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.
Pratt Street Riots are first bloodshed of the Civil War Read More »
John Brown leaves his 1859 hideout at the Kennedy Farm in Washington County, crosses Potomac with party of 22 to raid the Harpers Ferry Arsenal, intending to create a slave rebellion.
John Brown hides out at Kennedy Farm, preparing to attack Harpers Ferry Read More »
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, born in Baltimore, abolitionist, suffragist and writer, in 1859 publishes the first short story, then a novel by a Black woman.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper publishes first short story by a black woman. Read More »
Roger Taney, Maryland native and Supreme Court Chief Justice, delivers 7-2 opinion in 1857, in the Dred Scott case, declaring that Blacks in the US are not considered citizens nor entitled to government protection, and that Congress cannot prohibit slavery. The decision becomes a major factor leading to the Civil War.
Marylander Roger B. Taney hands down the Dred Scott decision. Read More »
Gangs from the Know Nothing Party and Southern sympathizers riot in Baltimore during elections. In 1857 fighting kills 17 gang members and injures 67 in the most intense violence of the Know Nothing era. Riots in “Mobtown” make national headlines.
Baltimore earns the label of “Mobtown” Read More »
Quaker abolitionist Martha Ellicott Tyson knew Benjamin Banneker when she was a child. She publishes the biography in 1854.
Abolitionist Martha Ellicott Tyson publishes first biography of Benjamin Banneker Read More »
Josiah Henson, born in Port Tobacco, escapes slavery, leads a community and learns to read and write. He becomes the model for the title character in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a nationally popular anti-slavery story published in 1852.
“Uncle Tom” is based on a Marylander Read More »
Edward Gorsuch of Monkton, pursues 13 enslaved escapees in 1851 to Christiana, just over the Pennsylvania line. Although he has a warrant under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act., the free Black community defends the escapees and Gorsuch is killed. It is the first test of federal legislation to retrieve escaped slaves.
Fugitive Slave Act is tested in Monkton Read More »
Governor Thomas Hicks, slave owner, Know Nothing and anti-secessionist, moves the Maryland Assembly in 1861 to Frederick and leads them to vote against secession. The vote ensures that the national capital is not surrounded by Confederate States.
Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks preserves Maryland from secession Read More »
In 1850 Baltimore, America’s third largest city, is a singular urban mix of immigrants, free and enslaved Blacks, white leadership and energetic industry. As a border state it is an example of the country’s divisions and challenges before the Civil War.
Baltimore City is unique in the U.S. at 1850 Read More »
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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