenship equal to Christians and quickly results in two Jewish businessmen, Jacob I. Cohen, Jr. and Solomon Etting, being elected to the Baltimore City Council.
William Lloyd Garrison begins his abolitionist career, writing and coediting the newspaper, The Genius of Universal Emancipation in Baltimore in 1829. He is the most famous white American to devote his life to freeing the slaves. Photo shows Garrison (center) with two other abolitionists, Wendell Phillips and Englishman George Thompson.
Baltimore secessionist rioters attack Massachusetts infantry passing through the city on the way to Washington in 1861, marking the first bloodshed of the Civil War.
The Afro-American is the oldest family-owned newspaper in the U.S. Founded in 1892 by John Henry Murphy, born a slave and a Civil War veteran, the newspaper becomes the most successful weekly on the East Coast. It is still run by the Murphy family
We acknowledge the enduring presence of many American Indian tribes who once lived in Maryland and who now, having lost their lands, live in a diaspora. Read more.
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