Baltimore printer Mary Katherine Goddard is the first in the new nation to publish the entire Declaration of Independence, including the names of all the signers and boldly adding her own which action makes her liable for treason like all other signers. She is also the Baltimore postmistress.
She later publishes the almanacs of African American self-taught astronomer Benjamin Banneker between 1792- 1797.
Harriet Tubman escapes slavery with two brothers in 1849. Subsequently she leads 13 more escape missions, rescuing 70 individuals and she participates in Civil War military engagements in South Carolina.
John Waters releases “Multiple Maniacs,” in 1970, becoming the national leader in the production of “transgressive” cheap cult films featuring shock value and black humor.
Howard Cooper, African American, at 15 in 1885, is among the youngest persons in US to be lynched. He is lynched in front of the old Towson jail. Maryland is first to create a Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2019.
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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