The Maryland Mosaic is a gift to all Marylanders: An Introduction
What is this gift? You are exploring a complex picture of our state; a collection of over 120 specific “firsts”—Mosaic “Pieces” that happened first in Maryland but also were first in the whole country. Together the whole Mosaic tells a story that may be more complicated than you think and more interesting than you anticipated. When the U.S. turns 250 in 2026, Marylanders will have a lot to shout about and to consider deeply.
Think about your own firsts—first bike, first kiss, first car, first job, first sense of satisfaction at something you did well. These are good memories, sometimes complex stories that reveal something important about you. We think you will find that to be true of the Mosaic.
Maryland has those defining events, showing again that Maryland may be a small state (42 among the 50), but with a big history. We have been leaders, explorers, inventors, authors, feminists, musicians, doctors, freedom seekers and crooks. We have been both enslaved and enslavers. When we became the no longer enslaved and no longer the owners of lost “property,” consequences became even more complex. We have come to terms with our past and failed to come to terms with our past.
As the Mosaic shows, we have one overwhelming characteristic: our geography as a border state. We are thoroughly shaped by that geography, inheriting the conflicts and energy that come from border status. We became a state along the fault line of North and South, a division that made us not quite southern and not quite northern well before the Civil War.
Of all the states, we have the most erratic outline. We have been shaped by water—the largest and most fertile estuary in the country. The Chesapeake Bay divided us but became a primary transportation corridor before there were roads. It provided ready access to markets and shaped America’s taste for seafood. We were given our eastern border by the Atlantic Ocean, our serpentine southern border by the Potomac, a national river, but ours. The disputed northern border was defined by two 18th century surveyors. The western border was the first to open transportation opportunities that stretched across the continent.
The national capital was carved out of our turf and gave us proximity to engage in the workings of the national government. We have fertile soil in the south and east that grew tobacco (but not cotton), and soil in the Appalachian west that grew wheat (but not tobacco), giving us one agricultural footprint that required slavery and another that did not. Among mid-Atlantic and southern states we have the strongest fall line, giving us water power for new industries near to developing markets. We have both an agricultural and an industrial heritage and a tie to a strong national government.
The Civil War cemented our border status as we supplied soldiers on both sides and endured three invasions. We’ve had two constitutions that represented two sides and a heritage of returning confederates who soon became governing leaders. We cherish three of the most important African Americans in the country—Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Thurgood Marshall, all born and bred in Maryland. Having close free states to our north is a geographical reality that enabled many enslaved people to envision a transformed future. We have been thoroughly shaped by our unconventional state picture and we have inherited layers of experience that come with border status.
The Maryland Mosaic invites you to take your state’s history seriously. We have made sure that there is at least one Mosaic Piece in each of the 23 counties and Baltimore City. Each of the Pieces has a tie to places, buildings, museums, research archives or educational and cultural institutions where you can find out more. Each of the Mosaic Pieces exists in a context of history and place, and you can use the original first to link to more local stories.
Each of the Mosaic Pieces is an invitation to learn more, to explore the link between past and present issues, to take our past seriously in our 2026 anniversary year.
What We Learned
In building this collection we have made sure to include entries from all across the state. We cover 250 years, so there is almost one entry for each decade since 1776. Because the Revolutionary War and its consequences are the heart of the 2026 anniversary, we have included eight key entries from the Revolutionary period that occurred in Maryland. There is only one battle, St. George’s Island, which was hardly remarkable except for the fact that enslaved men ran away to join the British. Most of the early entries involve the political struggles of becoming a new democratic nation. After that we include the visionaries, artists, soldiers, leaders and the desperate. We include those dedicated to erasing slavery and those dedicated to making sure that African American citizens remained a second class in our society. We rejoice that we live in a state where the truths of history can shine forth.
The collection has been curated by Burton Kummerow and Mary Blair and reviewed by 17 outside academic historians and cultural leaders, all of whom helped us see the wider picture. The Mosaic satisfies our desire to incorporate serious history into an anniversary. Structuring the Mosaic around “firsts” has at times been restrictive and forced us to omit some key Marylandia. A “first” can mark an event as the beginning of a long line of followers (Benjamin Banneker). It can mark an isolated unique accomplishment (E.A. Poe). It can mark a “last” (Fannie May Salter), and it can focus on an activity that had undeniably powerful consequences (Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks in 1861). In following the restriction imposed by identifying both state and national firsts, we confronted three major issues that shaped the outcome of the Mosaic.
Despite the emphasis on “firsts” in this collection, the first people who lived on this land are clearly underrepresented in the Mosaic. Native Americans were here more than several thousand years, but the tribes that lived in what became Maryland are barely visible now. In looking for “firsts” since 1776, there are precious few involving indigenous peoples. By 1800 almost all the native Americans were driven out of the state by the advance of settlers or pushed into hiding, especially in the swamps of Southern Maryland. They lost their lands and so the Native Americans who still live among us are now in a diaspora. They remain sovereign nations despite the 19th century efforts to erase their tribal existence. We have one true first in the collection, the burial place on national park land of Turkey Tayac (Philip Proctor). It took an act of Congress to grant permission for him to be buried on land that once belonged to his tribe. He led the Piscataway-Conoy and used his leadership to give visibility to all Maryland natives.
A second consequence of restricting the collection to “firsts” is that the Mosaic does not fully represent recent and continuing immigrant groups from South and Central America, Asia and the Pacific nations, the Middle East and modern Africa. They have made our state the fourth most diverse in the country, and the most diverse east of the Rocky Mountains, according to the diversity index of the U.S. Census. Undoubtedly immigrant groups have outstanding accomplishments, firsts inside Maryland, but we could not verify or identify any that were also first in the nation. In the early 20th century Maryland was the third largest port of entry for immigrants into the U.S. at Locust Point. We fervently hope that the 250th anniversary and the coming 400th anniversary of Maryland in 2034 can give full credit to immigrants who have given us a rich and complex society.
The third consequence is that we have a highly significant number of African American related entries. We have tried to use the term “Black” up to 1870 and “African American” thereafter when the three reconstruction amendments designated them as Americans. Because many African Americans emerged from enslavement and overcame significant and difficult hurdles to claim full citizenship, their list of Mosaic Pieces is lengthy and complex. As their individual achievements were hard earned, they get full credit as a first, even if a white individual might have a similar achievement. That intertwining of Black and White history is most powerful in this collection. There is no enslavement without enslavers; each creates the other and we continue to struggle to recognize and claim our shared past and our shared future.
Our wish is that all Marylanders can both see themselves in this collection and also see a shared past of surprising discoveries.
Burton Kummerow and Mary Blair
January 2024
